May 21, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Find out what pleases the Lord. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” (Ephesians 5.10; Ephesians 6.18-20)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

As we look at those closing verses of Ephesians, chapter six, we will see those valued predictors which create a life that is pleasing to God and functional in fostering a life in others that does the same: prayer, alertness, discipling and fearlessness. Let us look at the call to prayer which pleases God.

To the Faith in Christ Community of Thessalonica Paul wrote, “Rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5.17) I don’t suppose it gets much clearer than that. If it is God’s will for those who are in Christ Jesus, then it would surely be something that pleases God. Remember when Abraham took his son Isaac up Mount Moriah to make a sacrifice by faith? Abraham knew the sacrifice was designated by God to be Isaac. Isaac, the promised son of Abraham by which all future nations would be blessed, was to be price of having faith in God. What God gives belongs to God and can surely be required by God in return. I cannot imagine what would have happened to Abraham and the future of the people of God which would be born through him if he had not stepped forward and upward in faith. It was the same faith that brought him out of the Ur of the Chaldees, beyond his father’s home in Haran and around the Fertile Crescent to the land where he was told by God to go. We also know of the sketchiness of Abraham’s faith as he misrepresented himself and his wife when confronted by a foreign king. We know how he succumbed to Sarai’s wishes that a child for her be born out of a “legal” sexual encounter between Abraham and Hagar. This was a touch and go situation for Abraham. Abraham followed through on God’s request and requirement. God followed through as well providing a ram to take the place of Isaac on the altar. In a similar way, God offered a sacrifice for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It would be a similar understanding as He sent His Son to Calvary to be the “once and for all” sacrifice for all of humanity. Yes, it was God who sent His Son to the cross. Just as Isaac bore the wood to the altar so did Jesus bear to the cross to the “altar” of Golgotha’s Hill. Instead of us dying for our sins, Jesus did. It was there that He prayed recognizing that laying down His life was pleasing to God. Just as God found Abraham’s willingness to lay it all on the line to be pleasing. Just as He found Adam and Eve’s confession, though pitiful and blaming [it was their first time to confess before God, so give them some slack], to be pleasing and prompted Him to offer another in their place.

Prayer pleases God. Can you not imagine that continual prayer continually pleases God? Can you not embrace the hope of “praying without ceasing” to be the acceptable and productive lifestyle of those who confess themselves to be “in Christ” believing that Christ is “in them”? Paul described the work of prayer to be of rejoicing and thanksgiving. There is no reason to doubt the same parameter would be true for those in Ephesus. If we are to pray without ceasing, then all we say and do ought to be considered the work of prayer. That certainly isn’t an easy task. It most certainly is a worthy goal and vocation. If the “wages of sin is death,” then the “wages of prayer” would be life. It takes discipline and great faith to live life in this way. I know I certainly fall short of this template of righteous living. Maybe it is this way because we do not fully comprehend what an active and vital prayer life looks like. Perhaps it really isn’t about walking and talking “The Lord’s Prayer’ 24/7/365.25 . Maybe it is more about the attitude of prayer, the altitude of prayer and the aptitude of prayer that defines the “work of prayer” we are called to which pleases God. What if everything we said and did was conducted as if it were a prayer. It certainly would redefine and realign the prayers that we offer at the dinner table, at the Table of the Lord, in morning when we rise, in the evening when we go to bed and in those times when we finally confess we can’t do it all like we think we can or ought to be able to do. The “work of prayer” becomes an internal transformation of the mind, the heart and the soul which exists in each of us. It would then follow the pattern of living which Paul alluded to in his letter to the Church within the Roman Empire where he said, “Do not be conformed to the thinking of this world, rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12.2) Maybe one simple tool to remember is this: Can we say “Amen” to every thought and action and word which proceeds from our lives? If we learn to think with this backward design would it reshape and transform what we think, do and say before we think, do and say it? And if we did, wouldn’t that be pleasing to God? Let’s pray about that as we prepare for tomorrow’s lesson on alertness.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit so that others may be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind that we would know that we are Your people and that You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.