The Private Prayers of a Public Personality
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Do you pray? As a regular habit? Has God ever disappointed you with the answer? What needs to happen in order to deepen your prayer life? Today we will learn from Moses some important lessons on prayer.
“At that time I begged the Lord:
Lord God, You have begun to show Your greatness and power to Your servant, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can perform deeds and mighty acts like Yours?
Please let me cross over and see the beautiful land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.
“But the Lord was angry with me on account of you and would not listen to me. The Lord said to me, ‘That’s enough! Do not speak to Me again about this matter.
Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west, north, south, and east, and see it with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.
But commission Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he will cross over ahead of the people and enable them to inherit this land that you will see.’
So we stayed in the valley facing Beth-peor.
The book of Deuteronomy is a series of messages Moses delivers to the people of Israel just before he dies, and before they enter into the Promised land.
The first message is contained in 1-4 and is a rehearsal of their journey from Mt. Sinai to Kadesh Barnea, their wanderings in the desert, their victories over 2 Amorite Kings.
No Moses goes back in time to his own disobedience to the Lord provoked by anger with the Jews.
It is not an oversimplification to say that the Jews were a complaining, nagging, and ungrateful people. They came to a time where there was no water. This was not the first time. But God had met the need by having Moses strike a rock and water came from it.
Now this time around God told Moses to speak to the Rock, but Moses got mad at the grumblers and struck the rock again.
The New Testament tells us the rock was a picture of Christ who would only be stuck once (calvary; for our sins)
That act of disobedience to the Lord, cost Moses the chance to enter the Promised Land.
In the verses we read describe Moses’ Prayer about this.
Prayer is Pleading
Prayer is Pleading
“At that time I begged the Lord:
Besought- Pleaded.
No every prayer we pray is a gut felt pleading, but this one was.
Most of us don’t like to beg of be begged, but desperation will lead to the kind of emotional, heart-felt praying described here.
There is nothing wrong with CRYING OUT TO GOD.
Prayer is Worship
Prayer is Worship
Lord God, You have begun to show Your greatness and power to Your servant, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can perform deeds and mighty acts like Yours?
Moses refers to God as sovereign Lord and calls himself a servant. He puts God is his place and himself in his place.
If Worship is showing my love to God, then genuine prayer is certainly worship. It confesses God WORTH and our NEED and our love for Him as the ultimate source of our lives.
Prayer is Theology
Prayer is Theology
Lord God, You have begun to show Your greatness and power to Your servant, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can perform deeds and mighty acts like Yours?
I know that word scares people. And to be honest I think it makes many Christians afraid of prayer, especially public prayer. what if I say the wrong thing.
Someone says “Be careful what you pray for”
My response has always been snarky, “Yeah you know God is in heaven just waiting on you to say the wrong thing, so He can harm you because you decided to talk to your Father about what was on your heart!”
The idea that prayer is worship and prayer is theology really go hand in hand.
In verse 24 Moses exalts God as being like no other. He proclaims that God has done and can do more than Yahweh can do. And he confesses that He needs something only God could do for Him.
Prayer is Privilege
Prayer is Privilege
I have several friends in the ministry who are social media. A few of them get all giddy when they can have their picture made with some name brand singer or preacher. Hey thats pretty cool to be able to say that you met so and so.
I don’t mean to one-up anyone, but I met with GOD today. I didn’t have to remind him of the last time we met. He never sees me as an interruption or a distraction. What and awesome privilege we have to take it to the Lord in prayer.
Whether the answer is yes or no.
Prayer Is Faith-building
Prayer Is Faith-building
“But the Lord was angry with me on account of you and would not listen to me. The Lord said to me, ‘That’s enough! Do not speak to Me again about this matter.
Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west, north, south, and east, and see it with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.
But commission Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he will cross over ahead of the people and enable them to inherit this land that you will see.’
Moses, King David, Jesus, Paul.. They all prayed prayers without the answer they sought.
Moses: Let me enter the land.
God: No and don’t bring it up again.
David: Save my baby
God did not
Jesus: If there is a way let this cup pass from me, no my will but yours.
God: Calvary is MY WILL
Paul: Remove this thorn in my flesh.
God: My grace is sufficient for you.
A growing and maturing faith learns to accept God’s no, and the challenge to keep walking with him and serving Him. (He let him look over the land from the mountain and then told him to get to the task of equipping Joshua)