WATCH AND PRAY !

WATCH AND PRAY !: Then in (1 Peter 4:7). We read, "But the end of all things is at hand: the you therefore sober, and watch unto prayer." Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter Saul into the future to the day in which we live and admonish believers concerning the necessity of watchful prayer. In Mark's Gospel we read where Jesus, talking about the last days, said "Take you heed, watch and pray: for you know not when the time is" (Mark 13:33). GOD'S WILL IN PRAYER: John, too, had important things to say about prayer. (1 John 5:14-16). "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will [word], he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. That is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it." Although the word "pray" is mentioned only once in this passage of Scripture, John has used the words "ask" and "petition," referring to prayer. He said, ". . . If we ask any thing according to his will, [word] he heareth us." Remember this: if it is according to the Word, it is according to His will. Some people with take the attitude that they will pray for something and if it is God's will, He will give it to them. If it isn't His will, then He won't. However, this isn't what the Bible says nor is it what the Bible teaches. John said, ". . . If we ask any thing according to his will [Word], he heareth us." Please understand this, His Word is His will for our lives. If we know what His Word says about a certain matter or situation and circumstance, then we know what His will is about that situation. This agrees with Jesus statement, ". . . If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, that it shall be done unto you" (John 15:7). Verse 16 of the above passage has been the subject of much controversy, and most preachers just stay away from it. However, it ties right in with the two preceding verses and continue talking about prayer: (1 John 5:16). "If anyone sees his brother [believer] committing a sin that does not lead to] death [the extinguishing of life] he will pray and God will give those who sin is not one leading to death]. Yes, He will grant life to all those who sin is not one leading to death]." The amplified Bible. John is saying here that if we ask God to forgive someone, this is according to His Word and according to His will, and He will do it. Years ago, I got a call that my pastor was in the hospital unconscious. I sit there and pray, "Dear Lord, I'm so sorry I didn't pray with him the other day when I visited him." I knew pastor Augustine Was a Believer and loved the Lord, but there are sins of omission as well as commission and I could see where he had missed it. Others can see where I have missed it. We can see where others miss it sometimes better than we can see ourselves. So I prayed, "Lord, I wish I had prayed with him. Just let him revive so I can have a word of prayer with him. He was elderly and I knew in my spirit he was going to go. Let me make sure there isn't any unconfessed sin in his life." As I prayed, someone said, "why don't you ask me to forgive him ? It was so real it startled me. As I stood there his blood pressure began to rise, and his heartbeat became stronger. When someone is in a coma, they can hear you: but sometimes they are not able to respond. As I begin to talk with him, I begin to tell him that I forgive him for anything that I think that he has done to me will you please forgive me." He was trying to start talking, but because he had a breathing tube in his throat he could not talk, by that time his daughter walks in: thinking that I was trying to get him to talk. We had a few words, I told her that I was not trying to get him to talk and that my presence in the room all his vitals begin to come back to normal and he was trying to talk to me. The sin God is talking about here is not the sin of lying, cheating, or something like that. God offers forgiveness for such sins. There is no forgiveness, however, for those who have "trodden underfoot the Son of God. . ." The Hebrew believers to whom this book was written were under great persecution and were tempted to go back to Judaism. When they accepted Christ Jesus, they were cut off from their families, ran into financial hardship, and faced numerous other trials. But God warned them in the Scripture that to go back to Judaism was to deny Christ Jesus. It was to say that they would be counting "the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing," or, in other words, that Jesus blood was just, blood like any other man's. Let us remember that as long as a person stays in Christ [The Word], he or she is eternally secure. But we don't want to forget that there is a sin unto death.