Three loaves of Bread and a Wet Fleece

September 11, 2009

If you were at Tuesday night Prayer Ministry (and if you weren’t, where were you? … just kidding!), you heard me talk about reading a friend’s book and being moved and convicted. The book is Prayer: The Timeless Secrets of High-Impact Leaders and is by Dr. Dave Earley, a fellow member of the Christar board. Dave founded and was pastor of New Life Church of Columbus, Ohio and is currently Chairman of the Department of Pastoral Leadership and Director of the Center for Pastoral Leadership of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and Liberty University.

I was finishing the book on the plane yesterday as I flew to our Christar board meeting. Wow! We’ve go to get this guy to come to KCBT and share some of this stuff! Pray about that!

Here’s a small sample that happened to thrill my little mind. Speaking of the need to pray as specifically as possible, Dave wrote,

Jesus taught the value of precise petitions when he told the story of the friend at midnight. Notice that the man did not request “some food.” Instead he asked for “three loaves”: “Then he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to hi at midnight and says, Friend, lend me three loaves of bread …’” (Luke 11:5), emphasis added).

Jesus said the man’s boldness in asking specifically, along with his persistence and willingness to come at midnight, would cause his friend to “get up and give him as much as he needs.” (Luke 11:8).

Have you ever wrestled (as I have) about whether or not it is appropriate to set out a “fleece” before God as Gideon did? Do you remember when God commissioned him to deliver Israel from the Midianites? This was such a daunting task Gideon wanted to be certain that this was indeed what God wanted him to do. So he placed a wool fleece out one night and asked God to confirm his instructions by causing only the fleece to be wet with dew and the surrounding ground would be all dry. That’s exactly what happened as Gideon awoke to dry ground and fleece wet enough that he wrung a bowlful of water out of it (Judges 6:36-38).

Here’s Dave’s comment.

Before you get hung up on the legitimacy of putting out a fleece, realize this: Gideon had prayed a very definite prayer and received a definite answer. In essence he had done exactly as Jesus would later instruct, asked for “three loaves” or in this case, “one wet fleece.”

Lord, teach us to pray!

Dave Aranda-Richards

“There is no fatique so heavy as that which comes from lack of work.”
Get Off Your Butt and in the Game; “In Jesus’ Name.” a book by Dave Aranda-Richards
Dave Aranda-Richards

“There is no fatique so heavy as that which comes from lack of work.”
Get Off Your Butt and in the Game; “In Jesus’ Name.” a book by Dave Aranda-Richards
Lee

Jeff, this is off topic, but I’ve been wondering and perhaps I’m just confusing terms, but what can we do as sons and daughters of God to bring JOY to God? What specifically can I do as a believer to bring a smile to God’s face and make his heart glad?

http://www.kcbt.org Jeff Adams

Sounds like a blog post to me. Stay tuned!

Scott Jolley

Hello Jeff,
I guess I have always felt weird asking God for stuff. I don’t want to offer God any “deals” like increased tithing or better service from me in exchange for something I want. I think my apprehension comes from hearing too much prosperity preaching, the kind you see on late night tv. Part of me wonders what right do I have to ask for a new car etc. when so many people go without food.
Your post has got me all riled up. I have a fairly big business decision coming up and have been praying for “guidance”. Now, I am praying, “if it’s your will God, set before me a Steadicam Ultra II and a way to pay for it, as well as clients to hire it.”
How do I balance selfish wants with what God wants? If I don’t get what I asked for is that the answer? Am I missing the point? A steadicam is a tool I can use for work, so I am like a carpenter asking for a hammer. But using the carpenter picture, I don’t just build churches, sometimes I build bars, whatever the client hires me to do (within reason).
I am probably going to kill all my grass with all the fleece’s I’ve got lying outside!
thanks,
Scott
http://www.tinalewisrowe.com Tina Lewis Rowe

My mother, Miss Creola Lewis, believed it showed a bit of lack of faith to not pray very specifically. When she needed a house after their move back to Georgia she prayed for the number of rooms, the space they needed for my dad’s recliner and the garden they just had to have. Then, she prayed, “And, Lord, I’m trusting you for it have pretty wallpaper or paint so it can give witness to the wonders you can do.” When they arrived in Georgia their cousin met them at the motel and told them about a house he had just seen having a For Rent sign on the lawn. He said, “I’m sure it’s nice, because the lady that owns it has been in there papering and painting for a week!” My dad told us that Mom closed her eyes and said, “That takes care of it, Lord. Thank you!”

So, yeah, I guess specific prayer can be powerful! T.

http://www.kcbt.org Jeff Adams

How I would have loved to have met Miss Creola!
Dave Aranda-Richards

“You may not always get what you want, but you will always get what you expect.”
“If you want to accomplish great things, expect great problems.” or “If it comes easy, it ain’t worth it.”

Dave Aranda-Richards from the book. “Get Off Your Butt and in the Game; In Jesus’s Name.”
Dave Aranda-Richards

“You may not always get what you want, but you will always get what you expect.”
“If you want to accomplish great things, expect great problems.” or “If it comes easy, it ain’t worth it.”

Dave Aranda-Richards from the book. “Get Off Your Butt and in the Game; In Jesus’s Name.”

Jeff Adams

Three loaves of Bread and a Wet Fleece