HE HAS OUR BACKS

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble." Psalm 46:1

Category: prayer

Pray…but not first. What?!

September 23, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Most often when we find ourselves in a difficult situation and looking for answers, we believe that we should go immediately to prayer.    I understand that, but I wonder if it would be advisable to check out God’s Word first because there is really no need to pray about something that is violating His Word.  Here is the thing: the Word is pretty black and white in most places and doesn’t allow for interpretation for convenience.  Unfortunately, we often skip the truths of God Word and just “pray” about it (or say we do) because we have a desire that we want God to agree with not interfere with.  What we are really trying to do is to make God a co-conspirator in our sinful decisions.

As Christians we know we should pray, so we tell people we’ve been praying to give legitimacy to our desires. But this is a ruse.  We know, intrinsically, that if our desire is outside God’s word any answer that affirms it, would not be of God.  Three areas that might be answering our prayers would be our own flesh, the world around us, or the devil.  If it is violating God’s word it might be one of those or all three, but it is certainly not God. God is not a liar and he will not violate his own Word. 

An example might be if man decides he’s going to run away with his secretary, but because he’s a Christian he naturally has to say he’s been praying about it.  Running away with the secretary obviously violates God’s word, so why is there a need for a prayer of confirmation.  If we are not sure what God’s Word says we should pray and consult it, but in many cases we know what the Bible says, we just don’t agree with it.  So as a cover for our sinful decision, we say we’ are praying about it. 

Does the thief in the alley have more legitimacy if he prays about it before mugging a little old lady. That bogus prayer might fool other muggers but not spirit-filled Christians.  People who “pray”  about a sinful act before acting on it are fooling no one but themselves . It’s a sad commentary on today’s Christianity that we do so many things that violate God’s word under the guise of looking to him for advice.  99% of God’s teachings are in his word. When we get outside of his word we are easily fooled by our feelings, by our desires, by our wishes because all of those are so strong in our lives.

I’m reminded of Ebeneezer Scrooge in the “Christmas Carol” when he sees a ghost and doesn’t believe it’s a ghost because he says it could just be the result of a bit of meat that he ate that night.  That could be true with us as well. We get this feeling or we get this idea or we get this prompting that it’s OK to do something obviously wrong. Well, that’s not the Holy Spirit.  If we are violating the word of God in some way I can guarantee it is not the Holy Spirit supporting our decision. He never prompts us to do something that is against God.

So we need to be careful. We need to be careful as Christians that we consult the Holy Word of God in our decision-making. If someone thinks that they should pray about watching porno every night that’s foolishness.  Pornography violates God’s Word and to
take it to prayer is akin to asking your pastor if you should steal a car next week. I think we know what the answer would be. So I would say this- always be ready to pray but don’t take something to God that you know violates the principles of his Word because He has already given you His answer.  Any other answer is what you want… not what God wants. Don’t go through Satan to get your answer. If you read the Word, the only prayer you may need to pray is thanking God for protecting you against a major mistake!

Prayer Thoughts (Part 1)

August 26, 2025 / / 0 Comments

IMG_2924Praying is hard. It probably shouldn’t be, but it is. Our minds wander, we grow restless, we battle fatigue, but why? We have the opportunity to go to the great Creator of the universe to lay out our deepest desires, hurts, questions, and praises, yet we sometimes find ourselves in a battle to do what should be wonderful. Why?

For one thing, Satan hates prayer. If he can bring any distractions to bear on us during our time of prayer he will. He really doesn’t care about most of our other activities. Reading a book, fishing, working, watching TV and a myriad of other daily dealings don’t concern IMG_2339him. As long as we are not praying, he is satisfied. That may partly explain why we have an easier time concentrating on facebook than God’s face.

Our own flesh makes the prayer life more challenging. In our flesh we are not inclined toward God. Righteousness is not natural for us. There is none righteous, no not one. Just like a person must tend a garden, but weeds grow prolifically on their own, we must tend our spiritual lives. Sin grows without much watering. In our flesh prayer is not our first resort (unless a grenade just rolled into our foxhole), but we more naturally work our way through a multitude of worldly solutions until we are eventually brought back to God.

Unknown-3So how can we pray effectively? There must be a way or God would not have called us to do it. George Mueller was one of the greatest pray-ers of all time. He cared for thousands of orphans during his lifetime and never once sent out a request of monies other than to God Himself. His diary entries of answered prayer are phenomenal. From the ordinary to extraordinary, God’s grace was illustrated in Mueller’s life on a daily basis. His way of praying (which he discovered during his ministry) reflects the kinds of prayer that is called for in the Word. It is truly Holy Spirit led.Unknown

I recently have read books and watched some videos on the idea of praying the Bible. I have to say, it works. If our minds our going to wander naturally, we need to train our minds to wander with a purpose. Praying the Bible allows the Holy Spirit to bring to mind those prayer requests that need our attention. One concern that I think all pray-ers have is the dilemma of list praying. We have a prayer list and we pray the list faithfully, but it seems too routine, too sterile. Unfortunately, if we pray without a list, we miss important prayers and realize after a week that we haven’t brought Auntie Em’s heart condition before the Lord one time.

Unknown-2So how do we remember things but yet not become mechanical in our prayer time. Well, I think there is a way to use lists effectively but also to leave the lists aside for certain types of prayer. I think one of our problems is that we box our prayer time in and if it is not a certain way at a certain time then we tend set things aside. In other words, if we can’t do it “right” we won’t do it at all. There has to be a better way.

Let’s divide our prayer time into two types- Bible prayer and Idle prayer. Let me explain the difference and then detail them a little more over the next few devotions. Bible prayer is when we can have a Bible in front of us, without distraction, such as our daily quiet time in the morning or evening. Idle prayer is prayer that we do when we cannot read our Bible because we are walking, driving, working out, fishingIMG_1395 or in any other place where detailed reading would not be logical or advisable. Idle prayer does not mean we are idle in the pure sense, but idle or away from the Bible. In short, Bible prayer is when we can read our Bible along with prayer, and idle prayer is when we find ourselves without access to our Bible. Really, when we think about it, these two times cover all times. Is there any place or any time we cannot think?  Not really. So there is there any place or any time that we cannot pray?  Not really.

Prayer is something that we can do any time. They say there is no prayer in school, but who can really prevent that? A school might be able to prevent folding hands, closing eyes, and even dropping a head before a meal, but that is not prayer, those are just common indicators that a prayer is happening. Indicators are not prayer. Prayer is an inside thing. There is a story about a child who was told to stand in the corner and he said he wanted to sit. Unknown-4After a brief argument with his mother, he went to stand in the corner. Standing with his face to the corner he said to his mom, “I might be standing on the outside, but I am sitting on the inside.” How true. No one can make us pray (except maybe a bad taxi driver) or keep us from praying. Our thoughts and prayers are our own and no one can prevent them.

In the next couple of writings, I am going to tell you more about these two types of prayer and tell you how I think we can improve our prayer life dramatically.

Have a wonderful day.

Prayerful Prep Before Praying

August 19, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Most often when we find ourselves with a difficult decision and looking for answers, we believe that we should go immediately to prayer.    I understand that, but I wonder  it would be advisable to check out God’s Word first.  There is really no need to pray about something that is violating His Word because we already have the answer right there in black and white.  But sadly sometimes we go to “prayer” because we want an answer that the Bible does not give. That is especially true when we are making sinful decisions.

As Christians we know we should pray, so we tell people we’ve been praying about it to give legitimacy to our desires. But this is a ruse. We know, intrinsically, that if our desire is outside God’s word any answer that affirms it, would not be of God.  Three areas that might be answering our prayers would be our own flesh, the world around us, or the devil.  If it is violating God’s word it might be one of those or all three, but it is certainly not God. God is not a liar he will not violate his own Word.  An example might be the following: a man decides he’s going to run away with his secretary, but because he’s a Christian he naturally has to say he’s been praying about it.  Running away with the secretary obviously violates God’s word so prayer isn’t even necessary.  He is just trying to add God’s supportive words to his own sinful actions.  He needs to make God a co-conspirator in sinful actions.

If we are not sure what God’s Word says we should pray and consult it, but in many cases we know what the Bible says, we just don’t agree with it.  So as a cover for our sinful decision, we say we’ are praying about it.  Does the thief in the alley have more legitimacy if he prays about it before mugging a little old lady. That bogus prayer might fool other muggers but not spirit-filled Christians.  People who “pray”  about a sinful act before acting on it are fooling no one but themselves .

It’s a sad commentary on today’s Christianity that we do so many things that violate God’s word under the guise of looking to him for advice.  99% of God’s  leading is in his word. When we get outside of his word we are easily fooled by our feelings, by our desires, by our wishes because all of those are strong in our life. I’m reminded of Ebeneezer Scrooge in the “Christmas Carol” when he sees Marley’s ghost and doesn’t believe it’s him.  Scrooge says it could just be a figment of his imagination brought on by a bit of meat that he ate earlier in the evening.

That could be true and it could be true with us as well. We get this feeling or we get this idea or we get this prompting that tells us it’s OK to do something obviously wrong. Well, that’s not the Holy Spirit.  If we are violating the word of God in some way,  I can guarantee it is not the Holy Spirit is not supporting our decision. He never prompts us to do something that is against God. So we need to be careful. We need to be careful as Christians that we consult the Holy Word of God in our decision-making. If someone thinks that he should pray about watching porno every night that’s foolishness. Pornography violates God’s Word and to take it to prayer is akin to asking your pastor if you should steal a car next week. I think we know what the answer would be.

So I would say this-  always be ready to pray but don’t take something to God that you know violates the principles of his Word because He has already given you His answer.  Any other answer is what you want… not what God wants. Don’t go through Satan to get your answer. We don’t need to go through him to get to God. Cut out the middle man and choose to do the right thing.

Prayer is not a one-time thing…

September 22, 2021 / / 0 Comments

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Colossians 4:2)

Every year we have the National Day of Prayer. I am glad we have a National Day of Prayer because it makes a statement about our country’s roots. It shows that there is at least enough support left in our country to still have some special “spiritual” days on our federal calendar. I may be in the minority on this as a Christian, but I often wonder if “special days” like this are more symbolic than effective. For example, let’s say for a moment that we have a national day of healthy eating. One day a year the country is bound together by brussel sprouts, salad bars, and tall glasses of ice cold water. It might be a nice statement we are making about good eating habits, but it will do very little for our bodies after that single celebration. If the next day reverts back to pizza and the bottomless french-fry plate, I am not sure we will see anyone from the cover of a Harlequin romance staring back at us from the mirror.

The Colossians verse above does not have an attachment that says “one day a year” preceding the verse. Devoting ourselves to something means to show love, loyalty, or enthusiasm. Devotion seems to indicate an “all the time” activity and not just a “part of the time” activitity. If we only show love for our family members on their birthdays and the rest of the year ignore them, I am not sure they will be that appreciative. It is somewhat like the woman who said to her husband on Sunday morning, “Why don’t we do something different for once. You treat me nice on the way to church, and yell at me once we get there.”

I bet there are a lot people out there who would like to work on Labor Day and take the rest of the year off, but that would be a tough way to make a living. Consequently, I think God would trade our prayerfulness on the National Day of Prayer, for our prayers on the other 364 days of the year.  A “National Day of Prayer” should not be the “Only Day of Prayer” for believers. It is nice to come together on a special day of prayer emphasis, but it will never substitute for a year-long habit of prayer.

I believe it is wonderful to set aside a specific time each day to meet with God. But let’s say that, for whatever reason, it is difficult to find an extended time period to sneak off all alone to read, intercede, or talk to God. First of all, it should not be like brushing our teeth for the full two minutes daily (a tedious venture that often seems like 20 minutes). I will admit, sometimes I stop my toothbrush before the time is up because it just seems to be eating into valuable time. But what would it be like to only brush our teeth once a year because it seems tedious at times.  Prayer should not feel like that kind of task every day, but unfortunately, it can often feel that way.

One of the neatest prayers I ever heard uttered was at a banquet for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Bobby Richardson, former New York Yankee second baseman, offered a prayer that is beautiful in its brevity and poignancy: “Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen.” That didn’t take long, but it said it all. It recognized who God is, what He can do, and submits our requests to His will. I think we sometimes think that if we can’t sit down for an hour of prayer, we can’t sit down at all.

The other day I mowed all the lawn at our house.  It went well, but sometimes I don’t start the lawn at all if I can’t get the whole thing finished at one time. That is pretty silly. It is not like a haircut and if the barber stops in the middle it will cause a stir when we leave. But yet, we sometimes think prayer is like that. If we think about starting but can only pray for ten minutes when we have enough prayers for an hour, we decide we shouldn’t start at all. Not starting at all is not the solution. We need to start because nothing is ever done without starting.

We need to prioritize our prayer list just like anything else in our lives. There are certain things we should pray about daily and other things maybe weekly. There are several hundred countries that need prayer everyday, but Operation World and God do not expect us to pray for them all every day. We pick out a couple of countries and bring them before God each day and God listens to our hearts. All prayer is like that. In our own friendship and family circles, we have hundreds of prayers. We need to pray for unbelievers belief and believers strength. We cannot fit them all in daily.

If we have something come to mind while we are praying we can bring it before God. During my prayer time last week I had someone come to my thoughts who hadn’t crossed my mind in months. I prayed for him. Then at our elder’s meeting, his name and situation came up and we were asked to put him in our prayers. I guess God just gave me a heads up a little early. If we need to pray about something, I think it will pass our way and then we need then to act on it.

God has told us ‘If you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” (Jeremiah 29:12) That is a wonderful promise. We may not be like Praying Hyde who wore the knees out on his pants monthly because he would pray hours a day, every day, but we can give God the respect He deserves by coming before Him often. It takes me 23 minutes to drive out to Camas every day. That does not change unless there is a slow, lumbering truck- behind me honking his horn, and then I speed up. That is 23 minutes I can go to God (I never close my eyes). In that time I can intercede for many. I can always remember my close family and friends and if there are critical prayer needs I can jot them on a paper and clip them to my visor (it is not dangerous, a glance at the paper  takes the same amount of time as glancing at my speedometer- which I do all the time especially when I am approaching 50 mph).  What more important things can we think of on our way to work than prayer? There are none.

I will continue this posting next week, but my thought is this. God would rather we give Him time every day, rather than one day a year. Throughout the day we will get reminders if we open our hearts to it. When I was young everyone around me would remind me to pray. My mom would say, “You better pray that stain comes out,” or at school my friends would say, “You better pray your dad doesn’t find out,” and even my principle would say, “You better pray I won’t decide to tell you parents about this.” Everyone was encouraging me to have a strong prayer life! The truth of the matter is this, we have much to bring before God and we
need to do that wherever and whenever we can.

Psalm 81:10 says, “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it!”  If some of us brushed as little as we pray, it wouldn’t be God saying these words in Psalms, it would be our dentist! Prayer is not a yearly thing; it is a daily thing. Let us pray, every day.

© 2026 HE HAS OUR BACKS

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑