the starting place in prayer…

back a few years ago in response to 911 president bush recommended that congress set aside 38 billion dollars for a new department called homeland security but the reality is there are more people in our country right now searching for internal peace and calm than ever before, there is less internal security in our homeland than ever before.

fact – one out of every eight americans between the ages of 18 and 54 suffer from some kind of anxiety disorder.  that is about nineteen million people. 

fact – anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in america even surpassing depression.  and among senior adults 65 years of age and up, the number one health issue is anxiety.

to many people in our world the path to inner peace seems illusive.  so the question is how do we find it?  if we can’t throw enough personnel at it where does peace in our heart and in our soul come from?

now this is a struggle for all of us.  and being a follower of JESUS does not exempt you from life’s problems.

now we’ve been going week by week through the model prayer of JESUS and we have been seeing that the very essence of prayer is the recognition that i need somebody with a power that i don’t have to help me navigate life successfully. 

that’s why we’ve been unpacking phrase by phrase the model prayer of JESUS. 

if you’ve been here on the front porch you understand that the first part of the model prayer focuses on GOD.  but now at this point in the prayer we make a transition and the focus is now on us.  but the order is important.

here’s why. 

the starting place in prayer is always the acknowledgment of who GOD is. 

that’s why the model prayer begins, our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  we begin there because if there’s no powerful GOD in heaven and if i don’t have a loving FATHER who is willing to meet my needs then why pray?  that is where some of you are today.

just a thought from the front porch…

they stepped out in faith…

one thing we do know about the wise men is they were willing to step out in faith and follow wherever GOD led them.

why were they following the star? how did they know of its importance? since the bible doesn’t tell us, we can only guess.

the bible does tell us that the wise men came from the east. the major empires to the east had been the babylonian and the persian empires. we also know that the babylonians specialized in studying the stars.

we also know that during the jewish exile that daniel, a faithful jew and prophet of GOD, rose in such prominence that he became chief of the wise men of babylon and the third ruler in the kingdom. then when the persians conquered babylon, daniel became president of the presidents under king darius.

therefore, many scholars suggest that the wise men of the east had ample opportunities to know the o.t. scriptures and prophecies. maybe they were familiar with numbers 24.17 (niv), i see HIM, but not now; i behold HIM, but not near; a star will come out of jacob, and a scepter will rise out of israel.

so when they saw the star come from jacob, they were ready to go and worship HIM who was to wield the scepter in israel - to be the KING of the jews - the KING of kings and LORD of lords.

whatever the case was, the important thing for us to realize is that they were ready to go - to follow wherever GOD would direct them. and GOD has always been faithful in HIS leading.

HE led the children of israel across the wilderness, providing a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. HE provided them food when they were hungry, drink when they were thirsty, and clothing when they were naked.

and now HE was providing a star to lead these wise men to the place where the CHRIST child lay.

GOD may not lead us in quite as dramatic a way today, but GOD promises to lead us - if we will let HIM. someone said, “the eye of faith is one that is willing to take the next step, and trusts GOD to direct that next step.”

just a thought from the front porch…