The Word For Today

Helen Keller overcame the difficult challenge of being left without hearing, speech and sight after contracting a fever as a baby, and she learned to communicate by learning Braille. Her life inspired millions of people. One of her ardent admirers was author Mark Twain. She was invited to visit every president at the White House from her childhood on. What many don't know is how hard Helen worked as an adult. After graduating with honours from Radcliffe College, she worked to help others until her death at eighty-eight. She authored numerous articles. She gave lectures for the American Foundation for the Blind and raised millions of dollars for them. On her eightieth birthday, she was given the Helen Keller International Award for those who give outstanding help to the blind.

In the Bible, Paul prayed for the Colossian Christians: 'That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him'. And he gave them two ways in which they could do this: 'Being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God' (Colossians 1:10 NKJV). Faith and works; spirituality and service; ministering to the Lord and meeting the needs of others. That's how Helen Keller lived.

You say, 'But my goal is to please the Lord rather than people.' Here's how you do that: 'With goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men' (Ephesians 6:7 NKJV). Hymn writer Charles Meigs wrote: 'Others, Lord, yes others, let this my motto be. Help me to live for others, that I may live like Thee.'

God said: 'Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know' (Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV). He asks you to call too.

Joshua's army was battling the combined might of five hostile armies, and he was winning. But he was running out of time and needed more daylight. So he did something no one in recorded history has done before: 'Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: "Sun, stand still."...So the sun stood still...till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of Heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord heeded the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel' (Joshua 10:12-14 NKJV).

Like Joshua battling five kings, you may be battling discouragement, disease, despair, defeat or death. Respond in prayer - honest, continual and audacious prayer. You're a member of God's family. You come to him as an heir. Confidently approach his throne (see Hebrews 4:16). Earnestly make your requests known (see Philippians 4:6), not because of what you've achieved but because of what Jesus has done on your behalf. Because Jesus shed his blood for you, you can confidently pour out your heart before God, knowing you'll get results.

Max Lucado wrote about the power of prayer in the life of his friend Greg Pruett: 'He is trained as an engineer, linguist and Bible translator. But his most significant contribution might be in the area of "extreme prayer".' In Greg's book by that name, he related how he returned from Guinea, West Africa, to assume the role of president of Pioneer Bible Translators. It was 2008 - the Great Recession. The ministry's financial chart indicated a freefall towards insolvency. Greg had no experience in leading such an organisation and no tangible place to cut expenses. Resources were few and the donors were disappearing. Greg knew of only one response: prayer. 'That's when I began to learn not to pray about my strategies, but to make prayer the strategy.'

In July, Greg Pruett called his team to prayer. He urged them to stand before God's throne with specific and bold requests. Greg described the result: 'When I saw the end of the year report, I knew God had heard our prayers. My eyes welled up with tears...If a financial expert were to analyse this graph, they would put their finger on the month of July and say, "What did you do right here? Whatever it was, you need to do a lot more of that." I searched in vain for a tangible explanation. I wanted to find trends to explain how it worked, so we could do it again. I never could...I just knew God provided. All I had was God - and prayer.'

Are God and prayer all you have? Then that's all you need!

Martin Luther had a good friend named Frederick Myconius who became ill to the point of death. Luther wrote to him: 'I command thee in the name of God to live because I still have need of thee in the work of reforming the church...The Lord will never let me hear that thou art dead but will permit thee to survive me. For this I am praying, this is my will, and may my will be done, because I seek only to glorify the name of God.'

We think of speaking softly to God, of humbling ourselves before God, but not of praying boldly. Yet that's what the Bible says we should do: 'Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus...let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith...Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful...Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise' (Hebrews 10:19, 22, 23, 35, 36 NKJV).

Prayer is not about persuading God to let go of something he's reluctant to give. He's more willing to give than we are to receive. He's actually looking for opportunities to bless us: 'The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him' (2 Chronicles 16:9 NKJV). So pray boldly and be confident that God will do what he promised.

When Martin Luther's co-worker became ill, the reformer prayed boldly for healing. 'I besought the Almighty with great vigour...quoting from Scripture all the promises I could remember...and said that he must grant my prayer, if I was henceforth to put faith in his promises.' As John Wesley was crossing the Atlantic Ocean, his ship encountered a great storm. He was reading in his cabin when he learned that the winds were knocking the ship off course, so he responded in prayer. Adam Clark, a colleague, heard the prayer and recorded it: 'Almighty God, thou hast sway everywhere, and all things serve the purpose of thy will...Command these winds and waves that they should obey thee, and take us speedily and safely to the haven whither we would go.' Wesley stood up from his knees, took up his book, and continued to read. Adam Clark went on deck where he found calm winds and the ship on course. But Wesley made no remark about the answered prayer. Clark wrote, 'So fully did he expect to be heard that he took it for granted that he was heard.'

Boldness in prayer is an uncomfortable thought for many. Pounding on the door of the Most High? Wrestling with God? Is such prayer irreverent? Presumptuous? It would be, had God not invited us to: 'Come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need' (Hebrews 4:16 NKJV).

Are you in a 'time of need'? 'Come boldly to the throne of grace,' believing God to answer your prayer and move on your behalf.

Something powerful happens when we vocalise God's word: 'What you say can mean life or death' (Proverbs 18:21 NCV). Sometimes you have to say it like you believe it! Jesus literally spoke to the wind and the waves, right? He rebuked storms, demons, fevers. He even told us to tell mountains to move (see Mark 11:23)! When you verbalise faith, you give it power.

And, there are some things you should not say. When Jeremiah used his age as an excuse to say no to God's call, the Lord rebuked him: 'Don't say, "I'm too young"' (Jeremiah 1:7 NLT). In other words, don't disqualify yourself if God has called you! Instead, speak life-giving, faith-filled, grace-laced words.

Mark Batterson says: 'There are some things I refuse to say because it gives them power. I call it my "Say Not" list. What words need to go on your "Say Not" list? I'm not just talking about four-letter words. Jesus said we'd give account for every idle word. The word idle means unemployed. An idle word is a useless, worthless word - a word that doesn't accomplish anything. Jesus also said in Matthew 12:34, "For from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks," so our words are x-rays of what's on the inside. That's where the battle is won or lost. If we want our words to reflect his word, that's where we've got to drop anchor. And when we do, the mind of Christ becomes our mindset too.'