Thursday 26 Sep 2013

Thursday Reading: 1 Timothy 2:8-10

Key Verse: 1 Timothy 2:8
8  I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

Devotion:
The Apostle speaks here of men being the ones to pray and this is exactly what the ways of the church were in those days, that men only were the ones allowed to pray out loud in church congregations. Prayers are not to be limited to men only, nor to be limited to being said in churches only; instead prayers should be lifted up everywhere we are or go. Prayers should be said without anger and without doubts because they are being lifted up to our most holy God! The Jews at the time had got themselves into a bit of a muddle in presuming that prayers belonged in the temple only which is not what Christ upheld.

God wants us to know that every one of us can lift up our prayers to Him at any time and at any place. Those prayers are heard by Him and they will be answered. If we have our doubts then we are asking, but not in faith. If we limit it to church then we are saying that God cannot listen outside of church. If we ask because we get angry with others then we are asking for ourselves and not of God. We have a Saviour who does answer prayers, but He wants us to come to Him with honest and heartfelt prayers. If we want to lift up our prayers from our hearts then why should we not lift up our bodies as an outward expression of lifting up our inward prayers?

The next example used is the dressing up of women in society. Why should a person dress up to impress and do nothing about trying to actually impress others? The apostle reminds us all that we need to put aside our outward ways and lift up our inward hearts to God. One of the best ways of doing this is by applying His Word in our lives and by outwardly showing others we are doing so. Acting upon God’s will in our lives and pushing forward to show others you are trusting in Him is going to speak out much louder than a few words when you are dressed to impress!

Good works will show God’s work in a much more alluring way than good clothes will. Clothes are to impress the world about worldly things whereas good works show the world that we are willing to shown Godly things.

Points to Ponder:
Do you dress to impress?

Or do you do God’s bidding?