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prayer

As if He Were Going Farther

by Eric Holter on November 15, 2011

“So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.’ So he went in to stay with them.” Luke 24:28-29

Jesus was willing to let the two disciples think that He had other business to attend to, some place down the road, when He acted as if He were going farther. But they pleaded with Him to stay with them. They wanted more of His words. But, in fact, Jesus was eager not only to continue to speak God’s Word to them, but He was eager to be with them, to sit at table with them, and to fellowship with them–to break bread with them.

Jesus is never too busy to meet with us–he doesn’t have more pressing work farther down the road. He always wants to sit with us–to fellowship with us. If it sometimes feels like God is distant, that He has greater things to attend to than to hear our prayers and to meet with us, it’s not so. Jesus is eager to sit and commune with us. And because He has risen and because He has ascended to the right hand of the Father His Spirit is able to meet with us anywhere and all at all times. But sometimes He does stand off–waiting for us to plead with him and urge Him strongly. He wants us to ask Him saying “stay with us.” He wants us to be eager for His word and His fellowship. Sometimes we fail to feel His closeness–we feel like God is far off busy with other matters–not because He has no time for us, but precisely because He wants our devotion. He wants us to hunger after Him.

Lord make me hungry for Your Word, for Your presence, and for Your fellowship. Stay with me! Let my heart burn within for You through Your word. Amen.

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Take a Cake of Figs

by Eric Holter on April 23, 2011

“Take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil.” Isaiah 38:21

Chapter 38 of Isaiah recounts Isaiah’s delivering the Word of the Lord to Hezekiah, telling him that his sickness was going to lead to death. In response Hezekiah prays, weeps and asks the Lord to heal him. In response to his prayer, God does it, and adds fifteen years to his life.

What are we to make of this? Does God change His mind? Did He not consider the possibility that Hezekiah would pray?

Of course not. The Bible is absolutely clear that God knows all things including the thoughts and intension of the heart (Heb. 4:12), the actions of man (Acts 2:23), and even “random” events like the results of a cast lot (Prov. 16:33).

So why did God say that Hezekiah would die? God sent Isaiah for the express purpose that Hezekiah would know that he was going to die. Hezekiah needed to know this so that he wouldn’t die. It was God’s will to heal Hezekiah from the get go–so He sent Isaiah with some bad news. God knew what Hezekiah would do in response–that he pray! And by the means of that prayer God extended his life for another fifteen years. God brought it about by causing Hezekiah’s prayer through the means of the bad news.

It’s important when reading this story to remember the overall plot at this point in the book of Isaiah. The king of Assyria was threating Judah and would eventually take Judah into captivity, but not while Hezekiah lived (Isa. 39:7-8). The life of Hezekiah was tied to the security of Judah. We see this clearly when God says in response to healing Hezekiah “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.” (Isa. 38:5-6).

God was doing much more than giving Hezekiah an extra decade and a half to live. He was granting a reprieve to Judah, and He was doing this through the means of Hezekiah’s prayer.

I think there are two major things we can learn from this. First, God’s mercy and patience toward His people is amazing. He suffers long with our sins, and constantly is working to bring about our repentance and turn our hearts toward Him. But we also learn that we should always pray. When God informs us about things that will happen–like his impending judgment on the wicked–it is designed to cause us to pray for deliverance. We should never have the attitude, in response to God’s sovereign work, that our prayers are irrelevant. We must pray.

God intended from the start to grant Judah a reprieve. But He did it through Hezekiah’s prayer. Hezekiah had to pray, God granted His mercy in response to his prayer. And He knew that Hezekiah would pray as he did.

God’s sovereignty is greater than we can imagine. He is astoundingly complex in the He weaves His sovereign will in and through our actions our thoughts and our intentions. God didn’t change His mind when Hezekiah prayed. He made Hezekiah the kind of kind that would pray when this news was delivered. God accomplished what He desired through Hezekiah’s prayer.

And then we read this, “Now Isaiah had said, ‘Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover’” (Isa. 38:21). Isn’t that surprising! God was doing big things with nations, He used a prophet to set in motion important events like Hezekiah’s prayer. The effects were huge for Judah in that day. And this story is now a part of Holy Scripture for us to learn from to this day. And after all this weaving of God’s purposes through Isaiah and Hezekiah, they still had to apply some fruit to his flesh so that he would recover.

Doesn’t that seem a bit anti-climactic? God sent Isaiah, God responded to Hezekiah’s prayer, Judah was saved–but don’t forget the figs!

How do you respond to God’s sovereignty in your life? Are you ever tempted not to pray for your neighbor because their salvation is “in God’s hands?” Do we assume God will provide because he says he will, and forget to pray for our daily bread?

And if we pray, do we forget to apply the figs? There are often very simple, basic, and necessary things that we must do, which are part of the means that God has designed to accomplish His purposes. Do we pray for opportunities to share the gospel, and not look for them? (Guilty!) Do we ask for provision but fail to walk diligently? Do we ask for restored health but fail to take our rest? Do we ask for joy and fail to recount the multitude of blessings we live in?

God will do what he says, and he will do it through our prayers–and through the means he appoints. Pray and apply the figs.

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Anxiety’s Consolation

by Eric Holter on June 5, 2005

“When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, ‘Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.’”
Luke 2:48

For three agonizing days Joseph and Mary searched for their precious Son. There have been a few times and places where I have lost track of one of my children. Those few anxious minutes felt like hours as the sickening feeling of anxiety welled up in my gut. How much more painful to lose track of a child for three days? Life need not deliver such extreme forms of distress in order to provoke my anxiety; its small doses produce dread and anxiety easily enough. My inner turmoil is a reflexive consequence of such circumstances.

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Fuel for Prayer

by Eric Holter on December 17, 2004

John Piper preached a message he titled “Be Devoted to Prayer.” He invented an acronym – “F.A.D.E.S.” Each letter stood for a couplet of two complementary aspects of prayer that need to be balanced in order to keep our vulnerable prayer lives vital. “F” stood for Free and Formed; “A” stood for Alone and Assembled; “D” stood for Desperate and Delighted; “E” stood for Explosive and Extended; and “S” stood for Spontaneous and Scheduled.*

While developing the “F” (free and formed) part of the acronym, he broke it into several sub-points relating to the formed aspect of prayer. While the free aspect of prayer is also important – our words should flow freely from our minds through unplanned and unstructured expressions – counter balancing freedom in prayer is the use of “form.” Formed prayers are structured or modeled after patterns. Formed prayers follow outlines. Formed prayers do not rely on the mind’s capacity for self-expression.

My guess, based on my own experience, is that most evangelicals rely on and value freedom in prayer more than form. People like me embrace freedom, self-expression, and “genuine” experiences. This preference is even stronger in people who grew up in dry, liturgical, religious environments, where their disappointing experience with lifeless and formulaic prayer now makes formed prayer repulsive to them. Nevertheless, I think there is great value in embracing certain kinds of form in prayer. I’m not suggesting that praying in a formed way, without an engaged heart, is valuable. But in as much as my mind is weak, and my understanding of God is shallow, using forms to help me pray can deepen and strengthen my experience in prayer.

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A Memorial of Daily Prayer

by Eric Holter on October 15, 2004

“…your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God.”

Acts 10:4

Cornelius, the centurion from Ceasarea, prayed to God continually. Now on a certain day his prayers came before God as a memorial. As Cornelius prayed a most historic event was about to unfold, an event which would lead to the kingdom of God being extended to my people, that is, to the gentiles. This massive, history-altering event was inaugurated by the prayer of a devout centurion. The unfolding of this event was continued as another man, Simon Peter, was also attending to prayer on the roof Simon the Tanner.

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Deferred Delight During Distress

by Eric Holter on September 15, 2004

“Give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low.”

Psalms 142:6

David’s spirit was overwhelmed and had fainted within him. His emotional stress was unavoidable since his life was threatened by enemies who sought to kill him, and they had the upper hand. David’s emotions did not run opposite to his circumstances. As a result he was troubled, he complained, and felt trapped. He felt weak and imprisoned. David’s piety however is that in such a low state he sought the Lord. He did not just cry; he cried to the Lord. He did not just pour out complaint; he poured out his complaint to the Lord. He did not just declare his troubles; he declared his troubles before the Lord.

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Nevertheless I Will Look Toward Your Holy Temple

by Eric Holter on May 5, 2004

“I called out of my distress to the LORD,
And He answered me.
I cried for help from the depth of Sheol;
You heard my voice.
For You had cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the current engulfed me.
All Your breakers and billows passed over me.
So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight.
Nevertheless I will look again toward Your Holy Temple.’ “

Jonah 2:2-4

Listen carefully my soul. What do you say when God, in his inscrutable ways, casts you into the deep? What happens in your heart when you feel expelled from the Lord’s presence? Whether you are engulfed as the result of your own sin, fleeing from the Lord like Jonah, or whether your trial is for no apparent cause, such as Joseph’s experience in prison, listen carefully to what your heart says in that day. O that you would say “Nevertheless I will look again toward thy Holy Temple!” Trials, whether self-inflicted from sinning, or purely from your heavenly Father’s perfect design for your holiness and purity, will come. Such times of affliction are appointed to you. What will you say when you are in such distress? Will you look toward the one who afflicts you, the one who casts you into the deep, and cry out to Him for help? Will you set your face steadfast toward His Holy Temple? Will you remember the Lord and look to Him to bring you up from the depths?

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Keep Praying Daniel!

by Eric Holter on January 30, 2004

“In those days, I Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks …”

“Then he said to me, ‘do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for 21 days …’”

“Then he said, ‘Do you understand why I came to you? …’”
Daniel 10:2, 12-13, 20

The time the angelic visitor was kept from getting to Daniel was the exact amount of time Daniel had spent crying out to God, praying and morning. I wonder if his question to Daniel “Do you understand why I came to you …” had in it a reference to the amount of time Daniel had spent praying? He came to deliver a vision to Daniel of the future, but did this question not only test whether Daniel understood the vision, but did it also point out the correspondence between the amount of time he prayed and the time it took for the answer to come? Was he pointing out to Daniel that his prayers were prompted by great spiritual battles, and that his praying was influencing the outcome?

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A Troubling Psalm

by Eric Holter on January 15, 2004

“O Lord, the God of my salvation,
I have cried out by day and in the night before Thee
Let my prayer come before Thee;
Incline thine ear to my cry!
For my soul has had enough troubles,
And my life is drawn near to Sheol.”
Psalm 88:1-3

This Psalm was troubling to read. The complaint of the Psalmist continues throughout the entire Psalm and is not answered. His cry, it seems, goes unheard. Unlike many of David’s Psalms, which contain equally impassioned cries for help, this Psalm does not end with a positive declaration of the Psalmist’s plea having been answered. David cried but ultimately said things like “Why are you in despair O my soul, and why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance, and my God” (Psalm 42:11). But this Psalmist does not testify to any answer from God, he remains in his distress. Nor does he give any hope from his past experience, he does not ask for a restoring to a previous better condition because he seems to have always been in distress, “I was afflicted in about to die from my youth on.” The experience of this Psalmist seems inconsistent with God’s promises to provide help and fill us with joy and gladness. Why would God seemingly pass this praying man over, and include his hopeless plea in his Word?

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