Week 19 of 52 Prayers of Faith - Faith is realizing there is nothing good in us apart from Christ

Faith is realizing there is nothing good in us apart from Christ - Lord increase our faith.

This can be hard for us to accept, because many of us think we are pretty good people. We think that we are kind and loving and have forgotten what we are/were really like apart from Christ. One look at children and you can see the worst of us. Our childhood memories are both wonderful and terrible all at the same time. In children we say there is innocence, but if we look a bit closer we can see the dark side of human nature. Children are natural liars, tattletales, they are selfish and greedy. Unless constrained by strong parental control, they can become tyrants who try to dictate to their parents how things are going to be.

There is a quote once attributed to Socrates concerning children of his age - "The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise."

I am not full convinced that all children are bad, but in our children we can see some of the worst of our society at times.

We have all worked for or with people who are "the worst" who cheat and lie and steal in the work place. We have all met bullies in school and in the work place who have made our lives miserable. These people I believe exemplify the Biblical text, in Romans 5:10 where Paul tells us that we were once enemies of God. In 1 Cor 6:9-11 he gives us a big long list of those who will not inherit the Kingdom of God and he goes on to say that many of his readers were these detestable people. But now in Christ they were washed and sanctified and justified in Christ Jesus. It is only through Him and by Him that we have any hope of pleasing God.

Faith demands that we accept and believe that we cannot please God in and of ourselves, because apart from the redeeming work of Christ on the Cross and entering into his baptism, we have no hope of doing anything good or right. If we believe that we are good enough we will never be able to accept Christ's saving grace and we will never be more than Pharisees convince of our own righteousness and therefore forever lost in our sin.

Lord, we know that apart from you we can do no good - Lord increase our faith

Week 16 of 52 Prayers of faith - Faith is knowing that the Love of God transcends all things

Faith is knowing that the Love of God transcends all things - Lord, increase our faith

The love of God, God's love or Agape love is a love that is not rooted primarily in the human condition. There are many kinds of love. The love of a man for a woman, the love of a parent for a child, the love of a friend for a friend. But all these kinds of love come from the human heart. The human heart can be a very dark place. We can harbor secret lusts and hatred in our hearts. Human love is tainted; tainted by our sinful proclivities.

On the other hand God's love comes form the wellspring of God's heart. God is everything good and right. There is no darkness in Him. The Apostle John even goes so far to say that God is love, or stated another way, God's very nature is love. God may hate sin, but He loves sinners. God so loved the world that He sent is only begotten Son into the world to make a way possible for us to experience His love first hand.

Then He sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in those who believed in his Son, so that we would have the power to love others as He first loved us. That is a powerful thing. So powerful that the Apostle Paul said that this Agape love, never fails. This love gives us the power to love even our enemies. It grants us forgiveness so that we can receive God's forgiveness and so that we can forgive those who have transgressed against us.

God's Agape love in us is proof of God living in us. The Apostle John goes so far to say that if we don't love our brother or sister (referring to others of our faith) then God is not in us. That makes for quite the charge against us. Jesus says that our love is the evidence of our faith. We will be known by our love, not our piety or our theology. God's love makes it possible for us to love the unlovable. This is truly transcendent. Jesus said that anyone can love someone who loves them. But with his Love we can love anyone.

Thank you Lord, that your Love transcends: our fears, our hatred, our sin, our selfishness. Lord, your love transcends all of our shortcomings and makes us more like You. Lord, increase our faith.

Week 11 of 52 Prayer's of Faith - Faith is Knowing God puts People and Situations in our life to help us become like Him

Faith is knowing that the circumstances and people God allows in our life help us to become more like Him - Lord increase our faith

By now this should be part of your routine. Read the prayer out load, pause, consider it and then ask "Lord, increase my Faith" Continue to repeat the prayer and ponder it as the week goes on; journaling your thoughts and impressions and as the Holy Spirit works in your heart.

Many people just want to live a peaceful life. They want to avoid confrontation, difficulties and worries. In some respects they would just like to be left alone. But God is unwilling to leave us in a sinful slothful state of being. He permits difficult situations and people into our lives to encourage us to seek Him and to give us opportunity to live out godly character.

Graham Cooke refers to those difficult people that God allows in our lives as "grace growers" Graham claims that the fruit of the spirit only grows in poor soil. It is in the daily struggles with our neighbors, fellow workers, peers and family that God gives us opportunity to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Graham goes on to say that if we try to get away from these people that He will, at great expense, fly in a whole new group of "grace growers" to ensure that we are being made more and more into His image.

My personal experience of this was when God put me between the two people that I disliked the most. In fact if you had asked me at the time how I felt about them I would have used the word "hate" to describe my feelings. It was only a few years after my conversion that God put me between these two men, but as soon as I realized my position, I recognized that hand of God at work in my life. So instead of fighting it and complaining about my situation, I embrace it. I was never more happy when that happened. I learned about the better side of these two men, and God gave me a heart for both of them, to pray for and encourage them. As a result my wife and I got to counsel and encourage one of them and to see him reunited with his estranged wife.

My prayer now when I encounter difficult people or circumstances is "Lord what do you want to teach me here?" As a result, every thing we face need not be something to be avoided or fought, but rather these people and circumstances are opportunities to see God move and to grow more and more into his Image.

Lord we thank You for the people and circumstances You put in our life because we know that You cause all things to work for the good of those called by your name and who love you. Lord increase our faith.