How important is prayer in your life? How important it is to spent time with the Lord each day! Personally, I am afraid not to pray! It leaves us open as a prey for the enemy to attack us during the day. I have copied in my Bible sayings I often hear. I am not sure who wrote them but I find them helpful to remember. One is: When the weakest saint gets on his knees - the devil trembles and shakes. Why? Because the devil knows that in prayer is where the victory is won. Another saying is: Watching sights the enemy, but praying fights the enemy. Through out the Bible we read about different kinds of prayer.
I am reminded of Moses in Numbers 11: 1-2
"And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnet among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost part of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched."
Here we see such a privileged people complaining! Hadn't God just send a deliverer and gotten them out of Egypt? Out of bondage and on their way to a better land and life! I don't think Moses heard all the complaining but God did. Suddenly God got enough and sent judgment. Who did they turn to then? Moses, who was their advocate! Moses prayed and God prevailed on their behalf. Moses had power with God. This was a prayer that God would remove judgment on the people. Because Moses prayed - judgment was removed.
There is a prayer of forgiveness. Prayer of repentance and salvation, then a prayer of praise. So many different kinds of prayers that we read about in God's Word tells us - we need to pray.
How many times when we are weighed down with problems do we call upon the Lord? We are like the children of Israel. We know who our Advocate is so why do we wait to call upon Him just when we need Him? I realize He is always there to hear our prayer, to lift the load of the thing that we are so anxious about. But when He comes through - do we take time to praise Him for answered prayer?
So often we miss out on a blessing and we feel so out of sort because we did not bring our cares to Him. I am so glad that He is concerned about us and He wants to answer prayer but we go on and try to sort life out on our own. Hey! We have a God! He wants us to brings all our concerns and cares to Him. Jeremiah 3: 33 is God's phone. "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."
Matthew 7:7-11 "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts uto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaveb give good things to then that ask him?
In Banners of the Christian Faith, we fined an illustation of this truth.
When Queen Victoria was opening the Town Hall of Sheffield, she had put into her hand a little golden key, and she was told as she sat in her carriage that she only had to turn the golden key and in a moment the Town Hall gates of Sheffield would fly open. In obedience to the authority of experts who gave her the directions, she turned the golden key, and in a moment by action of electric wires, the Town Hall gates of Sheffield flew open. Exactly in the same way Jesus Christ must know one thing, if He knows anything, and that is, what opens heaven's gates, and in his teachings he reinterated over and over again, as if he thought that this was the things we should find hardest to believe; "Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you." And I say that if we are justified in believing in the divinity of Christ, then we are justified in going a step further and saying that His authority is good enough to make us believe that the golden key of prayer, if we use it, will open the gates of heaven.
ASK, SEEK, KNOCK , Three laws governing our prayer life, three steps into the very presense of Almighty God.
Asking implies the dependence upon God, the coming to him as needy.
Seeking speaks of endeavor, constraining us us to search until we find.
Knocking carries the idea of importunity, the unwillinness to let God go until He He blesses us.
Are we asking, are we seeking, are we knocking?
The song writer says:
What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer.
We teach our children the little song, Whisper a Prayer!
Whisper a prayer in the morning, Whisper a prayer a noon;
Whisper a prayer in the evening, To keep ypur heart in tune.
God answers prayer so why not use the resource that He so willingly gives us.
Begin the day with the Lord and you will be amazed at how must better your day goes.
I always try to end with this prayer: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." Psalm 19:14
Monday, August 4, 2008
Prayer
How important is prayer in your life? How important it is to spent time with the Lord each day! Personally, I am afraid not to pray! It leaves us open as a prey for the enemy to attack us during the day. I have copied in my Bible sayings I often hear. I am not sure who wrote them but I find them helpful to remember. One is: When the weakest saint gets on his knees - the devil trembles and shakes. Why? Because the devil knows that in prayer is where the victory is won. Another saying is: Watching sights the enemy, but praying fights the enemy. Through out the Bible we read about different kinds of prayer.
I am reminded of Moses in Numbers 11: 1-2
"And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnet among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost part of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched."
Here we see such a privileged people complaining! Hadn't God just send a deliverer and gotten them out of Egypt? Out of bondage and on their way to a better land and life! I don't think Moses heard all the complaining but God did. Suddenly God got enough and sent judgment. Who did they turn to then? Moses, who was their advocate! Moses prayed and God prevailed on their behalf. Moses had power with God. This was a prayer that God would remove judgment on the people. Because Moses prayed - judgment was removed.
There is a prayer of forgiveness. Prayer of repentance and salvation, then a prayer of praise. So many different kinds of prayers that we read about in God's Word tells us - we need to pray.
How many times when we are weighed down with problems do we call upon the Lord? We are like the children of Israel. We know who our Advocate is so why do we wait to call upon Him just when we need Him? I realize He is always there to hear our prayer, to lift the load of the thing that we are so anxious about. But when He comes through - do we take time to praise Him for answered prayer?
So often we miss out on a blessing and we feel so out of sort because we did not bring our cares to Him. I am so glad that He is concerned about us and He wants to answer prayer but we go on and try to sort life out on our own. Hey! We have a God! He wants us to brings all our concerns and cares to Him. Jeremiah 3: 33 is God's phone. "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."
Matthew 7:7-11 "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts uto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaveb give good things to then that ask him?
In Banners of the Christian Faith, we fined an illustation of this truth.
When Queen Victoria was opening the Town Hall of Sheffield, she had put into her hand a little golden key, and she was told as she sat in her carriage that she only had to turn the golden key and in a moment the Town Hall gates of Sheffield would fly open. In obedience to the authority of experts who gave her the directions, she turned the golden key, and in a moment by action of electric wires, the Town Hall gates of Sheffield flew open. Exactly in the same way Jesus Christ must know one thing, if He knows anything, and that is, what opens heaven's gates, and in his teachings he reinterated over and over again, as if he thought that this was the things we should find hardest to believe; "Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you." And I say that if we are justified in believing in the divinity of Christ, then we are justified in going a step further and saying that His authority is good enough to make us believe that the golden key of prayer, if we use it, will open the gates of heaven.
ASK, SEEK, KNOCK , Three laws governing our prayer life, three steps into the very presense of Almighty God.
Asking implies the dependence upon God, the coming to him as needy.
Seeking speaks of endeavor, constraining us us to search until we find.
Knocking carries the idea of importunity, the unwillinness to let God go until He He blesses us.
Are we asking, are we seeking, are we knocking?
The song writer says:
What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer.
We teach our children the little song, Whisper a Prayer!
Whisper a prayer in the morning, Whisper a prayer a noon;
Whisper a prayer in the evening, To keep ypur heart in tune.
God answers prayer so why not use the resource that He so willingly gives us.
Begin the day with the Lord and you will be amazed at how must better your day goes.
I always try to end with this prayer: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." Psalm 19:14
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1 comment:
Thanks for these words of wisdom! Good reminders.
And by the way, never give up on your blogging! I was feeling that way too for a while, but keep persevering! We need more of us out here writing the Truth and shining the Light. The more there are the more people will bump into us. We just need to be faithful.
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