PRAYER: THE UNIVERSAL SOLUTION
Uh-oh -- here comes Nestor with another one of his crazy 'universal generalizations'. That's right! Prayer is the universal solution to everything! Outrageous statement? I can prove it! Here goes: prayer is communication/conversation with the Creator Himself! Since He made everything there is -- including you and me -- and since He knows everything, can do anything (except sin!) and is in ultimate control of everything that is, what is excluded?...Answer -- NOTHING! Thus, since nothing is beyond His purview, praying to Him is indeed the universal solution to WHATEVER ails us!!! Q.E.D. As Christians, we really do have the answer to all of life's problems. When we are facing a situation in which we are at our wits end, unable to remedy our maladies, be they physical, emotional or spiritual...incapable of extricating ourselves from perilous predicaments...when we are helpless to help ourselves -- and hopeless, because we know we cannot...YET...we DO have a universal solution...prayer!!! Asking the Lord for the answer!!! But you may ask, how can we possibly approach the Holy God Himself? Good Question -- the Best Answer!!! Because Jesus paid the full penalty of our sin-debt on the cross, we now have DIRECT ACCESS to the very Heavenly Throne of the Lord God Himself!!! The amazing fact is that when we stand before the Lord, He is not seeing us...He is seeing His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself! Stop and think about that and let it sink in! There was only One Human Being who was perfectly righteous in every way. Jesus the Anointed One -- not a trace of fault or flaw was to be found in Him. In the Lord's economy, the innocent must pay the debt of the guilty...Why? Think about it -- how can a guilty man offer his own sinful self as an acceptable sacrifice? Obviously, he cannot! Therefore, without someone willing to pay our debt, we are all condemned to an eternity of punishment for our sin!...BUT!!! -- THANKS BE TO GOD!!! -- THERE IS SUCH A ONE!!! -- JESUS, THE LORD'S ANOINTED!!! When we put our faith IN JESUS CHRIST ONLY AND ALONE, a legal transaction takes place in the heavenlies -- with all the Angelic Host bearing witness! When Jesus voluntarily took our sin-debt upon Himself at the cross, when He paid our sin-debt IN FULL -- IN TOTO -- TETELESTAI -- ( and all the interest and penalties accrued!) -- then, by faith, we receive from the Lord a FULL PARDON!!! BUT!!! -- so that the ledgers of good & evil, the heavenly accounting books are to be balanced...THE PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS OF JESUS CHRIST IS CREDITED TO OUR ACCOUNT!!! Every time I think of that, my head just about explodes! Think about that for a moment. It says in the Bible that if the Lord was willing to give up the life of His Only Son -- TO SAVE SINNERS!!! -- how do we imagine He would begrudge us anything else we request of Him? Personally, I believe my faith is pretty weak, because while I believe I am saved, nevertheless because of the vestige of sin in my life -- stuff I'm getting rid of as I am being sanctified -- conformed to the image of Christ -- in spite of that knowledge, somehow, I still feel unworthy to receive anything from the Lord...And so I don't ask Him as I ought to... And that is a sad situation indeed. I'm praying that the Lord would increase my faith to overcome my feelings of unworthiness, faith to remind myself that, yes, I certainly AM unworthy...But now, I have the worthiness of Christ Himself, the only worthy Man Who ever lived!!! When we make our requests of the Lord, it is as if Jesus Himself was doing the asking!!! And is there anything the Lord would deny His Most Beloved...? Right here I want to convey to us, to myself, to you and to any who might read this, what is perhaps the most remarkable truth of all time, and it never ceases to render me speechless and numb... THE LORD GOD LOVES US SINNERS JUST AS MUCH AS HE LOVES HIS SON, JESUS!!! If that doesn't shock and short-circuit your reality every time you think on it...check your pulse! (Unfortunately, we find ourselves existing in a culture that promotes being blase, affecting boredom and world-weariness as somehow a sign of sophistication...) I thank the Lord every day for having been born in this land of America, with the precious right of freedom to worship -- something that we increasingly seem to be taking for granted...and something that is slowly but surely being taken from us... Me, I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity -- while it is yet available! I'm going to petition the Lord to strengthen my faith so that I will not be timid to ask Him for however much He wants to bestow upon me. I want to put away the self-indulgence of the flesh, wallowing in self-pity and guilt, beating myself up and carrying on and on as to what a terrible, unworthy sinner I am -- all of these are worthless for sanctification -- but I confess, with which I have victimized myself over far too many years... The Good Lord made me for His Good Purpose. I don't see any true meaning to my life apart from fulfilling His purpose for me! How do I discover that purpose? By asking Him -- In prayer!!! Prayer is telling the Lord how every day is a journey of discovery of just how awesome and imaginative and ingenious and artistic and elegant and unexpected and original the God He is -- His creation proclaims it!!! Praying to the Lord is exposing myself to Someone who already knows me better than myself, confessing my sins, telling of my weaknesses, my doubts, my fears...Praying is giving thanks for all the innumerable blessings and gifts and provisions He bestows upon us, without measure...Praying is telling the Lord my needs, my desires...Praying is telling the Lord about the people I love, people that I'm concerned for -- people that perhaps don't know the Lord in a personal way and are still stumbling in the darkness. For me, my greatest prayer is that to know and love the Lord Himself would be the single most powerful of all my desires, and that any and all other desires be subsumed by it!!! Prayer is communication, fellowship with the Living God, the Creator of the Universe...Where can anybody find ANYTHING that could possibly top that? And yet...why do we spend so little time enjoying that incomparable and intimate communion/communication with Him...? How can I possibly treat the Lord as if He were an afterthought... Nestor Jaremko 4-29-2013