Drumming For Jesus

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THE PRAYER OF JABEZ, J. LO. AND JESUS

So there I was on the plane to Washington D.C. having just found out our tour of Air Force One was canceled because of a security breech or George needing the plane or some top secret Centrifugal Airforce meeting. It’s still amazing that George Bush would have higher priority than me! As I was reading the USA Today newspaper I noticed that the "The Prayer of Jabez" was the #1 book in the non-fiction list. Not bad for a blatantly Christian book!

I’ve been intrigued by all the interest in this Old Testament prayer found in I Chronicles 4:10. I thought maybe I should write a book called "The Prayer of Jesus." God does want us to pray about everything (Phil. 4:6,7) but I know for me (probably not you) it is sure easier to think of and pray for things that directly benefit me. In previous newsletters I’ve mentioned our trip to Israel 30 days after the fighting broke out. We were encouraged to pray prayers like many of the Biblical heroes, for God’s glory and power to be demonstrated rather than just things that will benefit us or bring us comfort.

That reminds me of Jesus prayer in the garden. He DID pray for His own comfort to have the cup (cruel death on a cross suffering the punishment for all our sins) pass from Him. But then He said, "Not my will, but yours be done." Jesus gave us many examples in prayer, but this one reminds me to trust God in all things as he really does know what is best . . . not just for us but for all of eternity. He sees the whole picture, which we obviously can’t.

Ephesians 3:20 says that God is able to do abundantly MORE than we can even think to ask or pray for. In our limited understanding, we sometimes pray for $100 (figuratively speaking . . . it could be a new car or better job or a date on Friday). Maybe God reluctantly says, "Well, OK, you can have that, but what I really wanted to give you was $1,000!" That is where the prayer of Jesus comes in. God, YOU know what is best so . . . "not my will, but yours be done."


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