Saturday, April 21, 2012
HEART REVEALING PRAYER
"I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower with inner
strength through His Spirit," Ephesians 3:16
Listen to a prayer and you can somehow glimpse what's inside the heart. Take the time to hear your own prayers, maybe you can write them down and then visit them again after sometime. It is here that you will discover your spiritual state. Your prayers unveil the depth of your heart. It is interesting to see that through our prayers we somehow see, not wrong prayers, but shallow prayers.
Here we are made aware that the kind of requests we ask God are more often self-serving and not centered on seeking God's glory. If you find that your prayers are too shallow, don't be disappointed . . . we all start here. Keep praying, keep calling, keep enjoying the presence of God . . . soon you will see spiritual depth in your prayers. When prayers are no longer offered to serve our purposes; when praying for others aside from our close family circles are desired; when seeking God is our main preoccupation in prayer, then we are leaving the shallow waters.
Paul prayed for inner strength by the power of the Holy Spirit. Honestly, I don't find this in my prayers. To be candid about it, only when I am in an emergency or in dire need do I realize the need for inner strength. A whole lot of my prayers reveal my concern for the external welfare rather than what's really happening inside. Thank God for His tolerance! I think the application to all of the lessons on prayer is to actually start PRAYING! Yes, shallow prayers at first . . . then we enter into God-centered prayers.
Whenever we pray, God is doing something that only He can do. Remember, this happens every time you and I pray. God is relating to us, sustaining, cleansing, directing, convicting. Yes, prayer changes things . . . but more than that, God is changing the one who prays! Soon you and I will see some changes in our prayers. Instead of just asking things for ourselves, we now desire to want what God wants us to have! Let us all be fervent in prayers, for when we pray, God is doing a miracle of transformation. Listen to your prayers and see your heart!
Prayerfully,
Rev. Arnel Tan
Saturday, April 7, 2012
What Exactly Did Abraham Sacrifice - Conclusion Part2
The moment you surrender to Him, then you get your surprise, the moment you said “Your will be done,” then you would say “His way are higher than my ways.” How do you think Abraham hug Isaac, before or after they climbed mount Moriah? If Abraham escaped and did not obey God, He can hug Isaac, control on Isaac. A tight hug can mean control, or a tight hug means, liberation from control. Which hug do you do? Do you hug someone with controlling heart? Or hug someone with liberating hug? The days of Abraham are numbered, he did not only see Isaac, He saw his grandson, and his great grandson. How God is so good, when you released these to Him, He let you know that this is the only obstacle why you can’t enjoy these because you are holding this. Blessings are now enjoyed when we are controller no more.
What Exactly Did Abraham Sacrifice - Conclusion Part1
When a controller releases control he becomes calm. When a controller stops controlling and allowing God to do so in His time even to the next one hundred years , in His ways, not in my fast lane ways, that even today like instant coffee, conversion, maturity, discipleship is made instant by long lectures. Not only in His time, in His way, but for His glory. The Last part of Abraham journey of faith, it was a struggle for control and we noticed from the scripture that it was not Abraham that was a controller, Sarah too, it was not also Sarah who was a controller but everyone in the Bible who will do things their ways is a controller.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
PRAYING BELIEVERS
“I believed in you, so I prayed, “I am deeply troubled, LORD.” Psalm 116:10 (NLT)
Prayer has its foundation in our faith in God. It is not a message sent to outer space without knowing who will receive it. Prayers are messages believers send to God . . . in faith that God will listen and in His wisdom, answer our prayers. Such is the privilege of those who believe they can pray. It is not a privilege for the few . . . rather, prayer is the privilege that few believers avail of. How sad!
The Psalmist soon realized that being related with God by faith does not at all exempt us from troubles . . . not just troubles, but deep troubles. In general terms he puts them in one category labeled as “deep troubles”. There are no details given to us about the troubles that beset the psalmist. One thing is sure, we are not exempted from it. Rather than digging for details, let us see how he confronted his troubles. The Psalmist PRAYED!
Let our faith in God lead us to commune with Him in fervent prayers. Here, let us see His hand over our situations and His embrace around our fears and His abundant grace overshadowing our failures and inadequacies. No more denying, no more pretending that we are not affected. Send your concerns to the throne of grace where the Lord meets the needs of the helpless! In God’s wisdom, He may choose to spare us or grant us His assuring presence as we go through the pain allotted to us.
If praying does not guarantee the result I desire, why bother to pray? We continue to pray because we are shortsighted and loudmouthed children of God. We pray so we can experience deep faith enriched by calamities that sweetens our celebration. We pray for we are weak in facing the challenges and forgetful to remember God in our success. One can say he believes and miss the privilege of talking to His Savior. On the other hand, the one who believes is daily nourished and, moment to moment, refreshed by his nearness to God using the privilege of prayer.
Praying believers are not only saved . . . they are walking close with the Savior. They hide and run to the Rock of their safety. “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I” is the psalmist’s longing. It is not always ‘bail me out’ and ‘spoil me with your blessings LORD’, rather, ‘draw me nearer to Yourself’ is the deep prayer of the believer. Praying believers are mature believers. They have different appetites and attitudes. It is not their perfection that drives them to call on God . . . it is their vulnerability and clumsiness that leads them to desperately call. This is what the Psalmist meant by “I believed in You, so I prayed.”
Prayer has its foundation in our faith in God. It is not a message sent to outer space without knowing who will receive it. Prayers are messages believers send to God . . . in faith that God will listen and in His wisdom, answer our prayers. Such is the privilege of those who believe they can pray. It is not a privilege for the few . . . rather, prayer is the privilege that few believers avail of. How sad!
The Psalmist soon realized that being related with God by faith does not at all exempt us from troubles . . . not just troubles, but deep troubles. In general terms he puts them in one category labeled as “deep troubles”. There are no details given to us about the troubles that beset the psalmist. One thing is sure, we are not exempted from it. Rather than digging for details, let us see how he confronted his troubles. The Psalmist PRAYED!
Let our faith in God lead us to commune with Him in fervent prayers. Here, let us see His hand over our situations and His embrace around our fears and His abundant grace overshadowing our failures and inadequacies. No more denying, no more pretending that we are not affected. Send your concerns to the throne of grace where the Lord meets the needs of the helpless! In God’s wisdom, He may choose to spare us or grant us His assuring presence as we go through the pain allotted to us.
If praying does not guarantee the result I desire, why bother to pray? We continue to pray because we are shortsighted and loudmouthed children of God. We pray so we can experience deep faith enriched by calamities that sweetens our celebration. We pray for we are weak in facing the challenges and forgetful to remember God in our success. One can say he believes and miss the privilege of talking to His Savior. On the other hand, the one who believes is daily nourished and, moment to moment, refreshed by his nearness to God using the privilege of prayer.
Praying believers are not only saved . . . they are walking close with the Savior. They hide and run to the Rock of their safety. “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I” is the psalmist’s longing. It is not always ‘bail me out’ and ‘spoil me with your blessings LORD’, rather, ‘draw me nearer to Yourself’ is the deep prayer of the believer. Praying believers are mature believers. They have different appetites and attitudes. It is not their perfection that drives them to call on God . . . it is their vulnerability and clumsiness that leads them to desperately call. This is what the Psalmist meant by “I believed in You, so I prayed.”
BLESSINGS FLOW WHEN A CONTROLLER LETS GO
"Don't lay a hand on the boy!" the angel said. "Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son." Gen. 22:12 NLT
The Lord is eager and willing to bless His children. We do not notice, much more, enjoy the blessings of God that is already here because of our addiction to control . . . doing things our way; taking full charge of something only God can do, for a controlling heart is demanding rather than grateful. It nourishes one's wound and is deliberately inconsiderate of the wounds inflicted upon others. Sufficient, superior, silent are some costumes that a controller wears to stay in control.
It is here that spiritual surgery is urgently needed! God is the Surgeon, he cuts so we can be healed. There will be no recovery when surgery is not performed. For Abraham, God asked for Isaac. In order for Abraham to enjoy Isaac fully, he must relinquish his grip on the boy. We don't enjoy God's blessings because we grip (control) too hard. Honestly, it feels good to be always in control . . . at least to the controller. Embrace turns to choke; mentoring turns to spying; disciplining turns to caging when we don't recover from the addiction to control!
Religion takes over obedience. Quickly, it becomes a cadence of legalism at the tune of our marching command. God must intervene without violating our free will. If not for God's intervention, the controller will not even know that he is such. Thank God for His blessings of intervention . . . we find ourselves exposed, naked and for the first time, admitting we are not in control. This is a sweet music of grace, a beautiful dance, not a march . . . an opportunity for the possibility of true liberation.
At the end, Abraham did not lose Isaac the way he was slowly losing him as a ‘Controller’ dad. At Mt. Moriah, Abraham stepped back and God took over. It was there that he finally offered His addiction to control. It was there Abraham savored the blessing he almost did not fully enjoy unless He obeyed God and let go of his version of order into God's Holy Chaos. He found himself humbled and blessed! A disturbing journey to deliverance indeed. Remember, when God disturbs, we become desperately dependent upon Him to deliver us from our own self-set order. It is in this rare moment of releasing control that God’s Holy Chaos becomes a blessing!
The Lord is eager and willing to bless His children. We do not notice, much more, enjoy the blessings of God that is already here because of our addiction to control . . . doing things our way; taking full charge of something only God can do, for a controlling heart is demanding rather than grateful. It nourishes one's wound and is deliberately inconsiderate of the wounds inflicted upon others. Sufficient, superior, silent are some costumes that a controller wears to stay in control.
It is here that spiritual surgery is urgently needed! God is the Surgeon, he cuts so we can be healed. There will be no recovery when surgery is not performed. For Abraham, God asked for Isaac. In order for Abraham to enjoy Isaac fully, he must relinquish his grip on the boy. We don't enjoy God's blessings because we grip (control) too hard. Honestly, it feels good to be always in control . . . at least to the controller. Embrace turns to choke; mentoring turns to spying; disciplining turns to caging when we don't recover from the addiction to control!
Religion takes over obedience. Quickly, it becomes a cadence of legalism at the tune of our marching command. God must intervene without violating our free will. If not for God's intervention, the controller will not even know that he is such. Thank God for His blessings of intervention . . . we find ourselves exposed, naked and for the first time, admitting we are not in control. This is a sweet music of grace, a beautiful dance, not a march . . . an opportunity for the possibility of true liberation.
At the end, Abraham did not lose Isaac the way he was slowly losing him as a ‘Controller’ dad. At Mt. Moriah, Abraham stepped back and God took over. It was there that he finally offered His addiction to control. It was there Abraham savored the blessing he almost did not fully enjoy unless He obeyed God and let go of his version of order into God's Holy Chaos. He found himself humbled and blessed! A disturbing journey to deliverance indeed. Remember, when God disturbs, we become desperately dependent upon Him to deliver us from our own self-set order. It is in this rare moment of releasing control that God’s Holy Chaos becomes a blessing!
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