The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

1 Kings 8:54-58, “When Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and supplication to the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread toward heaven.

55 And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying:

56 ‘Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant.’

57 ‘May the LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us,

58 that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers.’”

As a small boy, I remember a man in our community who was known for his long prayers. He was not a member of our church but attended quite often and was occasionally called upon by the pastor to offer prayer. I had no way to calculate the length of his prayers or the increase of their volume, but to a 6-year-old boy, they seemed very long and very, very loud!

King Solomon had just concluded a long, all-encompassing prayer. It is just too long to include it all here. Hopefully, you will turn to this passage in your Bible and read everything that Solomon said; for what he said to the people at the conclusion of the prayer was quite telling. “Blessed be the LORD,” Solomon said, He “has given rest to His people Israel,” just as He had promised! Have you ever prayed and known with certainty that the LORD had already determined to give what you had asked? Does that encourage us to pray, or what?

Solomon also noted that “not one word” of the LORD’s promises had ever failed! When our lives and hearts are right toward Him, without the slightest question, we can depend upon His promises! In fact, He causes our hearts to incline toward Him and live according to His Word! Thus, our very lives and prayers are locked tightly in His grasp as we yield our wills to Him and for His glory! Thus, it’s not how loud we shout or how long we pray; it’s how we live our lives to the praise of His glory!

Heartily in Christ,

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

United States of America

“We will never know that Christ is all we need, until He becomes all that we have.” –Corrie ten Boom