“Prayer To Our Father’s God” Dt. 26:7-8

“And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression.” Deut. 26:7

This prayer is a reminder of Exodus 2:23-25; 3:9; and 4:31, when they were captives in Egypt and under the taskmasters. There God heard their groaning and and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and He looked down upon the children of Israel and He had respect (yada; became acquainted with it, to become intimate with it, to enter into it, to become one with it). He didn’t just become aware of their plight, He personally entered into it and experienced it. How? I don’t know, but His word says He did and that is good enough for me. He felt their pain, and He feels yours too! Every bit of it, every tear, every lonely dark moment, every sharp, piercing pain, every cry in the night! When Christ said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you!” He meant that too, with every fiber of His being. You too can bow your head and worship Him and like they did in Exodus 4:31 because, He will hear your cry, your prayer, your petitions too!

So, Moses reminds them, that they are descendants of “A.I.J.” not “A.I.G.”  A.I.G. stands for “American International Group” and they employ over 60,000 people and are the 87th largest public company in the world. “A.I.J.” has about 6 million members in their nation and 15 million worldwide and they make up only about .002% of the worlds population, but they are the, “apple of God’s eye.” (Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob) and they are the ones that really count. This passage is talking about, ‘The Law of The Offering of First Fruits” which belong to God, but since we are not all farmers, Moses discusses ‘tithing‘ in vv. 12-15 and that includes all of us. Especially v.13 where you are praying to the ‘LORD thy God’ and telling Him you have brought Him the hallowed things (ko-desh; holy, sacred, separated, set apart things) this ‘tithe’ is holy and belongs to God, not you or the church. It comes out of your house or your possessions, to give it to God, for the widow, the orphan or the stranger/sojourner. Then Moses tells God to look down from heaven, His holy habitation (ko-desh; ma-ohn) from the heavens (sha-mayim) and bless Your people.”

If we are obedient to God and His word, keep His commandments, give Him what is due to Him, honor Him, bless Him, praise Him, turn from our sin, then we can expect Him to bless our land, our people and our families; II Chron. 7:14. However, it all starts with us, and it starts with obedience, and with trust, and with love and with mountain moving faith. It doesn’t get any more basic then Dt. 26:7, “And when we cried (tsa-ak; cry out for help, to summon, to cry aloud) unto the LORD God…. the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction.”  What part of, “Summon the LORD” don’t you understand?  If you are anything like my daughter Rebekah, her first words were, “I do myself!”  Thankfully, she outgrew that phase, now that she is married to a pastor, with three children of her own, her favorite phrase now is, “Zack will do it.”  Seriously though, He is your heavenly Father for a reason, and He is waiting for you to call on Him.  In fact He has given you an 800 number to use anytime you need it, 1-800-JER-3323.  You see prayer does not release some mere form of man or nature, it releases the immeasurable power and wealth of Almighty God. Remember, God is Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnificent! That means He is here, He knows, He can fix it, or He can make a new one!

A.B. Simpson said, “Prayer is the hand of the child, touching the arm of the Father, moving the wheels of the universe.” Simple, yet very true! In fact our highest form of service is the ministry of intercessory prayer, dealing with the souls of mankind for the glory of God and we are joined by God The Son and God The Holy Spirit in that ministry.  His promise in John 14:12-14, is that if we will pray, He will work, and we have His Word on it.  So, why don’t we spend more time in prayer?  If I  had to choose one area that Satan fights the most in the Christian’s life, I would say it is, ‘Prayer!’  Not music, preaching, evangelism, youth work but prayer meeting, quiet time, family altars, personal prayer time, etc.  It has been said, “Satan trembles at the weakest Christian on their knees!”  And I for one believe it.  When you pray Satan stops in his tracks, and listens, so pray out loud, and then start to praise God and so he will flee because he can’t stand a joyful Christian.  Isa. 61:3 says, “To appoint unto those who mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, (Listen) and the oil (shemen; anointing oil) of joy (sa-sown; gladness, exultation, rejoicing) for mourning the garment (or mantle) of praise (tihil-lah; song of praise) for the spirit of heaviness (ka-heh; darkness, dimness, dullness, demonic)” The fastest way to drive away Satan and his little imps is to put on some praise music, and sing some hymns and he will set his GPS for a new location, mark my word on that.  Remember, he can’t stand a spirit filled Christian, he will run looking for a new mug-wump immediately.  What did Paul mean when he wrote the shortest Greek verse in the New Testament, (Proseuchomai Adialeiptos;  “Pray Unceasingly or Assiduously?” He meant, if you don’t ‘Pray without Ceasing’ you will, ‘Cease without Praying!’  And that is the end result of most churches that close up shop.  According to the latest statistics, 4,000 churches shut down every year.  Why?  Because they stopped praying and stopped trusting in God.  Till next time, I’ll see you, “… Between The Lines…”

“Prayer To Our Father’s God” Deut. 26:7-8 – 2/1/18