Are God’s Promises Dependent upon Our Prayers?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Prayer and Promises

This morning in my devotional reading E.M. Bounds made the general statement that "God's promises are dependent on our prayers." Although I believe that prayer is powerful, important, and allows us to communicate our needs to God, I don’t think that He is limited to them, and only acts when we ask Him to. We should pray without ceasing, and within the will of God, and we should ask to receive His promises, but I don't feel that God's promises are necessarily dependent upon our prayers. To say this limits God.

God’s Will, and the Foundations of Prayer

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Foundation’s of Prayer

This morning I was studying one of the foundational elements of answered prayer, the will of God. As I read scripture and a devotional regarding this subject, my belief that it was truth was confirmed once more. The will of God is indeed a foundation of prayer. Unless we are praying in conformance with His will, and not asking Him to do something that is contrary to His character, desire, and in our faith and the name of Jesus, then our prayer will be answered.

Six Miracles, Seven Prayers, and Life Lessons

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Living Scripture

In the Bible story about Elijah and the seven times he prayed for rain to return to Israel we are reminded to pray and continue to pray for those things we desire of God... But most of all, we learn to pray for the things that are within the will of God, and to live out our lives as scripture teaches us to. Every story teaches us something about how we should live, but how often are we applying those lessons in our daily lives? Do we carry them with us when we close our bibles, and set them on our nightstands, or when we leave our secret places of prayer?

Praying Despite the Thunder

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Distracted Prayers

We begin our prayers focused on certain desires, and thoughts, but as we continue on in our conversation with the Lord our minds often begin to wander, and we lose sight of the real reason we were praying in the first place. Sometimes we stop our prayer altogether, but many times we have heard something like a child coughing elsewhere in our house, the urgency of a passing siren on the street, or the sound of thunder off in the distance, and they take us into a different prayer and we seek another of God’s promises. Our prayers should include a request that our hearts and minds be guarded in Christ so that we will remain focused on the prayer at hand, and we will not be distracted.

Humility an Ingredient that prepares us for Prayer

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Ingredients of Prayer

This morning I would like to stress further the importance of humility in respect to our ability to pray. I especially enjoyed an observation I read that was written by Pastor E.M. Bounds when he said that "To be clothed with humility is to be clothed with a prayer garment." I have often toyed with the idea of using a prayer shawl to prepare myself, and set the mood of prayer, before I enter into my place of prayer each morning, but I never really felt it necessary. Perhaps we are already being clothed, not by cloth, but in a meek and humble spirit, and by reading scripture or a devotional message. It is so important that we prepare ourselves for prayer, but do we do so?

We Seek God with the Energy of Prayer

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Energy in Prayer

Have you ever thought of prayer as a way of channeling spiritual energy? E.M. Bounds gave us this remarkable thought to contemplate when he wrote these words “Prayer as spiritual energy makes way for, and brings into practical realization, the promises of God.” So far this year we have been studying the power of prayer, but until now we have been thinking of it simply as a tool, or means of communicating with God. Today however, we are seeing it in a new light… it carries a form of spiritual energy all unto itself, and not only delivers our thoughts to God, but changes who we are inside, and brings us into conformance with God’s will. Prayer is not just a means of asking God to deliver on His promises, but it makes us firm in our belief in them. Prayer is a fuel that strengthens our faith.

Finding Peace in Prayer, and the Work of Faith

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Time for Prayer

There are so many things in our everyday world that can distract us from prayer, and this is nothing that is new to us today. In the earliest days of the church they struggled with distractions as well. We like to think that we live in a busy modern world, and that finding time for prayer today is something new, or at least occurs more often than it did in the time of Jesus, but that simply isn’t true. There are two ways that we can be distracted, the first is in finding time for prayer, and the second is having our thoughts interrupted so that we can’t concentrate on them. Do either of these things sound familiar, and what can we do about them.

Who is it we Help, and who Helps Us?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Encountering Angels

As we go about our lives we run into various people we don’t know, they are strangers if you will. Some of these are needy, some are unruly, others are irritating and obnoxious, but most are just everyday souls we pass along the way as we live out our Christian lives. The question I would like us to consider today is inspired by a Bible verse from Hebrews 13, and the question is this: have we ever crossed paths with an angel, and if so did we realize it when we did, and what were the circumstances? Was the experience we had challenging, spiritually rewarding, or, simply nondescript until after it was over?

God’s saving Voice from the Blinding Smoke

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Saving Souls

Even before God gave His only begotten Son to redeem us, He created the mold that He would use to save us, and showed us just how much He would be willing to pay to accomplish this. We can read about it in Isaiah 43, and see that He gave not only Egypt to redeem the people of Israel, but he gave Ethiopia and Seba as well. Isn’t it incredible that our God valued Israel this much, and that today He considers us even more precious, and of greater value? Today we stand testament to God’s love for us. We have been redeemed by something far more valuable… we are saved by the life and blood of God’s own Son Jesus Christ.

Whose is the Glory of Doing?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional

Are we men and women who humble ourselves before God? Humility is a characteristic that is unmistakable in a person and gives them a certain quality that allows them to care for others and walk in faith without so much as causing a ripple... They become a part of the faith that surrounds them. However, the pride of doing, this morning's message, is one that convicts me often. Sometimes I struggle with that fine line between giving God the glory for answering a prayer and feeling that MY prayer might have been the source of that miracle. When you pray for people as often as I do and God answers our prayers for the needs of others, we might begin to associate God's movements with our own. When people seek you out as if there is some cure or other miracle that you can perform for them it presents you with a spiritual danger. The truth of course is that God performs all miracles and a person's faith is the catalyst that makes him worthy.

Are we Pharisees or Tax Collectors in Life and Prayer?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Praying Right

My personal devotional reading yesterday and today have both dealt with the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. This is such an intense lesson in prayer, humility, and maintaining a Christ-like posture as we live out our lives. It not only teaches us how to face our sins, but how we should humbly pray for forgiveness, and how we are not meant to exalt ourselves. Jesus taught us many things, but we never saw him put someone else down in order to raise himself up. He was humble, and meek.

Receiving a Word from God

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, God Calls

One Sunday morning I was taking communion, and when the woman server handed me the body of Christ she told me to wait… that she really didn't know who I was but that God had spoken to her and told her to tell me "You are an honorable man". I thanked her and she hugged me. It was an incredibly spiritual moment and I just didn’t know what to say or think, so I went home that day and searched scripture for “honorable man”, then I asked a man named Jack Hughes, who is my spiritual mentor, what this woman’s name was, and he responded that she was Pastor Linda Clark; the wife of Pastor Forman Clark, and the mother of Pastor Jay Clark. As I studied, the scripture one verse kept presenting itself to me, it was 1 Samuel 9:6, and I prayerfully mulled it over and over in my mind.

Do Not Grow Weary

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Suffering on the Way

I have twin sisters and several years ago one of them was diagnosed with an ovarian tumor. The doctors were uncertain as to whether it was cancer or not, so we prayed, and the surgeon removed a benign growth. That happened quite a long time ago. But later they found another tumor and after testing it her OBGYN told her it too looked benign but would need to be removed and tested. However, after having sighed a sigh of relief she received a subsequent call from her Oncologist who believed it might be cancer. Of course we prayed he was wrong. In times such as these we need to renew our faith through scripture and prayer. If you are being pursued by the dark one today, you will love the encouraging verse we will be beginning with.

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