The Discovery Bible (New Testament)

I love this Study Bible!
http://www.amazon.com/The-Discovery-Bible-American-Testament/dp/0802441599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383757795&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Discovery+Bible%3A+New+American+Standard+New+Testament+Hardcover

Among other helpful items, the words that are emphasized in the Greek language, are printed in red, so as you read, you get a clearer sense of things.

For example, in Luke 1, when the angel Gabriel came to Zacharias and told him his aged, barren wife was going to have a son - John the Baptist - he replied, "How shall I know this for certain? For I, am an old man..." (Lk1:18)

The words "certain" and "I" are emphasized in the Greek. But look how Gabriel responds in the next verse. He says, "I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God..." Again the word, "I" is emphasized in the Greek.

Gabriel responded to Zacharias' authoritative "I" response with the same emphasis!
Here are verses 18 and 19 without the emphasis -

"Zacharias said to the angel, 'How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.' 19 The angel answered and said to him, 'I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 

And now with it -

"Zacharias said to the angel, 'How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.' 19 The angel answered and said to him, 'I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.'" 

I can't prove it, but I picked up a bit of a tone in Zacharias' answer that may very well be described as "patronizing" or "skepticism." And Gabriel's response seems to meet it head on with his own authoritative, "I..."

It's almost like he was saying, "You might be old Zach and know a lot, including that old men with barren wives don't usually have kids. But I know the God to whom you have just offered up the sacrifices on behalf of your people."

 (Zacharias must have forgotten about the founding father of his nation and faith! Someone I think went by the name of Abraham maybe...or something like that.)

In fact, Zacharias, was one of the privileged few who got to occasionally stand there in this Holy of Hollies. And when he did, who shows up? Not just any angel but Gabriel who's been standing in God's immediate, direct, manifest Presence a lot longer than this privileged priest had been in this sacred place.

True messages from God trump any common sense!

Creative Prayer

Prayer can be a difficult task. Often we don't know what to pray. Sometimes we are afraid we'll pray the wrong thing. Other times we think, "If God knows all, why should I bother praying? Isn't it all set in stone anyway? Do my prayers really matter?" Sometimes it feels like our prayers hit the ceiling and aren't getting through to God. 

Yes, we can pray the wrong things but I don't think God is upset with us when we do. I think He's thrilled that we took the time to pray and communicate with Him. If there is one major characteristic about Yahweh it's the He is a talker! He was talking before He created the world! He communicates! He loves to interact with others. He is forever telling His people to talk to Him and listen.  

We are made in God's image and when communication breaks down in our earthly relationships it's usually a bad sign. Until the communication barriers are addressed, often the relationship is stuck or even disintegrates. When our communication stalls with God it affects the relationship as well. I don't think we can lose our salvation over it but we are affected by it. And so is God. 

Besides having a fleshly nature that is naturally reluctant towards prayer, we often get stuck in a rut, praying the same things over and over again. 

Yes, Jesus did tell us to, "Ask and keep on asking" (Matt. 7:7). He even gave us a parable of a widow who pestered a judge until he finally granted her request. (Luke 18:1-8)

But sometimes we don't pray much because we find it so dry and boring. My question is, why? Why is prayer so boring? Think about it. Because of Christ, we can now go to God directly. We have access to the throne room of heaven! (Heb. 4:14-16)  

Imagine, what if you wanted access to the White House? Or Congress? Or Parliament? Difficult? You bet! Often impossible! Heck, even getting back stage passes to a concert is hard! But if we were granted access to our national leaders or to our favorite bands, would we use it? Most of us probably would. And if we learned that those people, in a some super-extraordinary way, cared about us and WANTED to meet with us, would we bored? No! If we knew we could talk to them about anything, would we take a casual approach to such a discussion? I doubt it! I'd guess we'd sit down and figure out ahead of time what we wanted to say. We may even brainstorm and consult with others on how to be effective with what we wanted to communicate. 

Granted, such an illustration isn't perfect as we can pray pretty much anytime and meeting with a band or a politician is a rare opportunity that may happen only once. But the point is, we have the ears of God! A God who loves us! A God who is interested in everything about us! He gave up His own Son for us! Yeah, I think He's probably interested in what we have to share with Him. 

But when I hear people pray and I look at my own prayers at times, I can't help but wonder if God gets bored with our prayers. Of all the things we could bring to Him, we often only focus on our needs - just our needs. Why not expand our prayer life to include other things like our feelings or desires or experiences or even jokes? Why not ask God for things we normally wouldn't think to ask Him?

Look at David's prayers in the Psalms. They're full of emotion and passion! They're raw at times! They're shocking! And they're real! Very, very real! No pretense. 

God once told a disobedient king named Ahaz, "Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or highest heights." (Isa. 7:10). Do you know what the twerp said, "I will not ask. I will not put the Lord to the test." (Isa. 7:11)

I read that and find myself incredulous! Incredulous to the point of being stupefied and speechless! Here God was willing to give this wicked king, who didn't fear Him at all, a sign of his own making and the dude turned God down with a feigned declaration of reverence! Are you kidding me?!

But if God is willing to make such an offer to a rebellious king in an ancient third world country, why do we think He wouldn't consider our requests significant? 

And why do we ask for such little things? Why do we ask God for a pleasant day when we could ask Him anything? We can ask Him ANYTHING! We can bring ANYTHING to Him! ANYTHING!! And yet we're bored and don't know what to ask?      

I've heard wonderful stories of people who got creative with their prayers. They asked God for all sorts of things and He answered them. I've heard stories of guys bringing their work problems to God and asking Him for solutions to problems that no one in their field could solve. And God gave them dreams that solved the problem! I've heard stories of people asking God for ideas for inventions and He granted them and they were able to quit their jobs and live off of the profits! 

I once prayed that God would increase my sense of humor and use it for His glory and He did! I once prayed, in passing, "You know Lord, it would be nice to have a flat screen T.V." That's all I said. I didn't have the money for a flat screen T.V. I didn't even think God heard me or would take such a request seriously. Yet within two weeks a friend called me up and GAVE me their 48" flat screen T.V.! I was shocked! She said that when she prayed about who to give it to, my name came to her mind.

When Job prayed to God about his problems and losses, God answered him in the most colorful way. He started talking about nature and the stars and the beasts and the weather. His answer was so beautiful! God answered people through His prophets of old in story and in satire, in parable and in poetry. Have we ever considered praying to God in such ways? Have you ever written God a poem and offered it up in prayer? 

Maybe our prayer lives are boring because we don't really value them. If all you cook for dinner is spice-less food, and you eat the same thing over and over again, it's gonna get boring. They say,"Variety is the spice of life!" Prayer is the same way. Spice it up a bit! Add variety to your prayers. Pray something new and different! Why not? We don't always have to put on a banquet for God in prayer but why not add a new dish once in a while?