Having An Eternal Perspective
I began my online teaching blog in January 2014 (http://wisdomfromtheword.ca/). Prior to starting the blog, I came up with a tagline, “An Eternal Perspective: Living in Time, Preparing for Eternity.” Here I am going to explore the idea of an Eternal Perspective and the relationship it has to prayer.
We all know as believers that we are to have a prayer life. We have numerous examples of prayer in the Old Testament. Many of the Psalms are prayers. We have Daniel modelling prayer three times a day.
10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. Daniel 6:10 (NKJV)
In the New Testament we have Jesus’ teaching us, through the model prayer He provided in Matthew 6, that we should at least have daily prayers (verse 11).
9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Matthew 6:9–13 (NKJV)
Given the numerous examples of prayer in scripture and the scriptural calls to engage in prayer, it seems important to look at what relationship prayer has to holding an Eternal Perspective. The inspiration for “An Eternal Perspective: Living in Time, Preparing for Eternity” was my awareness that everything we do in time has ripples in eternity. Prayer is one of those things. We see in Revelation that our prayers go into bowls and are presented before the throne.
8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Revelation 5:8 (NKJV)
Knowing that our prayers are incense before His throne it is important to anchor our prayers in an Eternal Perspective. We are called to pray because it matters.
Prayer doesn’t require a certain posture or location. More important than our physical posture and location is the posture of our heart and where are affections are located. We see the importance of this in scripture. Here are Old and New Testament examples.
1 Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my meditation. 2 Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray. 3 My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up. Psalm 5:1–3 (NKJV)
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. Colossians 3:1–2 (NKJV)
In Psalm 5 we see David expressing his habit of daily morning prayer and he includes in this Psalm the expectation that there will be a response to his prayer, hence his phrase, “And I will look up.”
Understanding Psalm 5 is easy and obvious. Colossians 3 takes us a little deeper. Whether or not it was the unconscious source of my expression, An Eternal Perspective: Living in Time, Preparing for Eternity, I cannot tell you. I can tell you that it encapsulates the expression with the call to set our minds on things above rather than things on the earth. I don’t see these two verses as a call to ignore what is happening on earth, just the opposite. Fixing our minds on eternal things will affect how we live on earth and how we pray. We will pray with an awareness that what happens on earth echoes in eternity, and we will know that our prayers, no matter how seemingly weak and futile, matter. We can then pray like David, offering our heart to Him and looking up in expectation that heaven will invade earth.
Therefore, while we have the opportunity here, let us pray with expectation and a heart of affection for Jesus and heaven.
-Randy Baker
Randy serves on the HoPE Board of Directors and has been a long-time supporter of city-wide prayer in the greater Edmonton area
Photo by Gerhard Kupfer on Unsplash
