40 DAYS OF PRAYER: DAY 22

Time is short

We have been talking about praying according to Gods will and dialing in on praying for what is important. As a kid I was taught to pray in a grocery list fashion. Lord, please help Gpa Mac feel better, help Johnnys mom find a new job, and please help my dog Pete stop barking while I'm watching Star Trek, etc…  God wants us to bring ALL of our requests to Him, He desires to have conversation with His creation. But, if time is short shouldn’t we think about what to pray for a little more before we add it to the list?   

James 4:13-14 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away”. 

What if you knew knew the exact moment that you would get to spend eternity in heaven? Would you change the way you are living? Would you change the way you are praying for your family and friends? Wouldn't you increase your prayer for them and ramp up the intensity of your prayers? We need to understand time and the fact that we don’t have all the time in the World to accomplish what ever we want and we especially don't want to waste time. Look at this scripture, and a biblical view on a Time for Everything…

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace. What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

These scriptures are heavy, we must see the importance of the time we have and that there is purpose in all that we do. 

The unbelieving world understands time, shouldn’t we? A 60’s rock band “The Bryds” even wrote a song about it… Turn! Turn! Turn! (To everything There is a Season) To everything (turn, turn, turn) There is a season (turn, turn, turn) And a time to every purpose, under heaven A time to be born, a time to die a time to plant, a time to reap A time to kill, a time to heal A time to laugh, a time to weep. 

This kind of makes it sound romantic, but in Solomons journey of finding happiness, he sees that life is unpredictable, routine, boring and even mundane. We will reap what we sow, we will build something new, and eventually it will fall apart. We have love and yet hate follows it. We pursue peace, but war will come. Futile, routine, boring, mundane. 

Someone said, that the problem with life is that it is “so daily”. Solomon says the same thing, “there has to be more than just this”! But then he gives us a glimmer of hope in verse 11.  

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. 

Maybe our times are mundane and boring, but God, makes everything beautiful and full of meaning in HIS timing. If you are reading the book of Ecclesiastes remember this is Solomon in a “back slidden” state, he is trying to make sense of the world without God. He had surrendered His life to God earlier, but the influence of his thousand wives and concubines (forbidden in Deuteronomy 17) had caused him to backslide. It was his disobedience to God that caused a disconnect in that relationship. So, he has access to Godly truth and understanding, yet he is not living or walking in that truth or experiencing Gods freedom. Many newer translations correctly read “He has set eternity in their heart.” Every person understands innately, intuitively that he is an eternal creature. While he may suppress that knowledge (Romans 1), instinctively he knows that eternity is in his heart, that there’s more to life than what he sees. So as we contemplate, time and how we should pray, can we stay cognizant of the fact that time is short, and life happens. 

A freezing fear is prevalent today more than ever. I see and hear from so many people, the latest, conspiracy and prophecy, and it instills fear, it clouds vision and stops people in their tracks. We must remember that time marches on. Can we keep the visual of heaven in the forefront of our minds? Please pray with purpose! Fervently. The time on Earth is short. Hold steady. Eternity awaits us all. 

James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

I prayed Fervently for you this morning! 

Have a great day! 

Much blessings and love, Pastor Scott