heaven's tree book club

October 6, 2012

The Intercessor and Purpose

O great and powerful God, whose name is the Lord Almighty, great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve. -Jeremiah 32:18-19

Today is my first day of fasting. When my dad was in the bay area, he had done some reading of his TCM books and was quite excited to share his new discovery concerning the healing properties of fasting. I had long wanted to go on a fast but could not do so without the support of my parents. They would not have been supportive of this as my mom was not supportive of this at first but my dad convinced my mom that it should be all right. I have not fasted since my freshman year of college about 12 years ago. That was a Thursday night to Friday night fast. We broke fast right after the Good Friday service. There seem to be not nearly as many temptations as I had today. Mom made a very fragrant baked chicken for lunch and I could not eat it. The far bigger temptation was going to Joni and Friend's Great Banquet tonight. It was indeed a great banquet. An hour before the dinner, there were a lot of snacks, breads, pastries, hot dogs, sausage, and then there was the dinner. There was pasta, there was steak, there was garlic bread, all my favorites. I ate none of it and people probably thought I was weird for showing up to a great banquet and not eating any of this really good food. And then there was desert. I mean wow, pumpkin pie, chocolate cake, and cheese cake, also my favorites. I was being tempted all night with good food and my dad eating all of it. I chose a bad day to start a fast. My dad said that I could start tomorrow, but I had already started and did not want to give in to the temptation of good food. I can't say it was easy because it was not. There is a spiritual lesson to be found here. God gives us the wisdom and strength to stand in the midst of temptation remind us there is a higher purpose. Nothing would be wrong with giving up my fast to eat some good food, but I wanted to commit to the fast. Tonight was a welcome time out. It would be the sixth day without sunlight and the morning was bleak because I had more pain hence the fast. I did not even know if I ould make it to the banquet. My brother had a movie to go to and I wish that I could go out with friends. It has been quite a while since I last saw friends. My mom too was invited b her friends to dinner. It seems like my mom and brother have so many activities lately while I stay home. It was so nice to come out to the Joni and Friends event. What was so amazing was that they had something called inclusion buddies who we could request who would stay with us throughout the night. And then there was the entrance. They had a red carpet laid out for handicap people to walk on and surrounding the carpet were people who clapped and cheered as we walked in. I felt like I got a royal entrance. I never had such an experience before and felt like a somebody rather than a nobody. But this illustrates a spiritual reality also. When we go home to be with the Lord, we too will be welcomed by the cloud of witnesses who are cheering us on now. There was a lot tonight. There was singing, presentations, prizes, games for the kids, and good food. We sat at round tables and there was a mom who had three very young kids who constantly bickered. She didn't say anything to us but we can understand. The drama presentation was taken from the story of the friends who brought the paralytic to Jesus by drilling a hole in the roof. Jesus has both the authority to forgive sins and heal people of their condition. This text has become very dear to me in my situation.. I could not see the drama but could hear the narration. I continue to see God's power and healing touch to provide a breakthrough in my situation.

"KING JEHOSHAPHAT WAS desperate: A vast army was coming against him. He resolved to seek the purposes of God. Instead of focusing on his problem and trying to figure things out on his own—what we often do—he looked straight to the Lord and said, "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you" (2 Chronicles 20:12). When faced with an insurmountable challenge, Jehoshaphat responded by focusing on God's kingdom.

Jehoshaphat spent a lot of time praising God. He turned his eyes upon God first and praised Him for who He is and what He has promised. He praised God for His rulership over the kingdoms of the nations, fot His power and might (see 2 Chronicles 20:6-9). Then he described the situation to God (verses 10-11). Finally he asked God to intetvene and help (verse 12)."

I think it was two years ago when I did a study on this passage with Acacia. It was on worry. Back then and more so now I had a lot of worry. It brings out this concept of worship-based prayer. We need to focus on God rather than the problems we have but it is very difficult. For me, the problem seems so much bigger than God and so much more visible than God. This passage also has a crisis situation because an army is headed towards Israel and it seems very hopeless. We need a breakthrough from God in these seemingly hopeless situations.

"God wants to move us into a much higher realm of His will. We can get this revelation of His desires and plans only through intimacy with Him. As our hearts touch the heart of God, we have the same goals He has. His burden becomes our burden. We see things as He sees them, and we begin to understand His ways. We live in defeat when all we can think about is our own problems. We all have problems because we are not yet in heaven. It is time to enter into God's perspective to get the big picture and see God's heart. We become much more effective in ptayer when we learn to study God's plans and pray His will. We read in Psalm 33:11,

The plans of the Lord stand firm forever,

the purposes of his heart through all generations.

Whatever your present problem is, God has a solution that is uniquely designed to fit your circumstances. He sees and solves problems perfectly, using His unlimited creativity. He can bring forth something out of nothing just as He created the world. Yes, even those things that seem to presently overwhelm you are no problem to Him. We try to explain things to God, but He already knows everything. We try to tell Him what we think the answers should be. However, God is omniscient and purposeful."

The author separates problem-focused prayer and purpose-focused prayer, purposes being God's purposes. We all have problems, yes. I tend to be defeated and discouraged because all I see are my problems. It is hard to have a big picture mentality when we focus on the size of our problem. I have seen God come through so many times in the past in ways that I knew it was God, but it is always the present circumstances that are the most difficult. The hardest part is not seeing God's hand in the situation.

"Does this mean we don't pray about our problems? No, of course we pray about our personal concerns. But like Jehoshaphat, we concentrate on glorifying Him first. We seek the glory of His name (see Exodus 3:15; 9:16) and the establishment of His kingdom (see Psalm 145:13; Matthew 6:10; Habakkuk 2:14). As we take hold of this truth by faith, we move into a more effective level of prayer. Let's begin to move from our problems to God's solutions.

There are times in life when we cannot figure out what is happening to us. At times, I worry and become overly concerned with my problems. I have found that during such times, when I set my eyes on God and thank and praise Him right in the middle of difficult circumstances, things begin to change. Rather than rehearsing the problem over and over again in my mind, I am able to see how great and powerful God is. I notice that He works on my behalf when I choose to glorify His name. Philippians 2:13 says, "For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." My faith increases as I proclaim His works and choose to live for His kingdom purposes. I begin to see the big picture from His perspective, and as I do, I begin to live a more focused life.

We often don't realize that God has a solution to our every problem and is always watching, always caring for us. Ir's like a library that is so dark it seems closed. But the closer you get to the windows, the more you realize that there are people inside."

I like this illustration of the closed library. God right now seems to be on vacation and no one is home. I wish I could get a closer look into the activity of God and know that He is present in my circumstance. It is so true that worship and focusing on who God is and that being the focus helps in making our problem seem smaller. I have enjoyed good times of praise the past couple of days at home and it has helped make the problems I have feel smaller.

“We lived for five years in Asia and experienced the typhoons that are so common in the Indian Ocean. Primarily they move in circles instead of from east to west of north to south. Before navigators understood theif movement, they would try to maneuver out of the storm and often suffered serious destruction in the process. With a better understanding of typhoons, navigators have learned to locate the center of the storm—where it is totally calm—and go there. This is so much like prayer and discovering God's agenda. As we pray, we are able to citcle in on God's agenda and find the centet of His will. In this place, we experience His peace. When we tty to get out of His will, we find destruction and chaos. Through prayer and renewing our mind in God's Word, we discover God's pleasing and perfect will (see Romans 12:2).

We must learn to ptay about everything and trust in God's wisdom, which far surpasses ours. At times, we may sense His direction and feel the peace that comes from the Holy Spirit even though nothing may look logical according to our human perspective."

Prayer:

Father, some days like today, it seems really bleak and I feel like in this season of my life that You are on vacation. I feel forgotten by You and left to face this all on my own. Today was so hard as the pain at times was more than I could take. I did not even know if I could make it out to Joni and Friends tonight. Thank You so much that I could to be around other human beings, for the praise and worship, message about hope, and good food that was there. I felt like handicap people were really honored and valued tonight,. Often at times, I feel so small and powerless. The problems during this season feel so much bigger than my God. Yet Your Word says that You are both with us and able to help us even in impossible situations for that is what You specialize in. I continue to pray for breakthrough as well as to learn how to trust in You even when I can’t see You at work in my situation. Please help me to know that You care and that You have a plan.