When I was in school we boys
would love to rake our finger nails across the black
board to aggravate the
girls. They would scream and hold their hands over their ears while we laughed.
Of course, we had to make sure the teacher wasn’t around or we would get our
tails tanned with a razor strap. Young’uns these days probably don’t know what
a black board is, and I’m sure they have never seen a razor strap. Personally,
I think they (the razor straps) should be returned to the class room, the dust
blown off, and used.
My point is, if you want to
get attention, just rake your finger nails across the board and you’ll get it.
This is exactly what some groups in our society are doing. Don’t think so?
Consider this; It is stated on Wikipedia that the National Health Interview
Survey (NHIS) says that 1.6% of Americans consider themselves to be homosexual
and .7% consider themselves to be bi-sexual. Who gets the attention in our
society? Exactly.
We hear and read about idiots
murdering others of another race. I don’t know what the percentage would be,
but sure it is infinitesimal to our total population. Most Americans wouldn’t
even think of such an atrocity, but guess who gets the coverage?
Personally, I think if our government
wants to outlaw guns because of these evil air-heads why stop there. Let’s
outlaw all cars and knives. Why don’t we outlaw doctors? 1.3 Million babies are
murdered every year in the United States by doctors, and 43 million world-wide.
Oh, and nurses too. They help.
But since unborn babies
aren’t really human beings, forget the doctors and nurses. And since we need a
knife to cut our steak, we can’t go there either. Ask me to do without my
vehicles?! Forget it! So what is left? Guns. This is how political morons
think.
Bulletin! Unborn babies are
human beings! Therefore, it is called murder. And guns do not kill people any
more than vehicles do. It’s the person that controls the gun or vehicle that
kills.
Now obviously outlawing
doctors, nurses, knives, vehicles and guns is ludicrous, but since a few are
raking their finger nails over the black board to outlaw guns, look for the day
to come for this to happen. They will come after our guns just as they have in
shoving homosexuality, abortion and the removal of anything related to God down
our throats.
But let’s talk about more
pleasant things concerning our title of “The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Grease
Revisited.” Let’s briefly talk about prayer.
“Then Jesus told his
disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
He said: “In a certain town
there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.
And there was a widow in that
town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
“For some time he refused.
But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what
people think,
yet because this widow keeps
bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually
come and attack me!’”
And the Lord said, “Listen to
what the unjust judge says.
And will not God bring about
justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep
putting them off?
I tell you, he will see that
they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find
faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:1-8 NIV)
The New International Version
(NIV) provides a heading of “The Parable of the Persistent Widow” for these
verses. In other words, she was not obnoxious but rather persistent in what she
wanted. Notice particularly verse one where Jesus’ purpose is to tell His
disciples to “always pray and not give up.”
Are we guilty about praying
about something very important to us, then nothing happens within our time
frame, so we just give up and stop praying? Come now. Sure you are. I’ve been
guilty of it. Surely you have too if you would just admit it.
I have even asked God
something like, “God if you know everything anyway why do I need to pray about
it?” I have also thought “Why should I ask Him more than once. He knows what is
best. Pray about it, and don’t pester Him with it. He heard you the first time.
Besides, wouldn’t that show my faith is weak? Just trust Him and move on.” Now
I was certainly not trying to be disrespectful toward God, but I was wrong.
By the way, He wants us to
ask questions (respectfully). That’s how we learn. Has anyone ever noticed that
a child will ask a million questions when they are young? They’re learning. Be
patient, and be thankful that you are the source for their answers. That leads
me to say that God is all Truth, so why would we go elsewhere to ask our questions?
Also, a child can be quite annoying when asking over and over for something
they want or want to do. Anyone ever notice that?
Jesus wants us to follow His
pattern of living, and one thing He did consistently while on earth was pray.
God wants us to pray. It allows the Holy Spirit within us to open us up to the
fellowship we need with our Heavenly Father. Jesus wants us to have that same
fellowship with the Father that he enjoys. So let us pray.
Jesus was about to die on the
cross and experience something He had never known personally in all eternity
past; i.e. separation from the Father, sin, and condemnation by God the Father.
None of us could ever know what He experienced while paying for all our sins
upon that Roman cross. Dying on the cross was bad enough, but being separated
from the Father and being condemned by the Father because of our sins that He
took upon Himself is a horror that only God the Son could ever understand.
Obviously, it was even worse than the physical act of suffering and dying.
We do know that it was so
horrific that He prayed three times to the Father that perhaps there could be
another way and He could avoid the cross. I feel this is so important for us to
read, I’m including the passage below for your convenience.
“Then Jesus went with his
disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I
go over there and pray.”
He took Peter and the two
sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
Then he said to them, “My
soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch
with me.”
Going a little farther, he
fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may
this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Then he returned to his
disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one
hour?” he asked Peter.
“Watch and pray so that you
will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
He went away a second time
and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away
unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
When he came back, he again
found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy.
So he left them and went away
once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
Then he returned to the
disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour
has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.
Rise! Let us go! Here comes
my betrayer!” (Matthew 26:36-46 NIV)
What was the answer Jesus
received? The answer was “No.”
Jesus later had an Apostle
named Paul who also prayed to God three times for a thorn in his flesh to be
taken away, but again the answer was “No.”
“…Therefore, in order to keep
me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of
Satan, to torment me.
Three times I pleaded with
the Lord to take it away from me.
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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may
rest on me.
That is why, for Christ’s
sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in
difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10
NIV)
The widow in our Lord’s
parable finally got a positive response. That’s what we all want! Yes! Give me
a “Yes!” That’s what I want. She got it, but …
The Son of God and His
greatest Apostle both got a negative response from the Father. Or did they?
Because Jesus willingly, and
with untold love for us, continued on to the cross after being told basically,
“I’m sorry my Son. This is the only way if we want to save them,” billions of
souls have been snatched from Satan’s grasp. Because the Father said “No” we
who know Jesus will be embraced with the open arms of our Savior and Lord when
we see Him face to face.
Also, because Paul was told
“No, my grace is sufficient,” he was kept from becoming conceited and therefore
served his Lord with humility. Can anyone count the number of souls who have
come to Christ by Paul’s life?
Jesus, the Son of God, and
His Apostle Paul were more than satisfied with their answers to repeated
prayer, and their lives accomplished their purposes.
In my opinion, if the need in
our life is so important to us that it is a burning issue that maybe even
steals our sleep, then we should wrestle in prayer until we have the answer, as
Jacob did (read Genesis 32:22-32). When
we finally get the answer, we will be happy with either “Yes” or “No” because
we know then it is God’s will and we are in it. Knowing this, let us remain
constant and steadfast in prayer.
“rejoicing in hope, patient
in tribulation, continuing steadfastly
in prayer; (Romans 12:12 NKJV emphasis mine)
Grant Phillips
Email: grantphillips@windstream.net
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
