Lessons in Persevering Prayer

On 30th May, I participated in an extended prayer meeting at church. As soon as the visiting pastor mentioned the all familiar passage Luke 18:1-8, I wondered, What new thing do I have to learn this time? Many things, I realised, even things I needed to be reminded of. Below are blessed notes I took from the teaching time.

Persevering in Prayer

1. Persevering prayer is a personal pursuit- It is something that an individual does by him/herself. Nobody does this kind of prayer for you.
   
2. Persevering prayer is imperative- “Men ought to,” “You ought to.” The condition of your heart will urge you to be persistent.
3. Persevering prayer is a practical thing- You pray yourself, it’s not something you theorize about. The widow was practically knocking at the judge's door every single day, to the point of almost wearing the judge out!
   You do the bending down on your knees, the raising of your hands, etc. There's nothing theoretical about this kind of prayer.
   
4. Persevering prayer should be continuous-

a) You ought always to pray.

b) This kind of prayer is not done occasionally or whenever you feel like it, it has to be regular.

c) It has to have a focus and it's driven by a need. The widow wanted justice against her adversary and she pursued that from the unjust judge.

d) It’s result-driven. You seek a specific result, thus you don’t give up till you get the result that you want. You don’t settle for less, neither for the 2^nd best thing, nor the next available thing that looks like what you wanted. You don’t give up till you gotten exactly what you wanted.

e) There are no time boundaries to this kind of praying. The people cried to God day and night. The widow kept coming to the judge to plead her case.

5. Persevering prayer involves the emotions- The people cried to God day and night. You ought to pray with your heart and mind involved. Hannah’s prayer in the temple is an example of her emotions being poured out in prayer. In Psalm 62:8, we are told to pour out our hearts to the Lord.
6. Praying in this manner requires boldness and courage- this kind of prayer is not for the fainthearted. Interestingly, the antidote to losing heart is to continue praying.

Approaching the Throne of God in prayer- Hebrews 4:14-16

a) We come to the throne of grace

b) We come to the throne of mercy

c) We come to the throne for timely intervention

d) We have a High Priest, Jesus Christ, who has been there before.

e) We also have the Holy Spirit, who helps us to pray (Romans 8:26-27)

7. Pray to God, through Jesus Christ.

Faith is really needed in the act of prayer. The implication was that faith will be rare at the time of Jesus' coming. The question is, will you be one of the few people standing firm in the faith when Jesus Christ comes back to take us to be with Him forever? I hope and pray that I will be.

Blessings,

Lady Akofa.

Your Life Story

Alex and Brett Harris couldn't have said it better. The teen twins have some lessons for an older lady over here.

Go see for yourself. I don't think I can rephrase what they say in a better language. And do read the 10 part series linked at the bottom of their short post as well, that is if you have time. Meaty stuff for your soul, I guarantee that, much better and tastier than seasoned ground beef. :)

God bless ya,
Lady Akofa.

90 days-Noah's Ark

Edited to add: The blog title above links to the Arknanoach website, which I would encourage you to view, so clicking on it will not lead to this post!

If you've been reading the Bible in a year, 6 months or in 90 days like me, aren't there days that you'd really like to see some of the old stuff, like the tabernacle of Moses' day, the temple of Solomon's day, Goliath's weapons or Noah's ark? Often times I find it difficult to comprehend the dimensions or measurements given in the Bible, even when modern day equivalents are given in footnotes.

I've always wondered what Noah's Ark may have looked like. Haven't you? Well, you got the opportunity to see a modern day built Noah's ark! Mrs June Fuentes from A Wise Woman posted and linked to the web of a father and a son who had built one. This ark is just half of the real and original thing. The ark is in the Netherlands for viewing, live and coloured. So if you ever happen to be in Amsterdam, Westerdoksdijk, between now and 7 February, 2009, you sure don't want to miss this!

Dreaming about Noah's Ark, the real thing, of course. Thinking also of the animals as they walked in pairs into it. Goats, sheep, the slow but sure snails, chickens, baboons, ants, millipedes and rats???... Yeah, I should think rats were included. :)


Back home & loving the warm and humid weather,
Lady Akofa.

90 days - The Priests' work is bloooooody!

This is an old note, scribbled several weeks ago while reading Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

The work of the priest, Levites is tedious and excuse me to say, blooooody. Suffice it to say, priestly duties aren't for the fainthearted. I can't imagine having to see blood and flesh every single day, the smoke, fire and make extra sacrifices on ceremonial days but that is the job of the priest of old. Yet, it was God who chose Aaron and his sons and the descedants of Levi to carry out priestly duties. They were the only ones who could perform certain duties and touch certain ministerial articles.

In our day, Jesus Christ has graciously done this bloody work for us... me, once and for all in 2 ways:

One: He is the High Priest. Not just that, but the High Priest for all time. This is the covenant that will never change, Hebrews 7:11-24.

Two: He Himself is the sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the whole world, Hebrews 9:11-22.

Wondering what it would be like to be a priest in Moses' day, yet grateful to be under the awesome New Covenant.

Blogging from Cape Town
& grateful that the sun is out!
Lady Akofa.

90 days-Yeah, cut these unfaithful brats off!

I don’t know what you think of Moses but I think he was one loooooooong suf-fe-ring leader.

Now you lead these multitudes of people through a hot, scorching desert and a time comes that you have to leave them for a while. You go up the mountain and leave them with your brother, Aaron, in order to seek God’s face on their behalf

God hurriedly sends you back down the mountain after many days because something grievous has happened. So you go down and the people are bowing down to a golden calf saying, “This is our god who brought us from Egypt!”

Huh? A calf made of gold delivered Israel from Egypt?

God was ready to destroy all the Israelites for their unfaithfulness and blasphemy. He was even prepared to start a new Kingdom through Moses. Now if you were Moses what you say? Just think about it for a moment, Exodus 32.

I’ll tell you what I’d say, “Yeah God, these unfaithful brats! After all the hustle and bustle they’ve put You and me through? You cut these insolent brats off and start with me and my family. That's what they should get for such wickedness!”

But Moses pleaded with God, appealing to His faithfulness, to His own Word and asking God to honour His Name because of His enemies, the Egyptians. Moses was a great intercessor, indeed.

Now that's where I need to be merciful and gracious to others when they go wrong. Not that I have everything going for myself either. Far from it... I sin, sin and sin too and fight sin everyday. That's why I have Jesus Christ, not Moses, as my Mediator, the One who speaks on my behalf.

My self-imposed 90 day challenge

My 90 bible reading is on. I'll be sharing a few thoughts now and then, as long as I'm able to write. Now, I'm giving myself 2 self-imposed tasks by sharing this online. BUT with a purpose... accountability.

1. That I continue reading and complete reading my bible by the time I stipulate... read on and you'll see.

2. That I don't just read for the sake of reading and beating time, but I actually do reflect on God's Word and take some notes, even if they are random.

As compared to the first time I took up this challenge, my reading has been much livelier, interspersed with reading aloud, silent reading and acting out the reading. Yes, if you were to catch me in my home those times you’d wonder what crazy monologue I was doing. The Old Testament has a lot of stories to act our for sure. There were times, however, when I caught myself sleeping while reading the bible, after a hard day’s work. : )

I was profoundly blessed with the presence of God as I read Leviticus and Deuteronomy. While I was awed by God’s high standard for holiness for His own treasured people, I was greatly disturbed by own sin of idolatry, short-sightedness and how quickly I forget God’s love and goodness as He specifically and repeatedly warned (Deuteronomy 6 to 9). I was also impressed by God’s concern for the future generations requiring parents to teach their children about Him and pass on the legacy of what He had done for Israel.

I’m not always able to read on schedule so there are days I read ahead or read to catch up somewhat. Other times I skipped a book or more to read one of the minor or major prophets because I didn’t want to loose momentum of their prophetic messages as they corresponded with the Kings or Chronicles. It flowed better for me than reading Ezra immediately after 2 Chronicles, the return of the exiles. This is not to say that the bibles scholars didn’t do their work well. : ) The fallout however, is that I’m not able to gauge accurately whether I’m on track or not.

Presently, I’m really behind schedule as I'm on a work-related trip to South Africa for 2 weeks. In my original schedule, I should be done two days before Christmas. I'd love to be able to catch up and do this b'4 the famous 3 Fs: Famly, Friends and Food that come with the season. :) If not, I figure by New Year, I should be done. I certainly don't want to carry this over to 2009! But then, it’s more about embracing God through my reading than rigidly following the schedules.

Cape Town beach from Monkey Valley view, cloudy

& too cold for this tropical-bred lady, who didn't

listen to His Majesty's warning to bring warm clothes.

Praying that God will let the sun

shine in His mercy so that I truly enjoy the SA summer,

Lady Akofa.

Old Love

The question is asked, "Is there anything more beautiful in life than a young couple clasping hands and pure hearts in the path of marriage? Can there be anything more beautiful than young love?"

And the answer is given. "Yes, there is a more beautiful thing. It is the spectacle of an old man and an old woman finishing their journey together on that path. Their hands are gnarled, but still clasped; their faces are seamed, but still radiant; their hearts are physically bowed and tired, but still strong with love and devotion for one another. Yes, there is a more beautiful thing than young love. Old love."

~Author Unknown~

Ghana Elections 2008

I have visited a few blogs mostly by Christians over the past several months especially as the US elections draws closer and I see a sad trend. Most won’t comment on politics but because of such and such they are saying a word or two. I find it sad because every country is run on the wheels of politics. If Christians choose not to get involved in the systems and processes that affect the way our own country is run thus our future then guess what kinds of values and principles will be chief in decision making processes?

Ghanaians go to the polls next month, Sunday 7^th December to be exact. At this point I can tell you that after the IEA presidential debate last Wednesday, I’m torn between two candidates. That’s good to some extent ‘cos I initially I was a die-hard voter for a particular political party. Although the four aspirants invited to the debate have held government positions over the years, except one who is a medical practitioner, it was interesting to hear what they had to say. I wasn’t too impressed with the debate itself, I thought it could have been a bit livelier. But it was enough to get me to reconsider my previous die-hard stance. And I’m still thinking. : )

I know Ghanaians are quite religious and the vast majority are Sunday church goers. This is plea from my heart to all you lovely Ghanaians who call yourselves Christians: don’t go and spend all the time in church praying and forget to vote. : ) God knows our hearts and hears our prayers, plus He knows what He has planned for Ghana.

For more online news on the elections go to Ghana Elections 2008.

Meanwhile, people of US of A, all the Best in your elections tomorrow.

God

Has

A

Nation

Ahead!

Shalom,

Lady Akofa.

Nancy on the Sovereignty of God

On the Sovereignty of God, below is a quote by Nancy Leigh DeMoss of Revive Our Hearts.

"Once we agree with God that we exist for His pleasure and His glory, we can accept whatever comes into our lives as part of His sovereign will and purpose. We will not resent, resist, or reject the 'hard things,' but embrace them as friends, sovereignly designed by God to make us like Jesus and to bring glory to Himself."
~Nancy Leigh DeMoss~