Posts tagged ‘prayer’
Prayer and Praise
I believe we should spend a great deal of time praising God after we have presented our requests to Him. I’m actually suggesting that if you are not doing this, you should start. Praising Him even when we do not know what the exact answer will be to our prayers, is a sign of affectionate trust in His ability to provide.
About Those Open and Closed Doors…
Remember that while we don’t have access to God’s sovereign will for individual decisions, He has clearly revealed his moral will to us and has promised to give us wisdom if we ask. So as long as you aren’t violating his moral will, then ask for wisdom, read the Bible, talk to wise people, consider your personal preferences (i.e., don’t be a martyr) and then choose with freedom.
Strength to Strength or Emotion to Emotion?
You may feel great one moment, then eat something that doesn’t settle with you and all of a sudden, you’re feeling yucky. Is God speaking to you or is it just your food? This happens to me because of my food allergies/sensitivities. If I used those feelings to determine God’s will while praying about something, I would literally end up being “tossed to and fro” not only by every wind of doctrine, but by every feeling that I feel.
Most Difficult Part of Being a Christian
Being a Christian is hard work. It’s not an easy road. It’s only “easy” when we are in complete submission to God and because we continue to have a sin nature even after we’re saved, we war against it. Paul says we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. It does require effort; effort in prayer, effort in choice, effort in desire. Sometimes, it will require us to fall on our knees, crying out to God begging Him to help us get “over” ourselves and trust Him.
Prayer and Praise, Part 4
Yet, what do we Christians do all too often? We pray for specifics to a certain situation and often we do so before we even truly know what God’s will is and we rarely, if ever add the words, “yet, not mine, but thy will be done” to our prayers. We tend to think of those words as being “defeatist.” How can we really “believe” God will provide the answer we are looking for if we add those words to the mix? Answer: we can’t believe He will do what we ask, so we don’t add those words.
Prayer and Praise, Part 3
Notice in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus opens with “Our Father,” and then does not state any reference to Him again except for the use of the word “your.” He didn’t feel the need to insert the Father’s name or reference at the beginning or end of each statement. In fact, we know that God sees the depth of our own thoughts even though we may not actually know how to pray, (cf. Job 31:4; Jeremiah 23:24; Romans 8:26). God knows us! We need to drop the pretense, adopt reverence, and approach Him with awe and praise, understanding who He is, at least as He has chosen to reveal Himself to us in His Word.
Prayer and Praise, Part 1
It is almost becoming the new mantra among Christians today. You’ve heard it and so have I. That mantra – Prayer is a powerful tool! – is supposed to get us on our knees, to help us focus on the God of the universe. Prayer is supposed to put us in the mindset to ask of God and expect Him to respond to our requests in the way we want Him to respond. In some ways, it almost borders on the “name it, claim it” type of theology (poor as it is), that teaches people just that. We should focus on something that we want (or ostensibly believe God wants for us) and by continuing to pray about that situation, event, or item, we then “claim it” in Jesus’ Name. This, we are told, will bring that about because of the “laws of the universe” or some such theology that is so loosely built on the biblical pattern that it can actually be done without even referencing the Bible at all, except for a verse here or that one there.
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