“After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10).
I’m a little ashamed, but it’s time for a true confession. It takes me months to put away the Christmas lights that are always hanging on the front peaks of my house for the Christmas season.
I usually take some down in March, but some of my lights are very high up and it takes a special ladder to get them down. After I planted my garden this spring, I figured that it was a job I could no longer put off. Oh the shame of this confession!
When I put Christmas lights away, I put most of them on a spooling device. I do so because years ago, I would just put them in a paper bag to store them over the winter. Then come next winter – when it came time to take them out and use them – they were so tangled it would take me hours to untangle them!
Untying knots and untangling Christmas lights are among some of my least favorite things to do.
Sometimes, the turmoil in our relationships can give us the same kind of feeling.
Have you ever had friends that you really love who have done or said things that really bother you? Maybe you have a co-worker or co-workers who are friends but they do something that bugs you and eats away at you.
For whatever reason, maybe these friends have caused turmoil in your relationships. In some ways, these can feel like knots or tangles. You love and care for them, but your relationship is tangled with the anger or frustration that is bothering you.
One minute you are thinking or saying something nice about them, the next minute you are ready to eject them to the moon!
Let’s Take A Look At Job
That happened to Job. Things started going wrong in his life and three of his friends started doing a “man” thing. They tried to fix his problems by figuring out why things were going wrong. In their great deductions, they started blaming Job and attacking his character.
If you’ve ever had your character attacked, you know there is nothing that hurts more. It bothered Job and only made things worse. The book of Job is a long story about friends bugging Job while Job is talking to God and trying to get things worked out.
God finally has a long talk with Job and straightens him out. He then speaks to Job’s heart and says, (my paraphrase) “Job, pray for your friends. When they were bugging you they were bugging me. They didn’t get it right about you or me. Pray for them.”
If you’re a Christian and you’ve experienced these relational knots I’m talking about, you know that it’s difficult to offer up pure prayer for your friends at times like this. It seems like you are praying for them and talking about them at the same time.
After God straightened Job out, Job saw his own failures and misunderstandings of God. He realized God’s grace toward him. He was able to move over in his heart and sincerely pray for his friends.
You could say that the tangles were supernaturally removed as Job prayed for them. Job having received God’s grace could now apply the same toward his friends. Now Job could pray from a pure heart and sincerely. When he did, his prosperity began to return.
Untangling relational tangles or knots is a supernatural thing. You have to spend enough time with God and His Word and in prayer. It’s like when you get mad at someone for doing a stupid thing while driving. It doesn’t take long to remember you’ve done the same thing.
We Need An Effective Prayer Life
When you begin to pray for your friends sincerely, God helps you remember the times He has forgiven you. He also helps you see the times you’ve been guilty of the same offense. He helps move you over to a place of real forgiveness and peace. It’s almost like he wraps a bubble of grace around you so that what was once bugging you, doesn’t anymore.
When that happens, pure and effective prayer from a pure heart then goes forth. Now you can focus on and sincerely pray for the root problem of the situation – which isn’t people. It’s a spiritual problem, not a physical problem. Again, you can pray unhindered prayers of faith that will turn things around.
The devil loves when we take it out on each other. Strife hinders prayer and he wins. Since Jesus freely paid the price for our sins against Him, He expects us to offer the same forgiveness He has given us. He knows that Heaven and life’s blessing become ours when we do.
Do you have your Christmas lights down yet?
James 3:9-10: “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.”
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Timothy Burt is a pastor, author, and writer. He is best known as the author of Fresh Manna, a daily devotional and online Bible study.
Pastor Tim became a part of the leadership team at Living Word Christian Center in 1984 and was an Associate Pastor from 1989 until May 31st, 2017. He and His wife Renee, also a Pastor at Living Word, resigned after being a part of Living Word for 33 years on May 31, 2017. They felt impressed by God to pursue the tremendous growth of their ministry "Fresh Manna," as well as teaching conferences and seminars and increasing their involvement in the mission field through Tim and Renee Burt Ministries. Tim has a Bachelor of Theology degree and is a Christian blogger who has been writing a daily inspirational and teaching devotion three days a week called "Fresh Manna" for the past 22 years. It has been read in over 227 countries (official countries and territories). Tim was named one of the top 55 blogging Pastors. He is one of the top Social Media influencers in Minnesota with a strong presence on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TimBurt with over 187,000 followers. Between Tim's Fresh Manna Devotional and Twitter influence, he virally averages reaching over 4 million people daily with the gospel of Jesus Christ and the love of God.
Prior to working at LWCC, he worked at Northwest Airlines for 13 years. In 1985 he founded and was President of American Infant Care Products which marketed his patented invention, the first fold-down commercial infant changing table now used worldwide in public restrooms.
In their tenure at Living Word, Timothy Burt and his wife Renee created a Small Group Ministry when the church was about 800 people in size. Under the leadership of Sr. Pastors Mac and Lynne Hammond, the church grew to over 10,000 people. Pastor Tim and Renee led a diverse Small Group Ministry of over 200 groups. Tim also led weekly men's groups and a monthly Men's Breakfast of 250 plus men called Manhood for 27 years. Tim's responsibilities also included oversight over the Visitor and Member Relations Department, Leadership and Volunteer Development, and the Pastoral Care Department. Pastor Tim was also the Minnesota State Director of Christians United for Israel from 2006 thru 2017.
Tim and Renee are the parents of four children and have seven grandchildren. Tim loves to write, golf, run, and walk, and is a master gardener. He is a five-time marathon finisher. He is also a three-time award-winning gardener winning the Grand Prize in his city for his beautiful home garden and is a Master Gardener for the University of Minnesota's Master Gardener Extension Program.
