He knows my name

    In 1983 I had the privilege of visiting the monastery Saint Katherine at the foot of Mount Siani in the Siani Peninsula. The monastery is the oldest continuously occupied monastery in the world and is administered by the Greek Orthodox Church. It has been occupied since the the 4th century AD and contains in its library the oldest complete copy of the New Testament in the world. The prophet Mohammed (before he became the prophet of Islam) stayed there for a time and for that reason the monastery was not destroyed when the Moslem armies swept in to take over the region in the 8th century AD. According to the monks of the monastery, the bush that burned without being consumed by fire and out of which God talked to Moses, is within the compound of the monastery. 

       In chapter 33 of Exodus we read of Moses talking with God outside the camp of the Hebrews in the Sinai desert. God had told Moses that He would send an angel of the Lord with the people to help drive out the inhabitants of the promised land but that He, God, would not go with them. “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff necked people.” (Exodus 33:3) Moses pleads with God not to forsake his people even thought they are truly a stubborn and rebellious nation. “Then he said to Him, ‘If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are on the face of the earth.’ So the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will also do this thing that you have spoken: for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.’” (Exodus 33:15-16)

If you are a born again believer, God knows you by name also and has promised to “never leave you nor forsake you.” Your name is written in the Lamb's book of life and nothing can separate you from the love of God. (Read Romans 8:35-39)

I reaffirm that my relationship with You is my first priority. Teach me to stay close to You like Jesus did, rejecting pride which leads to destruction, and embracing humility which leads to abundant life.

Pray:

1.     Lord help me to spend time with you today, in your Word, and in prayer.

2.     Lord I know that you have etched my name in the palm of your hand and that you are familiar with all my ways. Help me to know and follow you better.

3.     Lord help me to be obedient to what you show me in Your Scriptures and to be quick to obey within prompted by Your Holy Spirit.

Expectant prayer

"But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer, Nor His mercy from me." (Psalms 66:19-20)

         Several years ago The Free Church of Scotland held an important meeting in Aberdeen, Scotland. Many people for miles around walked or rode to get there and hear the speaker. Two such men, an elderly man from the country, and a young theological student, found themselves walking together. They stopped for a short lunch and the old man suggested they pray before eating. As he prayed the elderly man asked three specific requests of God. “Lord you know I am hard of hearing, can you get me a seat close to the speaker. And Lord you know that I need new shoes and do not have money to buy any. And finally Lord I need a place to stay tonight because I know no one in town.” The student was somewhat shocked at the specifics of the prayer and prayed a general prayer as elegant as he could make it. He was very doubtful that God was interested in the old man’s specific needs.

   When they arrived at the church it was already overflowing. The elderly man was able to just squeeze inside the door and stood there with his hands to his ears. Just as it happened, a young lady in the first pew turned and saw the old man standing at the door. She turned to the usher and said, “My father told me to save a seat for him but if he was detained to give it to another. It appears he will not make it, so could you go back to the door and bring that elderly gentleman that is holding his hands to his ears? In a few moments he was sitting at the feet of the speaker. His first petition granted.

   During the service the old man went to his knees to pray during the prayer time and the young lady remained standing. She couldn’t help but notice the old man’s shoes were in bad shape. After the service she delicately mentioned to the man that her father was a shoe dealer and could he accompany her to his shop and she would be happy to provide for him a new pair of shoes. Petition two was answered. While he was trying on the shoes she asked him where he was staying for the night. He replied, “My Father has a room for me but I don’t know where yet” She rightly understood he was talking about his heavenly Father and said. “We were saving our guest room for Reverend ____, but he sent a telegram saying he couldn’t make it, so you must now be our guest.” Petition three was answered.

    The next morning he met up with the young theologian and he was shocked to learn that God had answered all of the man’s petitions quickly and precisely. (Life’s Ultimate Privilege, DeVern Fromke, pp 45-46)

Change my mindset so that prayer becomes my first response in every situation. May I seek you in all things.

Pray

1.     Help me Lord to come to you first with all my petitions and needs. You are my God and the “lifter of my head.”

2.     Lord, forgive me of my many sins against you. Help them to come to my mind right now so that I may confess each one to you individually and seek your forgiveness.

3.     Help me to know who I have wronged and to go to them and ask for their forgiveness today.

Moses's song

In the book of Exodus chapter 14, we read the marvelous account of God rescuing the Hebrew people from pharaoh and his army at the parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of the Egyptian army. (Read Exodus 14:1-31)

  In chapter 15 we read Moses’s magnificent prayer/song of thanksgiving and praise to God for all that He has done.  “I will sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and the rider He has thrown into the sea! The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He is my God and I will praise Him; My father’s God and I will exalt Him. Who is like you, O Lord among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises doing wonders? You stretched out Your right hand; The earth swallowed them. You in your mercy have led forth The people whom you have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to your holy habitation.” (Exodus 15:1,2,11-13)

Increase my faith in Your ability to intervene supernaturally in my life and in the world. Would you do miracles by Your Spirit in, through, and around me?

Pray

1.     Lord help me to spend time in your Word this week and to be reminded of just how awesome and glorious you are.

2.     Lord we ask you to fill us with your Holy Spirit that we may be used by You and that our speech and actions will reflect your holiness to those we come in contact with.

3.     Help us to see clearly that we need You in our lives and cannot survive in this world without Your guidance and help.

Our duty is to pray!

  "The key to all our work for God is in that one word....'Pray.' Oswald Chambers

     Dr. Helen Rosveare was a missionary doctor in Zaire, Africa. One night a mother gave birth to a premature baby, but despite all they could do, the mother died leaving the baby and a 2 year-old girl orphaned. The doctor instructed the nurse to get a hot water bottle to put next to the baby to protect the baby from the cold night, as there was no electricity or incubator. While filling the water bottle it burst and there were no more available and no store to go buy one from. The doctor instructed the nurse to put the baby as close to the fire as possible and to sleep between the baby and the door to protect it from drafts.

  The next morning Dr. Rosveare called the orphans together to pray for the baby and the little girl who was crying because her mommy had died. One little girl named Nammy prayed: “Please God, please send us a hot water bottle—be no good tomorrow the baby’ll be dead. Please send it this afternoon. And while you’re about it God, would you send a doll for the little girls so she will know that You still love her?” Dr. Rosveare was not sure God would respond to that prayer.

  Midway through the afternoon a big box was delivered to the front door of the makeshift hospital. Dr. Rosveare summoned the orphans to open the box and with great excitement they tore it open. They pulled out several things and then suddenly they pulled out a water bottle. Dr. Rosveare started to cry. Nammy rushed forward saying, “If God sent a water bottle, He must have sent a doll.” She dived into the box with both hands and pulled out the dollie.  Looking at the doctor she said, “Can I take the dollie to the little girl so she will know that God loves her?"

  The package had been on the way for 5 months from England. A Sunday school teacher had been prompted by God to send a hot water bottle to the equator! A little girl had been prompted by God to send a doll 5 months before the prayer had been uttered by a little girl in Africa! God wanted to answer that prayer even before it was expressed! (Life’s Ultimate Privilege, DeVern Fromke, pp39-40)

I bow before You as God. You are in charge of everything. Please give me the desire and power to obey You in every moment.

Pray for:

1.     That our children and grandchildren will see that we serve a prayer-answering God who listens to our petitions and answers.

2.     That our parents will be able to take time today and everyday in the coming weeks to spend time in prayer with their children to demonstrate the importance of prayer.

3.     That our children and grandchildren will have tender hearts toward the things of God and will learn to walk closely with our God.

Revival in South Africa

  Rees Howells and his wife Elizabeth were called to the mission field in South Africa in 1915 and joined Mr. and Mrs. Hatch who had labored on the field for many years already. Normally, they would have spent much time studying the language and getting used to the culture, but because both Mr. and Mrs. Howells had been involved in the Welsh revival, the Hatches desired that they should work immediately for the goal of bringing revival to Gazaland, where they were posted. They asked Mr. Howells to preach with an interpreter about the revival to all the churches and he agreed.

   After about six weeks of preaching the Spirit began to move among the Christians and one night when a dozen of them had gathered at the Howells house to pray he taught them the chorus, “Lord send a revival, and let it begin in me.” The Spirit was upon them when they sang and they continued singing in the coming days. Mr. Howells recognized a sound he had heard in the Welsh Revival and said: “You know it when you hear it,” he said, “but you can’t make it, and by the following Thursday I was singing it too. There was something about it that changed you, and brought you into the stillness of God.” (Rees Howells, Intercessor, Norman Grubb, p. 186)

    Rees Howells goes on to describe what happened next: “The Sunday was October 10—my birthday—and as I preached Sunday morning you could feel the Spirit coming on the congregation. In the evening, down He came. I shall never forget it. He came upon a young girl, Kufase by name, who had fasted for three days under the conviction that she was not ready for the Lord’s coming. As she was praying, she broke down crying, and within five minutes the whole congregation were on their faces crying to God. Like lightning and thunder the power came down. I had never seen this, even in the Welsh Revival. I had only heard of it from Finney and others. Heaven had opened and there was no room to hold the blessings.

     I lost myself in the Spirit and prayed as much as they did. All I could say was, ‘He has come!’ We went on late into the night; we couldn’t stop the meeting. You can never describe those meetings when the Holy Spirit comes down. The next day He came again and the people were on their knees until 6 p.m. This went on for six days and people began to confess their sins and come free as the Holy Spirit brought them through. They had forgiveness of sins, and met the Savior as only the Holy Spirit can reveal Him. Everyone who came near would go under the power of the Spirit. People stood up to give their testimonies, and it was nothing to see twenty-five on their feet at the same time.” (Rees Howells, Intercessor, pp.187-188)

   The revival meetings continued twice a day for 15 months and all day meetings were held on Fridays. Hundreds were converted and they were looking for more! The revival then spread to other mission stations in South Africa as Mr. Howells was commissioned to preach to all of them over a two-year period. Revival broke out in every single one, although each one was different in one respect or another. Over the two-year period, and the traveling of 11,000 miles, over 10 thousand people we saved and thousands more Christians were revived to live for Jesus more faithfully!

How about you and I? Do we desire to see the power of the Holy Spirit come down on our church? Who is the one that will fast and pray for God to bring His Spirit down among us like “Thunder and lightning?” Who is the one who will stand up in the congregation and confess their sins publicly and repent in abject sorrow for sinning against the Almighty God of the Universe?

Pray:

1.     For God to do a mighty work in my heart. To give me the desire to fast and pray until He comes to me and fills me with His Spirit with power and glory.

2.     That our church will be serious about praying, and that it will become our life breath.

3.     For the power of the Holy Spirit to fill us daily and that we will be obedient to the Spirits leading every day.

4.     That God will continue to be with us and to guide us individually and corporately to be unhesitatingly obedient to all He tells us.

More prayer from Jesus!

    Jesus gave us a wonderful example of how to pray in chapter 17 of the book of John. First He prays for himself for 5 verses and then He uses the remaining 21 verses to pray for His disciples.

     “And this is eternal life, that they may know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work You have given me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was.” (John 17:3-5)

“For I have given to them the words which You have given to Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” (John 17:8,12)

“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of this world, just as I am not of this world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. (John 17:14, 17-18)

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.  And the glory which You gave Me, I have given them, that they may be one as We are one.” (John 17:20-22)

Read all of chapter 17 if you have time today. What a magnificent prayer for us to read on a continual basis to be instructed and guided by our Lord in our prayer life. If we know the one true God and His Son, Jesus Christ, then we have eternal life! Jesus gave us the very words God wanted Him to give us and He has proven that He will keep every disciple that was given Him by the Father. He prays not only for the eleven remaining disciples but for us too! He has sent us out into the world and He has made us one with Him. How can we do anything but praise His name day and night!

Pray:

1.     That God will be glorified in everything you do today and throughout the week.

2.     That we as Christians will remember to be in the world but not of the world. Lord, show me those worldly things that are messing up my life.

3.     That we will be faithful to read God’s Word today so that He can speak to us through His Holy Bible that has been preserved for our benefit.