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The Power of Prayer

Challenge Central: a CBC devotional

by: Anonymous

Sometimes in my lack of faith, I wonder if God is listening to my prayers. There are seemingly unselfish things that I have prayed for many decades like the salvation of family and friends or the relief of chronic pain for others that have not gone the way that I want them to. While in my head, I know that God is sovereign and He will answer my prayers how and when He wants to, my heart sometimes doubts. In recent months I have seen God answer two very specific prayers in ways that can not be explained by human rationale, ensuring that He gets all of the glory and strengthening my faith in prayer. I would like to share one of those with you.

A dear, elderly, family friend with Down’s syndrome recently went missing after dark in downtown Brantford. He never leaves his home without someone being with him, and he does not know the area or even how to cross the street safely by himself. Due to his age and several physical challenges, he is not able to walk very long and gets sore and tired easily so no one thought that he could have gotten more than a few blocks away. There was much concern for his safety because he would not know how to look after himself on the streets and probably would not be able to ask for help because his speech is very difficult to understand. The police were notified, and many people began searching.

Upon finding out about the situation, my first thought, as usual, was to jump into action. I got in my car with one of my daughters and we started searching the area near his home. We drove around checking the streets, dark driveways, railway tracks and even behind the bushes in the downtown parks. I never thought that I would find myself getting out of my car in downtown Brantford after dark talking to strangers, but we did everything that we could to try to find him including praying while we were looking. My wife stayed at home praying and asking many other people to pray for his safety. About an hour into the search my wife called us and said that she wanted to come to help us search, to which my daughter replied, “Mom, the best thing you can do right now is keep praying”. She was right, often the best action we can take is to drop to our knees.

About two hours after leaving his home, the missing friend walked safely into Brantford General Hospital by himself and when the nurse asked him how he got there he replied, “I just followed the light”. He repeated that answer to his family the next day. Now please understand that under normal circumstances this friend would not have been able to walk up the hill to the hospital on his own, and he certainly could not have walked the minimum 2 kms to get there. There was no doubt in our minds that God provided a miracle.

While many of us jumped into action and did practical things to find our friend, (something that was not wrong and I would do again), the solution came through prayer alone. God could have led us to find our friend but then we would have received the credit and the usefulness of our prayers could have been questionable. However, God in His infinite sovereignty and wisdom, solved the situation in way that only He could receive the glory and He reminded us about the power of prayer.

** The author of this devotional wishes to remain anonymous.

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The Golden Calves in Our Lives

Challenge Central: a CBC devotional

by: Alicia Clarke

Commandment #1: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3)

Commandment #2: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image.” (Exodus 20:4)

I used to think that I could count a credit to myself that I was, at least, following the first two commandments. I fully recognized and believed that God, the Father, decided to save us by sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to Earth. Jesus lived the perfect life that we are supposed to live, but don’t. Then at the end of his life, He died on the cross. While on the cross, He bore our sins in His body. That means He took the punishment that we deserved for our sins. Then He arose from the dead and lives to intercede for believers when they sin. I fully believed and accepted the above, so check, number one fulfilled by me because I believe in God. And of course, I don’t have a golden calf in the house, so check, #2 fulfilled!

These are the two commandments most of us do not think we ever break! We tend to imagine an idol worshipper lying prostrate before a carved image. Yet, the command is much broader than that. An idol is anything or anyone who takes the place of God in our lives. It is anything—an object, idea, philosophy, habit, occupation, sport, power, sex, our physical bodies, money or a person—that is your primary concern, or that to any degree decreases your trust and loyalty to God. The problem of idolatry lies in our hearts. Not all our desires are bad, but the trouble comes in when the desire or idol becomes a greater desire than our obedience to God and His Word. The Bible makes it clear that an idol is anything we have more faith in than God, anything we worship instead of God, or anything we believe has the power to change us and our circumstances.

How do I know what the idols are in my life? The answer taught to me was found in these questions. Am I willing to sin to get this idol or respond sinfully if I don’t get this idol? Where do I spend my time and thought life? Which of these things do I hold in such esteem that I don’t believe I could ever be happy without them? Search your heart and look for what might be in the place that is to be reserved for God. We are commanded to “love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). He commands for us to have Him supreme in our lives-before everyone and everything else.

Now, if you have made a good thing an ultimate thing in your life, how do you change that? How do you rid idols from your heart? The answer isn’t always to remove the object of our idolatry from our life, to stop loving it, or even to love it less. After all, our family can become the object of our idolatry, but the answer isn’t to love them less. The answer is to love God MORE!

We must allow ourselves to be “filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19) so our love for Him shoves everything else aside, out of His presence, out of the “God” place in our hearts. We must allow God’s magnificence and glory to fill our hearts and minds.

This is why prayer, Bible study, and praise are so very important! These acts help us see the glory and majesty of God and diminish our dependence on created things. True contentment, true satisfaction, true worth, true joy, true fulfillment—these are only to be found in Christ. All other things serve to magnify His greatness and push our souls upward in grateful thanks and praise. And if they were all taken away? We would still have Jesus!

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Foxholes & Followers

Challenge Central: a CBC devotional

by: Pastor Lars Janssen

Jesus once told a potential follower, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matt. 8:20). He was communicating the implications for those who would choose to follow God. Jesus was describing the cost of discipleship; he was giving a sense of what it means to serve a Master like himself.

In World War I, soldiers took refuge in hastily dug trenches called foxholes. These were  not the foxholes Jesus was talking about in Matthew 8, but the soldiers who used them certainly knew what Jesus meant about the cost of serving. They had followed orders that sent them into the heat of battle and they hid in these foxholes while bullets flew overhead and explosions rocked the earth. In these foxholes, they clung to shreds of hope as the cold earth sapped the warmth from their bodies. They knew that to serve carries a cost. And they paid that cost.

At 11 am this morning, Canadians will pause to remember all of our soldiers and veterans. This is what we do each Remembrance Day. This pause is a sign of respect; a token of thanks; a meagre sacrifice of our time that symbolizes their greater sacrifice. These men and women know what it means to sacrifice. They leave friends and family behind to fight in distant places. They’ve lost brothers and sisters at arms on battlefields. Many have lost their own lives. We pause to remember the cost they pay when we are not there to pay it with them.

In Matthew 8:20, Jesus said that to follow him might leave you without a foxhole—without a safe place to rest your head. To many of us, that sounds terrifying, and it would be if not for the rest of Matthew 8. Those who serve Jesus may endure great hardships, even like our soldiers and veterans, but we face them with the same Jesus who calms storms and dominates demonic forces (Matt. 8:23-34). Christian, you are not alone in paying the cost of discipleship. Jesus walks with you; in front of you.

This morning at 11 am, take the time to pause and remember our soldiers and veterans. Remember those who died, those who survived, and those who still live with the scars of their service. The cost of serving has always been high for our soldiers. So in that pause, remember those who have sacrificed and pray for them.

Pray that God will save those who are not yet his own and hold close those who belong to him. Pray and thank God for our soldiers and veterans. And in that pause, remember that following God is worth every scar—both the scars that we bear and the scars that Jesus still bears. Followers of Jesus do not need foxholes. We have Jesus!

Then, when the silence is done, look around and thank a soldier or a veteran for his or her service. Perhaps even take a moment to bless them with these words:

“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, Selah, that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You!” (Ps. 67:1-3)

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Speak and Listen in Love

Challenge Central: a CBC devotional

by: Pastor Lars Janssen

This Sunday, I have the privilege of preaching from Nehemiah 5. We’re going to learn more about how God’s people must be united in God’s work by loving God and other people. But as I have been preparing, verse 10 has jumped off the page as an excellent example of humble courage. Let me offer you some context before I explain.

Some Jews had just lodged several serious complaints with Nehemiah—complaints about lending and interest levelled against other Jews. This was an internal problem within the community of God’s people. Nehemiah had listened and proceeded to lay out the accusations before the offenders. The guilty parties had no defense for their actions—they were silent. In this awkward silence, Nehemiah encouraged them to “walk in the fear of our God” (Nehemiah 5:9) and then he said this:
“Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest.” (Nehemiah 5:10)

This statement was so unexpected as I read it—I had to read it over several times. Nehemiah included himself among the offenders. Apparently, he and his servants had also been lending money at interest. It does seem like Nehemiah’s method of lending was less ruthless than the other leaders’ method—they had taken possession of property when their debtors defaulted while Nehemiah acquired no property (see verse 16). Yet Nehemiah included himself as part of the problem, making no excuses, and invited his fellow offenders to join him in becoming part of the solution.

Think about this for a moment. We recognize from verses 1-5 that the victims of this lending-with-interest problem approached their leader, Nehemiah. Verse 10 tells us that Nehemiah was one of the lenders! This means that God’s people were courageous enough to humbly point out Nehemiah’s error. This also means that God’s leader, Nehemiah, was humbly courageous enough to admit to his error and address the problem. This is great leadership! This is great faithfulness by those being led!

Christian leaders must “shepherd the flock of God that is among [us], exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have [us]; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in [our] charge, but being examples to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:2-3) This is what Nehemiah did. And all Christians must not bury their insights, but “rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” (Ephesians 4:15) The Jews did this for Nehemiah.

The body of Christ is a living thing. Be humble, yes, but be courageous also. Your pastors and deacons are not perfect. We need you to speak the truth in love even as we humbly lead you. We must all speak and listen in love for God’s glory and our good.

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All Hands on Deck!

Challenge Central: a CBC devotional

by: Roger Wood

As we study through the book of Nehemiah and the fascinating details of rebuilding the gates and the walls of Jerusalem, we have learned that this monumental task was completed in just fifty-two days. How was this possible under such adverse conditions?

Let me take you back in time. Central had a one-day conference in the mid 1980s. This particular Saturday was set aside to help the congregation understand how we could come together as a group of believers and manage our time, our talents, and our spiritual gifts to the fullest and accomplish the goals that had been set before us.

The guest speaker opened the conference with a question: how long do you think it would take to build an average sized, one-storey, 3 bedroom home? From the pouring of the slab foundation to walking down the manicured walk, opening the front door and moving in. 

The answers, of course, varied, but the consensus seemed to be that it would take at least a month, probably two at the very best. After all, the poured concrete had to cure and harden before any other construction could begin. After some discussion and considering many of the aspects of building a home, our group seemed satisfied with our answer. 

The speaker was encouraged by our discussion and even considered our conclusion as reasonable. He then gave us the answer: 4.5 hours! What? Impossible! That’s crazy. It can’t be done we cried out. 

He then proceeded to show us a video of how it was accomplished. Hundreds of people had been assigned to the project. Concrete masons, framers, plumbers, electricians, drywallers, carpenters, painters, roofers, landscapers and so on. Each had been given a specific task  according to their abilities at a specific place and a specific time. But what about the concrete? We learned that accelerants were added to the cement to greatly speed up the curing process. 

Through time-lapsed video we were able to observe how a group of focused, committed individuals, working together with a well-thought-out plan were able to accomplish a great deal in a short period of time. 

Nehemiah stood before the people of Jerusalem and said: “I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, ‘Let us rise up and build.’ So they strengthened their hands for the good work.”

The challenge: All hands on deck Central!

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