You Can Pray for Everyone

 I was reading a book of daily devotions by Max Lucado, when I was inspired by his teaching on this verse. 

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 1 Ti 2:1 NRSVue

He encouraged me to pray for people all around me.

The name of man immediately came to mind, a man who was in my class at school 60 years ago. I looked him up on the internet and read the story of his amazingly successful career. 

There was no mention of Christian faith, so I prayed for him to have a direct personal encounter with Jesus Christ. You can have everything in this life and have no hope for eternity.

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Mk 8:36 NIV

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 
and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Jn 11:25–26 NIV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jn 14:6 NRSVue

God is your creator. If you have been successful, it is because God gave you talents and you used them. But never forget who gave you the ability.

I prayed for this man, and I am sure God will answer.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 
For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Mt 7:7–8 NRSVue

If you have faith in Jesus, you can ask for blessings for yourself and God will answer. 
You can pray for your family and friends and God will answer.

But don’t stop there.

Pray for everyone. But that is surely impossible. True. But when I go for a walk or go shopping, I often notice someone who looks sad or broken and I quietly pray. I am sure, that when I go to heaven, I will meet some of those sad and broken people who caught my attention and I prayed.

If you follow Jesus, never underestimate the power of God to answer your small prayers.

Disasters. Mercy or judgement of God?

 So many people want to sit on the judgement-seat of God, declaring that the fires in Los Angeles are God’s punishment for the sins of Hollywood.

God does sometimes punish sins, but not every disaster is directly inflicted by God.
How dare anyone pronounce the judgement of God without directly receiving revelation from the throne in heaven.

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Mt 7:1–2 NIV

Supposing you do get a reliable revelation from God, that he is inflicting disaster. Should you self-righteously gloat over the suffering of sinners, as some Christians do, particularly in social media?

Two days before the fires started in Los Angeles, I had a dream from God. I looked up at the dark night sky in my dream. The sky was not black but very dark red. I received a very clear interpretation from the Holy Spirit. The whole world was covered by the blood of Jesus, the blood that flowed from Jesus on the cross 2000 years ago.

This was not a message of judgement but of mercy. The mercy of God is still covering everyone on earth. Of course, the forgiveness of God is not automatically given. Each person must choose to believe and ask for mercy. It is a choice.

A week later, also on a Sunday morning, I heard sad funeral music playing in my head. It would not stop, and I started to realise that God was speaking to me. God mourns and grieves over the suffering of the people in California. He wants us to be praying for mercy for the rich as well as the poor.

If you pronounce judgement over Los Angeles but feel no grief or compassion, you are not speaking for God. You should be ashamed of yourself.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 1 Co 13:2 NIV

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 Jn 4:8 NIV

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 Jn 4:16 NIV

If you have declared judgement on California without feeling sorrow and compassion, please ask God to forgive you. If you have publicly judged the fire victims, please post an apology publicly.

We Need Supernatural Gifts Today

 Why do we still need the supernatural spiritual gifts that appear in the New Testament?

God still wants to heal supernaturally today.

Why did Jesus heal? The suffering of the sick aroused such compassion in Jesus that his stomach turned. He never changed. God is love. He has never changed.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Heb 13:8 NRSV

Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. Jn 14:12 NRSV

We need to release the healing gifts of the Holy Spirit because Jesus commanded it, because he loves sick people.

We need the gift of grace to discern spirits. (1 Cor 12:9)

So many Christians try to discern spirits, but only on the basis of Bible knowledge. But how can we help a mentally ill person if we don't know what the cause of the illness may be? Natural or demonic?

• Is the sick person demonised, or do demons play a lesser role?

• Should we pray for miraculous healing or cast out demons?

• Does this person need counselling or psychiatry or simply deliverance?

Bible knowledge or psychology often cannot provide answers. We need revelation from the Holy Spirit.

Once I wanted to help a person who had taken a lethal overdose. I prayed for hours in unknown languages from the Holy Spirit. God intervened and the person recovered without harm.

Why was praying in tongues necessary and effective? I desperately needed a miracle from God, but my faith was not enough to get the miracle I needed, but the gift of praying in tongues added God’s supernatural power to my limited faith.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Rom 8:26–27 NRSV

Paul did not want to speak in tongues in the church service, but rather prophesy so that the congregation would understand, but in his private prayer time it was quite different.

I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you; 1 Cor 14:18 NRSV

You Need Help to Pray

 Do you pray again and again for healing, for months or years? You experience breakthroughs but then also relapses.

I experienced a complete nervous breakdown many years ago. My recovery took a long time, but I am grateful that I never gave up.

I know I exercised my free will by never giving up, but without God's grace and the faithful prayers of others, I would have been permanently ruined.

I know Christians with special gifts of faith. They pray for the seriously ill and disabled and they are instantly or miraculously healed.

I was there when a completely deaf toddler was prayed for. A week later I was there when he heard a voice for the first time in his life and visibly responded.

I know an ex-Muslim from Arabia who was a missionary for Jesus. An Arab gave him something to eat. A week later, the same Arab Muslim met him. He was amazed that the Christian Arab was still alive. He had put enough poison in the food to kill a camel.

Are you a father or a mother, a husband or a wife? Or are you a counsellor or therapist? You pray for weeks, months, years for someone who is seriously hurt or abused. This person is not a believer or is very weak in faith. You see God answer your prayers, but then you keep seeing relapses.

You ask yourself and also pray to God:
How long can I expend my energy to keep praying and expecting a miracle?  

You need help yourself. You cannot support your son or daughter on your own. Ultimately, only God can save, but how can you keep praying when your tank is empty?

What have I learnt in hard trials?

I find help in the Psalms. This is the prayer book of the Bible. I choose a psalm that meets my need and pray the verses of that psalm as a prayer for myself or for someone who is in deep need.

I love Psalm 3, Psalm 56, 57, 91 and 121. There are many others that can help you.

Please never give up. God is with you and your family.

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by.

I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me. Ps 57:1–2 NKJV

The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?

When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell.
Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident. Ps 27:1–3 NKJV

The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. Ps 121:7–8 NIV




 

Spiritual Warfare

We see in the New Testament that the war has already been won. The devil was defeated by Jesus on the cross. But if Jesus has already won the war, why do we still have to fight? Do we still have to fight? Of course we do.

Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Eph 6:11 NIV

But some say we don't have to fight because the battle is not ours; the battle belongs to the Lord.

But this passive view leads to disaster. Turkey was once a region where the gospel spread marvellously. But the Christians gradually became religious and no longer devoted disciples.

Then Islam came and Christianity was almost one hundred per cent abolished. The devil can win battles if we don't hold on to Jesus and fight for our faith with God's power.

…  for the battle is the LORD’s, … 1 Sam 17:47 NIV

This Bible text is often quoted and misinterpreted. It is said that we do not have to fight against the devil because the battle does not belong to us, but to the Lord.

All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” 1 Sam 17:47 NIV

But we must understand Bible texts in context. David said these words and then he fought against the soldier of Satan and struck Goliath dead with the supernatural help of the Lord.

There are situations where we must fight the devil with God's help and we may defeat the devil, not with our own strength, but by God intervening supernaturally because the battle belongs to the Lord.

I prayed for a long time for some women who were mentally ill. These were not passive prayers, but a battle in the spirit with the help of God's Spirit. I persevered in prayer for a long time, and not just for a few years. I then saw amazing improvements.

Anyone who does not believe in spiritual warfare and does not believe that miracles are necessary understands very little about Christian love and prayer.

You don't need a miracle until you need a miracle.

Prayer and Free Will

 God gave Adam and Eve the power to make the most amazingly powerful decision of all, to choose to obey God or disobey!! 

Humans were empowered to make real decisions, otherwise they would not reflect the image of the supreme decision maker, God.

And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden,
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.” Ge 2:16–17 CSB

God gave Adam and Eve the ability to sin, to resist His own will. This is what sin is.

This is the reality of free will. God has never removed this free will, to obey or resist His will. Why do born again Christians still sin, if they have been given a new heart and a new nature? Because we still have a free will which God has sovereignly determined that we should have.

If humans do not have a free will to obey or resist the will of God, if all our actions are determined by God, then we would have to agree with Calvin, who said “God not only foresaw that Adam would fall, but also ordained that he should.” (Calvin’s Inst., b. 3, c. 23, sec. 7.) 

.... “he fell not only by the permission, but also by the appointment, of God.” (Calvin Responsio ad Calumnias Nebulonis
cujusdam ad Articulum primum.) “He sinned because God so ordained,
because the Lord saw good.” (Calvin’s Inst., b. 3, c. 24, sec. 8.)

Does that mean every person has complete freedom to recognise the choice he or she is confronted with? Sadly not.

But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Co 4:3–4 CSB

• It is very difficult to believe if you are brought up to believe there is no God in a Communist country.

• It can be very difficult to believe if you are taught from infancy that Christians are bad people who believe in three gods.

• It can be difficult to believe in the goodness of God if you are brought up in a brutal, abusive family where you are led to believe in Jesus as a severe judge who hates you when you sin.

This is where we see the necessity of the mighty grace of God to open blind spiritual eyes.

How can we as believers penetrate this darkness?

There are many people who cannot believe only through hearing a message. They need a personal experience or direct encounter with God.

Millions of people are converted from other religions in our time through healing miracles and dreams and visions, in which Jesus personally reveals Himself.

This is the result of millions of Christians who pray for the conversion of atheists and believers in other religions. God commands us to pray and believe in His willingness to answer with great supernatural power.