As the title introduction indicates it is GOD who is the source of our Afflictions and when we learn of Him we will know and understand why. And as a lead into today's study I want to again pull from a teaching in my e-sword program by Pastor Hoekstra dealing with our need for prayer without ceasing. In the first look at our listen text we will find that we can indeed slide away with ease form a life of prayer and GODS Grace.
"Praying Without Ceasing to the God of All Grace"
"The GOD of all Grace . . . pray without ceasing." (1Peter 5:10 and 1Thessalonians 5:17)
"These two biblical phrases are ideal correlations. The only way that we can live as GOD intends is by Grace. Our GOD is the source of all Grace. GOD's Grace is to be drawn upon by humility and faith. Prayer is the most appropriate expression of humility and faith. We pray, because we need GOD's help (thereby, expressing humility). We pray, because we believe GOD will help us (thereby, exercising faith). Consequently, praying without ceasing is a simple, yet profound, way to relate rightly to the GOD of all Grace through His Son our LORD Christ Jesus.
"Pray without ceasing." This command is not requiring the incessant reciting of prayers. Rather, it is a call to a way of living: "continuing steadfastly in prayer" (Romans 12:12). Praying without ceasing is an attitude of the heart, as well as an addressing of prayers consistently to and through (as being One with the ontological essence of restored to us) the LORD. To pray without ceasing is to have the inner man focused in humble dependence upon the LORD, while consistently addressing actual prayers to the LORD.
Paul was such a man of prayer. The LORD was definitely the object of his expectations: "the LORD Christ Jesus, our hope" (1Timothy 1:1). In addition, he consistently offered prayers to the LORD: "without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers . . . do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers . . . without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day" (Romans 1:9; Ephesians 1:16; and 2Timothy 1:3). Notice also, Paul's prayers included recurring prayer for others. Those who live by Grace develop hearts of intercession, praying that others might enjoy the Grace of GOD as well.
It is common among the spiritual examples of scripture to find lives of prayer. David was clearly one who prayed without ceasing. A great portion of his Psalms are directed to the LORD in prayer. Some testify of his habit of prayer. "Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice" (Psalm 55:17). Jeremiah was a man of prayer. "O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of affliction . . . Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved . . . Give heed to me, O LORD, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me!" (Jeremiah 16:19; 17:14; and 18:19). Daniel was also a man of prayer. "He knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his GOD, as was his custom since early days" (Daniel 6:10). Likewise, all who want to live by Grace increasingly become people of prayer."
Afflictions from GOD:
Deu 8:1-10, 11-17 "The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. You shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in His ways and by fearing (strongly reverencing) Him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land He has given you.
(now for our warning) "Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His rules and His statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt (the symbol of mans many religious forms which hinder GODS plan), out of the house of slavery, Who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock (today we know this rock to be Christ), Who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.'"
Ruth 1:14, 15-18, 19-21 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
She said, "See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law." But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your GOD my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you." And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, "Is this Naomi?" She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?"
Job 6:1-7 "Then Job answered and said: "Oh that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash. For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of GOD are arrayed against me. Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass, or the ox low over his fodder? Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the juice of the mallow? My appetite refuses to touch them; they are as food that is loathsome to me."
Job 16:6-17 "If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me? Surely now GOD has worn me out; He has made desolate all my company. He has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me, and my leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face. He has torn me in His wrath and hated me; He has gnashed His teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me. Men have gaped at me with their mouth; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me. GOD gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked. I was at ease, and He broke me apart; He seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; He set me up as His target; His archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare; He pours out my gall on the ground. He breaks me with breach upon breach; He runs upon me like a warrior. I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin and have laid my strength in the dust. My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness, although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure."
Psalm 66:8-15 "Bless our GOD, O peoples; let the sound of His praise be heard, Who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip. For you, O GOD, have tested us; You have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; You laid a crushing burden on our backs; You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet You have brought us out to a place of abundance. I will come into Your house with burnt offerings; I will perform my vows to You, that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble. I will offer to You burnt offerings of fattened animals, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats." To day we have our GOD seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and Truth with the understanding of Romans 12:1-3.
Psalm 90:7-12 "For we are brought to an end by Your anger; by Your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence. For all our days pass away under Your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of Your anger, and Your wrath according to the fear of You? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."
Psalm 102:8-11, 12 "All the day My enemies taunt Me; those who deride Me use My name for a curse. For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink, because of Your indignation and anger; for You have taken me up and thrown me down. My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
But You, O LORD, are enthroned forever; You are remembered throughout all generations."
Ezekiel 24:15-24 "The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men." So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded. And the people said to me, "Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting thus?" Then I said to them, "The word of the LORD came to me: 'Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the LORD GOD: Behold, I will profane My sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and the yearning of your soul, and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword. And you shall do as I have done; you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. Your turbans shall be on your heads and your shoes on your feet; you shall not mourn or weep, but you shall rot away in your iniquities and groan to one another. Thus shall Ezekiel be to you a sign; according to all that He has done you shall do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the LORD GOD.'"
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