PRAYER INSTRUCTIONS

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7 NKJV).

There are many promises given in Scriptures to encourage us to pray. And these promises often come with excellent instructions on how to pray. In our verse we are instructed to pray humbly, earnestly, and persistently.

Pray humbly - “Ask, and it will be given you.” The word translated “ask” carries the idea of asking as an inferior, not as an equal. It indicates taking a humble position before the person of whom we are asking the favors. Thus, true praying means coming humbly before the Lord acknowledging our deficiency and seeking His help. True praying does not encourage pride but acknowledges God’s superior position and Person.

Pray earnestly - “Seek, and you will find.” To “seek” means to look diligently, to strive after something. Earnest praying is not going through the motions, or vainly repeating some phrase or prayer over and over again. If we are not earnest in our praying, how can we expect God to be earnest in answering our prayers? It is the “effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man” that avails much (Jam. 5:16). Interestingly enough, the phrase “effective fervent” come from a Greek word that gives us our English word energy.

Pray persistently – “Knock, and it will be opened to you.” The tense of the words “knock” “ask” and “seek” are all present tense in the Greek which carries the idea of keep on knocking, keep on asking, and keep on seeking. Knocking illustrates persistency well in that we are to knock repeatedly until the door is opened. Too often we give up quickly in praying. We pray once or twice for something then quit. God checks our sincerity by observing just how persistent we are in praying.

(Adapted from Butler’s Daily Bible Reading 2)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“Prayer is not a device for getting our wills done through heaven, but a desire that God’s will may be done on earth through us!”

Croft M. Pentz (1931--2008)

American Pastor and Author

Word Study

Evening

In Mark 14:17 we read, “In the evening He came with the twelve” (NKJV).

Evening is the Geek word ópsios (ὄψιος =op'-see-os). The word means late and pertains to a point near the end of a day (normally after sunset but before night). In classical Greek ópsios means late. The primary use of ópsios in both the Septuagint and the New Testament indicate the evening. The word denotes both the time of ‘lengthening shadows’ before sunset (Jer. 6:4) and the time between sunset and total darkness. The Jews reckoned two evenings, the first from the ninth hour or about 3:00 p.m. until sunset, the other from sunset onward (cf. Matt. 14:15, 23). The Passover lamb was to be killed and the evening sacrifice offered at the time of sunset (Deut. 16:6).

“Fear Nots” Found in the Bible

“The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be for flocks which lie down, and no one will make them afraid” (Isa. 17:2 KJV).

Did You Know…

According to Prov. 14:34, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” Sin makes people wretched. A sinful nation will eventually come to shame, but righteousness will bring glory to a nation. Nations reap the harvest of their moral choices.

Bible Quiz

What did James say about knowing to do good and not doing it?

**Answer to last week’s Bible Quiz: What is the name of the day when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples? Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).

Names For the Lord Jesus in the Bible

“HEAD OF THE BODY”

"And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence!” (Col. 1:18 NKJV).

1. Meaning – HEAD OF THE BODY speaks of the Lord Jesus as the Source and Leader of His body, the Church.

2. Insights – In Greek usage, the word “head” meant source, origin as well as leader, ruler. “Body” here refers to the invisible or universal church into which all believers are baptized by the Holy Spirit the moment they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). “Head of the Body” therefore speaks of the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ and the unity of all Christians as a living organism which belongs to Him. The Lord Jesus Christ controls every part of His body, the church. And just as the human body is powerless without its head, so too the church is powerless without its Living Head, the Lord Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign over the Church, just as He is sovereign over creation. He is supreme in the spiritual realm as well as in the material realm.

Did You Know – Christian History

Jacob Abbott was born November 14, 1803, in Hallowell, Maine. He was an American Congregationalist minister, teacher and author. Abbott was perhaps the most influential and prolific author of children’s books in the mid-19th Century.

Abbott descended from a long line of Puritans. He attended Hallowell Academy and Bowdoin College and studied at Andover Newton Theological School. Devout and orthodox, he became a teacher, writer and preacher. As a teacher, he introduced methods of kindness in place of harsh discipline and pioneered women’s education. One of his most famous pupils was young Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who is remembered today for the poems “Hiawatha” and the “Courtship of Myles Standish,” among others.

As an author, Abbott wrote books with titles like “The Way for a Child to Be Saved.” With a brother, he even prepared a child’s translation of the New Testament. But it is Abbott’s fiction which made him famous. He wrote over 200 books, many of them in series. One of his series taught science, travel and other subjects through the adventures of a boy named Rollo. Abbott created Rollo with enough personality and naughtiness to seem real. His parents used his misbehavior to teach him right from wrong. Other characters were also realistic enough to stick in the mind. And the Rollo stories were full of fun things to try.

His series of Rollo books as well as his other series for juveniles were published by numerous firms both in the United States and England. “The Maker of History” series books were published for more than 50 years and are still popular today among home schoolers. His “Lucy” series may have been the first girl’s series (1842).

Abbott’s intent was to teach religion and morals to his readership. This is true for all of his children’s work. His books about religion and in particular his Young Christian Series were immensely popular in Christian circles. Many authors followed in his footsteps and improved on his methods. The cheerful, hardworking Congregational pastor paved the path for what has become a major subsection of the publishing industry.

Abbott died October 31, 1879, at age 75 in Farmington, Maine.

A Little Humor

Said a small boy to his parents, “I’m going to pray now - do you need anything?”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“How will you spend eternity - Smoking or Non-smoking?”