Psalm 67:1-2 – God be merciful to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us, Selah. That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.
Our text for today, Psalm 67, begins with a simple prayer for the mercy, blessing and favor of Almighty God. You and I have
asked God for this many many times just probably with different words. We say things like “Lord, forgive me for the way I acted today”, or “Dear Jesus, help me to get the raise I so desperately need” or “Lord, may the test results show nothing abnormal”.
These all are the legitimate prayers of God’s people in need. (A position we are in almost every minute of every day of our lives I might add.) They are the normal petitions of the human heart. They are real prayers from real people.
merciful I am asking for it. When I ask for His blessing I am admitting that what I can do for myself is woefully inadequate. I
need His help. Finally, when I ask for God to shine His face upon me I am asking for His grace, His unmerited favor. This idea is taken from the priestly prayer from Aaron over the nation of Israel in Numbers 6:24-26. “The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’
as we lift up these requests. The question is, simply put, “Why should God bless me?”. The profound answer is found in verse 2 of this Psalm. The verse says that the purpose of God’s blessing upon His people is “That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.” So, there we have it. God blesses us so that others may be blessed. God answers our prayers not just so our situation can be improved but so that His way might be made known on the earth and so that the nations might know about His glorious salvation.
Blessings (with a purpose),
#CoverMe #prayer #spiritualbattle
Recently I heard “cover me” in a slightly different context. I was meeting with an educator who is a Christian in the public school system. We were discussing how difficult things had been and were still continuing to be during the Covid19 pandemic. This educator said “I am willing to do all of this and deal with all the changes and craziness but I need you to cover me.” I immediately knew exactly what they meant. This educator was asking for prayer. They knew that the battle they were in was real and of a spiritual nature so they were asking me to cover them with prayer.
The smart saints among us know the importance of prayer when it comes to giving spiritual protection and making any real progress. The Apostle Paul knew well the difficulties he faced. He speaks to this in 1 Corinthians 16:8-9 saying “I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”
Paul’s response to his many adversaries was quite simple. He of course prayed but he also rallied his fellow believers to pray for him. As he concludes 1 Thessalonians he asks in the simplest way for the prayer from this church saying “Brothers, pray for us”(1 Thessalonians 5:25). Similarly as he concludes 2 Thessalonians he say “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you,.” In other words, Paul was saying “Cover me.”
This concept is not new. We find it often in the Old Testament. When Daniel and his companions were threatened with death if they did not both reveal the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and it’s interpretation Daniel knew exactly what to do. Daniel 2 17-18 reads “Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 18 and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.” Daniel called his fellow exiles together and told them “Cover me”.
When Queen Esther had to try and save her people because she was brought to the throne “for such a times as this” she knew exactly what to do. Before risking death or banishment for approaching the fickle king Ahasuerus she had a simple request. She sent word saying “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16). In other words, “Cover me”.
In the New Testament the church was taking incredible heat in the form of persecution from Herod. Herod had killed the apostle James the brother of the apostle John. He then has Peter arrested presumably to do the same to him. There is an interesting foot note to this. Acts 12:5 records “So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.” Peter was miraculously released a short time later because the church was “Covering him”.
We would be wise like the believers before us constantly and unashamedly to ask others to pray for us. Are you feeling alone, fearful, or frustrated. Reach out to another Christian and say “Cover me”. Are you facing some difficult opportunities in life. Opportunities like sharing my faith with someone else. Please say to another brother or sister “Cover me” Are you reaching the end of your patience and strength. It may very well be time to ask other followers of Jesus Christ to help. Simply say to them “Cover me!”
In the book of Ephesus Paul lays out for us the realities of the spiritual battle we are in and strongly encourages us to put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17). He concludes this section about Spiritual Warfare by saying that we should be “Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me…(Ephesians 6:18-19a). Paul is telling us we need to be sure to cover each other in prayer. He includes himself in this group that needs prayer in this fierce battle we are in. As we and Paul go out to do battle every day, having put on the whole armor of God, we should be saying to our brothers and sisters in Christ Please, “Cover me!”
Blessing
#loss #grief #Comeback – New Series at Calvary Chapel – The Comeback
In 2004 the American League Championship Series was between longtime rivals the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees were favored and won the first three games. The Yankees scored 19 runs in the third game alone. It appeared that the Red Sox were dead in the water. They had not won a World Series since 1918. It looked like their drought would continue.
The odds were certainly against the Red Sox because no team had come back from a 3-0 deficit in a seven-game series. Could the Red Sox be the first? It sure didn’t look like it. They were down 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning of game 4 with famed closer Mariano Rivera on the mound for the Yankees. For all practical purposes, the Yankees could book their hotel rooms for the World Series.
On paper, this game and this series were over. But then something amazing happened. The Red Sox came back to tie the game and then to win it on a two-run homer by David Ortiz,“Big Papi”, in the bottom of the twelfth inning. They were still alive. After that they never looked back. They won the remaining three games with the Yankees, winning the series four games to three. They then won four straight games in the World Series against the St Louis Cardinals to become World Series Champs for the first time in 86 years. What a story, what a Comeback!!!.
Everyone likes a good comeback story. This one is one of the greatest in baseball history. It reminds us to never give up and to fight against all odds. As followers of Christ, we know being down doesn’t mean being out. We can experience a resurgence, a comeback with the help of God.
Right now, I think we would all agree that humanly speaking things have been extremely tough for over a year. The pandemic has devastated our nation and our city. It has changed the church in ways we could never imagine. It has also wreaked havoc with many of our lives. It has left some discouraged, some despairing, some defeated, some depressed and some even doubting. What we need right now is a Comeback. The people of God need it individually, the church needs it corporately and our City and Nation need it desperately.
The Greatest Comeback of all time was when Jesus Christ came back from the grave on that first Resurrection Sunday. His resurrection is the message, motive and model for all real comebacks. Starting Easter Sunday, when we celebrate Jesus’ comeback, and continuing through July 4th , we at Calvary are going to be looking at the many great comebacks in the Scriptures.
Blessings,
Pastor Dave Watson
One of the toughest things to deal with in the Christian experience is knowing that if God doesn’t answer “yes” to our prayer it is going to be a huge problem. Yet the Lord says “no”. God often says “no” by His silence. Why would our Lord do that to us?
Perhaps that prayer was for healing for a loved one who would die without divine intervention. Yet God said “no”. Perhaps it was for relief from physical pain or mental anguish, but God said “no”. Perhaps it was for a financial crisis you were facing or an opportunity to leave a place or a job you needed out of. We had a deadline, we prayed, in faith, for the kingdom, for the glory of God, in Jesus’ name and God said “no”.
Please don’t think you are unique in having this happen to you. I dare say it has happened to every follower of Jesus Christ at one time or another. But what are we to make of it? Is there any encouragement we can take from a “no” from heaven?
The apostle Paul was arguably one of the greatest Christians of all time. He was a man who undoubtedly was in touch with the ways and will of God. Yet he got a big “no” from heaven on at least one major request he made. Let’s look at 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 where we find the story:
7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Paul had a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan, that harassed him (Greek “kolaphizo” – to beat with the fist). Though this thorn kept him humble it apparently hindered his ministry greatly as well. I think the term “thorn’ is used because it was painful and it was nagging the apostle.
We don’t know what this thorn in the flesh was for sure. At the end of the book of Galatians we read that he writes with very large letters with his own hand (Galatians 6:11). This has caused many to say that the thorn in the flesh was an eyesight problem that required Paul to dictate his letters and thus that slowed his productivity for the gospel and frustrated him. The experience on the road to Damascus that temporarily blinded him may also give credence to this view.
While we can’t be sure what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was we can be sure of is: Paul made it a serious matter of prayer. Paul prayed, actually pleaded, 3 times for it to be removed and the Lord didn’t grant His request. Rather, somewhere in this conversation with the Lord, Paul heard very distinctly the Lord’s reason for the “no” answer. The Lord said “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”. God owes us no explanations, but He gave one to Paul that I am sure applies to all of us.
In reality, we don’t need our prayer to be answered the way we want it to be answered. Why? Because when God says “no” He will be sure to supply the we grace to go forward. Though we are weak, His power is perfected in such weakness. We are actually stronger and more effective when we are weak often times because of heaven’s “no”. Paul says he will boast in his weakness because in that weakness the power of Christ rests on him.
For the last 12 months starting on March 15, 2020 we prayed not once, not twice, not thrice but almost countless times for Almighty God to stomp out Covid19. We’ve prayed for the death toll to albeit. We’ve prayed for the transmission rate to lower. We’ve prayed for things to get back to normal. We’ve prayed on our knees, in our Churches, in the streets, in front of the hospital, in faith, for God’s Glory and in Jesus’ name. And yet…..many prayers got a “no”.
Our Lord did not leave our prayers unanswered. He has answered many of them the same way He answered the apostle Paul. I’m not sure I was fully listening this past year because I wanted a different answer. I am doing my best to listen now. Yes, Lord Your grace is sufficient. Today His people and His church are not weak but strong because the power of Christ is more evident in us when we are weak than at our strongest moments.
A few days ago I said to someone “I wonder what Calvary (the church I’m privileged to Pastor) would be like if Covid19 hadn’t hit”. At that moment something amazing occurred to me. I am a better Christian and the Church I Pastor is a better Church, dare I say it, in the midst of this global pandemic because God said “no” to many of my and our churches requests. How can that be? Because “His grace is sufficient for us, for His power is made perfect in our weakness.” Amen!
Blessings,
Pastor Dave Watson