Jesus can use the Internet!

 

If you’ve ever been to church or read the Bible, you’ve surely heard Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:18-19:

 

King James Version

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations….”

 

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition

“And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations….”

 

For those of us who never felt called to serve as missionaries in various countries, this Great Commission doesn’t seem to apply. But, if you’ve read the whole Bible, you know that God doesn’t ask His people to do something without providing the means.

 

With Christ on the Internet, we can teach all nations from our homes, offices, or mobile devices! Blogs, websites, e-zines, e-books, podcasts, e-mail, text-messages, and social media sites open multiple ways to The Way. Or, to be more precise, The Way provides and uses many ways - even cyberspace - to reach and teach us and others.

 

Remember the particular powers the Lord has been given? As Matthew 28 clearly states, Jesus has ALL POWER in heaven and in the earth. We’re talking Cosmic Connections! Wouldn’t that include satellite dishes, radio waves, and other means I don’t even know to mention?

 

The point is, everything falls under the power of the Lord Jesus Christ!

 

• Prayers sites to connect us with one another, enabling two or more of us to make our prayer requests agreeable to Jesus’ Name….
• Searchable Bibles online to answer questions, provide commentary, and enable us to research what God actually says about a topic, not just what we thought He said….
• Information from trustworthy sites to help us through mental, physical, or spiritual health concerns….

 

That last thought first began this conversation. i.e., In a harrowing weekend involving lots of blood, no hospital anywhere near, and shut-downs of family doctors, I panicked! I did not know what to do. By Saturday evening, I’d looked and looked for information on the Internet to no avail. Then came Sunday.

 

I’d been praying all along – mostly “God help!” but that morning I asked Jesus to please lead me to the information needed. He did. Maybe it was the way my search changed or the way sites I hadn’t noticed before now caught my attention or the way that Christ’s presence sustained me. But, whatever way the Lord used, The Way led me to the way that calmed, that worked, that healed.

 

©2021, Mary Sayler

 

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Taking God at His Word

When I proof my work online, I have trouble spotting mistakes, but when I read a book in print, my eyes often go to whatever needs correcting. I'm sorry to say, I didn't proof a printed copy of Kneeling on the Promises of God until after publication.

I've now corrected those errors and re-uploaded the book, but if you find something I've missed, please let me know. Thank you.

And may God bless you and your prayer life as you believe God means what He says - always - no mistakes!

Mary Sayler

Kneeling on the promises of God

[The following article introduced the book, Kneeling on the Promises of God.]

As you have likely heard, the hymn “Standing on the Promises” encourages us to trust God and take Him at His word. But from the very beginning of time, the matter of believing God arose in the Garden of Eden with the doubt-producing question, “Does God really mean what He says?” That contagious thought gave mankind an excuse to disobey, and distrust gave birth to death!

Now, as then, wariness of God brings uncertainty and the ongoing scramble to find, “Who can I trust?” Sometimes we can’t even trust ourselves! So where do we turn? Do we place our hope and faith in money, power, politics, institutions, traditions, or trends?

The trouble with those options is that people change their minds. Money changes hands and value. Political leaders come and go. Institutions become something unlike their original selves, and trends are, well, trendy. Facts get disproven as new information comes to light. Even the ground beneath our feet trembles, and stars careen from the sky. Everything changes! But God does not change, and neither does God’s word.

Mysteriously and paradoxically, the Holy Spirit is invisible to us yet the most solid matter. So, too, are the promises God gives – promises so stabilizing, we can build our whole lives on them. Promises so truthful and trustworthy, they can become the basis of our most powerful prayers. But why should we believe those promises? Why should we place our faith in God?

According to the Bible, God is Love – forgiving, compassionate love that can always be trusted to do what’s best for us and our spiritual well-being. Nothing and no one is greater, kinder, holier, or more trustworthy than God.  Nothing and no one can offer us more power or purpose for our lives. Once we realize we can totally trust the Lord, we can build our marriages, families, churches, and occupations on the promises God gives.

We can build our prayer lives on those promises too. We can take God at His word, knowing He agrees with our prayer requests because He has already promised the very things we claim or ask Him to do. Therefore, to kneel on a promise God made means claiming that promise and praying it into our lives.

To put this belief into practice, the book Kneeling on the Promises of God includes heartfelt, conversational prayers following each Bible promise – promises found in a variety of translations but paraphrased into everyday English. These prayers are to give you an idea of how you, too, might kneel on the promises in God’s Word.

The hope is that relevant prayers will also come to you as you meditate on the scripture verses, and write down your prayers, claiming God’s promises in the space provided on the lower part of each page. But, before doing this:

Pre-pare with pre-prayer!

Pray for the prayers to pray.

Regardless of our denominational affiliations or cultural backgrounds, let’s agree to stand on the promises  of God throughout our lives and kneel on those promises as we claim God’s Word each day and night in prayer.

May God bless you and your prayer life in the Lord!

Mary Harwell Sayler

For actual prayers from the Bible, visit the Bible Prayers blog.

Prayer power!

Our recent Discussion about prayer in the Christian Poets & Writers group on LinkedIn evoked some great metaphors.

As Michael Spangle said, “Prayer has no more power than an electric cord. Plugging the cord into a wall outlet will connect the device the cord is connected to with the power in the wall outlet. Prayer is like that. It connects us to the power God has. Then power flows into our lives through prayers said in faith.”

When we see our prayers as a means of plugging into God for our current concerns we won't be shocked by the power we have in Christ. (All puns intended.)

A big concern, though, (thanks Rosalie Squires) is if a frayed cord interrupts the power flow to us from God.

To carry the analogy further, some have experienced violent trauma that broke the plug, while others (like me) have allowed ourselves to get circuit overload that caused static or burn-out.

As Christians in general and Christian Poets & Writers in particular, however, we do have prayer power – for ourselves, our country, other people, and the church.

The more open we are to God's healing work in us, the more likely we are to help our readers of all genres and become truly skilled electricians for Christ.

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© 2012, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved, but pass it on!

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