heaven's tree book club

August 15, 2012
How Did Jesus Pray?
This is by far one of the longest chapters I have read in a long while. It would take some time to get into all the details of this chapter, but the main point is to answer how Jesus prayed. The author describes how Jesus used different prayers as he described in the previous chapter. For example, in John 17, more popularly known as the high priestly prayer, Jesus prays for the disciples and for other believers. This is an intercessory prayer. The prayer in the garden of gethsemane is a prayer of consecration. The author also makes an argument that the Lord's prayer is not how we should pray today. It was a model before the cross and not a model today. I know many Christians consider this a model prayer and many churches say this at the end of service. The author's basis of saying that the Lord's prayer does not work is because is not done in the name of Jesus. Much of the focus here is praying in the name of Jesus.
Before going further, I must comment on how I am doing. I went to two fellowship groups today. In the morning I went to my dad's Cantonese Bible study. My patience was really tested there as I listened to a Bible study, worship, and sharing in a language I can only understand about 50-60 percent. Additionally, they had lunch and my dad did massage treatment for two people which made my stay there close to four hours. What is more is that it was at a house where I could not use the wheelchair and so all morning and into the afternoon, my joints felt really uncomfortable. I didn't even know if I could make it to our young adult small group. I thought I would just be there for dinner because after sitting for nearly four hours at the morning group, my joints were in bad shape which I learned that my joints need better rest and I cannot sit that long. The young adult group was like night and day,. My mood when at Happy Corner was like 100 times better. I laughed more, felt far more comfortable, and did not feel like a person with health problems. Yes, at Happy Corner, I was happy! I think it was the friends, being around young people, the food, the service, and maybe even the air condition. Maybe it was everything. The book study and prayer was nice too. I came home feeling totally energized more so than in a really long time.. I know more and more how critical it is that our emotions effect our physical health. At home I felt really bad both emotionally and physically. What is more is that someone informed me of an volunteer opportunity locally. I've been praying for some time about ways to help the community and perhaps this might be an option. Hope also is a key piece of recovery and healing. I am learning that as I pray for healing physically, it is not so simple. Physical healing involves much more than the physical condition getting better. It involves relationships, seeing hope, and growing closer to God. As I continue this journey on understanding prayer, how we pray is a key part in effective prayer. There is power in Jesus name.    
  
"It's true, there is something about His name, and for believers, it is a divine legal instrument that we need to use responsibly. We see that in Acts 3:1-8, where John and Peter encounter a lame beggar. Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk" (v. 6). We do not know that Peter meant that he was dead broke—I'm not certain of that at all—but rather when he said, "Silver and gold I do not have," he meant, "I don't have money that will address your real problem, which is that you can't walk." The critical part comes when he says, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." At that moment, the demons of infirmity and lameness that had afflicted that man all those years said, in essence, "The name of Jesus, I know!"—and out they went. Peter went on to address the people who gathered around by saying:
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.
—Acts 3:13
What did we read in John 14? "Whatever you ask [demand] in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
Do you see the difference? Peter wasn't praying for the lame man; he was laying hands on him and exercising authority in the name of Jesus."
This text from Acts three has been my prayer text for healing for many weeks now. I want to get up and walk with total restoration of my body so that the healing may bring glory to the Father. I have an unbelieving brother and mother and many unbelieving relatives who know I am in a wheelchair now. There is power in Jesus name and I don't want to doubt it. I grow close sometimes in doubting the power of Jesus name when days go by and no healing happens. I don't fully understand the power of a name especially in the spiritual dimension. We cannot say in the name of John, I ask for healing of my body. Likewise, I do not grasp how we pray in Jesus name either. I long desire to be able to experience the power of praying in Jesus name.

"Notice also that Jesus said, "You will receive, that for, "in order that"] your joy may be full." God wants us to have full joy. Not just tolerable joy or partial joy, but full joy. Full joy is when your pantry is well stocked and you aren't hungry every night. Full joy is when your car works and can take you to your job without breaking down. Full joy is when your body is whole and you aren't battling sickness and disease every day. That does not mean that you should not be joyful when circumstances are not perfect, but that is not God's best for you.
In these verses we have the "how to pray" from Jesus: "And in that day you will ask me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name... " tells us everything we need to know about how to pray. That is the key that starts the car of faith, if you will.
You need to know what to do with that car once it's running, and you need to know what to pray for after you begin your prayer, but this is the formula for an answered prayer. You are to "ask the Father in My name." Do not ask Jesus."
God's best for us is not physical health conditions, or depression, or loneliness, or joblessness. These things happen. I've sat around the house wondering about purpose and meaning for a while. I battle joblessness, depression and physical health conditions and yet it is not God's best for me. If this is not God's best for me, how do I pray for His help and healing in these areas? I long desire wholeness for my life and for my body.

There are two conditions in how we should pray or what we should pray for.
 "1. What do you need?
2. Does God's Word promise you that?
If you think you "need" an adulterous affair, then forget it. God's Word does not promise you that, and you will have no success whatsoever praying to receive that. But if you need a stronger marriage, the Bible is full of promises that a believer's marriage should be blessed. Maybe there is a bully who has been harming your child. You cannot pray that God kill that bully—the Bible doesn't give you that authority. But it does promise that your enemies will come at you one way and go away fleeing seven ways (Deut. 28:7). If your child isn't old enough or spiritually mature enough to claim that for himself or herself, you can pray that over him or her. You cannot pray that a business rival will go broke. The Word doesn't promise you that. But it does promise in Deuteronomy that you will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country, that the Lord will increase your cattle and your flocks (since we don't deal in cattle today, substitute the words "bank accounts and bond portfolios"), and that the Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses (i.e., in your savings accounts). What happens to your rival should be of no concern if your business is prospering beyond all your hopes and dreams! The greatest businessmen in American history uniformly focused on themselves and their production, never on their rivals. Whatever situation it is, you cannot base a prayer on what you want to have happen, but only on what is promised to you by God in His Word."

I close with my prayer for today but then after include a really timely devotional from ODB that really lifted me up today about hopes and dreams. I still do not know why I am here but I pray constantly for purpose.
Prayer:
Father, I am not sure I get the power of the name of Jesus. I want to feel Your power and presence in my life. Today, just a little bit during small group I felt really happy and connected. It had not been like this in the morning. today had been a fairly depressing day especially with my health condition. Yet, we know that these things are not Your best for us. So, Father, I ask that in the name of Jesus You remove my health conditions and help my body towards wholeness and health. I have battled depression and discouragement for some time. It is really uncomfortable to feel defeated and useless most of the time and so pray that in the name of Jesus that You release me from that which is oppressing my mind. Joblessness and loneliness are not part of Your will and so I pray in the name of Jesus to You Father that You soon provide employment and female companionship. There are so many impossible situations I face as someone with limited resources and physical conditions. I have so many hopes and dreams for meaning, for ministry, and for family and marriage. I place my dreams in Your hands, and pray for Your direction and help. I cling to the chapter of Acts that I read today from Acts 3, that in the name of Jesus I can get up and walk and by this my family and relatives might know there is a God in Sacramento.

 
Hopes And Dreams August 15, 2012
Our Daily Bread is hosted by Les Lamborn

READ: Acts 20:16-24

So that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. —Acts 20:24
In 1960, everyone in the high school I attended participated in Project TALENT. For several days, we took tests that surveyed our aptitudes in academic subjects. In addition, we were asked to express our plans, hopes, and dreams for the future. What we didn’t know was that we were among 400,000 participants from 1,300 schools in the largest study of high school students ever conducted in the US. None of us involved in the study could have imagined how our lives would turn out.
The same was true for Saul of Tarsus. As a young man, his goal was to destroy the followers of Jesus (Acts 7:58–8:3; Gal. 1:13). But after his conversion, he became the apostle Paul, whose mission was to multiply them. As he journeyed to Jerusalem, facing prison and hardship, Paul said, “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24 niv).
When our goal is to honor the Lord, He guides and guards us each step of the way. Whatever our hopes and dreams may be, when we place them in God’s hands we know that everything, including setback or success, is under His control. —David McCasland
When we give our hopes and dreams to God
And then leave them in His hand,
We can trust His love and care for us
To fulfill what He has planned. —Sper