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Gaining Greater Confidence in Prayer

January 7, 2013 by Jim

As some of you may know, I work as the Director of House of Prayer Edmonton (HoPE). Each week we choose a Scripture as a specific focus for devotional prayer and this past week we were looking at Psalm 33; therefore I want to share a few thoughts from Psalm 33 on how we can develop greater confidence in our prayers.

The Psalm opens with several verses exhorting us to praise God (v. 1-5) and then describes why God is worthy of such praise.

By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.  The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.  But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.  From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind;from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth… -v. 6-14 (selections)

The Psalm continues with the incredible promise that “the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine” (v. 18-19).

Here’s what struck me: the entire focus is on who God is, not on who we are! When we pray we are speaking to the one and only true God who formed the universe, who watches all the plans of world leaders and establishes His plans for the earth. He is the God who ‘sees all mankind’ and ‘considers everything they do’ and who has ‘unfailing love’ for us.

The way to develop greater confidence in prayer is to focus on the truth of who God is, as revealed to us in the Scripture. The Psalmist (likely King David) is speaking about God’s ability to deliver people from the most dire circumstances -famine and death! In the midst of such circumstances, David emphasizes the nature and character of God. This may seem impractical to out modern western minds, however nothing could be further from the truth. We have a great ability to focus on ourselves and our immediate surroundings; just think about most people’s conversations at the local donut shop! We love to recount our circumstances and problems that we are facing. The problem is, that focus will actually weaken our confidence and even our motivation to pray!

When our perspective is on God’s power to form the entire universe, his continual involvement in the realities of the world, and his unfailing love towards us, we will have greater confidence in our prayers. This confidence can grow to the point where we are able to rejoice and trust God (v. 21), even in the most challenging circumstances of life!

I will conclude with verse 22:

May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

Amen!

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Posted in Devotional Prayer, General Discipleship | Tagged , , , |

Looking Toward 2013

December 30, 2012 by Jim

As we move into a new year, I wanted to share some words from A.W. Tozer  in The Knowledge of the Holy that continue to impact me. I believe they are as timely for 2013 as they have ever been:

So necessary to the Church is a lofty concept of God that when that concept in any measure declines, the Church with her worship and her moral standards declines along with it. The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God.

The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him – and of her. We do the greatest service to the next generation of Christians by passing on to them undimmed and undiminished that noble concept of God which we received from our Hebrew and Christian fathers of generations past.

In recent months I have very much come to agree with what Tozer has written and my prayer is that my ministry at House of Prayer Edmonton will help to expand and elevate the view of Jesus Christ among the believers in Edmonton and beyond, so that we will love God more fully and worship Him more deeply.

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Reflections on Isaiah 53

April 9, 2012 by Jim

This past weekend was Easter and the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. One of the most famous Old Testament passages about Christ’s passion is found in Isaiah 53. Last week I spent an extended amount of time praying through Isaiah 53 in the HoPE prayer room. (For  those not familiar, I work with a Christian ministry called House of Prayer Edmonton, which has a prayer room that serves the capital region of Edmonton through daily times of prayer and worship.)

There were many things that stood out for me in this chapter, but let me share a bit on one particular verse:

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. (verse 10)

Most people get caught up on the theology of the first half of the verse, pondering how it could be the will of God for Jesus to suffer (which is a very important issue to consider). What I want to comment on is the later part of the verse, that ‘the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand‘. Jesus walked in perfect submission to the purposes and will of God and it was said that God’s will ‘prospered’ in his hand, meaning in his life. God entrusted the plan of salvation into the hands of His Son, giving Jesus full opportunity to legitimately choose whether to ‘walk out’ that plan. We know from the gospel accounts that Jesus was overwhelmed by the prospect of His sufferings (Matt. 26:38), and that could have delivered himself by calling upon legions of angels to save him (Matt. 26:53); yet Jesus voluntarily chose to walk the way of the cross. The choice of Jesus to walk in obedient submission the God’s will is the essence of what it means that the ‘will of God will prosper in his hand’.

This past week I have prayed around this verse, considering whether the will of the Lord will ‘prosper’ in my life. Colossians 1:9 offers a prayer for us to pray that we would have clarity concerning the ‘knowledge of his will’. I understand that God has thoughts and plans concerning my life, which are referred to as his will. How am I walking those plans out? Is the will of the Lord prospering in my life? What does it mean for God’s will to ‘prosper’ in my life?

I am convinced that at the heart of it, there must be an obedient submission to what God is wanting me to do (as well as what he causes to happen in my life).

I will close with a excerpt from a short prayer I wrote in my journal log book that I use in the prayer room:

May your will prosper in my life. God I pray, let your kingdom come and let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and specifically in my life today. Help me to be in agreement, submission and participation with your will O Lord. Amen.

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Posted in Devotional Prayer | Tagged |

Looking on the Bright Side of Harold Camping

May 21, 2011 by Jim

As many people are aware, in recent weeks there has been a great deal of attention paid to a Christian leader named Harold Camping and his group of followers who have predicted the end of the world on May 21 at 6 p.m. Certainly the man is completely off base in his predictions and there is an ample amount of ridicule being circulated in response to Camping and similar predictions about the ‘end of the world’. People like Camping do absolutely nothing but create problems for the broader Christian community by making a mockery of the faith in the eyes of many people who are not Christ followers.

However what I want to comment on is what I see as the potential ‘bright side’ of this entire drama.

Since the 1980′s and the rise and fall in popularity of Hal Lindsay, who also wrote extensively and convincingly on the end-times and the return of Christ, the whole topic of the ‘end-times’ or eschatology, has fallen out of vogue (so to speak) in the majority of Church circles.

Speaking as an ordained pastor myself, I can say from experience that all that is expected of most pastors today is to simply affirm that Jesus Christ will return physically to the earth one day. The details of how or the sequence of events leading up to his return are seen as a matter of personal belief. This has led to very little teaching in evangelical circles on the Biblical teachings on the return of Christ.

This in turn has resulted in most Christians being woefully illiterate on the subject and far worse, they are apathetic and indifferent about Christ’s coming. It is most commonly seen as an event that will happen far in the future, beyond the time of our own earthly lives. Further still, many Christians see the return of Christ as a ‘scary time’ that they honestly hope to avoid!

This a significant problem because when you look at the Scriptures, you see that the return of Christ is the great hope of the Christian faith. In 2 Timothy 4:8 the apostle Paul states that it is central to our faith that we anticipate and actually long for Christ’s return.  Paul was coming toward the end of his life and reflecting back on his ministry and writes this:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day–and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.   – 2 Tim. 4:7-8 (emphasis added)

Similarly, in 1 Corinthians Paul expresses the same thing saying that the believers would ‘eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus to be revealed’ (1 Cor. 1:7).

There is a great need in the Church today for proper teaching on the return of Christ; teaching that again stirs our hearts toward longing for the return of Christ our King. There has always been tremendous debate over the events leading up to Christ’s coming, but when we look at Scripture we see is that the intent is for us to be fixed primarily on the person who is coming and not only on the process of his return. Both are very important, but they must be in proper order. Our great hope is that our King of Kings, Jesus Christ will come again to rule and reign over all the nations and people of the earth!

I am praying these days quite a bit about this theme, asking God to awaken passion in the Church for the coming of Christ again to the earth. I am reminded that as Christians, “we wait for the blessed hope–the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13)

Amen, come Lord Jesus, come!

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Posted in General | Tagged , | 3 Comments »

Apology from the author

April 23, 2011 by Jim

As the author of Prayer Journal, I must apologize for the lack of content on the blog. I have allowed myself to get rather consumed by work related activities.

If you are interested, I just wrote of blog entry on my website on the topic of why Christians should pray for the upcoming Canadian election. Rather than re-post the blog here, you can view the post using this link.

I certainly will work to do better at providing content in the near future here at Prayer Journal!

Blessings to you, Jim Hall

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The Glory of Ministering to God

March 17, 2011 by Jim

One of the most glorious aspects of our identity as Christians is that we are allowed and invited to minister to the eternal God of all creation! It is also one of the least talked about and least understood aspects of our relationship with God.

Revelation 5:10 says “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” As Christians we have a priestly role as the ones who will serve and minister to God. For most believers this sounds good but also a bit mysterious and usually is relegated to something that ‘we’ll figure out when we get there’!

We may not fully grasp the magnitude and nature of this identity and role until the age to come, but it is critical for us to grow in our understanding of this now, in this age, because it has significant consequences for our lives.

King David was one of the first people who really understood this reality. The Lord spoke about it in great detail to David and called him to set up a worship and prayer ministry that came to be known as the ‘tabernacle of David’. Essentially, David set up the first night and day house of prayer, where singers, musicians and intercessors came together and ministered before God in different shifts, and it continued literally 24 hours a day!

There is a lot to say on this topic but let me offer the following summary to stir your thinking:

  1. In King David’s day, the tribe of Levi was set apart for this priestly ministry: “…the LORD chose them (the Levites) to minister before him forever.” -1 Chron. 15:2
  2. In Isaiah’s day, the Lord revealed that his desire was that Gentiles (non Jews) would also be invited into this priestly role as those who would minister before the Lord. “And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him…these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer.” -Isaiah 56:6-7
  3. Jesus came to announce that the Kingdom of Heaven was coming to the earth and told us to pray: “…your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” -Matt. 6:10. This makes it clear that God wants to be ministered to on earth as he is ministered to in heaven.

Let me recap what I’m getting at:

  1. God has said that he desires to have people come before him and minister before him forever and enjoy his infinite glory and splendor.
  2. Since he wants this to continue forever, it means this desire did not stop with the establishment of the new covenant and it is still God’s desire in 2011! God’s plan has been to make it possible for non-Jewish people to be able to serve the Lord in this priestly way.

This is an honor and privilege beyond description! If you went up to the 24 elders in heaven who are gathered in worship around the throne of God, there is NOTHING you could offer them that would tempt them to even consider leaving their role of ministering before God!

We need a greater revelation of the glory and splendor of the God that we love and serve and the honor that has been given to us to come and minister before Him!

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Posted in General Discipleship, Intercessory Prayer | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment »

An Urgent Call to Kneel in Order to Stand

March 14, 2011 by Jim

World events in recent days and weeks require a sober-minded response on the part of Christians and especially Christian leaders.

There are many thoughts and responses by Christian leaders to the Japan earthquake, just as there were many responses to the earthquake in Haiti and New Zealand. In recent months and years many people have quoted Jesus’ prophetic declaration in Matthew 24:7-8 “There will be famines and  earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” Any time you have people writing and speaking about interpreting world events in relation to the ‘end times’ you have guaranteed controversy, so it is with a sigh and a groan that I wade into these topics.

What is on my heart is the response that Jesus himself called for among Christian believers: “Therefore keep watch (and pray) because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” -Matt. 24:42

Here are a few ‘obvious observations’ from Jesus’ dialogue about the end of the age in Matthew 24:

  1. Jesus gave numerous descriptions of the signs of the times, so that we would know them and look for them (see Matt. 24:6-25). He event says ‘”See, I have told you ahead of time” (v. 25)
  2. Jesus told us to learn lessons from the signs in world events. “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: as soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out you know that summer is near. Even so, when see all these things, you know that it (he) is near, right at the door.” (v.32)
  3. Jesus also was clear that nobody will know the specific time of the return of the Lord. “No one knows about that day or hour” (v. 36), and “…the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (v.44)
  4. Jesus wants us to respond to the signs of world events by entering into PRAYER. “Therefore keep watch (and pray) because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (v. 42). Also, Jesus clearly says that he is looking for believers who will be ‘faithful and wise servants’ (v. 45) and that the activity of waiting and praying is what distinguishes the wise from the foolish believers.

Now I want to be very practical and specific at this point: The majority of Christians find it difficult to spend extended periods of time in prayer, by themselves. The reality of the human condition is that we need community. We need to be part of communities of believers who will gather together to watch and pray. If we are going to actually respond in the way that Jesus is calling us to respond, the majority of us will need to find some expression of a community of people who are seeking to go deep in prayer. Yes, some people will be able to do this on their own, and solitary times of prayer are vital and important, however the majority of Christian believers need the support of others around them in order to truly enter into the reality of diligent waiting and prayer before the Lord.

There must be a clear voice that sounds an alarm about the times that we are living in and are heading toward: The days ahead are going to become more difficult and perilous that anything that we have yet seen and we MUST alter the way that we live in order to begin to live lives that Jesus would describe to be faithful and wise.

Right now God is raising up houses of prayer in cities and nations around the world. Many of these are communities of people who are taking the call to prayer and worship seriously. I want to urge you to work to find a local house of prayer in the area where you live and actually get involved and begin to watch and pray! The time for merely talking about how important prayer is but not actually doing it is over! Jesus has warned us that if we do not respond and live as wise and faithful servants who watch and pray then our love for God will grow cold and many will end up being offended at God. However, to the ones who will enter into lives of prayer and worship and extended times of waiting on the Lord will be be able to stand firm to the end and they will be saved! (see Matt. 24:13)

This is NOT a response that is based out of fear; it is the only way to live free from fear in the days ahead! Jesus told us many of the signs to look for and told us ahead of time what to expect, so that we would not be “alarmed”, or full of fear. A lifestyle of prayer and worship is the pathway to live in confidence before God, able to rest in the revelation of his love and sovereign power.

I conclude with a sobering question: How would Jesus describe your lifestyle right now? Are you living as a ‘faithful and wise servant’? These are the questions I am asking myself as I look at my own life! This is the time to throw ourselves into lives of waiting on the Lord in prayer and worship and to call everyone around us to do the same.

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Posted in General Discipleship, Prophetic Prayer | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

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