http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=77647...

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this is one of my favorite videos it not in English so you are forced to read the subtitles but it well worth it

http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=412b1...

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http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=7b4dd...

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We we think of God's All powerfulness, we think of the name El Shaddai or God All Mightyl this was the name God reveled to Abraham in Gen 17:1 this name occures 48 times in 48 verses in the bible and it carves into granit the status of God in relation to everything else that is in exsistence today. God could have very easily used another name that had to do with his power when he was speaking to Abraham but He wanted it perfectly clear there is no power except it comes from God! Because God is All Powerful.

To read the rest of my blog go to http://knowledge46.blogspot.com/2009/01/omnipotent-god.html

Filling Our Mouths with Arugments Toward God!

 

"Oh that I knew where I might find Him! that I might come even to His seat! I would order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments." – Job 23:3,4

Charles Spurgeon in his sermon on Effective Prayer, and then again John Piper as an exegesis of Psalm 143 in his sermon titled "How to argue with God" Both sited Job 23:3-:4 as a starting point for their tremendously powerful sermons on prayer.

Where the goal of Charles Spurgeon's was to develop in the members of his church, an effective prayer life, John Piper's goal, seemed to be to teach on how to argue with God

So powerful in fact are the lessons taught by these two men that I wanted to address this most complicated and off-times ignored practice of "filling our mouths with argument to God". In fact a deeper understanding of filling our mouths with arguments is naturally the next level of intensity concerning this subject.

Filling our mouths with arguments to God is not the same thing as arguing with God. I was always taught and I'm sure that most people will agree that arguing with God is foolish! God is right. You (or I) are wrong, argument complete.

In the above passage (Job 23:3-4) it is the intentions of Job to order his cause before God, to give reason for God to intercede on a situation or circumstance in his life, much like we would order our cause before a judge in court. Preparing our arguments (reasons) why the judge should see things our way or make a favorable decision for us.

Filling our mouths with arguments, are prayers of lament, and anguish, with contrite heart, when the passion of our desire in prayer is so great, and the need so important that we beg that God will provide our salvation.

Now at first you may say that this is foolish to think that we can reason with God but to a limited extent this very thing is taught in today's churches. We are taught to "give God's word back to God in prayer" for example we say in prayer " God your word says you will not forsake me….." or "Jesus says that what ever we ask in his name….." All of these are acceptable methods of reasoning with God.

Take a minute to ingest the level of the arguments Abraham put before God concerning Sodom and Gomorrah where his nephew Lot and his family lived.

(Genesis 18:24-25) Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

In this passage the patriarch wrestles with God's will by pleading his case, in a desperate effort to save his nephew. Abraham "orders his cause before God" and fills his mouth with arguments, saying if there be fifty righteous will you destroy the fifty unjustly for the sake of the wicked? That is not the attributes of the creator of the world to do judge unjustly.

 

When we are filling our mouths with arguments we have after seriously assessed the situations and are pleading with God with passion with fervency, with the knowledge that unless God help us there is nothing or no one else that can help us, we are falling at the feet of God to show his Grace toward us. 

Charles H Spurgeon in his sermon o Effective Prayer says "The best prayers I have ever heard in our prayer meetings have been those which have been fullest of argument. Sometimes my soul has been fairly melted down when I have listened to brethren who have come before God feeling the mercy to be really needed, and that they must have it, for they first pleaded with God to give it for this reason, and then for a second, and then for a third, and then for a fourth and a fifth, until they have awakened the fervency of the entire assembly." 

In Psalm 143:2 we have David giving his argument to God for not entering into judgment against him.
In verse 5 and 6 David argues that his past servitude to God was upright and unquenchable; this is important in that David understood that these things he had done in the past were pleasing to God and therefore were good argument on the quality of his love for God.
In verse 11 David place the hope of his arguments on the promises of God resting his faith on the scriptures (Numbers 23:19) and God's faithfulness to God's word, and that God Grace and love for him will be and additional argument for interceding in David condition. 

  

I think we must understand in the end its about God's Grace which must be the foundation of all arguments, a successful arguments toward God are always founded upon God's Grace. If we think for a moment that we can stand on our own merit we will fail before God. When we come before God with a contrite heart, fully aware of our unworthiness, of our sinful state, our realization that without God we will spend eternity in hell; then we can began to understand the intense lifesaving importance of God's Grace, and that by Grace alone and nothing of ourselves that we obtain anything from God and our heart becomes contrite and our arguments become acceptable unto God.

 

 Next time I write it will be on Composing Arguments

  

Troy "awwsum" Pearsall
check out my other sites 
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When the Enemy Attacks Your Prayers!

Ephesians 6:18 (KJV)
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Ephesians 6:18 (TNIV)
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people

If we look at the above scripture (I liked both translations) we notice something unique from the Apostle Paul's statement that praying in the spirit and praying in all occasions is not enough we need to be alert ( Watching thereunto) 

Now I hope that I'm not reading anything into this but it seems as though  Paul is suggesting that something is ( may) happen while we are in prayer that is antagonistic to the state of prosperous prayer. This verse would say to me, that we must have the spiritual discernment to correctly recognize the wiles of Satan in our prayer!

OK I'm not crazy; let me have a few minutes of your time to better give my arguments.

Prayer is a service, they we do to achieve many things. We speak the will of God in prayer, get to know God though prayer, confess our sins to God though prayer, even thank God for his blessing and tender mercies, loving kindness, salvation, forgiveness of sin, and his son Jesus Christ through prayer.  But most importantly we develop or strengthen the relationship we have with God through Prayer.

But Satan seeks to maneuver other things in our life in front of prayer, and place prayer in back burner. Even things that may appear to be for the edification of God's kingdom can interrupt the time we have for prayer. We find it easy to be enthusiastic when it comes to making it to Christian concerts, and ministry meetings, bible study, Sunday school, and even Church, but something always comes up when it time to pray.

Faced with all the tribulations of life we say "this is the type of thing that only prayer can solve" yet we talk more about it, we worry more about it, we contemplate more about it, we scheme more about it, we seek after our own solutions more about it, than we pray about it. Basically we put everything in front of prayer. Prayer is always last on our list of things to do.

Sadly, not one of us can say we have gone to God enough in prayer. We all have committed the sin of neglecting prayer, and sought our own devices to answer our problems. We all have placed prayer on the back burner for something else more important. But really what more important than prayer?

It is God's will that we pray, and we say we love the Lord, we say we place Christ as Lord over our lives, but we fail to make time to commune with God. Even, Billy Graham spiritual advisor to many presidents, whom have arguably preached the word of God to more people than anyone else on this planet. As of 1993, more than 2.5 million people had stepped forward at his crusades to "accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior at his revivals. Even this great man of God has admitted to being so motivated with doing the Work of God that he has forgotten to do the Will of God!  Now don't go around telling people I said Billy Graham don't pray, the point I'm trying to get across is that we can put things, even the things of God ahead of the Will of God.

The South African Minister Andrew Murray wrote "If we do not set a given time to pray, we will not pray" I would add also that we pray that out prayer time is never snatched away by the manipulation of the Devil.

But it is not just the prayer time that we must be watchful of. Often times when we are on our knees Satan seek to take control of our very thoughts. A mind that was perfectly clear of outside thoughts is now while we are in prayer being interrupted with thoughts of Monday's meeting at work, or the phone bill, or even weather we've forgotten to turn off the lights in the basement before you came up to pray. This is just another way the Devil seeks to prevent you from spending time with God. This is how he, Satan, intercepts your supplications for the healing of Sister Jones at church, or the request of the salvation of a family member or friend on drugs. You see a prayer heard by God is a victory for you and a testimony of God faithfulness, so when your drop down on you knees to pray you become enemy of the devil, and he will do all he can to make you fail at prayer.

So is there any thing that we can do to fight these devices of Satan against us? Yes, pray, her are some suggestions that may help you to combat the Devil.

Set a Time to Pray

Set a time to pray two or three times per day, and let nothing come between your prayer time not even the works of God. Even though you have a set prayer time you should still pray whenever you have a few minutes to yourself. For instance while waiting for a bus, you can pray, or sitting in the doctors office waiting for your name to be called all both excellent times to pray.

Stay Single-Minded

Before you pray, pray that God will keep you single-minded, that your prayer will not be obscured by any of the Devil's devices.  And when or if your prayers are interrupted by disturbing thoughts, weakness, or just human junk, speak them out or your life. In Matthew 16:23 when Simon Peter tried to convince Jesus not to take up the cross, Jesus answered "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns." (TNIV)
This allowed Christ to remain single-minded toward the things of God. Remember that the mind is the Devils play-ground; he attacks us in the mind causing us to question our faith, and even intercepting or interrupting our prayer with God.  So before you pray put on the Helmet of Salvation so that the mind is protected against the evil devices of the enemy!

 

Spiritual Vindication 
praying until the burden is gone

 

Prayer for me was very difficult at first; now I pray even when I have no idea what to pray about, I pray. But it was not always that way. I had to study to show my approved to God. I had to learn how to pray and nothing has been more enlightening than Matthew 26:36-46 ( in blue below) in this prayer I found not just how to pray but some of the power that came with prayer

 

              Matthew 26:36-46 (KJV)

Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

 

In the above verse we see that Jesus prayed three times in the garden of Gethsemane at which time, when his prayers were heard he stopped praying. Now this does not mean that we should pray to God three times and stop put that we should pray to God and when God has heard us we stop.

 

2Corinthians 12:8 "I besought the Lord trice that it might depart form me"

 

What is being given to us here is the instruction that we should pray until we are confidence in what God's will is concerning the situation for which we are praying. We should pray until the burden of the situation has been removed!

In his book "Powerful According to God" Watchman Nee suggest that even in prayer meeting (corporate prayer) we pray one for the same thing until all are confident in God will concern this thing.

 

Let's assume for clarity of subject that Sister Jones is sick we should not assume that since one member has already prayed for Sister Jones that there is no need to pray for her yourself.  Sometimes we say within ourselves that since Brother Smith has prayed and I am in agreement with him there is no need for me to likewise pray for her. But it is very important to understand that there most be a contrite heart in prayer and it is that burden (need that only God and fulfill) that is on your heart that brought you to prayer in the first place.  (See my blog concerning prayer to tears.)  This being so we pray until we have all released this that burden which brought us to prayer. In this case our compassion for Sister Jones health and then we can say confidently that God has heard our prayer.

Let think on the judge which is sought by the widow to avenger her against enemy (Luke 18:1) Why does he avenger her? Was it for justice? Or for her righteousness? No the judge says to himself I will avenger lest she wears me out from continual coming.

 

There is real power in this parable in that it gives perfect instructions in our to pray for answers. You see when that Jude said to the women I will avenge you her burden was removed. She no longer had to come to the judge for that problem with her enemy. The judge had removed the burden of getting what were rightfully her possessions.

 

In Verse 7 Jesus says "…and shall not God avenge his elect that cry to him day and night"?  This is instruction to pray continually, because in that we are accusing our enemy before God (I'm going to use this word again) continually! Because you can believe that the enemy is before God to accuse us of our transgressions.

 

Revelation 12:10 (KJV) And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

 

This is spiritual vindication for all that the devil does to us, therefore as the devil treat us before God so shall we treat him. Therefore oppose the devil before God until the release of the burden, with prayer and supplication that we may have a true victory in Christ and trod upon the devil with our feet.

 

FireSpeaks Prayer and Meditation Blog

Nothing has hindered the blessing or the manifestation of blessing in the life of urban men today like the concept that it is unmanly to cry.

With time, as believer in Christ we learn to mature beyond the inundated precepts of a society motivated by the whiles of Satan's pride. Those bit of society that tell us men should not cry.  However for some the need to restrict crying is never released; not in public prayer, not even in secret pray with God. Some men never realize that tears are not a sign of weakness but the expression of compassion. And because of this they never reach the full application of the compassion of Christ.

One of the things God desire in our life is that we learn to lean on him for all things in our life. However this to may seem like an admission of weakness, our pride says to us "I don't need nobody" This is how the God of this world interject his poison into even our prayer and our relationship with God.

We listen to society telling us that we are self-sufficient, But the man of women of god is not self-sufficient in fact the very opposite is true. If we believe we can do anything ourselves, we have no God in us.  Not until God sees the hopelessness in our life, and we experience the realization our personal situation is solely dependent on God will for salvation, there is no man ore women, no job or circumstance, when we get to that point in life when we can do nothing but break down in tears crying out to God, realizing that in God hand alone is our salvation. Then God smile on us and hears our prayers.

So when we pray we need to pray in a state of desperation. If the need is not important enough to more us, how can we expect it to have the power needed to move God?

The bible is full of scripture where the tears shed in prayer are heard by God

2 Kings 20:5 (KJV) Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.

Hebrews 5:5-7 (KJV) ⁵ So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.
⁶ As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. ⁷ Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

From the above verse in Hebrews we see that even Jesus Christ would pray to the point of tears. But not until we read psalms 56:8 do we get any idea as to why.

Psalms 56:8 (TNIV) Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll are they not in your record? When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me

Ok I'm going to say it. Sometimes prayer is ineffectual just because there are no tears. This does not mean that tears make a prayer effectual. However if your prayer can not move you to sorrow, and you are doing the prayer, how much less is it moving God to want to see that prayer fulfilled?

Every one of ancient times cried out in prayer to the Lord. I would go as far as to say that it appears to be those that cried the hardest are the ones that did the greatest works in God. 

In Paul's letter to Timothy he writes "I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;  Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;" 2 Timothy 1:3-4 (KJV)

I hope that I have given some of my personal insight into prayers.

Please give some feed back (positive or not)

Your Brother in Christ

Troy