“With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints” – Ephesians 6:18 (NIV).
It’s a normal scene every after general elections. The one who feels done, perhaps alleging voter fraud, files a petition to the courts to nullify the results of the elections. After the 2022 elections in Kenya hundreds of petitions have been filed in courts contesting election results.
Now for a petition to stand chance of success there are several important and critical factors. First, such petitions are time bound and should be filed within a strict time limit. There are also not cheap- one must secure the services of an attorney who will demand his fee based on the amount of work involved. And lest you forget success is never guaranteed, as your case might not be very convincing.
As believers one of our privileges is the blessing to file petitions to the Almighty God without being subjected to all the above challenges, costs or doubts of outcome. Concerned with the fate of Jerusalem, Daniel, sought the Lord: “So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3). His petition was not in vain. “While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding (vv 20-23).
Daniel did do not have to pay a fee to file a petition as we know happens with worldly courts. This is our privilege as believers. “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). The fee has already been paid by the blood of Christ on the cross.
Our petitions are also not time bound. Jeremiah 29:13 says: “You will seek me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” More than anything, when we go to God we are assured of an incorruptible judge: “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways” (Psalm 25:8).
Today, whatever maybe weighing on you, know it is your privilege and blessings to file a petition to the Almighty God. And, unlike the demands and risks involved in court petitions, here is a clear path to receive the right verdict.
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I come to you with a petition assured that with you there is fairness and assurance of the right answers from the Almighty God.
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09/05/2024 - 10/05/2024 All day“The LORD will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them” (Deuteronomy 28:2 NIV)
For some reason very often some Christians are found despising the importance of being enterprising. To some being enterprising
can be equated to the love of money and it’s pitfalls (1 Tim 6:10). There are some Christian communities where running enterprises is frowned upon as being overtly worldly. On the contrary, far from it, being enterprising is clearly an avenue God has given believers to raise resources for their well being and promotion of the rich Gospel.The Bible is full of enterprising characters who were used mightily of God. Abraham was apparently a good rancher that he “became very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold” (Gen 13:2). Job was hated by Satan who sought to destroy him because “He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area” (Job 1:3). The Lord Jesus Christ was born and raised in the house of Joseph, the carpenter (Mathew 13:55). Carpenters do not create works of beauty to donate for free. To prosper they must run sustainable enterprises which pay taxes and make profit.
The Apostle Paul would often rely on enterprising people to support him in his ministry. One of his worthy converts “was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house” (Acts 16:14).
Though Paul was a ranked Jewish legal scholar once he went to the mission field, other than cling to his titles by burdening his hosts he often dabbled in tent making to support himself. In Corinth he teamed up with an amazing couple, Priscilla and Aquila, and “because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them” (Acts 18:3). This couple run a successful tent making business that enabled them support mission work.
And then of course, there is the noble woman of character, as told in Proverbs 31, who “selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings.. She sees that her trading is profitable...She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes (vv 13-25). What better illustration is there to emulate being enterprising.
When the body of believers is filled with enterprising people it generates resources important for church upkeep. Further, the work of God is then supported without being dependent on sources that might compromise the mission, as sometimes we see!
Prayer for today: Lord father God of creation, as we see in scripture you have given us the gift of enterprise, and so, I pray to use this gift such that you bless me as you did to our father Abraham and all other great saints before for the glory and expansion of your kingdom, this I pray in Jesus’s name!
