Thanking God for Freedom

As we recover from Thanksgiving, continue eating leftover turkey, and start to think about Christmas, I hope we are still maintaining an attitude of thankfulness. We should thank God for our country and the freedom we have to spread the Gospel. We can talk about God. We can worship as we please. We can gather together for fellowship without fear of the government breaking it up. We should thank God for our freedom.
But I'm thinking of an even more significant freedom which God has given us. In Romans 6:17, Paul says, "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you." We as believers ought to thank God for the freedom we have from the punishment and power of sin.
Before we were saved, we were the slaves ("servants") of sin. We did what it said when it said to do it. We had no choice. We were slaves! However, God's regenerating power broke the power of sin's domination.
Now, instead of mindlessly slaving away at sin's bidding, we obey God from the heart. The "doctrine which was delivered to us" (the Gospel which we have been taught) has set us free from the slavery of sin. While we used to be slaves to sin, now we joyfully, willingly, and thankfully serve God!
We should be thankful for the freedom we have in this country. But we should be even more thankful to God for the freedom we have from sin. We no longer have to obey sin. We can now present our bodies to God to do what is right. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Rom 12:1).

How to Pray for Unbelievers

On our prayer sheet, we have a section for unsaved family and friends. There are several names of people we know who are unsaved. We want to see them come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. We want to see them become obedient to the Gospel. How should we pray for them?

• First, we can pray that God will remove the blindness of their hearts. Ephesians 4:18 says that unbelievers' hearts are blinded. 2 Corinthians 3:14-16 pictures this blindness as a veil over their faces that must be removed by the Holy Spirit.
• Second, we can pray that God will open their eyes to understand the Gospel. Jesus told Paul in Acts 26:18 that he was sending Paul "to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."
• Third, we can pray that God will draw them to himself. In John 6:44, Jesus said, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him."
• We can also pray that the Holy Spirit will convict them of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Jesus told his disciples that one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit would be to convict the world (John 16:8-11).
• We can pray that God will grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth. Paul tells Timothy that God's servant should not be quarrelsome, but should be gentle, "in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth" (2 Tim 2:25).

This is a lot more significant than just praying "Help so-and-so to get saved" but it is also more biblical. We ought to be praying for the salvation of unbelievers.

Why Pray? (part 2)

Last week, we explored the question of why Christians should pray. We said we should pray because God has commanded it. This week we will look at another reason we ought to pray.
We should pray because God has ordained prayer as the means to accomplish his will. God is sovereign; that is, he can do whatever he wants whenever he wants to do it. Nobody can stop him or question him. Daniel 4:35 says, "He [God] doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?"
God will accomplish his will. He will complete his plan. But that's not all. It is not a matter of "God will get what he wants in the end." God is completely sovereign: he not only ordains the ends (the outcome), but he also ordains the means (the way it will happen).
Think about this: let's say you want a car. You don't care how you get it, what kind of car it is, or even if it runs (well, maybe you care about that), you just want a car. The car would be the end. Somebody could give it to you, sell it to you (for the right price), whatever. You are probably not in a place where you can determine the means. Someone with some money, however, could say, "I'm going to take $50,000 out of this bank account and go to this dealership and buy this model car." They (to a limited extent) can determine both the ends and the means.
This is a very limited analogy, but God determines both the ends and the means to accomplish his will. We can think of Bible stories where God delivered his people, but by amazing ways (think Moses and the Red Sea, Esther and Mordecai, Ruth and Boaz, Samson, etc.). God wasn't caught off guard, saying, "Boy, I would have never guessed that would have happened, but I'm sure glad it all worked out for the best!"
God has a plan for our lives, but he has ordained that he will accomplish that plan through prayer, for one thing. For example, James 5:15 says, "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up." God says he will heal sick people (if it is his will), and he will do it in answer to prayers offered in faith. Paul asked for prayer regarding his situation in prison. "For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ" (Phil 1:19). He wanted to be released (that's what the word salvation refers to in this verse), and he said God would do it through the prayers of the Philippian believers. In 1 Kings 17, God held back the rain for three and a half years because Elijah prayed. The book of James says that Elijah "prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months" (5:17).
God has ordained prayer as the means by which he will accomplish his plan. We should pray because prayer is the means by which God has chosen to do his sovereign will.

Why Pray?

If you're anything like me, you've probably wondered why we pray. You probably don't ask that out loud, because it sounds irreverent. We pray because. . .well, we just do. Now, don't take this to mean that we shouldn't pray--- we should! But I want to ask and answer the question, "Why should we pray?"
The most simple (and most powerful, in my mind) answer is this: God commands us to pray. It's as simple as that. Why pray? Because God said so.
The Bible clearly commands Christians to pray. Philippians 4:6 says, "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Instead of worrying about things (being "careful" or "anxious"), we are commanded to bring them to God in prayer.
The final item in the "Christian Armor" is prayer. "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Eph 6:18). The Christian soldier does all things with prayer, requesting God for strength. He perseveres (continues forward) in "supplication" (asking God in prayer) for other Christians.
In 1 Timothy 2:1, we are commanded to pray: "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men." The reason that we should pray for everyone is found in verse three: "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior."
1 Thessalonians 5:17 is the shortest verse in the New Testament (in Greek), and it says simply (in English), "Pray without ceasing." The book of James says, "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray" (5:13). If you are "afflicted" (sick), you are commanded to pray.
God commands us to pray. He is pleased by our obedience when we pray. We will look at other reasons, but it should suffice to say, we pray because God has commanded it.