What lasts?

What lasts?

I miss my mom.  (Now many of you know her huge impact on me, but then again, more than a hundred new readers have been added to our Morning Briefing distribution in the last month … from Kenya, Nigeria, the Bahamas, and yes, San Clemente, California.  So it bears repeating—having a godly mother greatly influenced me.  In case you are weary, young mother, you are doing a great thing!  Mothers shape and mold their children in oh, so many ways)

Now where was I?  Oh, yes … my mama--it was the things she said, did, sung, stood for, and even displayed on the walls in our home. For instance, there was a beautiful picture of Jesus, a little print of a country church surrounded by a meadow of bluebells, and there were a few plaques with profundities. 

=One plaque read: Only one life

                        ‘Twill soon be past…

                        Only what’s done

                        For Christ will last.

While I can see the little carved wooden sign in my mind’s eye, it came to mind yesterday because of the content of Paul’s prayers. 

Paul prayed for others those things that will last.

In yesterday’s briefing, “Of things that last”,²   three of Paul’s prayers were highlighted.  Friend, they are so instructive for our own content of praying.  Gleaning from Paul, it seems that to pray most effectively for those we love, we might:

->Thank God for the person – who God made him to be, how he gifted him

Then, pray that she will:

>be filled to overflowing with love

  - that she will be well-loved and love others too

          >know and value God’s wisdom and best plan for them

          >be pure and blameless

         >filled with goodness, protected from evil, and not attracted to wrong

         >grow in the knowledge of God

         >understand God’s great power, and its implications for her

         >have inner strength from the Holy Spirit

         >be firmly grounded in God’s love – having some understanding that it  

          touches every area of her life

         >experience the great love of Christ,

because then he or she “will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

Remembering what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus…”³ may I think out loud for a moment?  What if you and I were to pray the above prayer for others—goodness, even for ourselves?!  Could we then pray without ceasing throughout the day, as first this one, and then another one comes to mind?  I mean … what if we prayed for others like Paul, the things that last, that will go into eternity—those things which Paul prayed as we have already mentioned, those things which might fall into the categories described when he wrote, “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love…”⁴ For surely, we will remember to pray, as we go throughout our day, for those we love, for those who you bring to mind, ‘God, help Lauren finish this school year well’ … ‘God, would you please show mercy to my neighbor in Accra, who is facing great difficulties?’ Yes, we can shoot up these prayers as we go about our business, submitting all to the God who sees… the God who does not slumber or sleep.⁵  And thus fulfill Paul’s bidding that we pray without ceasing, keeping an open line of conversation open with our Lord.

Is it any wonder that Paul turned from praying for his believing friends, and looked to God, saying, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we ask or think.  Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever!  Amen”  Ephesians 3.20

These are the things that last… these are the prayers that last!

1 She passed from this life at the age of 90 in 2006.

2 “Of things that Last” - http://pastorwoman.com/ReadArchive.aspx?id=1178

3 1 Thessalonians 5.17-18

4 1 Corinthians 13.13

5 Psalm 121.4