thePIANIST

Thursday, February 8, 2007

“[Love for Enemies] "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” - Matthew 5:43-44
In the film Castaway, Tom Hanks plays Chuck Noland, a clock-conscious Federal Express manager who gets shipwrecked on a desert island. Completely cut off from other people and modern conveniences, he must learn the primitive skills of a caveman. He puts arduous effort into harpooning fish, making fire by rubbing sticks together, and opening a coconut to get its milk and sweet fruit. The movie is rich with insights on how difficult life can become for someone who is stranded in an isolated wilderness.
In the Bible, the wilderness is often the setting for the mighty work of God within the human heart. Jesus made a practice of withdrawing to the wilderness to pray and receive direction (Mark 1:35). In a similar setting, God fed the despondent prophet Elijah with heavenly food (1 Kings 19:1-10), and in the wilderness the Ethiopian pondered the gospel (Acts 8:26-40). After Paul’s conversion, he withdrew to the Arabian Desert and was taught by the Spirit (Gal. 1:15-18).
Do you find yourself in a "wilderness" experience, isolated from friends and family? If so, the Lord may want to teach you lessons of faith and endurance that you could never learn in a busy crowd.
In solitude, on wings of prayer,My soul ascends before the throne;My only hope of strength is where,My heart and His meet all alone.
God is with you in your most barren wilderness.

When You said, "Seek My face," my heart said to You, "Your face, Lord, I will seek." —Psalm 27:8
We need to pray to be delivered from the falsehoods which keep us from the shield of God’s truth.
"You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s" (Exodus 20:17).
"You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s" (Deuteronomy 5:21).
PURPOSE: To help listeners focus on praying about being delivered from covetousness.
Do you ever struggle with prayer? What is the nature of the struggle?
One struggle is that we end up praying platitudes. How do you get rid of that? How do you stop that?
Sometimes we can use the prayers of others to enable us to pray more effectively ourselves.
Agur (writer of Proverbs 30), who was a very modest man, gave us two requests that can guide us in our prayer.
"Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest he rebuke you, and you be found a liar. Two things I request of You (deprive me not before I die): Remove falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches–feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny You, and say, 'Who is the Lord?' or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God" (Proverbs 30:5-9).
Agur’s first request is "remove falsehood and lies far from me." What kind of falsehood is he talking about?
I. One kind of falsehood he was concerned about is adding to the Word of God.
God will be a shield to those who take his Word seriously.
We often find ourselves lying about the command "You shall not covet" in order to deflect its penetration into our lives.
II. Another kind of falsehood is the lie that comes to us from our society.
We are told that we must accumulate things, that our life consists of the things we possess. When we buy into that, we really lose out on God’s protection in our lives.
We sit in front of a television set and think we’re simply seeing ads for goods, but we are being given a whole philosophy of life. The lies are so prevalent that we don’t see them for what they are.
This prayer in itself could help deliver us from the snare of covetousness.

10:26 PM; The Pianist'

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