LORD, Teach Me To Pray
ASK GOD
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (May 28, 2014)
“They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand” (Habakkuk 1:9, King James Version, KJV [Habakkuk's prayer]).
Greetings in the Holy Name of Jesus,
My brothers and sisters, continue in prayer and Ask God, the fourth day of your seven day cycle. Habakkuk asked God, “How long shall he cry for he saw violence and captivity and God did not save (1:2, KJV)?” How many of you feel you are exposed to those people who relish violence as much as a meal at supper time? It seems those folks received but you ask yourself, “Do they believe in God? Why did God give them wealth? Why do they walk all over us in power and authority doing as they will to destroy us, taking our property and possessing that which is not theirs to possess, wreaking havoc at every turn killing their own as well as others without a conscious?
Why did God place violence in their hearts? Why are they gathering us up in captivity again?” God judged the tribe Judah. Sometimes we feel we can keep on keeping on in sin against God because he loves us and provided a plan of salvation. He even promised and did send Christ Jesus, foretold in prophesy during the time of Habakkuk the prophet yet he saw the heathen in the power and authority that the tribe Judah had---that the tribe Judah used to have in the glory of God.
Habakkuk saw the vision and cried out to God. It's not a good feeling when you used to be the most loved of God with his favor. It's not a good feeling when you used to have the wealth of God and your wealth is known to all near and far. It's not a good feeling when God lets the heathens the unbelievers excel in power and strength over you denying you as you denied your God when you chose to sin in His presence for all to see how you denied your God even though His will provided you a salvation plan in spite of your disobedience and placed you in saving grace. It's not a good feeling when you receive wrong judgment, when you are cast in captivity and when your God does not save you?
God answered Habakkuk (vs.2-4):
“...Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may
run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time,
but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait
for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his
soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall
live by his faith.”
What happens when God does not defend you, when God does not save you and permits the heathens to have their way with you? Do you even pray when you get to such a place in your heart when your desires get as large as hell and there is no satisfying you because you are as death? You even surround yourself with all the people of the earth as if they love you yet they taunt you with their proverbs and wait to rise up against you because you spoiled many nations to get what you have and now the remnants of those nations surely rise up against you. You are without God---in battle and war without God, now the trouble is ready to consume you because many of your own people you cut off thinking you could covet them taking what they had setting yourself up on high as a nest so no evil would come to you. God said, “Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood and established a city with iniquity!” (2:12).
Even more so, Judah worshipped graven images of wood laiden in gold and silver, denying their God. “But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.” (v.20) Habakkuk prayed for mercy for Judah so God would revive his works (3:2) How many of you are so hell bent in
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your desires that the divine works in the church are met with division, you are your own worst enemy and no one can work with you, for you alone you convinced yourself are the only one when if the truth be told you are but a mere member of the one body---the church the bride of Christ Jesus and the works of God suffer for your wickedness, your sins against God?
Is it not your vanity that weary the people and insufferably so do you not miserably fail to fill the earth with the knowledge of God's glory? God said, “Behold is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” (2:13-14) What happens when false leaders do not move out of the way so the one body the church can be about the business of God and do the divine works of the LORD? Habakkuk said in prayer, “He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.” (3:6)
When you are wrong you are wrong but your vanity will not let you stop yourself. There is no reasoning with you for you mock everything said to you. You are your own God and you worship wooden images for the God you serve is in his holy temple and all the earth must keep silent before him. What happens when your flesh children disobey and mock the words of God that you tell them? How do you feel when you become silent and command them to be silent before you as well? Obviously, the children reached a point of punishment and the punishment surely will come upon them.
This is the place Judah was at---God's judgment and Habakkuk saw it in a vision and cried out to God in prayer. Habakkuk's prayer (3:16-19) said,
“... When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice:
rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that
I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the
people he will invade them with his troops.
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be
in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields
shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and
there shall be no herd in the stalls:
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my
salvation.
The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet
like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high
places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.”
Crimes of opportunity---random violence do not fare well with the receiving household and the violation remains when the sin is all said and done. What happens to your sense of defense at a store, a ball park, walking the streets, at a friends' house, at an event, at church, at school or anywhere on earth? If, what remains includes you, still with life and limbs then, you are all the wiser than those who watched from afar because easily you could have faced and met your maker, God at the hands of those who entered in. You might speak of your treasures that of course you can replace but they are not the same treasures that you held dear in your hearts that ushered in all the memories represented in the treasures as keepsakes yet you thank God for life--- for saving you. What happens when there is death and the one that takes a life is a neighbor, a friend, a friend of a friend, or even a stranger who heard of you from someone who knows of you but who is not a friend?
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Habakkuk said his belly trembled, his lips quivered, rottenness entered into his bones and he trembled inside of himself at the sight of his vision hoping in prayer he would rest in the day of trouble when the men came to take them into captivity and/or kill them but he knew he would still rejoice in the LORD and joy in the God of his salvation. What would you do? Is this a, What would Jesus do?, (WWJD moment?). How can you work yourself out of a near death situation with life and limb, in tact, still uplifted in the embrace of God in the faith of Christ Jesus?
What calms your trembling belly and quivering lips? What stops the trembling inside of yourself and the rottenness from entering into your bones? How can you save yourself when called to save yourself? Do you think of Jesus? Do you say to yourself, I know a man named Jesus who walked on water and calmed the sea. I know a man named Jesus who hung on a tree. I know a man named Jesus who carried the cross to Calvary. I know that man named Jesus is inside of me.
Let us pray:
LORD, as Habakkuk prayed mercy for Judah
I pray mercy in the name of Jesus for the earth
Can I ask protection for my treasures?
When Jesus warned to sell what I have and give charity (Luke 12:33)
When Jesus warned to use bags that do not wax old (Luke 12:33)
When Jesus warned to think of your treasure in the heavens (Luke 12:33)
When Jesus warned that the treasures in the heavens will not fail you (Luke 12:33)
When Jesus warned that the thief will not approach your treasures in the heavens (Luke 12:33)
When Jesus warned that the moth corrupt not your treasures in the heavens(Luke 12:33)
When Jesus warned that where your treasure is so also is your heart (Luke 12:34)
Can I ask for unity in the one body, in the church?
When Jesus warned that you supposed he came to give peace on earth? (Luke 12:51)
When Jesus warned-- he told you, Nay but rather division (Luke 12:51)
When Jesus warned there shall be five in one house divided (Luke 12:52)
When Jesus warned there shall be three against two divided in one house (Luke 12:52)
When Jesus warned there shall be two against three divided in one house (Luke 12:52)
When Jesus warned the father shall be divided against the son (Luke 12:53)
When Jesus warned the son shall be divided against the father (Luke 12:53)
When Jesus warned the mother shall be divided against the daughter (Luke 12:53)
When Jesus warned the daughter shall be divided against the mother (Luke 12:53)
When Jesus warned the mother-in-law shall be against the daughter-in-law (Luke 12:53)
When Jesus warned the daughter-in-law shall be against the mother-in-law (Luke 12:53)
When Jesus warned that you do not even judge what is right of yourselves (Luke 12:57)
David prayed for Solomon and prayed for Israel (Psalms 72-73)
David prayed, “They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure...” (Psalms 72:5)
David prayed, 'They shall fear thee throughout all generations. (Psalms 72:5)
David prayed, “How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! (Psalms 73:19)
David prayed, “...they are utterly consumed with terrors.” (Psalms 73:19)
Jesus prayed, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: (Matthew 26:39)
Jesus prayed, “O my Father...nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt (verse 39)
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Jesus prayed, “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it (26:42)
Jesus prayed, “O my Father...thy will be done (v. 42)
Jesus prayed at Gethsemane when the priests and elders came (Matthew 26:47)
Jesus said, “...for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword (Matthew 26:52)
LORD, let thy will be done, for Christ's sake, saving grace, in my life
LORD, let thy will be done, for Christ's sake, saving grace, in the lives of those you gave Jesus
LORD, let thy will be done
LORD, let thy will be done
LORD have mercy
LORD have mercy
Christ have mercy
Christ have mercy
LORD have mercy for the saving of souls
Christ Jesus have mercy for the saving of souls
LORD, do not cast us down into everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:26)
LORD, deliver the righteous into life eternal as you promised (25:26)
LORD, deliver the righteous those with sin into the gift of reconciliation
LORD, deliver the righteous those with sin into your forgiveness
LORD, deliver the righteous with sin who repent as a brother seven times in a day (Luke 17:4)
LORD have mercy
LORD have mercy
Christ have mercy
Christ have mercy
In the Name of the Father, of the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
