Friday, October 11, 2013

Prayer

What are we doing with that time in the morning before we start our day?  What are we doing with the time at night before bed?  Are we consistent?  Something to think about.......

Please read a post by Sister Maritza Adams. 
The truth that the apostle Paul wrote about in Romans 7 still remains: we don’t do what we should do and we do what we shouldn’t. Whew! I can so relate. Prayer, I'm afraid, is one of the “don't dos” for many of us. We all seem to know how important it is to trust God with our burdens, but many of us neglect this important discipline.

Do you ever go the phone before you go to the throne? Yeah – me too. There are times when I fail to trust God with my prayers. And though I’ve been faith-walking with Him a long time, there are still a million ways that I need to grow. There will always be ways for us to grow and there will always be mistakes for us to work through.

Our relationship with God will grow as we continually turn to Him in prayer. Similarly, our trust in God grows as our relationship with Him grows. “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you,” (John 15:15). Jesus counts us as his “friends”. How many of us would talk to our close friends as infrequently as we talk to Jesus, our Creator and Redeemer?

Of course, it's not like we can ignore the world around us and pray 24/7. Right? We are still going to go to work, have playtime, time with friends and family, but in the midst of it all, Scripture instructs us to: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you,” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Our practice of this continual praying life will increase our progress in faith and in trusting God. This can translate into prayers of thankfulness and petition during our power walks, our time in the carpool line, while we wash our laundry and our lunch breaks. We can redeem these times to thank God for and pray for our children, our careers, our futures, our marriages, our trials and our challenges. When we “do life” with God – when we exercise this spiritual discipline of continuous prayer – our faith grows. It helps us to trust Him more.

Jesus was the only perfect man and He turned to our Father continually. He gave thanks for food when He prayed over the loaves and fishes that became a miracle (Matthew 14:16-21), He took his sorrows to God in the garden before His massacre (Matthew 26:39), He prayed for His friends (John 17:6-19), for Himself (John 17:1-5) and for future believers (John 17:20-26). Jesus also modeled how we should pray (Luke 11:1-13), and taught about prayer (Matthew 6:5-15). If Jesus, the God of the Universe, saw prayer as such an important part of the Christian life, why do we sometimes overlook the importance of it? We need to make time to turn to Him and trust Him with our daily concerns, big and small.

A strong volleyball team is one that relies on each other in the game. As Christians, we have the advantage. We have God on our team. And with God on our team, we cannot fail. Seriously. If God is for us, who can stand against us? We just need to talk to Him and trust him, rather than trying to play the game of life on our own. We have to remember that practice makes progress! We will learn to trust as we practice trusting the Lord through prayer.

Let’s Pray
Dear God, That You would choose to call me friend is simply amazing! Thank you that though I’m not perfect, your grace allows me to progress in faith! Please forgive me for the times when I go about my day and “do life” without You. Help me to continuously pray and to trust You with my burdens.

In Jesus’s Name I pray,
Amen.



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