All tagged prayer
What is the state of your faith today? Is it strong, well trained, and ready to run a race; or does it become easily winded and lose stamina during the long marathon of life? Do you tell yourself that your faith is able to withstand anything, but lose hope at the least of life’s difficulties? If you find your faithfulness lacking, let’s talk about selecting a conditioning coach, and enrolling ourselves in his spiritual training program.
How is your faith? Are you strong in it, or is it lacking in some regard? Can you move a mountain, or do you think your faith is too small to move even a grain of sand? The disciples were chastised by Jesus on more than one occasion for their lack of faith, so do not lose heart, but ask Him why you can’t do a thing, or why you don’t receive the ability to perform a miracle. You may find that in some cases it has less to do with faith than you think.
Are we waiting on the Lord today? Is there a challenge or need in our lives that we are nearly overwhelmed by, and have brought before God in prayer? Are we about to give up on His provision or rescue because we can’t see Him moving? Well take heart, because our God is good and He has never abandoned us.
Who taught us how to pray? Did we learn Who Taught You to Pray?so long ago that we can’t remember any longer? Did you learn to pray by reciting common prayer in Sunday School or church? Perhaps your mother and father taught you as a child by praying over your meals or at bedtime. For something so crucial and basic to our faith and relationship with Jesus and God, we certainly appear to approach it in an often unthinking or haphazard manner. So how should we pray?
Do we hear the Gospel of Jesus and worship God as we should? We might go to church and sing songs, even pray together, chant, and recite creeds, but these are all simply physical manifestations of faith that any unbeliever can imitate. What I am asking is this... Do we allow our bodies and spirits to join as one as we worship with the Holy Spirit by praising God and give Him all the glory and honor for the things we do in obedience to His will? Can we honestly say that we worship Him as scripture tells us to… by loving Him, entering into relationship with Him, and in spirit and truth?
Where do we go when we need help? Do we go there for our own needs, or in intercession for others? And, are we persistently pleading for assistance? These three questions determine who we perceive as having strength, whether we are in need or empathetic, and how great our love or desire is that has brought us there. Have you ever applied these three simple little questions to your prayers, and if so, what did they reveal to you about Jesus, and your faith?
How do we begin our days? Do we begin them by reading the Bible? Do we pray for forgiveness, and for all the active prayer requests on our list of wants? Do we read a morning devotional? Maybe we write one or add an entry in our prayer journal? All these things are good, but do we take the time to secretly have an intimate conversation with our Heavenly Father? My friends, God wants to hear more than our personal wants and of the needs of others... He desires to be in a personal relationship with us that is both intimate and which deeply reveals us spiritually.
God answers my prayers! Do you believe that statement without reservation? So many people of faith say this but then spend much of their time and effort making excuses for why they don’t see results. If this is you then I ask, “where is the faith in that?” If you truly know God, then you know Him to be absolutely trustworthy and of rock-solid character.
Are you in the habit of beginning each day in prayer, contemplation, and reading scripture? Do you offer this as a time dedicated solely to the Lord, and one in which the two of you can be alone together? Do you rise early and go into your prayer closet where you call His name and wait upon Him? If so you already know how refreshing such a time is spiritually, but if not, I would encourage you to do so... mornings are a special time with the Lord, and one of new beginnings.
Are you completely dressed and ready for the day, or have you professed your belief in God and Jesus Christ, but not clothed yourself in those things they provide you that will protect you against the world? On top of that, are you ready to wrestle with the issues pertaining to God’s will for your life that require you to stand tall and be more than a weak and unthinking creature?
How do we pray in intercession? Do we give our own instruction to the person for whom we are praying, or do we place their suffering and other need before God as we ask His will be communicated to us, and done for them? One of the greatest snares in intercession is to allow our own sympathy to step between the person requesting prayer, and God. When this happens we are attempting to fill a void that only God is meant and qualified to fill. Our role as an intercessor is to pray for God’s will to be done, and not to lose heart as we do.
Are you feeling grief today as you kneel before God in prayer? Is your heart breaking within you over some sin that convicts you unrelentingly? I am not speaking about a superficial knowledge of having done something wrong, but rather the understanding of a sin that emanates from your very soul. Are you seeking repentance for wrongdoing that has brought you to godly grief?
When God is working in another’s life do we get in His way? Are we one of those people that is referred to as a “fixer”, but who lets Himself get out of control on a regular basis? Do we find that in our attempt to repair a situation we come between God and the miracle He is about to perform? Do we let our own will and intellect overreach its bounds? Well, if so, then get ready to be corrected... and to quite possibly hurt the very soul we are intending to help.
What bubbles up from within us during prayer? Do we ever begin to pray and then hear ourselves as if from some faraway place; speaking to God in a language of groans and utterances that we can’t translate into words, but feel perfectly conversant in within our hearts? Our spirit, and the Holy Spirit that resides within us are speaking to God in a dialect unknown to us but understood perfectly in Heaven.
Do you have questions about faith, or revelations about yourself that you need to communicate to God? Are there things so personal that you blush with embarrassment and shame at the mere thought of them? These are the most pressing things that you need to reveal to God, and they require a secret place where you can be absolutely open and honest with Him.