The Sweet Dropper » Prayer

Cream of blog 12.15.11

Phillip Palmertree — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:12:21 +0000

Thoughts from David Powlison on “How to Apply Scriptures When It Does Not Speak Directly and Personally to You.”

Scotty Smith, with “An Advent Prayer for Our Children and Grandchildren”

Gene Edward Veith shares a brother’s sharp view on whose job it is to “keep Christ in Christmas.”

The Resurgence tempts you to consider the lesson we can learn about God’s law from kids and forbidden marshmallows.

Back-to-school advice

Phillip Palmertree — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:15:36 +0000

I had a good meeting this morning with a couple of other fathers–good fellowship, a bit of mutual sharpening and prayer. It reminded me of this quote from The Rev. William Still, late pastor of Gilcomston South Church, Aberdeen, Scotland:

Every autumn I have a spate of letters from fond parents, teachers, guardians, and monitors, appealing to me to follow up on such and such a youngster who is away from home at college for the first time, and who has to be hunted, followed, shadowed, intercepted and driven to Christian meetings. I have scarcely ever know this desperate technique to work. I understand the panic of parents and guardians, but it is too late then to try high-pressure tactics. Prayer, example and precept, in that order, are the means of bringing up children and young folk in the faith. Nor will high pressure tactics and brainwashing techniques avail when young folk have gone off on their own. Some young folk, alas, will have their fling and sow their wild oats, and come at last to heel, sadly, like the prodigal son. It is where Christains pathetically put their trust in external techniques and artificial strategems that young folk go astray. Nothing takes the place of the realism of holy living and secret wrestling before God in prayer for our youngsters.

Well said, John Newton

Phillip Palmertree — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:03:28 +0000

John Newton, on praying for those who preach the Word to you:

I trust I have a remembrance in your prayers. I need them much: my service is great. It is, indeed, no small thing to stand between God and the people, to divide the word of truth aright, to give every one portion, to withstand the counter tides of opposition and popularity, and to press those truths upon others, the power of which, I, at times, feel so little of in my own soul. A cold, corrupt heart is uncomfortable company in the pulpit. Yet, in the midst of all my fears and unworthiness, I am enabled to cleave to the promise, and to rely on the power of the great Redeemer.

Thomas Brooks on prayer

Phillip Palmertree — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:45:03 +0000

From Thomas Brooks (Works 2:256):

God looks not at the elegancy of your prayers, to see how neat they are;
nor yet at the geometry of your prayers, to see how long they are;
nor yet at the arithmetic of your prayers, to see how many they are;
nor yet at the music of your prayers, nor yet at the sweetness of your voice, nor yet at the logic of your prayers;
but at the sincerity of your prayers, how hearty they are.

What we want

Phillip Palmertree — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:22:23 +0000

A great expression of what a gospel-driven church should want, adapted to FPC Kosciusko’s context. The original is from Kevin DeYoung of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan. It makes an excellent prayer guide. I used it as such in our Session meeting a couple of days ago.

We want what God’s people have always wanted:
•    We want God to bless us that we might be a blessing.
•    We long to see sinners saved by God’s free grace.
•    We aim to raise up pastors and missionaries to serve near and far.
•    We want to see neighborhoods and apartments converted.
•    We want the stony hears of teenagers and children, and of colleagues and neighbors, to be turned to flesh.
•    We want a church where the good news of justification by faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone to the glory of God alone is preached boldly and gladly to as many as the Lord brings.
•    We want children nurtured in the word of God.
•    We want to make disciples and teach them to obey all that Christ has commanded.
•    We want to shepherd wisely and faithfully the flock that God has entrusted to us.
•    We want to cultivate a caring, loving communion of saints that use their gifts to build up the body and fan out into our community to promote Christ in word and deed.
•    We want to keep doing the things we do well, and grow in the things we can do better, all to the glory of God, by the power of the Spirit, for the joy of all peoples.
•    We want to help one another know Christ, serve Christ, tell of Christ, and live for Christ.

Prayer for the country

Phillip Palmertree — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 21:03:07 +0000

A most worthy prayer from Geoff Thomas of Aberystwyth, Wales:

“Almighty Creator God, you made the world and everything in it. You are the Lord of heaven and earth. You have given all people life and breath and everything else. You made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth. You determined the exact place where each nation should live, and this you did that we might seek you, and perhaps reach out to you and find you, though you are not far from each one of us, for in you we live and move and have our being. We are all your offspring. So you have appointed us to live in this nation that we love and whose sins make us weep.
“You have established every governing authority and commanded us to submit to them all. We know that if we rebel against the authority then we are rebelling against what you have instituted, and all those who do so will bring judgment on themselves, for rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. You have bid us to pray for all in authority, for presidents, and governors, and congressmen, and judges whether in the Supreme Court or those who make judgments in our smallest communities. You have bid us pray for the police, and for lawyers, for school teachers, for businessmen, for doctors, indeed for all those to whom we are in debt for any and every part of our daily living. You have bid us to pray for them and we regret our failure to have interceded for those who refuse to pray for themselves as we should. Have mercy on us.
“Forgive us if we have thought only ill of our government and consigned Washington to the darkest light. Forgive us that we have grumbled more than prayed about the powers you ordained and have placed in positions of rule. Deliver us from thinking and speaking as though they were only our enemies, but deliver us too from dreaming that such powers as regenerating grace, and the cleansing of redemption, and the gift of divine wisdom could come to our land from any human power. These are your divine prerogatives to bestow, by the church, through your holy word, and in the daily living of those in whom Jesus Christ dwells. The honour of bestowing these graces is yours alone, and in that honour no man shall share. So while we pray for our rulers we do not do so as those who see in them the messengers of salvation. Rather we pray for them as those who are to rule justly, as people who must render an account to you for what they must do, always considering that to whom much has been given much will be required. So have mercy on our rulers; how great their tasks; what enormous problems they face; there are those who would destroy them and us. God protect and keep them. Bring evil men to justice. Arise O Lord and scatter your enemies. Remind our rulers day by day from whom their help alone can come. Teach them always to walk in a modest and humble manner.
“We pray earnestly for our rulers because righteousness alone can exalt any person, any family, any congregation and any nation. How we long that those in power should be characterized by righteous thinking and living. So, merciful God, guide the people of our land in the days to come when they will in their millions choose those who shall enter into a high office and shape the future of the nation we love. God hear our prayer for each one. May they think prayerfully and vote wisely.
“God save the President. God save his wife and children. God save the Cabinet and all who work in the White House. God save all who are appointed to office. Do not give us the leaders we deserve; pity us in your mercy and give us those rulers who will lead our nation into the ways of truth, purity, self control, love and righteousness. Save our nation from those who would destroy it. Prosper the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ in every part of the country and make your people the salt of the earth and the light of this land. Please hear our prayers. Please in your wrath toward us for our wickedness remember mercy. Please revive your work in these days and make the saving beauty of Jesus Christ be seen and desired by all men, because it is in his name we pray. Amen.”

Singing orca

Phillip Palmertree — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:46:30 +0000

This is from the blog of Scotty Smith, Pastor for Preaching, Teaching and Worship at Christ Community Church (PCA) in Franklin, Tennessee:

A Prayer About the Day of Singing Orca

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!” Revelation 5:13

Dear Lord Jesus, I cannot imagine the horror and trauma of those who witnessed the death of an Orca trainer yesterday at Sea World. We pray, especially for the children who were present… bring your healing hand and loving heart to bear. By whatever means you choose, we pray for your redeeming presence in this tragedy.

Jesus, gut-numbing events like this fuel my intense longing for the Day when “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them,” will sing your praise forever in the new heaven and new earth. What Isaiah whispered (Isaiah 11:6-9; 65:17-25) and John envisioned (Revelation 21:1-5), we will enjoy with them—this very world redeemed and restored by you, Lord Jesus—the one who is making all things new.

The very fact that Orca are better known as “Killer Whales” just underscores the fact that nothing in this broken world is the way it’s meant to be. Orca were meant to sing and play, not attack and devour. The odious stench of sin, decay and death permeate every sphere of your creation. In fact, it’s far more incomprehensible to realize that over half of the world’s families exist for a whole month on the price of one Sea World ticket. Have mercy, Lord Jesus, have mercy… I know that you have, and I know that you will….

Until the Day of the pan-creature praise chorus, give us, give me, all the grace and strength we need to love mercy, do justice and walk humbly with our God. So very Amen, we pray, offering all praise, honor, glory and power, to him who sits on the throne and to you, the Lamb of God.

Read the entire entry here.

Read it again in 2010

Phillip Palmertree — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:41:57 +0000

READ THE BIBLE FROM COVER TO COVER IN 2010. You can start at Genesis and go right through to Revelation if you like. My favorite plan involves reading three chapters a day (and five on the Lord’s Day). In this plan you read a different genre of Scripture each day of the week (wisdom literature, Pentateuch, OT histories, prophets, gospels, epistles). The variation has helped me push through the low seasons that come during the year, and it helps me see the interconnectedness of all of God’s Word. I first came across this scheme about twenty years ago when Dr. Douglas Kelly included it as an appendix in his book If God Already Knows, Why Pray? I have passed it along to many others through the years.

Sundays: read five chapters in the Psalms. When done, read through Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.

Mondays: read three chapters in Genesis. When done, read through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Tuesdays: read three chapters in Joshua. When done, read through Judges, Ruth, 1& 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings.

Wednesdays: read three chapters in Job. When done, read through 1 & 2 Chroniclers, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

Thursdays: read three chapters in Isaiah. When done, read through Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

Fridays: read three chapters In Matthew. When done, read through Mark, Luke, John, and Acts.

Saturdays: read three chapters in Romans. When done, read through 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John, Jude, and Revelation.

FURTHER ADVICE

Set a distinct time of day and place for your reading, as free as possible from distractions. Turn off that electronic device that bosses you around.
Use a good, readable translation. I recommend, in the following order: English Standard Version, New King James Version, New International Version, King James Version, and New American Standard. But the best translation of the Scriptures is one you are actually reading! I don’t recommend a study Bible. All those extra notes and comments can be distracting, and you might need an orthopedic specialist if you haul around an ESV Study Bible for 365 consecutive days.
When you forget or fall behind, don’t give up. All is not lost. The devil would like you to give up once you’ve fallen behind. Pick back up right where you were. You can double up to catch up, but you don’t have to. So what if you finish in February 2011?
Pray every day before you read, and after you read.
Ask a friend or loved one to join you in the venture. Keep each other accountable.

Cream of blog 12.01.09

Phillip Palmertree — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:15:57 +0000

A few blog posts worth reading…

Two sharp barbs re: prayer

Phillip Palmertree — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:22:37 +0000

The next sermon in the Jesus Unplugged series is on Luke 11:1-13, in which Jesus’ disciples want him to teach them how to pray. Below are two sharp barbs about prayer–the first from Paul E. Miller’s recent release, A Praying Life,

“The quest for a contemplative life can actually be self-absorbed, focused on my quiet and me. If we love people and have the power to help, then we are going to be busy. Learning to pray doesn’t offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart. In the midst of outer busyness we can develop an inner quiet. Because we are less hectic on the inside, we have a greater capacity to love…and thus to be busy, which in turn drives us even more into a life of prayer. By spending time with our Father in prayer, we integrate our lives with his, with what he is doing in us. Our lives become more coherent. They feel calmer, more ordered, even in the midst of confusion and pressure.”

The second is a humorous-but-deadly-serious observation from Jonathan Acuff’s site Stuff Christians Like. Acuff addresses a frequent prayer meeting and intercessory prayer technique: Praying that God will fix a situation as long as you are not part of the solution. (I dare you to click it and read.) More and more often I find myself coming back to that as I pray and as I lead others in praying, “Father, use us–our words and actions–as part of your gracious answer to these prayers….”