In 1970 when half of my dairy herd died of a disease I prayed for an hour a day that God would intervene and save my business. A friend of mine said to me, maybe you should stop praying for God to save them and start praying for God to give you the wisdom to know why He is killing them. That statement seemed absurd to me, God wouldn’t kill my cows, would He? Well it turns out that it looks like he may have done just that in order to get me off of the farm, the love of my life and into ministry. At this point in my life after 44 years in ministry it seems like a good thing, but it didn’t seem like it at the time.

Another thing that came from the experience over 50 years ago is that I don’t pray and ask God to change circumstances anymore; I pray and ask for wisdom to know why He is doing what He is doing. He promises to give insight to those who ask, so I do; I ask a lot, almost every day. When I get wisdom and understanding from God I am much more able to cooperate with God resulting in much more growth in my character and opportunities to witness for Him.

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

If I believe God causes all things to work together for good, why would I pray and ask Him to change it? The reason that I would is that I don’t like what He is doing, and I think I know better than He does what is best for my life or the life of others.

Over the years of my life I am pretty sure that most of the wisdom that I have came into my mind while I was in a corporate prayer event sitting with other believers from our church. It is amazing how much God works in me during those times of sitting in a room listening to other people pray. Now at 72 years of age, I am not the wisest person around for sure, but I do have an insight and an understanding of why things happen the way they do and why God is doing something in a particular way. Again most of what I have in the form of Godly wisdom, I am sure, came into my head while I was praying and listening to others pray in a corporate prayer time.

Jbc is having a corporate prayer time this next week. We will be praying from 5:00 to 10:00 am and 5:00 to 10:00 pm Monday through Friday this next week. Come and join us and marvelously experience God.

A number of years ago I cut and pasted every Bible verse that I could find that was a prayer or a teaching about prayer and put them all together. Once you have them all together in one place you can read them consecutively and draw some accurate conclusions about prayer, and see the emphasis that the Bible puts on prayer. It was easy to rearrange the verses so that they were together in emphasis and what was being prayed for or about.

One of the first conclusions that I wrote down after a number of readings through my collected verses on prayer was that there were very few verses that suggested that we should pray to change the circumstances of our life or that of another person. The Apostle Paul prayed three times that God would remove his thorn in the flesh whatever that was, and God refused. The few references that were about praying to change circumstances, had a particular purpose and that was to glorify God so that unbelievers would be converted to Him.

The prayer by Elijah referenced by James 5:16 that brought about famine and then rain was not driven by someone’s crop needing rain, it was to demonstrate God’s power so that those who were rebelling from God would repent. The emphasis in James 5 where sick people were encouraged to be prayed for was that “sinners would turn from the error of their ways.”

Many believers and churches main emphasis on prayer is to ask God to fix our problems, to give us a comfortable life, to allow us to live to be 120 years old, and that is simply not the emphasis in the Bible though there is no place that forbids such praying.

The emphasis in the Bible on prayer is that we would ask God to give us His strength to live a life of victory and accomplishment, that we could manage trials and difficulties well, and that we would be overcomers in life. That we would pray and ask that God would give us great peace so that we would not be overcome by anxiety, stress, and fear, and that God would fill us with joy in spite of the awfulness of our life circumstances. It is God’s plan that our strength, peace, and joy in spite of our circumstances would attract lost people to us who have no hope and they would seek answers from us.

The emphasis in the Bible is that we ask for wisdom so that we would make right choices and live in the center of God’s will for our life so that we can bear much fruit for Him. Wisdom so we would say just the right words when someone asks us why we are not all uptight like the rest of the world in regards to COVID.

The emphasis in the Bible is that we pray for lost people, that we pray for their health and healing, that we pray for their physical needs, and that we would pray that they would get jobs. We have power from God to pray for lost people to understand the gospel, to be convicted for sins so they would seek forgiveness, and to be delivered from the control of the devil.

We as the church have been given an impossible assignment of making disciples, followers of Jesus of the whole world. God has given us some tools to accomplish this incredibly important task and one of the most powerful is prayer. But we use our prayer time mostly to pray for each other to have a comfortable life free of trials and problems.

Isn’t it strange that we who are going to live for all eternity with Jesus in amazing glory are so concerned about this life in our prayer time, and neglect praying for those who are going to spend all eternity in hell in torment.

In the week of February 8th to the 12th JBC is going to be praying for our Missions ministry around the world so that many people come to saving faith in Jesus and are given the gift of eternal life with Jesus. We will be praying in the old sanctuary for ten hours each day. Maybe you could fit in one hour for the five days, or maybe even an hour a day or maybe even more.

I lift weights a couple times a week and the days I don’t lift I ride my stationary bike for an hour. It is called exercise and the purpose is to get stronger physically.

Matthew 17:20 Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

The phrase “nothing will be impossible to you” is one of my favorites in the Bible. I believe it is a true statement that Jesus made, that if I can grow my faith I will get to a point that I can accomplish anything no matter how hard and big it might be. The question is, “what can I do to grow my faith?” What exercise can I regularly do that will move me from being a man of small faith to great faith?

I truly believe that the exercise that will accomplish that miracle in my heart and mind is prayer. Prayer is an act of faith, we are praying to a God we can’t see believing that He is there, we are praying to a God we can’t hear believing that He hears us, and then we believe that He is big enough and powerful enough to accomplish whatever we ask. As we pray our faith is growing and the more we pray the more and the faster our faith grows. The more faith we have the more powerful our prayers become so we pray more and more and as a result our faith grows tremendously and because of our faith and our praying we move the hand of God to do extraordinary things.

In one week Jefferson Baptist Church’s five days of prayer is going to start, February 8th through the 12th. We will be praying for ten hours every day. You can pray one of those hours for one day for a one hour total for the prayer event. You could pray one hour each day for a five hour total for the prayer week, all the way up to praying 10 hours every day. We had a number of people who did that in the last prayer event. Let me encourage you to add one hour to whatever you did last time during the five days of prayer.

The Antichrist is written about in the book of Daniel and in Revelation. He will rise to power and will become the President of the world, the ruler of the world, the dictator of the world. He will require people to worship him just as the Roman Emperors did, and he will require that every one get some kind of mark on their forehead or hand before they can buy and sell. What is that mark about? It is about power, control, and keeping track.

Revelation 13:16-17 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

Some basic signs that the day that Jesus comes and takes all true believers and followers of His to heaven is getting close; (1) the rapid move toward globalism, one world ruler, one world religion, and one world economy. (2) Government leaders style of leadership moving rapidly to “lording it over people”, power to control for power’s sake. Government telling us what we can’t do, what we can do, when we can do it, when we can’t do it, all under the guise of protecting us from ourselves. (3) The name of Jesus becoming more and more hated by people in the world, especially government rulers. The word “antichrist” doesn’t mean “in place of Christ” it means “against Christ”. (4) The nation of Israel becoming more and more hated by people and governments in the world.

Mark 10:42-45 Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

In the midst of the craziness of our day I am rejoicing more every day because the day I am going to hear the trumpet of Jesus is getting close.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

I went steelhead fishing on the Siletz river today with my good friend Matt, and we had seven fish on and got five in the net, and of those five, one was a hatchery fish, which we got to keep. Matt and I split the one hatchery fish, and Patty fixed our half for dinner tonight. My oh my, was it ever good!

I have been thinking a lot about heaven of late with all the things going on in our government, in the world, and the COVID thing. Life is full of sad and bad things right now. Today, though, was a taste of heaven. I know heaven will be much better than our day on the river today, but it is hard to imagine how! Over Christmas our daughter Shelly and her husband Philip paid all of our expenses to go visit them in Fairbanks, Alaska. That was an amazing time with them and six grandchildren, and I got to go ice fishing. Then last week our daughter Sally and her husband paid all of our expenses to spend a week in Hawaii visiting them and three grandkids. I got to fish, snorkel, and even got a little tan. Wow, what a special time that was!

Reminds me of a Bible verse I recently memorized in Psalms 30:5, “For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

When I was a kid my Mom said, “ don’t ever call anyone else a name , it is wrong.” When we raised our eight kids we taught them that calling people names was wrong. When I say “wrong” I am saying that God declares it to be wrong.

Calling people names is what weak people do. We all try to control people. We try to get them to believe what we believe and have the same values that we have. There is nothing wrong with that, we persuade, we debate, we sell, we teach and preach all in an attempt to influence others. When a weak person fails to change another person’s view or behavior they call them a name. It is like having an arm wrestling contest with someone, and they slam your arm to the table and you then call them a name. It is incredibly childish, but adults do it all the time, it has become a major part of our culture. As much as I appreciated many of the decisions President Trump made while he was in office, his practice of calling opponents names was a major weakness in his leadership.

A major leadership principle is that God is sovereign, totally sovereign. That means no human being leads or changes anything without God giving them the authority and allowing them to do so. He loves to give His sovereignty to those who do things right. Today people attempt to lead by intimidation and fear. That isn’t leadership, it is lording it over people and it only works as long as you can keep people intimidated and fearful. It wears off eventually and usually quickly.

Regularly people will disagree with an opinion or view that I express in this blog. Some express that difference strongly but graciously, but others simply insult my character, motive, and intelligence. I guess they think that makes them the winner, but it doesn’t, it makes them the loser in everyone’s eyes but their own.

The name that seems most used now by politicians, the media, and the elite is “racist”. If someone disagrees with our view we call them a racist. It also seems that the person who says it the most often and the loudest assumes themselves the winner, but the truth is, there is no winner. It is like two people playing chess and as one player begins to gain an advantage the other player upends the board. He hasn’t won he just prevented the other person from winning, a very frustrating way to live life for those who know how to play chess right.

The sad thing is that those who call others racists as a way of controlling or intimidating others aren’t solving the racism problem or making it better, they are making it worse.

God is all-powerful, and He is in charge of everything; he makes the rules. When we break God’s laws, there will be consequences, absolutely, and when we obey God and follow His rules He blesses, it is very straightforward.

A major principle of living life in relationship with others is in Romans 12. It says, “forgive others, never get caught up in vengeance, and do good to those who mistress you.”

Romans 12:17-21
Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

If a person would consistently live by the principles in Romans 12 God would become very active in our life situations bringing about justice for us. But when we take matters into our own hands God steps out of the picture and says, “You think you can take care of your life, I will let you try.”

I started weight lifting again after being off of it for over a year now. I quit when I went on my bicycle trip last year and never got the self-discipline to start up again. I started up because of the accountability of other guys lifting with me. I have a weight room set up in my “Man Room,” so it is hard to skip out when three other guys show up at my house to lift with me. I reread a book on the importance of exercise for older men, especially older men with Parkinson’s and I got all motivated to lift as much as Sylvester Stallone. Tonight when I came in from lifting I felt really good, not just physically but in regards to my own self-worth. Sometimes I get to feeling like life is over when I get to feeling tired, unmotivated, can’t remember if I took my pills or not, fall tripping over my own shadow, and gaining weight. But tonight I felt motivated, strong, healthy, full of self-control. It is amazing what a little exercise with friends will do. I think the key is the “with friends” part.

The most common struggle that we all have when we try and pray for more than a few minutes is that our mind drifts or we fall asleep. One of the things that I have done for years is to write my prayers. I do this mostly on my ipad so it isn’t as fast as using a keyboard on a computer, but it is about the right speed for me as I think about what I want to pray. I don’t use this method when I pray for the church prayer letter or when I pray for everybody in the church, because I am already reading the prayer letter or reading previous written notes both which keeps me focused and awake. As I go through my “Prayer App” with the names of every person in the church I do write notes, thoughts, observations, and answers to prayer under peoples name.

But the prayers that I pray about me, my relationship with God, my struggles, my sins, my dreams, my goals, and my key relationships, I get so much more out of my time when I write my words to God. I am sure that He enjoys His time with me more as well because of my focus and clarity while writing instead of wandering thoughts or spoken words that get sidetracked with other thoughts.

Another positive is that I can go back and read previous prayers that I have written which are often a perfect fit for what I have gone through that day. Prayer is such an important part of our spiritual growth and relationship with God, and our time praying should be as quality as possible, and for me writing is a tremendous help.

God is infinite in every category. He is majestic, holy, righteous, all wise, the creator of everything, has the power to destroy anything, and the power to punish anybody. Most people have little to no fear of God easily observed by their disdain for God, their blasphemous behavior and their blatant breaking of His laws.

There are many stories in the Bible of people getting killed by God for irreverence towards Him. One of those stories in 1 Chronicles 13:10 was of a man named Uzza who touched the “Ark of the Covenant”which was forbidden. “The anger of the Lord burned against Uzza, so He struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark; and he died there before God.”

I often get a good laugh at some of the satire put out by the “Babylon Bee” and recently I had one with a headline from the “Bee” that said something like this, “Biden and Harris rushed to emergency with severe burns on their hands received when they put their hands on the Bible during the inauguration ceremony because they have been declared to be the most pro-abortion President/ Vice-President combo in the history of the United States.”

People are totally irreverent toward God today because He hasn’t done what He did to Uzza to anyone else lately so there is the notion that God doesn’t care, or that He can’t really do anything about it, or that He simply doesn’t exist. There is a day of reckoning coming in which the Justice of God will happen.

Romans 2:5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

Many who treat God with disdain will do the same with passages like Romans 2:5, saying that God is cruel, angry, and vengeful, but those who know His Word and know Him also know that He is infinitely gracious, loving, forgiving, and kind to those who love and follow Him.