Author: Dan Beaty (Page 61 of 107)

When I was a teenager growing up in the South Side of Columbus, Ohio, the future was not looking very bright. With the Vietnam war looming over the horizon, graduation to most of my friends meant either joining up or being drafted into the army. It was hard to think about planning a career back then. Finances for college were not normally available for the boys in my neighborhood, and jobs for teenagers were not plentiful either.

Often I would take my study hall time in the school’s library and read magazines. One day my eyes came upon stories of dreamers. Young people all across the nation began to dream of a better world. They were called the Flower Children. I began to sense a mood of optimism myself. One story that impacted me most powerfully was about a speech I read in one of the magazines then. It was Dr. Martin Luther King’s landmark speech, “I Have a Dream.”

“I say to you today, my friends, though, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ ”

He went on to describe a dream (not an impossible dream, but one he believed could come true), of a nation that lived up to it’s ideals, ideals that were born out of Biblical prophecies.

While Dr. King’s specific concern was for the injustices done in those days to his fellow African-Americans, many poor white Americans could find hope in these words and in their desire to share in the American Dream as well. Many of us struggled to get ahead in the same neighborhoods and faced many of the same barriers to prosperity.

Sadly, what I remember hearing in the churches of my childhood was not so hope-filled and optimistic. We were often told that this world would never get better, only worse. We were to find hope only in the after-life. It wasn’t until years later that I found in the Bible not only promises to a wonderful existence after death, but that we could also have a taste of heaven while here on earth! Not only could we have a better life inwardly, but we could also be used of God to lighten up this dark world! This too was part of the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Often today we are encouraged to “follow our dreams,” and others will be happy to tell you of how they sought for and achieved their dreams.  I get it. There is more to life than following the script that was given to us. But in my case I had to discover a dream that is greater than what I sought before. This dream is actually a vision of the Kingdom of God here on earth. Yes, there will be peace on this earth because God Himself has determined it.

The very reason that Dr. King’s speech was so convicting, so powerful was that it was about the Heart of God Himself.

What He wants today is our agreement with Him. I cannot say that my life is always better because of my hope in the Kingdom of God. In fact there are times when it does look like an impossible dream, yet that hope will not leave me. It sustains me, giving me energy to continue in His plan. Materially, things are better for my family, but that is not even the goal. Maybe the Hippy idealism that I was exposed to in the sixties was what I needed then, but today I know about the courage it takes to bring those ideals into reality, and I know where that courage comes from!

May all of us become gripped with the hope that empowered the early Christians to endure great hardship for their King and the advance of His Kingdom of love, joy and peace in this earth!

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.”

James 5:16 NLT

Is it possible that there exists an often untapped source of great power in this life? According to one of the earliest leaders in the church at Jerusalem, a person does not have to be perfect. James points out that Elijah of ancient Biblical times was a man of “like passions” or like the rest of us in nature, who God heard and answered His prayer to control the weather! At the same time, he tells us that there is a qualifier. It is the righteous person, that is the one who trusts in God and has his or her sins forgiven by His grace, who has this potential.

What I am hoping to do here is to encourage more serious, confident and powerful praying for us all.You might say, but I am not a religious person. God does not hear the sinners prayer, does He? Well, first of all that phrase in the Bible came from the mouth of a man that had not yet believed in Christ himself. Throughout the Bible God has called people to return to Him and pray. The act of trusting in Him for forgiveness and believing in His work on our behalf in Christ’s death and resurrection brings us into a relationship with Him in which we are recognised as His children — born again by the Spirit of God!

Jesus explained that our Father God is more then willing to give good gifts to His children in the same way a natural father desires to provide for his family. Repeatedly, Jesus encouraged bold, confident prayer in the life of His disciples. Today I am writing this to remind myself of this very thing — prayer does change things!

Of course it should change us first. A relationship with God cannot but change a person. Even our prayers that miss the mark as far as God’s will is concerned can help us understand that relationship. Day by day, we learn how to pray by praying, and listening for the response of our Father.

In many Bible stories, people waited patiently, even years for the answers to their prayers. Many devout Christians I have known have done the same. Some of the prayers I have prayed brought fruit early on, others took many years. At this very time I am still waiting for God to deliver loved ones for whom I have prayed for over 20 years. One can get weary and discouraged in these situations.

At the same time, the Holy Spirit keeps us pressing on in faith, encouraging us never give up in praying for God’s Kingdom to come, His will, His righteousness, peace and joy to appear in situations all over this world. To respond to this urging is to become renewed and revitalized in the “faith that was once and for all delivered unto the saints.”

God want so use the prayers of His people, yours and mine, to bring heaven’s ways into this earth! we have been given the priviledge of partnering with Him! The prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray, which He also commanded them to teach us, presents our part in the plan of God for His creation. WOW!

Now I want to talk about the earnestness of our prayers. Too often our prayers are weak and timid. James had something to say about that also. In approaching God for wisdom we are to ask in confidence. When we gain understanding concerning the will of God in a matter, we should pray earnestly. I like how the KJV states it, “the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous mand availeth much!”

Don’t ever believe that your prayers are wasted! Keep on asking in Jesus Name! There will come a time when you might feel that success has come, even though the physical evidence is there, but that itself is part of the victory that has already been won. Through Christ we are more than conquerors!