Wednesday October 5, 2011

Read: Matthew 8:5-10

 

I want you to think about the way you pray. Think of a time when you were in a desperate situation and prayed to the Lord. How did you pray? Did you seek to bargain with God? Did you offer to do something or to change something if only God would do something for you? Did you make great and grand promises? Did you petition God, praying over and over again? Did you cry in God’s presence and let the tears speak for themselves? Did you enlist others to pray for you and with you? How did you pray in that time of desperation?

 

The Roman centurion came to Jesus and effectively prayed. But look at how he prayed or spoke to Jesus. In vs 7 Jesus had already agreed to go with the Centurion to heal his servant.  But the Centurion replies, ‘Lord I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word and my servant will be healed…’ The Centurion comes to Christ with two elements that are often lacking in our prayers – faith and humility.

 

In terms of humility we should never presume to think that God has to answer our prayers or give us what we demand of Him. The centurion knew that he didn’t even deserve to have Jesus step in his house, let alone bring any blessing of healing. I wonder how often we pray thinking that God is the steward on the plane and we are the customer, deserving of full attention and immediate action.  As we know all too well, the Lord lifts up the humble but opposes the proud. Being humble does not mean hating ourselves or treating ourselves like dirt or putting ourselves down. Each of these is sinful. Being humble means recognising and accepting our place and position before God and acting accordingly.

 

In terms of faith, the centurion showed amazing faith. Jesus even commented that He has not found anyone in Israel (ie among God’s own people) with such great faith. The Centurion did not seek to give the Lord several reasons why he had to answer the prayer. He did not babble as the pagans do. He did not offer a bribe. He simply asked Jesus to say the word and trusted that healing would come. His faith was in Jesus’ authority and he trusted Jesus for the outcome.

 

I often wonder how many more of our prayers would be answered if we simply came to Jesus with humility and faith. I wonder how many more answered prayers we’d be blessed with if we stopped trying to bribe God or con Him with a dozen reasons or demanding things of Him as a master demands of a genie.  Humility and faith are two hall marks of great prayers. Humility and faith are genuinely loved by the Lord and rewarded by Him.

 

Write out all your prayers this week. Study each one and see how you can change the ones that are not brought in humility and faith.

 

Prayer Points:

> For the outreach ministry to the large population of Sudanese refugees in Israel.

> That the Lord will provide the resources to produce more audio and video materials in Hebrew.