Prayer - Glorifying God!

"The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."  - I still remember learning this catechism truth as a child and yet, somehow, when I start praying, I quickly fall into rattling off all the needs I might have or others have asked me to pray for. I don't stop and first consider who this is I am praying to. I take God for granted!
The Psalmist says in Psalm 63:3 "Because Your steadfast love is better than life, my lips shall praise You." I need to start my prayers expressing praise to God for His steadfast, unending and undeserved love to me - a fragile, inconsistent, fallible being. The God of the universe - the awesome, all powerful, all knowing and ever listening God - is the one who hears my words and sees the condition of my heart even as I come before Him.
As I start to praise and glorify God - expressing truth about Him as revealed by God Himself in His Word - my own needs seem to melt away into insignificance and they are replaced with a calm assurance in my spirit that He has heard my heart-needs even though I have not yet expressed them and that He will answer in His own time and manner because He loves me with an unending love!
"To praise God is to prize God" (Eastman). Do I value, esteem and cherish Him enough? Do I 'prize' God? If I do, it will be the first thing that comes out in my prayers because it will flow out of a heart brimming over with thankfulness and love. Soli Deo gloria!

Lord, teach me to pray!

I have been gripped by an insight from Bishop J.C. Ryle on prayer - "Prayer has obtained things that seemed impossible and out of reach. It has won victories over fire, air, earth and water. Prayer opened the Red Sea. Prayer brought water from the rock and bread from Heaven. Prayer made the sun stand still. Prayer brought fire from the sky on Elijah's sacrifice. Prayer overthrew the army of Sennacherib. Prayer has healed the sick. Prayer has raised the dead. Prayer has procured the conversion of countless souls."

I have always believed God answers prayer but, like many Christians out there, I struggle daily to keep my prayer life consistent. As an aid to anyone else with the same struggle, I have found Dick Eastman's book 'The Hour that Changes the World' very helpful in this regard. It is extremely practical and challenging! "Only as we apply our knowledge of prayer to the actual practice of prayer will we discover the practical power of prayer" (Eastman).

Join me as I strive to have prayer become primary in my daily life - not just an add-on or an afterthought...

Radio Quizz Awards Weapons as Prizes

Allegedly (according to the NZ Herald, Oct 19 2009) a radio station in Kismayo, Somalia, recently ran a broadcast quizz competition during the Muslim month of Ramadan. It posed questions on science, culture and the Koran and the winners were given a first prize of one AK-47 assault rifle, two hand grenades, an anti-tank landmine and office supplies (supposedly to further their planning activities). Second prize winners had to console themselves with an AK-47 and ammunition only...

One has to question why we in the west (or any other civilised country in the world, for that matter) allow Islam to grow without opposition when you read about incidents like this one. Yes, things look very peaceful and harmless on the surface - and that is the image that is put out there for the general public to soak up - but the latent principles of jihad are deeply instilled and rise very quickly to the surface when any opposition is encountered.

Jihad takes on more subtle forms too. Recently, in a supermarket queue, I noticed a Muslim woman just ahead of me carefully reading the label on a tin of food. When she got to the counter, she placed the tin down and said that she would have liked to have bought the food item but it did not have the halal mark. She asked to speak to the supervisor who apologised profusely and said she would see what could be done. Having myself, previously, tried to ask the same supermarket to try to get hold of a specific food item, I did not get the same response but was told that the company had buyers who only bought specific items. The difference in responses is what interests me. The question is not one of food but of religion. Islam is conquering the west by stealth - one social facet at a time - but steadily expanding.

Radio competitions, like the one above, are only a symptom and indication of progress of a much deeper malady...