Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

January 13
Tuesday

Rapture*
THE BIBLE'S
SCHOOL
OF PRAYER

READ:
Habakkuk 1:1-4
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I will speak in the
anguish of my spirit.
__Job 7:11
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To call God and us unequal partners is a laughable understatement. And yet by inviting us to do kingdom work on earth, God has indeed set up a kind of odd-couple alliance. God delegates work to human beings so that we do history together, so to speak. Clearly, the partnership has one dominant partner--something like an alliance between Microsoft and a high school programmer.

We know well what happens when human beings form unequal alliances: the dominant partner tends to throw his weight around and the subordinate mostly keeps quiet. But God, who has no reason to be threatened by us, invites a steady and honest flow of communication.

I sometimes wonder why God places such a high value on honesty in our prayers, even to the extent of enduring unjust outbursts. I am startled to see how many biblical prayers seem ill-tempered. Jeremiah griped about unfairness (20:7-10); Habakkuk accused God of deafness (1:2); Job conceded, "What profit do we have if we pray to Him?" (21:15). The Bible teaches us to pray with blistering honesty.

God wants us to come to Him with our complaints. If we march through life pretending to smile while inside we bleed, we dishonor the relationship. __Philip Yancey
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`````````````````Give Him each perplexing problem,```````````````
`````````````````All your needs to Him make known;``````````````
``````````````````Bring to Him your daily burdens--```````````````
`````````````````Never carry them alone! __Adams```````````````
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The best thermometer of your spiritual temperature
is the intensity of your prayer. __Spurgeon

****************Today's Bible Reading __ Habakkuk 1:14**********

1 The burden which the
prophet Habakkuk saw.

2 O LORD, how long shall I
cry, and You will not hear?
Even cry out to You,
"Violence!" And You will
not save. 3 Why do You
show me iniquity, and cause
me to see trouble? For
plundering and violence are
before me; there is strife,
and contention arises.

4 Therefore the law is
powerless, and justice never
goes forth. For the wicked
surround the righteous;
therefore perverse judgment
proceeds.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

The prophet Habakkuk was in the "School of Prayer." In Andrew
Murray's classic devotional WITH CHRIST IN THE SCHOOL OF PRAYER , he
reflects on John 14:13, "That the Father may be glorified in the Son:
it is to this end that Jesus on His throne in glory will do all we ask
in His Name.... This must be with us, as with Jesus, the essential
element in our petitions: the glory of the Father must be the aim and
end, the very soul and life of our prayer. It was so with Jesus when
He was on earth. 'I seek not Mine own honour: I seek the honour
of Him that sent Me'.... Let us make His aim ours: let the glory
of the Father be the link between our asking and His doing: such
prayer must prevail." __Dennis Fisher