God Has the
Time. Do You?
by Phil
Bliss
The passage
of time and the measuring of time is something that God
established when he created the Earth. He set the stars
in the sky so we could know the seasons. He set the sun
and the moon in the sky to measure night and day. We
came up with the rest. The calendar and so on and so
forth.
But what year is it for God? God is timeless. What's
that mean. So what does God do in his spare time? He is
omnipresent. He has not spare time because he is not
constrained by time. We are constrained by Time. From
the time we were born until now, our bodies have been
changing.
God knows everything about us. From the number of hairs
on our head to the tiniest atoms that make up the
molecules that make up the skin on our hands and
feet.
So what does
this have to do with the scripture reading? I am trying
to show you that God has plenty of time for us. But
sometimes we don't have time for him.
Another year has passed and we should ask ourselves. Did
I spend enough time with God this year?
There are only two books in the Bible where the word
pray or any form of it like prayer, prayest, prayed,
praying, etc. is not used. IT is also in these two books
that God is not mentioned. Those books are also the only
two books in which the word
God is not mentioned. It does not mean these books are
not worthy of being in the Bible, it only means that God
and prayer are not mentioned in them. Those books are
Esther and Song of Solomon.
I find it very interesting that if God is not mentioned,
neither is prayer. Why is that? Is it by chance?
Perhaps, or perhaps it is because God is the one we pray
to. God is the one that hears our prayers and God is the
one that knows if we prayed or not.
What is prayer to God?
Prayer to God is something so sweet and something so
wonderful that he keeps it in bowls. In Revelation 5:8
we see Jesus take a book out of God's hand with seven
seals. These seven seals are the seven seal judgments
that will come upon the Earth during the tribulation.
But what is most interesting is that we read that the
four beasts surrounding the throne are holding bowls of
incense which are the prayers of the saints.
God cares so much about our prayers that it is like
incense to him. A smell pleasing to the Lord. Before
Jesus, the high priests would burn incense before the
Lord as an offering to him. This was before we could go
directly to God. When the world was still in its sins
without Christ. But with Christ, we can go before the
throne of God with our prayers because through Christ we
are clean and we can approach God and our prayers are
still like incense to him. Very pleasing for him to see,
hear and smell.
So why are our prayers so pleasing to God?
James tells us to pray because the effective or earnest
prayer of a righteous man or woman has a great effect.
God hears our prayers and he hears everyone of them
because he has the time to do so. God does not say, ok,
I have time for 924,345 prayers and then everyone else
must wait until I blow up a few storms to water the
crops.
No, he can answer our prayers and at the same time, from
our perspective, he can heal the sick, he make the lame
walk again, he can cause it to rain in forty countries
and he can speak words of wisdom to a million people. If
only the politicians would listen to these words of
wisdom, we would not have so much trouble. Would we.
But you see, God has the time because he is not
constrained by time. We can't possibly imagine being
able to do 5 things at once let alone doing
389,239,329,201 things at one time. And for God, that
number would only be the beginning.
James says that if any of you are suffering, pray. If
anyone is sick, let the elders of the church pray over
you and anoint you in the name of the Lord.
That is important. Remember it has to be in the name of
the Lord. Why? Because we are sinners without Christ and
we are righteous only through Christ so that is why we
pray in Jesus name. It is a way to say, I am offering
this prayer through Jesus who makes me righteous.
So many people will say though that God doesn't answer
prayers. When I played football in eighth grade, the
coach said I want you to run until you feel like you
can't run anymore and then when you get to that point, I
want you to run as fast as you
can. If you fall, get up and run harder and faster.
Doesn't make sense huh? It sure did not make sense to me
then but you know what it taught me? Persistence pays
off. Persistence pays off. That means that if you keep
trying, having no success, you will eventually see
success. You may not see the success you initially
though you would see but you will see it.
Paul writes to the Ephesians pray always with all prayer
and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all the
saints.
In other words, pray for one another and when you see
someone suffering, pray for that person. When you see or
hear of someone being sick, pray for that person? Why?
Because God has the time to hear those prayers and he
stores them in bowls because they are pleasing to him.
Prayer can change God's mind. Sure God knows if someone
will get better or remain sick but he also hears the
prayers of his loved ones and with perseverance, he may
and sometimes does change his mind.
You can't say that " I just won't pray because God
already knows if this person will get better or
not." Because it may be the lack of prayer and
petition on your part that God does not make that person
better.
When you don't feel like praying, pray. When you think
God is not answering your prayers, pray harder. When you
feel like you can no in no direction and you feel
absolutely trapped in a situation, pray about it.
Usually when you don't think you have the time to pray
or when you just don't feel like praying is when you
really need to pray the most.
Prayer calms your mind and eases your frustrations. To
think that someone that created every single star in the
sky and can seen the tiniest atoms in our little toe is
actually listening to you can be an uplifting
experience.
People without faith don't know what they are missing.
People with faith, often take for granted what those
people are missing. Prayer is a very very useful tool. I
would say next to salvation, it is one of the greatest
gifts God gave us. The ability for us to talk to him and
lay all of our cares before him and to know that he
hears them and acts upon them is one of the greatest
things I can think of.
To God, New Year's has come and gone and it did several
thousands of years ago and it will come again to him in
a week. God is outside of our time, but he takes the
time to listen to us.
IF you are one for making New Year's resolutions, I have
one for you. Pray more.
Pray now that God will help you pray more. I don't care
if you pray 23 hours a day right now, pray that extra
hour every day. If you pray five minutes every day, pray
six this year. IF you pray every morning, pray every
morning and then at least once
more during the day.
Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, whatever your
burden, whatever your mood, PRAY. Pray Today. Pray
Everyday. You may never fully understand how wonderful
prayer is, but just know that God loves to hear you pray
and he wishes you to take more time to pray.
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