UNDERSTANDING THE OLD DEACONS PRAYER:
Posted by: Dr. M. Marshall Woodard on Sun Feb 03 2008
LORD, PROP US UP!
Every time I visit a church in the deep South, and I am asked to pray, I think of the old deacon who always prayed, Lord, prop us up on our leanin' side.
After hearing him pray that prayer many times, someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently.
He answered, 'Well sir, you see, it's like this...I got an old barn out back.
It's been there a long time, it's withstood a lot of weather, it's gone through a lot of storms, and it's stood for many years.
It's still standing. But one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit.
So I went and got some pine poles and propped it up on its leaning side so it wouldn't fall. Then I got to thinking about that and how much I was like that old barn. I've been around a long time.
I've withstood a lot of life's storms. I've withstood a lot of bad weather in life, I've withstood a lot of hard times, and I 'm still standing too. But I find myself leaning to one side from time to time, so I like to ask the Lord to prop us up on our leaning side, cause I figure a lot of us get to leaning, at times.
Sometime we get to leaning toward anger, leaning toward bitterness, leaning toward hatred, leaning toward cussing, leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn't. So we need to pray, 'Lord, prop us up on our leaning side, so we will stand straight and tall again, to glorify the Lord.
After reading Understanding the Old Deacons’ Prayer I’m reminded how the Lord our God loves immensely! It truly is a wonderful feeling to know that we have been promised continuous compassion and contentment. Moreover, He wants us to continuously speak out about the holiness and contentment in prayer. As we all know, prayer moves God, and it is through prayer that God’s promises are manifested and His Will accomplished.
Metaphorically, just as the liver is essential to life, so is the action of prayer. Prayer is needed for us to weather the storms of life, and its essential to “ready, refine, and release” our spirits to create an eagerness to live for God.
It’s my hope you can agree, we first should “ready” ourselves by creating a praying habit. The Apostle Paul spoke of this in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray continually.” Next we should “refine” ourselves with a conscious act of detachment from sinful habits, guilt, and worldly contamination. God’s promise of refinement was shared with us in Zechariah 13:9, “. . . I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.” Finally we should “release” our hearts from oppression and receive an appetite for prayer so the “Lord can prop us up,” and use us to help heal the brokenhearted and proclaim freedom for the captives making this a year of the Lord’s favor. The Word of God shares this with us in Isaiah 61:1, “. . . He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”
I’m prayerful that the challenges of 2007 have put you on fire to receive God’s blessings and promises of 2008 and, most importantly, encourage you to share the GOODNESS of God throughout the coming year. STAND in FAITH and don’t be moved by carnal thinking or negative influences. As you know, it is the carnal mind that gets in the way of spiritual growth and God’s promises. However, we PRAISE God for the action of prayer and the way He uses it to encourage us back to a point of renewal. As we have heard, “Troubles don’t last always” when you trust in our Heavenly Father, Jehovah Jireh – HALLELUJAH, Saints. Be blessed and keep your heart open to receive God’s Will.
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