CONCERT OF PRAYER

Pray Week 819

“Because You Say So”

Luke 5:1-6 (NIV)  One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret … he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets.  He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”  Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”  When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.

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Peter was tired and weary from the night’s fishing as well as a skilled fisherman. But because Jesus said so, He obeyed and cast his nets in again and they caught more fish than they could handle.

The poverty stricken widow told Elisha her problem and Elisha told her to gather as many jars as she could and start pouring what little remnant of oil she had into them.  How illogical, yet she obeyed and God provided for her needs.

‘We have no wine’, they told Jesus at the wedding feast. ‘Fill the jars with water’, was His reply. It made no sense, but they obeyed, and God miraculously turned the water into the finest of wines.

Will you obey God when He asks you to do what defies the logic of your mind?

Will you obey God when you believe that you lack the knowledge and skill to do what He asks?

Will you obey God when what He asks does not match your preconceived idea of what should be done?

What is God asking you to do that runs counter to your logical mind or desire?

He asks us to spend time with Him in daily prayer and to not neglect Him in Sunday worship … But we cram so much into the day and night that we don’t have the time and we need the sleep.

He asks us to do our work as if we are working for Him rather than for men, in spite of how we feel toward our boss or the company … But we are underpaid, underappreciated and overworked and when we feel that way we don’t want to work as well as God wants us to.

He asks us to honor our marriage covenant of ‘till death do us part’, but we have taken each other for granted and allowed love to wither and we no longer see any way to revive and keep our marriage relationship alive.  In our view divorce is the only way to fix things.

God says to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse and not to rob Him … but we feel we need that money to pay our bills and we don’t see how we could possibly make ends meet without it.

May you have faith that brings you to total abandonment and trust in God.  May you trust Him so implicitly that you will obey His command no matter how illogical or nonsensical it seems to your way of thinking.  May you obey because He said so.