Episode 99: The Prescription of Prayer

In the name of the glorious Trinity, Father and Son and Holy

Spirit, forever Amen. Glory be to the everlasting

mercies which sent you to us, O Christ, the light of the world

and the life of all. Give us wisdom by your law and

enlighten our impulses by Your knowledge.

Sanctify our souls by Your truth, and grant that we may be

obedient to Your words and may fulfil Your commandments at

every hour. O You who enlightens the

rational with the knowledge of Your greatness.

Do enlight, O my Lord, our thoughts, that we may meditate

upon Your holy and divine Scriptures at all times, O Lord

of all, Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

Forever Amen. In our last Monday's episode, we

discussed how we can minimize our visits to the medical

practitioner, to the doctor for his evaluation or his judgement

in regards to our physical illness.

And we said, you know, by eating right, regular exercising and

watching ourselves. And yeah, we also admitted that

it's easier said than done. We started by having that apple

a day that keeps the doctor away when we knew that it doesn't.

So this is our physical physician and our physical

condition. We also discussed that the

scriptures teach us and give us a a way of avoid avoiding future

judgement. The final judgement of Jesus

Christ as stated in one Corinthians Chapter 11 verse 31

by Saint Paul judge yourselves and you will not be judged.

Now looking at the physical practitioner, our doctor,

medical practitioner, after his judgement, his evaluation, he

gives us a prescription, right? You receive your prescription.

Well, it's now, you know, faxed or emailed or what have you to

the the pharmacist. So in that prescription there is

medication. The prescription is for

medication, for medicine, but with the medicine, along with

the medicine, there is the instructions on how to use that

medicine before meal, after meal, one every four hours, and

what have you. In one of Christ's parables,

namely the parable of the persistent widower, and also the

parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector who went to the

temple to pray Christ, praise me to his name, prescribes to us or

to His disciples a medicine for our spiritual illness.

That medicine can be used, taken limitlessly and both in health

and in sickness, by the rich and the poor, the wise and the

fools, the strong and the weak, by everyone, period.

Even extending to those who don't believe in Him, or are

confused or doubtful and having difficulty accepting or

believing in Christ's existence. Now that medicine is drum roll.

Drum roll. Yes, there it is.

That medicine is prayer. Yes, prayer, persistent prayer

on that matter. What we at times roll our eyes

to when recommended for our various issues.

You may be saying that now. Oh, here we go.

It's prayer again. Yeah.

It's an easy way out of giving advice, spiritual advice.

Just pray. Just pray.

Well, Christ, beloved, has not spoken a prayer about the holy

sacrament of the Eucharist, has not said a prayer or spoken a

spoken a parable. I'm sorry about the holy

sacrament of baptism. Christ did not speak a parable

on the sacrament of priesthood, but he specifically spoke a

parable to his disciples to teach them, number one, to pray

persistently as a medicine, persistently, to pray

persistently without rolling your eyes and huffing and

puffing about it. But then he gives us a method of

that prayer as well. So yes, the medicine is prayer.

And as I said, that prayer, that medicine that we roll our eyes

to when recommended for our various issues, yes, prayer,

that medicine, that tool, that gracious gift from God.

And unfortunately, it's not valued at times because of what

we're going through. No, my situation needs more than

prayer. What else?

What can be more than prayer? What I'm going through cannot be

resolved by prayer. Well, let's read what's John

Chrysostom writes on prayer. He writes prayer is a precious

way of communicating with God. There's your spiritual

physician, praise and glory be to his name.

Who doesn't use medicine, physical medicine.

No, no, no. His existence is a medicine for

us, communicating with God. It gladdens the soul and gives

repose to its affections. You should not think of prayer

as being a matter of words. That's why we roll our eyes.

It's we think, oh, I'm just going to talk to God.

No, no, it's more than just words.

It is a desire for God. When you pray, you desire God,

an indescribable devotion, not of human origin, but the gift of

God's grace. There is this we spoke about,

that prayer is a gift of God's grace.

And it continues as Saint Paul says.

We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit, the Holy

Spirit himself, intercedes for us with size too deep for words.

I pray, I plead, I beg, but nothing, and I'll be nothing.

Well, let's go back to the doctor, the medical practitioner

for the physical condition. Now the medical practitioner,

when prescribed you the medicine and the instruction, and you go

back to him and you roll your eyes and say, well #1 when he

does prescribe you amoxicillin, do you roll your eyes and say

amoxicillin again? This is not going to work.

I know. Well, he's going to point to the

door and say, well, you know, there's the door.

He'll still hit your insurance with the bill and he'll point to

the door and say, well, bye, bye.

Don't call me, I'll call you, right?

So no, you, you, you go, you, you go and purchase that

medication. And with that prescription,

there is a way of administering that medication.

And if you go back to him again and say your medication is not

working, what you prescribed to me is not working, he will ask

you, have you been taking it according to my instructions?

No, as far as I'm concerned, when you take one pill, you got

to be healed and then I don't take the next one.

No, when you say no, I take one or two.

I took, you know, I, I did it for two days and doesn't didn't

work. He'll point to the door again

and say no, go back and finish the course because I instructed

you through my expertise and years of education that you need

to take this medication and this is how you ought to take it.

The usage. It's the same way that with

prayer, beloved, in those two parables, Jesus Christ, praise

be to his name, gives us the method of prayer, the method of

effective prayer. That is humility and not

entitlement. You see the Pharisee that went

to pray along with the tax collector, the Pharisee went to

the altar and started bragging about himself.

I do this and I do that. I'm not like this Sinner,

probably pointing to the tax collector.

I pay my type. I fast twice a week.

I'm not a Sinner. Good, God bless you, good for

you. But see it was as though he's

entitled. I do this, you need to justify

me but the tax collector beat his breast and in humility

submissively and admissively, which is a word that I think I

just created. Yes, maybe no such word as as

admissively which means in admission, but hey, this is my

trademark now admissively came to God and 1st submitted himself

to God. He needed God and admitted that

I'm a Sinner in humility, didn't even lift his eyes to the

heaven, didn't even lift his head to heaven.

The tax collector's prayer was, Lord God, have mercy on me, a

Sinner, unentitled. Not as if God owed him.

No. When we pray, beloved, when we

come to God to use this gracious medicine, when we pray and ask

God for whatever we need, let's not think that God owes you.

No, no, no, no, He doesn't owe you.

We owe it to God because we've sinned, Beloved, if we hadn't

sinned, sinned, we would not come to ask for that use that

medication because I've not seen.

I've not seen. I don't need to pray.

All I need to do is glorify God. But when we come to God because

we've dropped the ball, because of the circumstances, because of

man's fallen nature, yes, we come to the Lord, but don't come

to the Lord being entitled that he must hear my prayers.

You know, I was listening to a preacher just in passing, and

he's saying when you want something from God, you go up

that mountain hill and you demand it from God.

I switched it off. You don't demand anything from

God, Mr. Preacher. You don't demand anything from

God. You humbly, submissively, an

admission, You offer your prayer, and you always proclaim

and understand and and know that you are not worthy to be in that

place, but only through God's grace, because it's a gift of

God's grace. You see, God is not indebted to

hear our prayers nor to reply them.

Yet from his overflowing love He is gracious to vindicate his

elect, who cry out to him, who cry out to him.

That means pray, besiege, supplicate by day and by night.

And he delays his spirit. He's patient concerning them.

However, this does not only pertain to prayer, beloved.

It pertains to all that we do. We must also do in humility and

not out of entitlement. Hence Jesus Christ warns us in

Luke chapter 17 verse 10, whenever you have done all these

Luke 17:10

things, praying and and serving, and what have you that you were

commanded, you should say we are unprofitable servants because we

have done that which we were obliged to do.

God, beloved, does not owe us a prayer offered to God in order

to receive justification must be in faith, humility, submission

and admission. And again, this medication, this

medicine of prayer, and its directions are stated in other

verses of the Holy Scriptures. James chapter one verses 6:00 to

8:00. But let him who prays and asks

pray in faith without wavering. For he who wavers is like the

waves of the sea which the wind troubles.

And let not that man think he will receive anything.

There you go. This is why you're not

receiving. Let not that man think he will

receive anything from the Lord God.

Whoever waivers in his mind is troubled in all his ways.

Again, in faith, in humility, and not entitlement.

And this is not limited to prayer only, Beloved, when we

fast, when we give arms, when we serve, when we attend church,

and when we do anything in life in general, Our success, our

capabilities, our education successes, our financial

successes must all be done, used, shared in humility and

with admission and submission because they are all from God.

When we pray the gift of just saying gift, a gift from God, a

gracious gift from God, we are alerting to the fact that we are

not worthy. God has given this line of

communication to us when we have successes in any aspect of life.

Beloved, you have money, praise God, don't use it.

And when you do use it for good, God bless you.

Don't think that you are entitled that God must bless you

even more and pat you on the back.

No, because at the end of the day, when you want to argue with

God, his defense will be, well, I gave you that blessing.

It's not yours. I gave it to you.

Yeah, but I used my strength and my knowledge and my

understanding and say, yes, I gave you brains.

I gave you. You are mine.

I gave you. You are here because of me.

Humble yourself self, and don't ever think that you are

entitled. What we do and all that we do,

beloved, we must do for the glory of God first.

And when we do, we must always remember that we are unworthy

servants. This is what God has taught us

to do and why so that one day we attain that eternal bliss.

You know, going back to 1 Corinthians 1131, if you judge

yourself, you will not be judged.

There's one judgment we need to pass on ourselves.

Is that my prayer? My understand my philosophy on

when I pray and ask and worship God, am I entitled?

Well, if you judge yourself righteously and know that yes, I

have been offering my prayers, I have been offering my services

at the church. I have been offering my my

tithing and my arms giving, you know, for the glory of God.

But I have been offering them as though I am entitled for God to

pat me on the back. Well, it's wrong according to

the Scriptures, according to Christ directions.

See, when we judge ourselves, we repent.

We won't be judged on that. All that we do, we do for the

glory of God, as the psalmists write in 115.

One not to us, O Lord. This is, this is our prayer

point. Not to us, O Lord, not to us, O

Lord God, not to us, but to your name.

Give honour because of your kindness and because of your

truth. I have what I have.

I do what I do. I accomplish what I accomplish

through you and only you. Lord God, help me to always

remember that I am in need of you and You are not in need of

me. And when we think of it that

way, beloved, when that equation is in our mind always, then we

know that we are not entitled for God's not or God is not

indebted for his grace. We are, you know, not entitled

to receive, because I do what I do.

But it's out of God's glorious, gracious love, care and mercy

prays between His name now and at all times and forever.

Amen. We hope you enjoyed this week's

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Until next time, God bless you all.