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Intention

Our prayers and petitions to God are never in vain

Scripture

“Is it not for you to know justice? —
you who hate the good and love the evil.”
— Micah 3:1-2

Reflection

In my daily Bible reading this morning, I came upon the above passage from Micah 3:1-2. What Yahweh said through Micah to the rulers of Israel would be just as appropriate to the nations today, including Western nations.

Where is justice? Where is a proper understanding of right and wrong? Micah speaks about a great reversal in these matters. His fellow prophet Isaiah said much the same thing:

“Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)

These passages describe to a ‘T’ just where Melbourne is at today. And Sydney, Auckland, London, New York, Toronto, Paris, Rome, and Berlin. Things have gone downhill so far and so fast spiritually and morally speaking, that it looks like there is no hope for the nations.

Humanly speaking, there isn’t.

But God.

These two words may be among the most important found in all of Scripture. God makes all the difference. And when we come to Him on our knees in desperation and hopelessness, He is in a position to act. When we reach the end of our rope, that is when God can step in and do amazing things. And we certainly need Him to do some amazing things right now.

And the value of knowing both Scripture and history is to realise that there have been dark times before — real dark times. But when things seemed most hopeless and out of control, God was able to break in and turn things around. So, our prayers and our petitions are never in vain.

While there will always be some mystery on this side of heaven as to how God’s sovereignty works in conjunction with human choices, we do know that our prayers and intercession are effective. So, the darker the days get, the more we need to believe that the divinely appointed means of fixing things — agreeing with God in prayer — needs to be done and done fervently.

Video

Prayer

Lord, we ask that You give Your people a renewed burden to pray and seek Your face. And give us faith to know and believe that You are able to do much more than we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). We thank You in advance for all the great things You will continue to do in this broken and needy world.

Amen.

Author Bio

Bill Muehlenberg is married with three sons, and ministers as an apologist and ethicist in Melbourne, Australia. He was one of the main drafters of the Canberra Declaration. Bill has a BA with honours in philosophy (Wheaton College, Chicago), an MA with highest honours in theology (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Boston) and is currently completing a PhD in theology.

Prayer Points for 31 Days of Prayer & Fasting for Revival

1. To worship Jesus and give extravagant praise to God. Hebrews 12:28-29
2. Pray that the Lamb who was slain might receive the reward for His suffering. Revelation 5:6-14
3. Pray for Revival for Australia and for millions to find Christ. Isaiah 64:1-2

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