Our Thursday prayers are now at a new time!
You are invited to join together with the members of Faith as well as other Lutheran churches in the Tampa area Thursday at noon on Facebook or Youtube as we pray for each other and our community.
You can send prayer requests which we will include in the time of prayer.
Thank you and God bless!
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
“But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.“ – Micah 7:7
How quickly do you expect God to do what you pray for?
Good Friday one of the most important days of the church year when we remember Jesus’ death on the cross. Easter, of course, is another important day when we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. But the Saturday in between?…
We wait.
Waiting isn’t easy.
Today, we expect to get everything fast. Amazon is shipping same-day now. The new Boom Supersonic plane will soon be flying people from New York to London in a little over 3hrs flying at 2.2x the speed of sound. In places with gigabit internet connections, you can download a 2hr HD movie in 25 seconds.
We want things fast.
When it takes too long, we tend to lose our patience. When I worked in online marketing, the rule was that if a web page took longer than 5 seconds to load, people would start leaving. Now, a page is expected to load in about 1 second.
On the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter, we wait. In prayer, we often must wait, too.
God isn’t Amazon or Boom Supersonic or an Internet provider. He doesn’t work on our timetable hoping to have a satisfied customer. He follows His own timing and we must wait.
I’ve spoken with people who told me that yesterday they prayed for xyz and God didn’t answer their prayer. God did answer their prayer, though. He always does. However, His answer may have been that they needed to wait.
It’s not easy, but it is for the best.
It reminds us that we are the created making requests of our creator. It also teaches us to trust God and His love and wisdom, both in how He answers our prayers and when.
We know God’s will is good, His ways are wiser than ours, and He loves us. We can trust Him to always answer our prayers. We can also trust how and when He acts. So, we can join Micah in saying that we will look to the Lord and wait for the God of our salvation, knowing He hears us.
Heavenly Father,
It can be difficult to wait, but I know Your timing is better than mine. Help me to be patient and to wait on You.
Amen
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” -Luke 22:42
Are you willing to submit to the will of God when you pray?
We want what we want, but that’s not necessarily what is best either for us or for others.
I’ve got a long list of things I pray for.
I pray for healing. I pray for safety. I pray for wisdom. I pray that I’d be able to pay the bills each month. The list goes on. These are all my will. Even when praying for others, I’m praying that my will be done for those people (like they would be healed or protected from all harm).
A lot of the things I pray for are good. Some may even be what is best, but some, though good, may not be what is best. When I pray for healing, that’s good, but I may need to go through the illness for some purpose I’m not even aware of.
Paul prayed that a thorn in his side would be removed. We don’t know what the “thorn” was, but Paul certainly wanted to get rid of it. Removing suffering is good, but in this case, it wasn’t best. God said He wouldn’t remove it. It kept Paul humble and reminded him to rely on God rather than himself. That was a better good.
My will is not perfect. My will can be selfish. God’s will is perfect.
Jesus’ prayer in the garden was not an easy one. He knew what lay before Him, the horrible suffering He was about to endure, but He trusted the Father’s will. He knew the Father’s will was perfect and loving, even if it was difficult.
As those called by the Holy Spirit into faith, our desire is that our will would be more and more like the will of the Father and that even when our will differs, we would be willing to submit our will to the Father’s will. Prayer is an act of submission.
Heavenly Father,
Your will is good and perfect. Sometimes, my will differs from Your will. When it does, I submit myself to You. May Your will be done, even if it is difficult. And may my will be more like Yours every day.
Amen
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
Where do you like to pray?
Sometimes we pray for others while we are with them. Sometimes we pray together in a worship service. Sometimes we pray together before a meal or in family devotions. Sometimes, though, we pray by ourselves, alone…in secret.
“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” – Matthew 6:6
This verse reminds us of a few things.
We may read that last one as a scary thing.
“Uh oh! God knows that bad thing I did the other day, even though no one else saw it.”
This is true, of course, but the implication of this passage is positive.
Remember, God loves you and wants to forgive you. Knowing that you can’t hide anything from God frees you to always go to Him when you have sinned and ask for forgiveness.
God also sees the good things we have done that no one else knows about.
In fact, in another verse, Jesus tells His disciples that when they fast, they shouldn’t make it obvious to others that they were fasting, but go through the day like everything is normal.
God would know they were fasting. And God hears us when we pray in secret. God knows the desires of our heart, both our hurts and our joys, the things we don’t share with anyone.
This doesn’t mean that we should never pray in public.
After all, there are plenty of public prayers in the Bible. Rather, this is telling us that God doesn’t want us to make a big show of our prayers. He simply wants us to go to Him and pour out our hearts…Share our struggles. Confess our sins. Share our triumphs. Ask for help. Pray for others…just between God and us.
He hears us and He answers our prayers.
Heavenly Father,
You know my heart. You hear me when I pray, even when no one else knows. Thank You.
Amen
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” – Mark 9:24
These are the words of a father desperate for his demon-possessed son to be made well. He had brought his son to be cleansed of a demon, but Jesus wasn’t there, just nine of the disciples. So, he asked the disciples to help. The disciples tried and failed time after time for hours.
Now, Jesus was there.
The father’s belief was waning, but now Jesus, Himself, was there. Jesus asks what was going on and the disciples and the father explain. This ends with the following…
“‘But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.’
And Jesus said to him,
‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.’”
It is then that the father blurts out, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” He wanted to. He really wanted his son to be healed, but he also had serious doubts.
I love the father’s honesty.
He didn’t try to fake it and say that of course, he believed. He also didn’t just accept his doubts and walk away. He asked Jesus to help him overcome his doubts and unbelief.
Sometimes when we pray, we have doubts about whether God can or will help. We don’t need to try to fake it with God…(it wouldn’t work anyway). We can ask God to help us to believe and overcome our doubts. God doesn’t despise those who have to ask for help believing. Rather, He helps us to overcome our unbelief.
Heavenly Father,
Sometimes I struggle to believe. I doubt You are listening. I doubt You can help the problem or maybe You just won’t. Help me to believe. Help me to overcome my doubts. Thank You that I can come to You even with these kinds of struggles and know that You listen and respond with grace and mercy.
Amen
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.” – Jeremiah 29:12
Do you rejoice over suffering?
Suffering isn’t fun. No one really wants to go through a tough time, but sometimes we need to.
When this passage from Jeremiah was written (it was in a letter from Jeremiah), the Israelites had lost the promised land and been sent into exile.
Not fun.
Then, in verse 10, God had just told the Israelites He wasn’t getting them out of exile any time soon. They would be in exile for 70 years. This would be hard.
Why were they in exile in the first place?
They had turned away from God and were worshiping false gods. That is worse than exile! God needed to get their attention and do so in a way that would last. God was working to turn the heart of Israel back to Him.
The tough pill to swallow is that the exile was for their own good. There is another famous Bible verse that God said right after telling the Israelites they would be in exile for 70 years:
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11
Sometimes God lets us go through difficult times because we need to remember who He is and turn back to Him. The wonderful news is that He will hear us when we call out to Him. He is there the whole time working His plan for our welfare and for our future.
If you are going through a difficult time right now, call out to God. He will hear you. If life is pretty good right now, don’t forget the God who has blessed you. Continue to turn to Him…He will hear you, too.
Heavenly Father,
You are wiser than I am. You are good. When things are going well, it can be easy to forget to come to You in prayer. Remind me. Help me to always remember You and turn to You. If I do start to drift, bring me back to You, even if that means I have to suffer some. Being Your child is more important to me than avoiding suffering. Thank You that You considered having me as Your child more important than the suffering You faced at the cross.
Amen
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people” – Ephesians 1:18
What is the first thing you can do so that non-Christians will believe in Jesus?
I remember my son and daughter’s baptisms. I’ve always loved baptisms because of the promise God gives us that through baptism. He will give us saving faith. It’s a victory over satan! God has brought another person into His kingdom!
That’s Awesome!!
The Scriptures tell us that faith is not something we achieve, but rather it is a gift, a work of the Holy Spirit. That’s one reason we baptize infants. Since the gift of faith is God’s act, He can give faith to a child just as well as an adult.
God Gives Faith To Adults, Too
Interestingly, when thinking about evangelism and adults, we tend to forget that it’s God who creates the faith. We get all worked up about saying the right thing as though if we say this word instead of another, it will determine whether the person receives faith.
Even in adults, it’s still all the work of the Holy Spirit which is why you don’t have to get so worried about saying every right word. It’s also why it makes perfect sense for us to start with prayer.
In our passage from Ephesians, Paul is saying that he is praying that the “eyes of [their] heart[s] would be enlightened”. In other words, he is praying that they would receive faith so that they would know the hope of Christ.
Since it is God who gives faith, shouldn’t we pray for those who don’t know Him to receive faith?
Absolutely!
This doesn’t mean that we don’t need to bother talking with the people about Jesus. After all, the Holy Spirit works through the hearing of the Word. However, we begin with praying for the people. Then we share the Gospel. Then we keep praying.
Who do you know that you could be praying for?
I encourage you to pick 5 people who you know that do not believe in Jesus and start praying for them every day that God would open the eyes of their hearts to receive faith.
If you need some help, how about praying for the people who live in your neighborhood. One way you can do this is with the help of BlessEveryHome.com. You can sign-up for free and they will give you neighbors to pray for.
Heavenly Father,
You are our source of life and salvation. Thank you for the gift of faith. I know several people that do not believe in You. I pray that You would give them faith. I pray for these five people in particular…
(Pray for the 5+ people on your list.)
Please give them faith and please give me the opportunity and boldness to share the Gospel with them.
Amen.
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” – Matthew 7:11
Why doesn’t God give us everything we ask for?
Have you ever asked God for a million dollars? How about a new car or a different job? I have. Did you get it? I haven’t either. Or maybe you’ve asked Him for something much less extravagant, but still haven’t received it.
Maybe it was because you weren’t praying this super-secret prayer that will insure God gives you everything you could ever ask for.
….
After doing a bunch of research I’ve discovered that this prayer only exists on April 1st.
The truth is God doesn’t just give us whatever we want.
It can be frustrating. The apostle Paul would understand. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul writes that he had a “thorn in his side.” He doesn’t go into detail about what that thorn was, but he does say that he asked God 3 times to remove it and God refused. God told Paul His (God’s) grace was sufficient.
In Matthew, Jesus asked whether parents would give their kids a stone when they asked for bread or a snake when they asked for fish. Of course not! He followed that to say that God, our Father, knows how to give good gifts, too, when we ask. However, as Paul discovered, God’s good gifts aren’t always what we ask for or what we want.
That’s because what we ask for isn’t always good.
God knows what is best for us and that is what He gives us. Sometimes a million dollars would hurt us in the long run or draw us away from Him. Sometimes we need to stay in at a job we don’t really like so we can minister to someone there. Who knows? Well…God does. And that’s why He gives the gifts that are truly good.
Heavenly Father,
You are the giver of all good gifts. Thank You for taking care of me. Thank You for listening to me. Help me to trust Your goodness, even when Your answer to my prayer is, “No.”
Amen.
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is -his good, pleasing and perfect will.” – Romans 12:2
Why do we pray?
The truth is we probably have prayed for all these reasons at one point or another. However, here’s something to consider…
Prayer is less about us trying to change/persuade God and is more about us being changed by God.
When we pray, by definition, we are admitting that we can’t handle things on our own. We must humble ourselves and remember who is the source of all Good things.
Oftentimes, God’s answer to our prayers includes changing us. Think about it. If prayer were about getting God to do what we want, we would be making God more like us and that wouldn’t be good.
Instead, we seek to be transformed by God to be more like Him. Then, as He acts, we can see that His will is better than ours. His will is good and pleasing. His will is perfect.
We can even pray for God to change us.
Prayer has a natural way of changing us, but it is also good for us to consciously and intentionally humble ourselves and ask God to change our hearts and minds to be more like Him. What a wonderful prayer to be more like God?!
Heavenly Father,
I have many needs and desires. I pray that You would provide for my needs knowing that You are the giver of all good things. I also pray that You would make my desires line up with Your desires. Change my heart, oh God. Transform me that I might see Your will, which is good and perfect.
Amen.
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” – Matthew 26-41a
What do you do when you feel tempted to sin?
Let’s start by identifying what temptation is. Temptation isn’t a sin, itself, it is that push to sin. It might be a thought that nags you or it might be a person who is leading you down the wrong path. We haven’t sinned…yet, but we’re thinking about it or being pushed towards it.
That’s just when we need to be praying, but sometimes we don’t
So, why don’t we?
Guilt:
Sometimes we already feel guilty for even having considered…or even thought about a sin.
“Surely God is already mad at me. How can I go to Him now?”
Yet, God not only bids us to pray in times of temptation but also forgives us if we do sin. So, if you feel guilty, remember that God loves to forgive the guilty who turn to Him.
We Don’t Really Want To:
This one is tougher to admit, but let’s be honest. Sometimes we don’t want to be stopped from sinning. Sometimes we push God away in times of temptation because we want to do the sin.
I’ve been there. It’s at those times I find praying extremely honestly to be very helpful. I’ll tell God plainly not only that I’m being tempted, but that I want to sin. However, then I’ll ask Him to change my heart so that I don’t want to sin anymore.
It’s amazing! He does it!
Though, we really shouldn’t be surprised. It’s exactly what He promised He would do:
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” – 1 Corinthians 10:13
That promise is for you today and every day. Praise the Lord!
I can’t say that I’ve turned to God in prayer every time I’ve been tempted or that I’ve always fought off the temptations and avoided sinning. I haven’t. Yet, even then, I know I can turn to Jesus in repentance and be forgiven. You can, too. That is also God’s promise!
Heavenly Father,
Temptation bombards me every day, trying to pull me away from You. Please help me. When I face temptation, show me the way out. When I want to give in to temptation, change my heart. When I do fall into temptation, please forgive me and restore me.
Amen.
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
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