From Calvary Chapel of Roswell

Pastor Jim Suttle

Msg #525                                  Wednesday, September 24, 2008

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"As for me, far be it from me

that I should sin against the LORD

in ceasing to pray for you . ."

(1 Sam 12:23)   

Are you praying for our nation in these days?   With the economy so shaky, with the Presidential election 41 days away – are you praying?  These are serious issues and there are many more – from God’s view even more serious in our nation – are you praying?

In 1 Samuel, the nation of Israel had sinned, they had rejected the Lord and chosen a human king – Saul.  Samuel declared to them their sins in this and their folly as a nation.  In their honest response, they cried out to Samuel to pray for them…and the verse we are considering today is Samuel’s response.

"As for me, far be it from me

that I should sin against the LORD

in ceasing to pray for you . ."

To not pray for them…was sin.  Not sin against them…but sin against the Lord.  Wow!  Do you believe this?  Do believe that prayerlessness is a sin against God?   

Picture it this way, you are walking by a swimming pool, and you discover that someone is drowning.  They are about to go down for the second, then the third time.  Two feet away from you is a life preserver with a rope attached.  It is now your privilege and within your power to toss the life preserver to them and be involved in saving their lives.  Yet  you are “too busy”, or even “too lazy” to help and you go on your way.  That person in the pool drowns.  Can you see from this picture that you would be guilty of not taking advantage of your privileges, of the ability before you provided by the pool owner to save that person? 

Is this not such a privilege and power exactly what we have in God?  God has given us the privilege to pray for those around us.  Prayer is powerful - stronger and more effective than any life preserver.  But if we fail to be involved, fail to pray . . . then we are in sin.  It is sin, not because of what we are doing, but because of what we are not doing.

Therefore, to him who knows to do good

and does not do it, to him it is sin. (Jas 4:17)

Today, I want to call you to prayer.  I want to challenge you to consider your personal role.  Notice how Samuel talks about it in our verse:

"As for me, far be it from me that I should sin

against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you . ."

Right now, I don’t want you to think about others, or your church or the church as a whole – but simply to consider your personal part.  I want to challenge you to come to the place of personal commitment to pray that Samuel did.  I want to call you to be a person that prays – for others, for our nation.

With this, I want to give you a specific challenge.   Tomorrow, Thurs Sept 25th, will mark 40 days until our Presidential Election.   I challenge you to set aside a time every day for the next 40 days to pray for our nation.  Truly the need is great…and the privileged responsibility to pray is ours. 

"As for me, far be it from me

that I should sin against the LORD

in ceasing to pray for you . ."

(1 Sam 12:23)   

Jim

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