All tagged prayer
Is Jesus pleased with us as intercessors? Do we find it within ourselves to pray for sinners, or do we judge when we should actually be praying for them? Do we only want to intercede for the righteous and find that we are doing so at the expense of the sinner?
Are we making intercession for others? Do we even know how to pray in such a manner? I worry about this often as I watch us attempt to pray for one another. Are our hearts in worship as we lift up prayers for those in need? Is there anyone even attempting such prayer? There have been times throughout biblical history when there has been no true intercession. One of them is recorded in Isaiah, and we can read of it in this verse...
How do we reconcile our physical and spiritual selves so that they both mirror Jesus Christ? Sometimes we are so wrapped up in conforming our physical selves that we forget the spiritual side of who we are... or vice versa. Let’s look at this today and see if we can reach an understanding regarding who we really are, and why knowing this is important.
Today let’s contemplate how we can remain joyful in God’s promises while in the midst of our daily distresses. Let’s seek the source of our victory, certainty, and amazement during the trials and tribulations we face. Let’s try to understand how it is possible to feel comfort and joy in Jesus even when we are in the grips of struggling with our problems and the many crises we face.
I am sitting in my prayer chair sipping on a cup of Dark English Breakfast Tea in the pre-dawn grey; having prayed, read my morning devotional and scripture. The house is still, as am I, and the spirit is swirling about me with a sweet peacefulness. This is the time of day that I can hear the Lord without distraction. I just read Oswald Chambers as he discussed a verse regarding darkness, on which I remained obtuse for many years. Does God inhabit the night? Is there something special about the darkness when it comes to our relationship with God? We often fear the night... should we?
Today I am thinking about the two disciples who walked the road to Emmaus and encountered Jesus. I am amazed that they had left Jerusalem and were returning home dejected and believing the Lord had failed them... they were disappointed that their timeline had not been met as they thought it should have been. The promise of three days, in their eyes, meant that Jesus would arise and redeem Israel by force from the Romans. Let's read their words...
Are we willing to serve God unnoticed and in the darkness of obscurity? How many times do you give to the kingdom without a receiving a receipt? These are questions that I invite you to consider this morning. It is in our human nature to want appreciation and acknowledgement for what we do. We all want to hear the words "Great Job!", "Well Done!", “or “You have blessed me.”, but what if God asks us to put our pride aside and obey His will or give of ourselves with no other eyes on our obedient goodness except His? Can we step into the shadows and give Him all the glory without desiring some of it for ourselves?
As Christians are we still tempted to place our earthly needs before our spiritual relationship with God? Do we spend precious time worrying and thinking about worldly things when it would be better spent on the Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father? Do we arm ourselves against temptation with prayer and the Word of God? As I was reading Oswald Chambers this morning he wrote about our temptation in these words...
It is almost sad to be completing our study of "The Power of Prayer" by E. M. Bounds this morning... But I realize that it isn't actually the end, and that tomorrow morning I will begin my daily offerings anew with many of our lessons on prayer guiding me.
As we draw near to completing this year of studying the subject of prayer I have been contemplating a statement that I read this morning during my time of devotion. It involves both our receipt of God's answer to the prayers we have prayed, and also how we justify our not having received an answer after we’ve asked Him for something.
Today I read a devotional message titled "The Convincing Truth". In this message Pastor E. M. Bounds spoke of the real glory of our prayers, and our right relationship with God that leads us to glorify Him through our prayers. As I thought on this subject, my mind wandered back. I recalled a night years ago when I went to my intercessory prayer meeting and something incredible happened...
We are drawing near to the end of another year, and so is the devotional book (“The Power of Prayer” by E. M. Bounds) that I have been reading. But there are still a few more days before I will begin rewriting and editing my past thoughts on another devotional classic… “My Utmost for His Highest” by Oswald Chambers. However, this year isn’t quite complete yet and this morning Pastor Bounds presented us with two key points in his message on experiencing a prayerful relationship with God, the first being that answered prayer is the evidence of God's existence, and the second is that answered prayer is proof of a right relationship with God. This is how Bounds expressed himself and where it led me…
Today we will touch on two specific topics that speak to me, the first is Satan's sly desire to take the joy of victory from us once he has lost the battle for our soul, and the second is the ineffectiveness of money, and things, to win the souls of the lost to Jesus.
Yesterday we considered the effect that worry had on our bodies, minds, and souls, so today let’s delve deeper into the peace of God and the effect that prayer has on worry and stress. I am contemplating two of these thoughts this morning as I read Philippians 4 once again and read further into what Pastor E. M. Bounds has to say on this subject.
My devotional reading this morning began with an incredibly insightful statement. Pastor E. M. Bounds began by writing "Worry is the epidemic evil of mankind. Everybody is influenced by worry.", and as I thought about this observation, I came to the conclusion that He was so right. We do worry about many things in our lives... even everyday things. It made me think of my mother who was the consummate worrier. I would often tease her by saying that if she didn’t have something of her own to worry about, she would borrow someone else’s troubles and worry about those. I am making worry sound trivial, but it isn’t. Let’s visit this subject today.