Serving God and praying to Him

Serving God and praying to Him
2 Timothy 1:3 - I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure
conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers
night and day;
When we read today's message many would feel the person stating he thanks
God whom he serves which the forefathers did but with a pure conscience and
without ceasing, that means non-stop remembering the person (Timothy) in
his prayers which he does day and night.
Now if one puts the actual writer of this that is Paul and understand his
position and background then one would say Paul is lying or over
exaggerating this sentence.
Firstly Paul was half Jew and half Roman; his mother was a Jew and his
father a Roman. His father and grandfather did not know God (Bible does not
record them to be alive after or even before Saul became Paul). Secondly
Paul travelled a lot, preached, ministered to people and also ran a
business of making and selling tents, so a busy person like him would
hardly get free time. He must have sat alone or with others and prayed in
the early morning and in the evenings regularly. He must have also taken
time off in between to pray in private but stating he prayed day and night
unceasingly is an over statement if one thinks of prayer as what people do
in church or at prayer meetings. Also Timothy was not the only person dear
to Paul; he had many others for whom he also prayed, so how could he claim
he prayed for Timothy unceasingly.
Let me address the first part first. The issue is the word 'from' in Greek
'apo'. The word has 2 dimensions, one that projects separation and the
other place of origin. In English we usual use the word 'from' as a place
of origin like 'I will call you from office'. Knowing the background of
Paul, here he is not using this word as place of origin but as a
separation. Paul is stating he serves God unlike his forefathers did; he is
serving Him with a pure conscience.
Jews and others, including Christians today serve or work for the Kingdom
of God but very few do so with a pure conscience. The purity is about the
intention their intention is not the purpose of the Kingdom of God but
their own glory, their ego or their foolishness. Just yesterday at a
meeting I was pulled up by a few members for helping other teams to further
the Kingdom of God, they told me the rule does not allow. A very
interesting sentence a person told me 'we need to stand before God and
answer Him'.
Imagine me standing before God and God asking me if I kept the rules of
that organization or if I was a true Christian and did what He commissioned
me for? Will God be pleased when I tell Him I was a good member of that
organization or will He be please when I tell Him I was a true Christian
and did what His Son commanded of me?
Paul says he separated himself from the ways of his forefathers and served
God for the purpose and expansion of God's Kingdom, not expansion of his
own fame, or to please society, or keep manmade rules.
Coming to the later part, when I was a Catholic we were given a chain of
beads called a Rosary. We were condemned to narrating some 'prayers' while
using this chain of beads (at one of the Catholic Retreat Centers in South
India they projected if a person would not say the Rosary regularly at
least once a day the person would go to Hell). For years and years I did
this never knowing what I was doing. Many a time truly feeling for God and
at times crying while narrating these prayers for I truly loved God. But
later when I was baptized in Christ and understood the importance of the
Word of God, while I was narrating the rosary I started giving thought to
what I was saying and confirming if these went alone with the Word of God.
Later I realized even though my heart cried to God but in my words I was
mocking and blaspheming Him for these prays when against his Word. How
could I in any sense call that prayer? My praying was angering God more
than building my relationship with Him.
We find many Believer Christians are under the bondage of 'prayer'. Like
the Catholics they narrate many words, make long prayers or say things that
go contrary to the Word of God. The main problem is they do not know what
prayer is and how to pray, most of the time they shout, scream and make
aggressive actions and call it 'powerful prayer'.
People get surprised when I tell them the most powerful prayer of Jesus
were the two words He spoke 'Thank You' and His weakest prayer was when He
made a long prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane where He struggled. When I
am asked to prayer over a person like for healing on say a non-believer or
someone spiritually new in the lord I would prayer with many words and
loud, may even shout but when I am asked to do the same for a person
knowing the Lord, grown spiritually I may just lay hand or touch that
person and may not verbally speak even a word. When praying over I speak
more for the person to hear and increase in faith but for those grown in
faith I just allow the anointing to flow.
Let us not be under bondage of a ritual which people call 'prayer' that
keeps us for functioning as Christians. Let us understand what prayer is
and be in prayer unceasingly while we do the mission we are commissioned to
do as Christians. Let our purpose be of greater importance than the means.
Once the purpose is given it right priority than the means automatically
comes in right standing.
[Prayer Starter]
Lord, we pray Lord your people understand the CROSS truly. Let them not
look at the wooden object but understand the purpose. You did not desire
they know the suffering You went through but just receive the fruit of what
You did and are doing. Let them know why the Ark of Covenant was given more
importance and kept in the Holy of Holies. Because You gave more importance
to the purpose therefore You gave Yourself as a sacrifice and your Name is
lifted up...
This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.
[Reference Scriptures]
Acts 21:39 But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in
Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak
unto the people.
Acts 22:25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion
that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and
uncondemned?
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Ephesians 1:10-12
10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which
are on earth; even in him:
11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of
his own will:
12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in
Christ.
Matthew 15:36 And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave
thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the
multitude.
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