Praying Pint

Luk 18:10-13  “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

Two men walked into the temple to pray. That is where the similarity ends. The Pharisee stood and prayed: Luke’s word for his posture is telling. He didn’t kneel. He didn’t bow. He stood, and he began to itemize. Every word he said was true. That is what makes it so devastating.

The tax collector stood at a distance. Not at the front, where the righteous positioned themselves. At the back, near the edge, where the unworthy lingered. He couldn’t even lift his eyes. He beat his chest, a gesture of grief, of self-accusation, and said the only thing he could say: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13).

No itemized list. No résumé. Not just having little, but having nothing to offer, nothing to stand on, nothing to bring.

The Pharisee prayed to a God who owed him something. The tax collector prayed to a God who owed him nothing. Only one of them was right about God. And only one of them went home right with God.

Pride wants to stand. Humility wants to kneel. And every time we walk into the room to pray, one of them wins. The question is not which one we are. The question is which one we bring into the room when we pray.

Come empty. You will be filled. You will be justified.

Jonah 3:4-5    Then [Jonah] cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

“Gipsy” Smith was a British evangelist who preached in Great Britain and America for more than seventy years. He is famously known for this formula for bringing about revival: “Go home. Lock yourself in your room. Kneel down in the middle of the floor, and with a piece of chalk draw a circle around yourself. There, on your knees, pray fervently and brokenly that God would start a revival within that chalk circle.” That is, there can be no corporate revival (renewal) that does not begin with prayerful, personal revival.
God sent Jonah to Nineveh to preach a message of impending judgment if the city did not repent. Thankfully, the city listened to Jonah’s message and repented before God. But that corporate repentance only happened because Jonah repented first of his personal sins and submitted to God’s direction for his life. The awakening in Nineveh was the result of renewal in Jonah.

Be in prayer for revival in your family, church, city, and nation. But pray most fervently for revival in your own heart. (Dr. Jeremiah)

Psalm 51:1   “Have mercy upon me, O God.”

When Dr. Carey was suffering from a dangerous illness, the enquiry was made, “If this sickness should prove fatal, what passage would you select as the text for your funeral sermon?” He replied, “Oh, I feel that such a poor sinful creature is unworthy to have anything said about him; but if a funeral sermon must be preached, let it be from the words, ‘Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.’” In the same spirit of humility he directed in his will that the following inscription and nothing more should be cut on his gravestone:—

William Carey, Born August 17th, 1761: Died – –

“A wretched, poor, and helpless worm

On thy kind arms I fall.”

Only on the footing of free grace can the most experienced and most honoured of the saints approach their God. The best of men are conscious above all others that they are men at the best. Empty boats float high, but heavily laden vessels are low in the water; mere professors can boast, but true children of God cry for mercy upon their unprofitableness. We have need that the Lord should have mercy upon our good works, our prayers, our preachings, our alms-givings, and our holiest things. The blood was not only sprinkled upon the doorposts of Israel’s dwelling houses, but upon the sanctuary, the mercy-seat, and the altar, because as sin intrudes into our holiest things, the blood of Jesus is needed to purify them from defilement. If mercy be needed to be exercised towards our duties, what shall be said of our sins? How sweet the remembrance that inexhaustible mercy is waiting to be gracious to us, to restore our backslidings, and make our broken bones rejoice! (Spurgeon)

Acts 15:22-29  Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

Now, before there can be communion there must be union. The sharers are one in a sense altogether above organization, nationality, race or denomination. That oneness is a divine thing, achieved by the Holy Spirit in the act of regeneration. Whoever is born of God is one with everyone else who is born of God.

The early Christians, under the fire of persecution, driven from place to place, sometimes deprived of the opportunity for careful instruction in the faith, wanted a “rule” which would sum up all that they must believe to assure their everlasting welfare. Out of this critical need arose the creeds. Of the many, the Apostles’ Creed is the best known and best loved, and has been reverently repeated by the largest number of believers through the centuries. And for millions of good men that creed contains the essentials of truth. Not all truths, to be sure, but the heart of all truth. It served in trying days as a kind of secret password that instantly united men to each other when passed from lip to lip by the followers of the Lamb. It is fair to say, then, that the truth shared by saints in the apostolic fellowship is the same truth which is outlined for convenience in the Apostles’ Creed.

In this day when the truth of Christianity is under serious fire from so many directions it is most important that we know what we believe and that we guard it carefully. But in our effort to interpret and expound the Holy Scriptures in accord with the ancient faith of all Christians, we should remember that a seeking soul may find salvation through the blood of Christ while yet knowing little of the fuller teachings of Christian theology. We must, therefore, admit to our fellowship every sheep who has heard the voice of the Shepherd and has tried to follow Him.

The beginner in Christ who has not yet had time to learn much Christian truth and the underprivileged believer who has had the misfortune to be brought up in a church where the Word has been neglected from the pulpit, are very much in the same situation. Their faith grasps only a small portion of truth, and their “sharing” is necessarily limited to the small portion they grasp. The important thing, however, is that the little bit they do enjoy is real truth. It may be no more than this, that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”; but if they walk in the light of that much truth, no more is required to bring them into the circle of the blessed and to constitute them true members of the apostolic fellowship. (Tozer)

Nahum 1:2  The LORD is a jealous and avenging God

Nahum 1:7  The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.

Deuteronomy 4:24    For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Exodus 20:5    You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

Your Lord is deeply protective of your love, believer. Did he choose you? Then he cannot bear to see you choose another above him. Did he purchase you with his own blood? Then he cannot endure the thought that you belong to yourself or to this world. He loved you so much that he would not remain in heaven without you. He would rather die than let you perish, and he will not tolerate anything standing between your heart and him. He is also deeply concerned about your trust. He does not want you leaning on human strength when his overflowing fountain is always open to you. When we depend on him, he is pleased. But when we shift our confidence to our own wisdom, to another person’s advice, or worse, to our own good works, he lovingly disciplines us to bring us back to himself. He is also concerned about our fellowship. No one should receive more of our attention and conversation than Jesus.

To remain in him is true love. But when we seek our deepest comfort in the world, settle for earthly pleasures, or even prefer the company of other believers over quiet fellowship with Christ, we grieve our loving Lord. He wants us to remain close to him and enjoy steady communion with him. Many of the trials he allows are meant to loosen our hearts from created things and fasten them more securely to himself. Even his holy jealousy should comfort us. If he loves us enough to care so deeply about our hearts, then we can be sure he will not allow anything to truly harm us, and he will guard us from every enemy. May God give us grace today to keep our hearts faithfully devoted to Christ alone, turning our eyes away from the attractions of the world and fixing them on our beloved Savior. (Spurgeon)

2 Chronicles 7:14  “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land”

Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Matthew 4:4  But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Psalm 119:103    “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” 

1 Peter 2:2    “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” 

Amos 8:11-12  “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.

Isaiah 29:13    The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.

When we eat and drink from the Word of God, there should be nourishment to our hearts, minds, and souls. Think about what happens within our bodies when we eat healthy but tack on a sugar-filled drink and dessert. Did we actually eat healthy? We could also consume fast food laced with nothing good but choose not to eat dessert. We fool ourselves constantly about what is healthy eating because our whole culture has adopted unhealthy eating as healthy.
When we eat from the Word of God we can have a great breakfast of devotion and prayer but then eat the desserts of the world all day. We see some in the Christian culture supporting this when it offers –“Here is a quick 5-minute devotion to start your day”.
If we are not mindful of what we eat and drink from this world and what it regards as import, we will think, speak, and act by the influences of it.

Does “5-minutes a day” give us knowledge, understanding, and wisdom in things of God?
Does “5-minutes a day” ground us and influence our thoughts, words, and actions so that Christ is honored and glorified?
Does “5-minutes a day” give us solid food or baby’s milk for our spiritual growth?

Deuteronomy 6:6-9   These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

1Peter 2:1-3  So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.  Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—  if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever.

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, `Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.’ Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus’ name, Amen. (Tozer)

Romans 12:2  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and the servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all.

If we would find God amid all the religious externals we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as always God discovers Himself to `babes’ and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond.

When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself. The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the `and’ lies our great woe. If we omit the `and’, we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing.

We need not fear that in seeking God only we may narrow our lives or restrict the motions of our expanding hearts. The opposite is true. We can well afford to make God our All, to concentrate, to sacrifice the many for the One. (Tozer)

Psalms 25:1    To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.

Psalms 25:4  Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.

We can well afford to make God our All, to concentrate, to sacrifice the many for the One. The author of the quaint old English classic, The Cloud of Unknowing, teaches us how to do this. `Lift up thine heart unto God with a meek stirring of love; and mean Himself, and none of His goods. And thereto, look thee loath to think on aught but God Himself. So that nought work in thy wit, nor in thy will, but only God Himself. This is the work of the soul that most pleaseth God.’

Again, he recommends that in prayer we practice a further stripping down of everything, even of our theology. `For it sufficeth enough, a naked intent direct unto God without any other cause than Himself.’ Yet underneath all his thinking lay the broad foundation of New Testament truth, for he explains that by `Himself’ he means `God that made thee, and bought thee, and that graciously called thee to thy degree.’ And he is all for simplicity: If we would have religion `lapped and folden in one word, for that thou shouldst have better hold thereupon, take thee but a little word of one syllable: for so it is better than of two, for even the shorter it is the better it accordeth with the work of the Spirit. And such a word is this word God or this word love.’

When the Lord divided Canaan among the tribes of Israel, Levi received no share of the land. God said to him simply, `I am thy part and thine inheritance,’ and by those words made him richer than all his brethren, richer than all the kings and rajas who have ever lived in the world. And there is a spiritual principle here, a principle still valid for every priest of the Most High God. (Tozer)