Perfect Prayer: Establish Our Work

by | Jan 10, 2017 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

 

Prayer

Perfect Prayer: Establish Our Work


The previous Perfect Prayer post closed this way:

Who was disobedient and refused to follow God in faith? It wasn’t Moses. So why is Moses the one praying for divine mercy?

There are many reasons for Moses’ prayer. Three of them will help us on our 2017 journey!

S.O.P. for Leaders

PrayerPraying was the norm in Moses’ life. None of us can expect to live a God-honoring life without prayer. Jesus said, Apart from Me, you can do nothing. Moses obviously lived before Christ, but the truth of Jesus’ words is eternal. We cannot live for Him apart from Him. And if that’s true for us as individuals, how much more is it true for leaders?
Don’t be too quick to dismiss that thought. It applies to more than pastors, missionaries, and/or political leaders. Almost everyone has a leadership role. We lead in the home, the family, the workplace, or in church. And prayer is vital to effective leadership. Se we see this principle on display in the life of Moses. And that leads us to the next reason for the prayer.

Requirement for Leaders

Perfect PrayerOur Father is all about visual communication. And you thought it was all about the written Word. Well, let’s look at that. Jesus said, If you have seen Me you have seen the Father. That’s visual communication. The Psalmist tells us God can be seen in Creation. Stars, sun and moon pour forth speech declaring His existence and His glory. That’s visual communication. And the written Word tells us His servants are to be examples to His people. The Old Testament shows us that in leader after leader. And in the New Testament we see it as a command in I Peter 5.
But our immediate focus is to see Moses’ practice of prayer, and the content of his prayer, as an example we should follow. Moses identified with the people. His prayer acknowledges that God laid out the people’s sins before them. Nothing was/is hidden from Him. And while Moses wasn’t guilty of the specific sins that brought judgment on the people, he was still one who sinned. So it was perfectly in order for Moses to offer this prayer of repentance. It set an example that needs to be imitated. And it has been!
Isaiah prayed a prayer of repentance for the nation (see Isaiah 59). Daniel also offered a similar prayer (see Daniel 9). We learn a great deal from the content of these prayers.

Essence of Moses’ Prayer

Moses’ prayer is almost like a symphonic crescendo. It builds and grows to a thunderous climax: Establish the work of our hands!
This petition of Moses is set before us as an example. It is what we are challenged to pray. And the reasons we should do so are seen prior to this closing plea. Moses acknowledged the majesty and Person of God Almighty. He rightly recognized the sinfulness of men and general as well as the specific sins that prompted his prayer. Moses asked the Father to return joy and favor to futile, temporary lives. But he also gave voice to our desire and obligation to communicate the glory of God to the generation that follows us. And they will most easily know that from what they see in our lives. Visual communication!
Now, I could do an academic exercise about what it means for God to establish the work of our hands. I desperately want Him to do that. You need Him to do that. WE need Him to do that. But the best thing I can do is share a very recent, very real, example of what this means.
Stop in tomorrow!

Soli Deo Gloria! 

 
 

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