QUARTERLY JOURNAL
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Prayer Still Works

     During a Sunday Morning Worship, a mentally disturbed man walks into a Texas Church, fully armed, and disguised in a wig and false beard, and opens fire on the congregation, killing two parishioners. Another man, in a similar incident, walks into a Jewish Synagogue armed with a machete, and kills two people. If these incidents can happen, literally, IN THE CHURCH, one might be led to wonder, ‘Does prayer still work?’ From its inception the goal of the Shiloh Quarterly Journal has been two-fold; to inspire and to inform. Information, to keep you aware of the goings-on in our Church/Family life, and inspiration, to fan the flame of the Work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, based on the faithfulness of God toward us. Our feeble attempts have not always been successful, but they have always been with the best of intentions.

     So, when it comes to Prayer, there’s very little that I can tell you, that you don’t already know through personal experience. But there have been moments in my life when I questioned, “If Prayer Still Works, and……. What about faith?” Still a novice at prayer, but a student of faith, I know that regardless of what we may encounter in this life, Jesus teaches his disciples, and us, about persistent prayer and faith through the Parable of the Persistent Widow, at Luke 18:1-8 NKJV, where it is written, “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying, ‘There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God, nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she same to him saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary’, and he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me’. Then the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?’”

     Prayer projects faith and it is the expression of our relation to God and creates in us a yearning for divine communion with Him. Faith does the impossible because it brings God to our impossibility. It is the ever-persevering of our new life to stay afloat with our Creator, amid a fallen world, even when it looks and feels like the ship is going down. The faith that centers itself on the powerful person of Jesus Christ is the faith that creates powerful praying, fully established in His ability, and His compassion for us. We were created to worship; and prayer is the ultimate worship- because it is our heartfelt expression and confidence in the True & Living God, who cannot lie and who cannot deny Himself. True faith lays hold to the Truth that is God’s Word, and it is life-transforming. In prayer, faith is looking to God and resting upon His promises, which gives birth to peace, and peace gives Power to Prayer. With all the preaching and teaching that Pastor has done over the past thirty years, it has been the work of the ministry to change unbelieving sinners into praying and believing saints. We have come a long way, but we have a long way to go. It is through the Word of God and faith that prayer worked, and still works. And we know that before requests are made known, faith must have gone ahead.

 

  • “But without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrew 11:16 KJV.
  • “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24 KJV

     In prayer I am forced to get down, off from my high-horse, and submit to the will of Almighty God. It is the assertion of the soul’s dire need to bow down in the Presence of Royalty. Situations, disappointments, and dangers seen, and unseen will weigh on us, but trust in the Lord will bring us to our knees, and if we must wait, then we wait! If we must linger, then we linger!

     It is the lowliness of our pitiful position in the presence of an Omnipotent God that gives us the “substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1) through faith in prayer. Far from being an expert at Prayer, life has taught me that when it comes to talking to God, all I really need is to come boldly, and with honesty- honest about who I am, and honest about Who HE is. The mere fact that I can talk to Him, about anything is very humbling. The mere fact that He wants to hear from me, and beckons me to come, exemplifies His mercy, love, and grace, to all who belong to Him. With all that He knows about me- He never goes the other way when He sees me coming. In prayer, fire is the motive power, and there can be no successful praying without consuming desire. Power is the wing on which faith ascends; and fervency is the push of prayer. Somebody said, ‘Pray Until Something Happens!’ and I think it bears repeating. Burden of soul, sense of need, desperation, and utter self-abandonment creates in us a thirst for prayer; and consuming prayer in the Word of God is the refreshing living water that quench’s our thirst, bringing relief to our dry, parched lives. Ask the Samaritan Woman at the Well, and she will tell you that; “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked him, and he would have given thee living water” (John 4:9 KJV).

The life, power, and glory of the church is prayer. The life of its members is dependent on prayer and the presence of God is secured and retained by prayer. This very place is made sacred by its ministry. Without it, the church is lifeless, and powerless. Without it, even this building itself is nothing more than a structure. Prayer converts even the bricks, and mortar and lumber into a sanctuary, a Holy Place. A Habitation for God.  Ultimately, in prayer, in the name of Jesus, it is faith in Christ that is the basis of all working, and we ought to do it often. Every day demands its own prayer, and despite what’s going on in the world today, or even in our lives, prayer through faith still works, and we have new grace and new mercies for the new day. Doubt and fear are the twin foes of faith. So, I ask you, “When the Son of Man Comes, will he find faith in you?” [Excerpt from The Complete works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer]

P             My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up. Psalms 5:3

R             Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Psalms 51:12

A             Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I. Psalms 142:6

Y              Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness sake, O LORD. Psalms 25:7

E              Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. And our dominion endures throughout all generations. Psalms 145:13

R            Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Hebrews 12:28

 

S              For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Romans 10:11

T              And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced. John 19:37

I               For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Cor. 15:22

L              For The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 1 Thessalonians. 4:16

L              Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Psalm 150:6

 

W            We praise you, God, we praise you, for your Name is near; people tell of your wonderful deeds. Psalms 75:1

O             Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! Psalms 107:8

R             But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. Psalms 5:11

K             Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Isaiah 26:3

S              For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:9

 

Amen

 

Submitted By Deaconess Irene Gardon



Having a Godly Mindset vs. a Worldy Mindset

     Through this article, I hope to establish some concrete difference between a Godly Mindset and Carnal Mindset because understanding the difference may shed light upon which one you are operating through and what results you can expect. Scripture tells us in Romans 8:6-8 KJV – “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

     To be carnally minded, means that you are led by your impulses, passions, and desires. A carnally minded person caters to the wants of their flesh in this world, instead of being led by the Holy Spirit that we received after accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior. Since human intellect is so limited in its reasoning, it fails to recognize the Spirit of God. To have it simply put, when you operate through a carnal mindset, you are basically saying that your own human effort is sufficient, and God’s wisdom is insufficient for whatever issues you may be experiencing. Because of this, we usually come to our own demise, because we relied on our own understanding. To have a spiritual mindset means you are being led by the Holy Spirit instead of worldly reasoning and guidance. A spiritually minded person is satisfied with God’s perfect will for their life alone, due to their intimate relationship with God.

     The outcome of a spiritual mind is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control of the Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the strength that produces these spiritual fruits. Because sanctification is an ongoing process, the spiritual mindset is something we can achieve through the work and transformation the Holy Spirit is doing within us. The Holy Spirit equips us with everything we need to overcome every temptation and trial when we allow Him to do so. That is why it is necessary for us to examine our thought life, checking out every thought to make sure it lines up with the Word of God because that’s where the true battle lies. His Word gives us the tools to do so as shown in 2 Corinthians 10:5 KJV – “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” 

     Being spiritually minded means our outcome will not be based on carnal thinking, such as facts and figures, which are highly concentrated in human reasoning, faulty to natural expectation; but rather operating through a mindset that is based on the truth of God’s Word and having supernatural expectations that come from a heavenly realm. As shown in Romans 12: 2 KJV – “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”.

 

Submitted By Sis. Sydney Johnson



How to Properly Respond to Cruelty and People that Do Not Like You

“I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you”

 Matthew 5:44 KJV

     God tells us to love our enemies and bless those that curse us. Our Father commands us to do good to those who hate us. God also tells us to pray for those who despise, disrespect, or mistreat us and see us as unqualified or unworthy of being treated better. Imagine praying the best for someone who treats you worse and considers you beneath them. Our God’s command is absolutely the antithesis of today’s ideologies. On August 28, 1963, the late Dr. Martin Luther King gave a speech while at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. where he said that ‘he had a dream that one day the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners would be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.’  Nearly 4 years later, on May 8, 1967, Dr. King confessed that his ‘dream had turned into a nightmare.’ It is just not in man’s nature to ask God to bless someone who harasses, annoys, causes trouble persistently or is oppressive in their treatment of people. It just does not come naturally for us to easily change the way that we feel about someone we dislike. If we dislike a person, we can pray for hours but when we get up off our knees, many times, we still struggle with the same dislikes and attitudes that we had about people before we got on our knees to pray. It is extremely difficult for us to love people that we do not even like, but God is ultimately after a change in our mind, behavior, and attitudes.  The Lord knows our human nature (John 2:24).  Yet, God still expects us to turn the other cheek if someone strikes us and allow them to strike the other side of our face too (Matt 5:39).

     A Godly lifestyle seems to be difficult for human nature, especially for people that the Lord commands to be strong, bold, and unmovable (1 Corinthians 15:58). Our human nature seems to tell us that if someone takes our shirt, we should take it back. If someone violates our rights, many of us believe that we ought to have the right to take them to court even if we both go to the same church (1 Corinthians 6:1-7). But God says, “If someone does you wrong, don’t try to pay them back by hurting them…” (Romans 12:17). Not only does God say not to hate a thief when he steals because he is hungry (Proverbs 6:30), but God goes even further and says that if someone takes our shirt we should give them our coat as (Luke 6:29).

     It seems like an impossible lifestyle for anyone to live especially in today’s world. Actually, if the truth be told, this lifestyle is virtually unheard of in many societies today. Most of us probably know no one that lives this way, but God commands us to adopt this type of life as a pattern for our everyday Christian walk. We proclaim it, but can we really live it? We say that we want to be like Jesus, but can we really pass the test of living the life that Jesus lived? Jesus gave us a pattern of how to live on this earth in this wicked world, but the question is can we meet the challenge that the Lord has set before us? We say that we want to live like Jesus but the real question we need to ask ourselves honestly, is that true? Jesus Christ set a high standard for living. Jesus was slapped in the face by strangers (John 18:22). Are we ready to let someone slap us in the face, let alone strangers? Jesus was spit on (Matthew 26:67). Are we ready to allow people to spit on us? They cursed and scolded Jesus Christ. They took a stick and kept hitting him on the head with it (Mark 15:19). Not only would many of us not allow anyone to curse or scold us in public but if anyone tried to hit us with a stick then someone may need to call the police to stop us from beating our offenders to death. The Prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 53:2-10 that there was nothing special or impressive about the way Jesus looked. In modern times, people would have tried to avoid including Jesus in the camera shot. There was nothing about Jesus that would cause anyone to like him. He did not have the kind of looks that would have made anyone interested in him. As a matter of fact, people made fun of him, and even his friends left him. According to the Prophet Isaiah, Jesus was a man who suffered a lot of pain and sickness. We treated him like someone of no importance, like someone people will not even look at but turn away from in disgust. Even his own disciple Peter, who later became Apostle Peter, denied Jesus three times (Matt 26:69-75, John 18:15-27, Luke 22:54-57). The fact is that Jesus took our suffering on himself.

      Jesus bore our pain. God was punishing Him for what we did. He was crushed because of our guilt. He took the punishment that we deserved. Maybe we should look at those who suffer in poverty and sickness and keep in mind that could easily have been us, but God’s loving grace and mercy has brought us peace. We were healed because of the pain that the Lord suffered for us. We are the wretched filthy rags. We are the liars, thieves, fornicators, adulterers, murderers, gossips, idolaters and abusers. None of us are any good; Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Psalm 53:3 KJV). We are the ones that wandered away like sheep and had gone our own way. Yet the Father put all our wickedness, treachery, and guilt on His only begotten son Jesus. We were adopted (Ephesians 1:5) but Jesus Christ was God’s only offspring and God placed our disobedience on His own innocent son. He was treated badly for you and me, but He never protested. He said nothing, like a lamb being led away to be killed. He was like a sheep that makes no sound as its wool is being cut off. He never opened His mouth to defend Himself. He was taken away by force and judged unfairly. The people of His time did not even notice that He was killed. But He was put to death for my sin and your sin because we are God’s people and He died for us. He did no wrong to anyone. He never even told a lie, but He was buried among the wicked rich people and the Father was pleased with this humble servant who suffered such pain. He was a broken man for our sakes.

     The truth is that through our own power many of us may never be like Jesus as some of us claim we want to be. His standard for holy living is like no other that has ever lived on earth. That is unfortunate for many of us because God actually has something special for those who choose to live a lifestyle like Jesus Christ. King David alludes to it in 2 Samuel 16:12. God discusses it with Hagar in Genesis 16:9-13. Abigail warns David not to do anything that will keep him from getting it in 1 Samuel 25:30-31. Shimei showed that he disliked King David by being cruel and harsh to King David in 2 Samuel 16:5-13. Sarai showed that she disliked Hagar by being cruel and harsh to Hagar in Genesis 16:1-13 and again in Genesis 29:9-21. Nabal showed that he disliked King David by being cruel and harsh to King David in 1 Samuel 25:10-11. In the face of this dislike, hatred and cruelty God’s expectation for the responses from these people in these stories was the same. Go back, submit to those in authority or do not do anything that will make you guilty of wrongdoing. God told Hagar to go back and submit herself to the harshness of Sarai, Gen 16:9. Eventually, God told Abraham to send Hagar and her son Ishmael away, Genesis 21:10-12. Abigail warned King David that Nabal’s cruelty was a trap, and that David should not do anything that would jeopardize the blessings that God had in store for him (1 Sam 25:31). Despite Nabal’s cruelty, King David left Nabal without causing any harm to him. King David asked his servant Abishai to not do any harm to Shimei and let Shimei get his frustration out on David by cursing him out. All these responses to dislike, cruelty and hatred are pictures of the characteristics of Jesus Christ. Hagar could have gone back to Sarai with ill will on her mind because of Saria’s harsh attitude. Who knows what Hagar would have slipped into Sarai’s coffee or tea the next morning? Who knows what Abishai could have done to Shimei if King David gave the order? Who knows what David would have done to Nabal had Abigail not warned him about not doing anything negatively in response to Nabal’s cruelty? Who knows what would have happened to America if Dr. King had ascribed to violence as a retaliatory measure to the country’s hatred of Black folks? Thank the Lord that Our God is just, and He hears our cries when we are afflicted.

     Many times, the obstacles we encounter, the challenges we face, and our own failures are used by the Lord to break us down to where He can use us as He sees fit. God never turns away from a broken spirit and a crushed heart (Psalm 51:17 KJV). Sometimes the way that God goes about crushing the heart is not pleasant, but it is effective (2 Chronicles 33:10-11).  If God is willing to hear us when we are guilty then He most certainly will hear us when we are innocent (Psalm 17:3).  Apostle Peter says that it is God’s will that we live righteously and when we do good it silences the discussions of foolish people (1 Pet 2:15). We still need to keep in mind that God may not hear us when we do wrong (1 Samuel 28:6 KJV) but God does hear us when we live right (Psalm 34:17-19).  We have to be confident in believing that our Father will hear us when we go to Him (1 John 5:14-15). Hagar experienced cruelty, dislike, resentment, and hatred but God heard her cries (Genesis 16:13).  Hagar’s son Ishmael was treated cruelly and experienced resentment and hatred, but God heard the cries of Hagar’s son Ishmael (Genesis 21:17-18). Even after Ishmael had mocked Sarah’s son Isaac and Ishmael’s banishment seemed justified in Sarah’s eyes, the Lord still heard the cries of scorned Ishmael. God saw Nabal’s rude and dismissive behavior towards David and the Lord avenged His child (1 Samuel 25:39). God promises to avenge the afflictions of His children, “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily” (Luke 18:7-8). Who knows, maybe God will return good to us for some of the bad things people do to us or say about us (2 Samuel 16:12).

 

Submitted By Trustee Stanley Ridley