Spending Quality Time in Prayer

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Quality Time

Do we pray in little bits and fragments, or do we carve out the best hours of our day for prayer, and then immerse ourselves in it and the presence of God? When we don’t give our entire selves, and undivided attention, to the Lord in prayer, then what does that say about the value we place on our relationship with Him? Jesus sets a high bar for us when it comes to dedicating ourselves to prayer. To him it is not an afterthought, nor something to be done in passing, no, it is something holy that is to be sweated over, bled over, and that will often take all night to accomplish. Shouldn’t we at least give our Father the best of what we have by dedicating quality time to our prayers?

Shared Thoughts on Yesterday’s Devotional

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Obedience and Shared Faith

Do we share our thoughts on faith and prayer with others? I have a very dear friend (Chuck Savage) who, years ago, received the very first devotional message I ever wrote. As a matter of fact he was the inspiration for them as we read “The Power of Prayer” by E. M. Bounds together. We were friends, and had been communicating regularly and praying together long before that, but in 2016 I found myself writing a devotional message to him that he shared with his family and friends. Since then I have written years of daily devotionals and the Lord has shared them openly with the world, but as you know, this year I have been rewriting that first year’s messages, and sharing them with this now wider audience of readers. It is important that we share our journey of faith with one another, because it is tantamount to sharing the gospel as it lives itself out in our own modern day lives.

Holiness in Our Secret Places

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Secret Places and Prayers

God hears our secret prayers, he answers us in the quiet of the moment when our souls are bared to Him alone. When we pray in solitude our faith rises in purity with no need for guarded oration or flowery speech... We speak to God more freely than we would with our closest friends; all pretenses having been dropped. Although we pray the Lord's Prayer most often in public settings, it is interesting that the verses in Matthew 6 which lead up to Jesus teaching us this prayer tell us quite a different story. Listen as He is instructs His disciples to go into a private place and close the door....

Holiness Inside and Out

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Complete Holiness

This morning we are contemplating a holiness of heart and life. Isn't this one of the core aims in our quest of faith? Pastor E.M. Bound speaks to how we should go about achieving such a life, and heart, in these words... "To cultivate this kind of life and heart, one must be watchful, one must pray and be forgiving toward others. A true Christian seeks holiness of heart, he is not satisfied without it. For this very purpose he consecrates himself to God. He gives himself entirely over to God in order to be holy in heart and in life." How are each of us doing in this pursuit?

Does Our Faith Ring True?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Pure Faith

Living right every day; this is our thought for today. Do we live consistently righteously in our everyday life? Are those things we read in scripture and pray about in our prayers true, and evident in our daily lives? The world we live in is full of temptation and wickedness, and it can lure us into situations that can challenge our faith as we try to make our way through life. We can find ourselves living a double life.

Our Exceptional Call to Service

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Serving In Consecration

What kind of service is the consecrated Christian called to perform? Most find that it is much more than routine. Zacharias became a prophet the moment he named his son John (the Baptist) and his lips were unsealed. He was then called to do more than burn incense in the temple... He was called to a life of such magnitude that only scripture speaks of lives like his. These are his words from the Benedictus (Luke 1:57-79)...

The Prayer of an Addict

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Trusting in Prayer

Do you pray and not receive? Have you blamed or doubted God for His silence towards your prayers? Well, sometimes He is answering and we are not listening or we simply don’t wanting to hear the answer. Sometimes our timing and His are out of synch, but often we are completely outside the will of God in our requests. The book of James speaks to our asking "wrongly" and that is what I am contemplating this morning; praying outside the will of God and how I can know and avoid this.

The Armor of God and Consecration

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Dedication and Prayer

This morning I have been concentrating on Matthew 6 and a statement I read in my morning devotional. I am contemplating what it takes to be consecrated and filled with the light of God, and what we must do when we stumble. Pastor E.M. Bounds wrote "Consecration is really devoting oneself to a life of prayer. It means not only to pray, but to pray consistently and effectively... It puts him in reach of God. It places him where he can get hold of God, and where he can influence God to do things that He would not otherwise do."

Hidden Gardens

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Exploring God

This morning let’s explore an important truth... Prayer and consecration are inseparable. These two attributes of a faithful life go hand in hand. I can imagine a scenario in which a person dedicates their life to God, but how long can that ideal be continued without having a personal conversation with God; without prayer? Such a dedication without the relationship that goes along with it is purely infatuation, and destined to fade away. Prayer is action; it is intimate, and strengthens us in our faith.

Unrequited Love… The Divine Pain

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Loving God by Choice

God doesn't force us to seek and worship Him; our freedom of choice is paramount in our relationship with Him because He desires a true, not contrived, relationship with us. We have asked ourselves many questions over the past years, not the least of them were… Have we dedicated ourselves to the Lord in such a way that we are considered consecrated? And, have our actions and prayers sought out righteousness and allowed God to sanctify us and make us holy? However, an equally important question is this… Do we love Him freely, just as He loves us?

Bad Living and Bad Praying

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Sin and Praying

As I read the title of the devotional message that Pastor E.M. Bounds had written this morning I was captured. It read "Bad Praying = Bad Living” but, as I read further, it was actually telling us that the way we live can impact the success of our prayers. When we are actively engaged in sinning it is nearly impossible to pray as we should. Oh, we might say the words, but the connection to our heart is broken, and our outreach towards God is without sincerity and strength.

A Boy, the Lord’s Prayer, and Consecration

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Consecration and Prayer

One morning I was reading about the multifaceted nature of prayer and paid special attention as the devotional spoke about the role that prayer played in consecration. I read on about the misconception that a person could be consecrated with little or no prayer, and wondered aloud to the Lord how that could possibly happen... how someone could truly dedicate their lives to Him without constantly speaking with Him in prayer.

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