Forgiveness and prayer

Yesterday, my wife and I marvelled as we listened to a woman in a radio interview talk about forgiving a man who attacked her, tied her up, and took her car.

The attacker and robber used her car in a later attempted robbery and was shot by police.  She wanted to let the man know that she forgave him; but police felt it was not wise for her to do that.  She regretted not having the chance to forgive him personally.

Though it is hard to do, forgiveness is freeing.  Often, it is an essential step to emotional, spiritual and physical healing.

It is also vital to effective prayer.

In his fine little book The Most Powerful Prayer on Earth, Peter Horrobin points to Jesus' amazing prayer for his tormentors as he was dying on the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

"Not only did Jesus walk in personal forgiveness toward all of those who were the agents of his suffering, but he also asked God to forgive them," Horrobin writes.

It is only in recent years that I have spent time thinking about forgiving others.  Some time ago, I thought about the occasions when I was hurt by others over the years.

I even went back to an incident in elementary school where I was a new boy and one of the class leaders bullied me.  The picture is as clear in my mind today as if it happened yesterday.  I had hung on to this grievance all these years without surrendering it to God and forgiving the boy who ridiculed me.

Wise Christians have said that sometimes we have to forgive someone again and again before the anger and bitterness is finally released.

But we are commanded to forgive.  We need to go before God in prayer and forgive.

Jesus said in the Lord's prayer: "Forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin against us." (Matthew 6:12)

If we are to be free of the disease of bitterness and anger, we need to forgive those who have hurt us.

The personal benefits of forgiveness can be astonishing.

Horrobin tells the story of a young woman who had been thrown to the ice from a snowmobile in Northern Ontario.  She suffered severe spinal injuries and had spent more than 20 years in pain.  She asked Horrobin for healing prayer and he asked her if she had forgiven the driver of the snowmobile.  She hadn't.

After struggling with this, she came back to Horrobin, saying she had forgiven him.  God's power came upon her and she was healed in minutes.

Forgiveness frees us - and it releases the chains from those we hate.  It glorifies God. 

Imagination and prayer

My imagination helps me pray.

I picture Jesus with me as I ask him for something or as I share a concern.  Often, I will listen to him as I walk or as I write in my journal.  I don't hear his actual voice, but I frequently receive thoughts or promptings.

Are these thoughts from God?  The best test is whether they line up with scripture.  If not, they are not.  Of course, for major decisions, the advice of wise and godly people is vital.

When I'm struggling with fears and anxieties, I sometimes just picture him with me, saying nothing but simply being a sympathetic and loving presence.  I find this calming and restoring.

In Matthew 28, Jesus promised his followers that "I am with you always, even to the end of the age".  In John 14, he said he would not leave them alone but would live in them through the Holy Spirit.  So I know he is with me as I pray.

Some Christians suggest it is fantasy - or even idolatry - to imagine Christ.

But Jesus himself made use of human imagination when he told parables such as the parables of the good Samaritan and the prodigal son.  He told stories because he knew they would have a powerful impact on his listeners.

Organizations such as Campus Crusade for Christ (now Power to Change) saw the story of Jesus as a great way to reach people with the gospel.  The Jesus Film, which depicts Jesus in his ministry, has touched millions around the world.

Our imaginations are always active - for good or bad.  My guess is that believers - consciously or unconsciously - find their imaginations active when Bible stories are told.  It is hard not to see David facing Goliath or Jesus stumbling under the cross on the way to Calvary.

We can use our imaginations to great effect in prayer.

We know that Jesus loves us and knows everything about us.  We know that he loves us in spite of our failings.  We know that he wants a close relationship with us.

Prayer is a means for exploring this close relationship.

The author of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 12: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith."

Imagining Jesus with me is a great help in turning my mind and heart to him.

 

God's love ignites prayer and praise

It's wonderful to see a little child run and throw himself into his mother's arms.

It's the child's joyous response to the love his mother has for him.  He loves because he is loved.

It should be the same with us and God.  We need to realize that God loves us even more than our parents do.  We should respond the same way the little child does to his mother's love.

Knowing how much we are loved ignites prayer and praise.

What made me think of this was reading King David's simple opening line in Psalm 18: "I love you, O Lord, my strength."

It's not often I tell God that I love him.  I tell him he is awesome.  I ask him for things.  Those are good things - they show my admiration, respect and dependence on him.

But love brings joy to prayer.

As the apostle John said in 1 John 4:19: "We love because he first loved us."  We are only able to love others because God first loved us.

How do we know we are loved by God?  We have the testimony of his words in scripture and in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

Jesus himself said in John 15:13: "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends."  He did that for each one of us - each one of us individually.

David also says in Psalm 16:2 that "every good thing I have comes from you."  God is the giver of good things - family, friends, life, jobs, talents and spiritual gifts.

Meditating on God's love helps build gratitude - and love.

The more we know we are loved, the more we love the one who loves us.

There is no better foundation for praise and confident prayer.

Trouble, the route to powerful prayer

Taken the right way, trouble is a route to powerful prayer.

E.M. Bounds, a classic writer on prayer, says: "Prayer allows God to work freely with us and in us in the day of trouble."

We may not see it - or understand it - but God permits trouble to make us more like Christ.

In his book The Essentials of Prayer, Bounds says: "God's highest aim in dealing with his people is in developing Christian character. . .  He is seeking to make us like himself."

The apostle Paul says in Romans 8:29: "For God knew his children in advance and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters."

And in Philippians 1:6, Paul says: "And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns." 

So, God is at work within us all the time.  His aim is to make us like Christ.  Trouble is one means for getting us there.

Severe trouble drives many people to pray.  Take Jacob, for example.  In Genesis 32:22-30, Jacob is deeply worried about the coming encounter with his brother Esau whom he has wronged.  During the night, he wrestles with God - a picture of prayer.

Jacob emerges from this meeting with God a different man.  He is still a weak human being with many faults, but now God is at the centre of his life.

Bounds says that our troubles "can work for us only as we co-operate with God in prayer".  When we pray, we are opening ourselves to God and agreeing that he is greater than we are.

Christ gave us the greatest example of prayer in suffering.  He went to Gethsemane to pray the night before his death on the cross.  He agonized so much that he sweat blood.  But he emerged from this time of prayer with the strength of God so that he could face his trial and triumph over the enemy.

For me, I need to remember that troubles are there to make me stronger in Christ.  And God will give me the strength I need through prayer.

Delighting in God

A lover will so enjoy the woman he loves that he will want to please her.

It is a metaphor for prayer.  The more we enjoy God, the more we will want what he wants.  And our prayers will have power.

King David said it best in one of my favourite Bible verses - Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart."

This calls for action on my part - I am to delight myself in God.  How does that happen?

Obviously, I can't find delight in God unless I spend time with him.  I need to get to know him.

It is a worn-out cliche that you can't get to know God unless you study what he has given us - the Bible.  But it is still true.

Yet studying isn't enough.  I know a lot of things about the Bible, but I am not as strong at obeying what God asks of me in his word.

I need to do the uncomfortable things as well as the easy things he asks of me.  I need to forgive others; I need to show love in practical ways; and I need to act on what he is prompting me to do.

The Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart.  A remarkable statement.  It's particularly remarkable in that David sinned and did things that many of us would think would turn God away from him - adultery and murder, for example.

But a careful reading of David's life and his psalms shows us that he put God first in his life.  He was constantly in God's presence in praise and prayer.  He consulted God before taking major steps in his life - and then he did what God told him to do.  And when he was wrong, he admitted it.

I am learning, too, about sitting at Jesus' feet the way Mary did in Luke 10:38-42.  Contemplating Jesus in quietness, listening to the Holy Spirit speak into my heart and mind - these are important steps to knowing God.

I find I am blessed, as well, when I praise God for who he is and what he has done - in the Bible, in my life and in the lives of the people I love.  My faith soars and I rejoice in God.

So I am learning to delight in God in all these ways - finding out more about him, obeying him, listening to him, praising him.

If we truly delight in the Lord, as David says in Psalm 37:4, we can expect to receive the desires of our hearts because his desires are now our desires.

Be specific

Most parents know what their children want for Christmas - their kids tell them exactly what they want.

It stands to reason that God delights in hearing exactly what we want, too.

I am taking this to heart because my prayers have too often been general.

Will Davis Junior, author of Pray Big: The Power of Pinpoint Prayers, says:

"God wants us to be strategic and focused about what we're asking him to do.  We need to pray for things - very specific things, gritty things, personal things, important things, kingdom things - with the pinpoint precision that Jesus modeled in the Lord's Prayer."

In his book, he mentions praying about a specific plot of land which he believed God wanted for his church in the Austin, Texas area.  God answered - with a better piece of land close by.

I am praying now with specific ministry goals in the area of group prayer in our church.  I believe that God will glorify his name as he answers those prayers - and I will know that he is answering.  It will strengthen my faith and give me boldness to pray for even bigger things.

I often turn to Acts 4 which tells of the small group of believers praying in the face of persecution.  Instead of fearfully asking for protection, they prayed for boldness in preaching the gospel and for God to perform signs and wonders.  God was pleased and the church exploded in growth.

That prayer was both specific and God-honouring.

When we pray like that, we can expect great things.

Pray big!

Will Davis Jr. says we should "pray big", praying for things that are bigger than we can accomplish on our own.  I think he's right.

The Austin, Texas pastor says in his book Pray Big:

"Prayer should be as big as God's promises and as full as God's resources.  Your requests should require the full power and provision of God."

He makes a convincing case that God is asking us to "pray big".  He refers to Jesus' many promises of answered prayer, including John 15:7: "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you."

That's a huge commitment by God.  If we remain on God's wavelength, we can count on him giving us whatever we ask, no matter how big.

I have been thinking about that in my own prayer life, realizing my prayers have been pretty small.  So I have started praying more boldly.

Davis refers to the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah in Luke 1.  An angel comes to elderly Zechariah and tells him that a child will be born to them even though they are both very old.  The interesting thing is that he says God is answering their prayers.  Evidently, they had been praying for a long time for this.

John the Baptist's birth to Zechariah and Elizabeth was a miracle.  Zechariah was dumbfounded by the news and because of his surprise and unbelief he was struck dumb until the child's birth.

But Davis uses this example to illustrate his point about praying for something even when it seemed impossible.

Our prayers matter.  God chose Zechariah and Elizabeth to receive this great gift because they had asked him for it.

I take some comfort from this story because Zechariah initially doubted the angel Gabriel when informed that his prayers had been answered.  It does take some faith to pray big - but God is patient with us if our faith is still weak.  I am always encouraged by the story of Gideon in Judges 6-8 where he began as a timid man and wound up as a great warrior of God as the Lord helped his faith to grow.

Our job is to keep praying according to God's promises.

What are big prayers?  They're prayers for people or things that seem impossible to you right now.  Perhaps you are concerned about a friend who resists any talk about Jesus.  Or, another friend has just been diagnosed with cancer.  Or, your church is struggling financially and looks as if it might have to close its doors.

Such prayers teach you to depend on God, says Davis.  They drive you to the Bible to see whether you are on solid biblical ground.  And they increase your faith as God answers.

As I said earlier, I am starting to pray big.  I am learning to ask for things that I considered impossible a while ago.

I'm looking forward to what he is going to do.