I don’t remember where exactly I got this idea. I read it somewhere. Today seemed the perfect day to try it out. It was so hot and my little munchkin had been a trooper all day, helping me with various chores. After his rest time, we went outside. At first I worked while he played nearby. Soon my work was done and the sun was beating down. I pulled out the swimming pool and together we filled it with water. He enjoyed that for a while. When baby sister woke up, I wanted to drain most of the water from the pool so she could play in it. Before doing so though, I took the sidewalk chalk, and drew some big flames across the driveway. I then asked my son if he would like to be a firefighter and put the fire out with the water. Earlier I had shown him how to put his finger or thumb across the hose end to make it spray. He eagerly accepted the challenge and in no time at all, the fire was out. Also the pool was drained and baby girl was playing happily in it. My little fireman then ran and got the chalk, and proceeded to spend at least the next half hour drawing flames and putting out fires. Our driveway has never been so clean, and we all got cooled off and refreshed. The rest of the evening, he kept saying that he was a firefighter; there had been a fire in the driveway, but he put it out by spraying it with water. Now, as long as I can remember, he has said that he was a pilot. The only variation on this has been a few days when he proclaimed that he was an astronaut. Tonight at dinner after his repeated declaration, "I a fireman, Mommy," I asked who was a pilot? He quickly replied, "Daddy a pilot." True. Then I asked who was an astronaut. He replied that his baby sister was an astronaut. I asked who was a fireman, and with a giant grin, he reminded me that he was the fireman who had put out the fire in our driveway.
A little chalk, a hose and a big imagination – who knew it could be such fun?
Friday, May 30, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Prayer: why try?
This is the sixth and final article in our series on prayer. Each day we have been looking at a particular aspect of prayer and examining what the Bible has to say about it. Today we will talk about why we should work on our prayer lives, and I will offer a few closing applications.
Philippians 3:12-14 tells us, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
2 Corinthians 12:9 reminds us, "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Colossians 1:29 is one of my favorite verses to explain the balance between God's sovereignty (his control over everything that happens) and our responsability. It says, "For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me."
I added the emphasis in each of these verses to help show how they relate. What I see here is that while the Holy Spirit and Jesus aid in our intercession as we saw yesterday, we are still commanded to pray. It is still our responsability to work hard to do what he has called us to do and is empowering us to do.
What are some other practical steps we can take from here?
Find someone to pray with and to hold you accountable. This could be your spouse, a friend, or perhaps an older person at church.
Post Scripture prayer prompts in strategic locations throughout your house to remind you to pray. Next to the kitchen sink & inside my cupboard doors are two of my favorite places. I seem to spend so much time there that they are frequent reminders. I should probably post some next to the washer and dryer as well!
I would encourage you to pray regularly with your spouse and children. I am married to a very godly man who has made it a priority since the day of our wedding whenever possible to pray together daily. There have been times such as when he was on the other side of the world and couldn't access a phone or during some job training when no phone contact was allowed that we have not prayed together, but otherwise we always try to. This summer we will have been doing this for ten years, so it comes rather naturally now! My husband and I have found convenient times to be before bed each night, before either of us leaves in the morning, before meals, on the way to church on Sundays, and at the start of any long car trip. Incidentally, one of the ladies who attended the prayer seminar I recently taught shared with me that she & her husband were trying to pray before bed each night, but the prayers would get so long, that one of them would often fall asleep or they would give up. My husband and I typically pray short prayers together at night & in the mornings and have longer prayer times in the car before long drives and on the way to church on Sunday mornings.
The Bible has so much to say about prayer! These articles grew out of a 40 minute seminar I did on prayer, so they are just a brief overview. If you like what you have read here, or even if you don't, but want to learn more about prayer, I would encourage you to read more about what the Bible says about prayer. I’ve listed some "Extra verses" in the first article or two. You can also use a concordance (Strong’s in my favorite in book form. This in my favorite on-line.) to do a word study on "pray*", "interce*" and/or "supplication" to find more verses. (By using the asterisks like this, you will get results for all forms of the word from the asterisk on. For example, you will get verses containing pray, prayer, praying, prays, interceed, intercession, etc.)
Above all, let's pray! My prayer is that God will use my imperfect transmission of what I have learned to grow mighty prayer warriors for him and begin a revival in our communities and nation. Thanks for following along with this series!
Philippians 3:12-14 tells us, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
2 Corinthians 12:9 reminds us, "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Colossians 1:29 is one of my favorite verses to explain the balance between God's sovereignty (his control over everything that happens) and our responsability. It says, "For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me."
I added the emphasis in each of these verses to help show how they relate. What I see here is that while the Holy Spirit and Jesus aid in our intercession as we saw yesterday, we are still commanded to pray. It is still our responsability to work hard to do what he has called us to do and is empowering us to do.
What are some other practical steps we can take from here?
Find someone to pray with and to hold you accountable. This could be your spouse, a friend, or perhaps an older person at church.
Post Scripture prayer prompts in strategic locations throughout your house to remind you to pray. Next to the kitchen sink & inside my cupboard doors are two of my favorite places. I seem to spend so much time there that they are frequent reminders. I should probably post some next to the washer and dryer as well!
I would encourage you to pray regularly with your spouse and children. I am married to a very godly man who has made it a priority since the day of our wedding whenever possible to pray together daily. There have been times such as when he was on the other side of the world and couldn't access a phone or during some job training when no phone contact was allowed that we have not prayed together, but otherwise we always try to. This summer we will have been doing this for ten years, so it comes rather naturally now! My husband and I have found convenient times to be before bed each night, before either of us leaves in the morning, before meals, on the way to church on Sundays, and at the start of any long car trip. Incidentally, one of the ladies who attended the prayer seminar I recently taught shared with me that she & her husband were trying to pray before bed each night, but the prayers would get so long, that one of them would often fall asleep or they would give up. My husband and I typically pray short prayers together at night & in the mornings and have longer prayer times in the car before long drives and on the way to church on Sunday mornings.
The Bible has so much to say about prayer! These articles grew out of a 40 minute seminar I did on prayer, so they are just a brief overview. If you like what you have read here, or even if you don't, but want to learn more about prayer, I would encourage you to read more about what the Bible says about prayer. I’ve listed some "Extra verses" in the first article or two. You can also use a concordance (Strong’s in my favorite in book form. This in my favorite on-line.) to do a word study on "pray*", "interce*" and/or "supplication" to find more verses. (By using the asterisks like this, you will get results for all forms of the word from the asterisk on. For example, you will get verses containing pray, prayer, praying, prays, interceed, intercession, etc.)
Above all, let's pray! My prayer is that God will use my imperfect transmission of what I have learned to grow mighty prayer warriors for him and begin a revival in our communities and nation. Thanks for following along with this series!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Prayer: Comfort for the convicted
This is the fifth article in our series on prayer. Each day we are looking at a particular aspect of prayer and examining what the Bible has to say about it. Today we will talk about what comfort we can take when we are convicted that our prayer lives are not what they need to be.
The Holy Spirit intercedes for us.
Romans 8:26-27 tells us, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do knot know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will."
Also Jesus intercedes for us.
Hebrews 7:25 says, "Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he [Jesus] always lives to intercede for them."
Look at how the Bible describes prayer. Does this sound like it’s supposed to be easy?
Ephesians 6 lists it as part of the armor of God used to do battle! Colossians 4:12 describes it as wrestling. "Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured."
So if we struggle, we can take comfort in the fact that that’s normal! Also, we can find comfort knowing that Jesus and the Holy Spirit aid in our intercession.
Tomorrow we will wrap up our series with the answer to: then why should I work on my prayer life? We will also look at a few closing practical suggestions.
The Holy Spirit intercedes for us.
Romans 8:26-27 tells us, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do knot know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will."
Also Jesus intercedes for us.
Hebrews 7:25 says, "Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he [Jesus] always lives to intercede for them."
Look at how the Bible describes prayer. Does this sound like it’s supposed to be easy?
Ephesians 6 lists it as part of the armor of God used to do battle! Colossians 4:12 describes it as wrestling. "Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured."
So if we struggle, we can take comfort in the fact that that’s normal! Also, we can find comfort knowing that Jesus and the Holy Spirit aid in our intercession.
Tomorrow we will wrap up our series with the answer to: then why should I work on my prayer life? We will also look at a few closing practical suggestions.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Prayer: ACTS
This is the fourth article in our series on prayer. Each day we are looking at a particular aspect of prayer and examining what the Bible has to say about it. Today we will examine the outline ACTS which I have found it helpful to use to guide my prayer. I just pray through each of the following sections in this order.
Adoration – This is thinking about who God is and praising him for his attributes. My prayer journal which I mentioned yesterday starts each day this way. The Psalms are also great for this and are what my husband uses to guide his prayers. I also found a list of 30 of God’s attributes at here.
Confession – Thinking about God naturally leads us to realize that we fall short of his standard. This then is a good time to confess our sins and thank God for his forgiveness. One technique to guide in seeing your sins, is to go through the 10 commandments. My pastor recently did a great series on the Ten Commandments including how they reveal our sins and point us to the gospel. I highly recommend this sermon series! It can be downloaded for free here. This then leads right into . . .
Thanksgiving – When we have recognized who God is and how far we fall short of his standard, thanking God naturally follows. We can thank him for all he has done in forgiving our sins, keeping his promises, and answering previous prayers. I highly recommend that you keep a list of prayer requests and answers. I set mine up by writing my requests on one side of a piece of paper and then putting the date and answer next to it. I know that anything without an answer, I am still praying about. Also this way I remember to thank God when he does answer, and I can see how he is working.
Supplication – This is presenting our requests to God. For more information about this, see my previous articles on prayer.
If you’re anything like I was as I prepared these articles, you probably are thinking, "Okay, I’m definitely feeling convicted. I don’t pray as I know I should." Tomorrow we will talk about what comfort we can take concerning our prayer lives.
Adoration – This is thinking about who God is and praising him for his attributes. My prayer journal which I mentioned yesterday starts each day this way. The Psalms are also great for this and are what my husband uses to guide his prayers. I also found a list of 30 of God’s attributes at here.
Confession – Thinking about God naturally leads us to realize that we fall short of his standard. This then is a good time to confess our sins and thank God for his forgiveness. One technique to guide in seeing your sins, is to go through the 10 commandments. My pastor recently did a great series on the Ten Commandments including how they reveal our sins and point us to the gospel. I highly recommend this sermon series! It can be downloaded for free here. This then leads right into . . .
Thanksgiving – When we have recognized who God is and how far we fall short of his standard, thanking God naturally follows. We can thank him for all he has done in forgiving our sins, keeping his promises, and answering previous prayers. I highly recommend that you keep a list of prayer requests and answers. I set mine up by writing my requests on one side of a piece of paper and then putting the date and answer next to it. I know that anything without an answer, I am still praying about. Also this way I remember to thank God when he does answer, and I can see how he is working.
Supplication – This is presenting our requests to God. For more information about this, see my previous articles on prayer.
If you’re anything like I was as I prepared these articles, you probably are thinking, "Okay, I’m definitely feeling convicted. I don’t pray as I know I should." Tomorrow we will talk about what comfort we can take concerning our prayer lives.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Prayer: how often? about what?
This is the third article in our series on prayer. Each day we are looking at a particular aspect of prayer and examining what the Bible has to say about it. Today we will examine how often and about what kinds of things we should be praying. We will also look at some practical applications.
The Bible gives several specific things about which we should pray. I would encourage you to do a word study on prayer to find these specifics. However, I found that in summary, we are commanded to pray always about everything.
Ephesians 6:16-18 says, "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints."
1 Thessalonians 5:17 sums things up by saying, "Pray without ceasing."
That's a pretty big order! So where do we start? Here are some practical applications I have found helpful.
Begin by making it a habit to talk to God. The most important thing is to just start. I am giving you some ideas to help take your prayer life deeper, but do not be intimidated by them. Especially if you are not in the habit of praying, don’t worry about formulas or guidelines. Just begin by getting into a habit of talking to God regularly. Once you are doing that, you may or may not choose to implement some of my suggestions. These are just ideas of things that have really helped me.
Find a way to help organize your prayer life. Currently I have found it easiest to use The Busy Mom’s Guide to Prayer: A Guided Prayer Journal by Lisa Whelchel for my long-term requests and a separate sheet for short-term requests and answers. What I love about Lisa Whelchel's prayer guide is that it includes several topics about which all moms want to be praying: praising God, praying for our husbands, our children, ourselves, etc. For each category, she has done a lot of the work for you breaking each category down into specific requests and listing a Bible verse and prayer prompt to go with each request. For example, in praying for my children, I pray for their future spouse, sibling relationships, respect for authority, walk with God, obedience, holiness, purity, self-control, schooling, heart attitudes, and 10 other things. The book is set up in a 20 day rotation. This way if you pray 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month, you will pray through all your requests each month. There is also plenty of room for you to add your own categories and specific prayer requests. For example, I have added "missionaries" as a category, then chosen 20 specific requests to pray for the missionaries we support. This book has been such a help to me. I can't recommend it highly enough!
I've already hit on this, but another suggestion is to use Scripture to guide your prayers. I was originally challenged in this when I heard of a Sunday School class who would take prayer requests, but before praying for them, would find a specific Scripture verse pertaining to each so that they could be sure they were praying according to God's will. What an example! I am sure that class saw many requests answered in the affirmative! The Busy Mom's Guide already includes some Scripture prompts for you. My favorite on-line prayer resources containing many Scripture prayer prompts are http://www.kindompraying.com/ and http://www.prayerclosetministries.org/. He also has some excellent Bible studies on prayer. My husband and I recently went through "Standing In The Gap: Developing Intercessory Prayer Power" by him and were greatly mutually challenged by it.
Tomorrow we will examine how the outline ACTS can be helpful in our prayer lives.
The Bible gives several specific things about which we should pray. I would encourage you to do a word study on prayer to find these specifics. However, I found that in summary, we are commanded to pray always about everything.
Ephesians 6:16-18 says, "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints."
1 Thessalonians 5:17 sums things up by saying, "Pray without ceasing."
That's a pretty big order! So where do we start? Here are some practical applications I have found helpful.
Begin by making it a habit to talk to God. The most important thing is to just start. I am giving you some ideas to help take your prayer life deeper, but do not be intimidated by them. Especially if you are not in the habit of praying, don’t worry about formulas or guidelines. Just begin by getting into a habit of talking to God regularly. Once you are doing that, you may or may not choose to implement some of my suggestions. These are just ideas of things that have really helped me.
Find a way to help organize your prayer life. Currently I have found it easiest to use The Busy Mom’s Guide to Prayer: A Guided Prayer Journal by Lisa Whelchel for my long-term requests and a separate sheet for short-term requests and answers. What I love about Lisa Whelchel's prayer guide is that it includes several topics about which all moms want to be praying: praising God, praying for our husbands, our children, ourselves, etc. For each category, she has done a lot of the work for you breaking each category down into specific requests and listing a Bible verse and prayer prompt to go with each request. For example, in praying for my children, I pray for their future spouse, sibling relationships, respect for authority, walk with God, obedience, holiness, purity, self-control, schooling, heart attitudes, and 10 other things. The book is set up in a 20 day rotation. This way if you pray 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month, you will pray through all your requests each month. There is also plenty of room for you to add your own categories and specific prayer requests. For example, I have added "missionaries" as a category, then chosen 20 specific requests to pray for the missionaries we support. This book has been such a help to me. I can't recommend it highly enough!
I've already hit on this, but another suggestion is to use Scripture to guide your prayers. I was originally challenged in this when I heard of a Sunday School class who would take prayer requests, but before praying for them, would find a specific Scripture verse pertaining to each so that they could be sure they were praying according to God's will. What an example! I am sure that class saw many requests answered in the affirmative! The Busy Mom's Guide already includes some Scripture prompts for you. My favorite on-line prayer resources containing many Scripture prayer prompts are http://www.kindompraying.com/ and http://www.prayerclosetministries.org/. He also has some excellent Bible studies on prayer. My husband and I recently went through "Standing In The Gap: Developing Intercessory Prayer Power" by him and were greatly mutually challenged by it.
Tomorrow we will examine how the outline ACTS can be helpful in our prayer lives.
Monday, May 19, 2008
What should prayer look like?
This is the second article in our series on prayer. Each day we are looking at a particular aspect of prayer and examining what the Bible has to say about it. Today we will examine what prayer should look like.
It should not be for recognition or reward, but is between us and God.
Matthew 6:1, 5-6 Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. . . And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
It should be accompanied by faith and according to God’s will.
Matthew 21:22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.
1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
One way I have found helpful to increase my faith in prayer is to keep track of not only my requests, but when and how God has answered them. When I do this, it helps me see how God is working. That in turn naturally builds my faith.
We know that we are to pray according to God’s will, but how do we do that? One thing I have found quite helpful is to use Scripture prayer prompts. For example, one day a month, I pray that God will help make my children diligent. My Scripture prompt is Proverbs 21:5 "The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty." My prayer then, might be something like this: Lord, you have said that the plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty. Please develop in my children that diligence that this verse talks about. Help me as I guide them to know how to motivate and inspire them to keep going even when it is hard. Help me to teach them to work patiently, not hastily.
Jesus’ answer when the disciples asked how they should pray is found in Matthew 6 and Luke 11 There is so much that can and has been said about Jesus’s example of the Lord’s prayer. It is a great place to begin a study on prayer as it is the example Jesus gave us to follow. When I have taught about the Lord’s prayer, I have used Equipping the Church for Kingdom Praying by Barbara Thompson which is available from www.pcanet.org/cep
As you can see, praying in faith and according to God’s will can become rather involved. Tomorrow I will mention a few practical resources that have helped me. Also we will examine how often and about what kinds of things we should be praying.
It should not be for recognition or reward, but is between us and God.
Matthew 6:1, 5-6 Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. . . And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
It should be accompanied by faith and according to God’s will.
Matthew 21:22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.
1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
One way I have found helpful to increase my faith in prayer is to keep track of not only my requests, but when and how God has answered them. When I do this, it helps me see how God is working. That in turn naturally builds my faith.
We know that we are to pray according to God’s will, but how do we do that? One thing I have found quite helpful is to use Scripture prayer prompts. For example, one day a month, I pray that God will help make my children diligent. My Scripture prompt is Proverbs 21:5 "The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty." My prayer then, might be something like this: Lord, you have said that the plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty. Please develop in my children that diligence that this verse talks about. Help me as I guide them to know how to motivate and inspire them to keep going even when it is hard. Help me to teach them to work patiently, not hastily.
Jesus’ answer when the disciples asked how they should pray is found in Matthew 6 and Luke 11 There is so much that can and has been said about Jesus’s example of the Lord’s prayer. It is a great place to begin a study on prayer as it is the example Jesus gave us to follow. When I have taught about the Lord’s prayer, I have used Equipping the Church for Kingdom Praying by Barbara Thompson which is available from www.pcanet.org/cep
As you can see, praying in faith and according to God’s will can become rather involved. Tomorrow I will mention a few practical resources that have helped me. Also we will examine how often and about what kinds of things we should be praying.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Is Prayer Important?
I am so thankful that I had parents who regularly set before me an example of prayer. I remember time after time growing up and still today when I have "caught" my parents praying. My mom just sent me an e-mail telling me that she is praying for me today as I share this with you and for you as you listen. This is my heritage, and I have always known that prayer is important. Shortly after the birth of my son, I was thinking about the legacy I wanted to leave to him. This led to taking my concordance and doing word searches on prayer, supplication, and intercession. This series of articles has grown out of those searches.
Today we will focus on the question: Is it important to pray? If so, why?
The answer of course is yes! I found the following reasons for why.
God commands it and tells us it is his will.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Colossians 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
See also Matthew 7:7 – 11, Colossians 4:2, James 5:13, 1 Timothy 2:1, Ephesians 6:18
Prayer brings peace.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.
These Scriptures promise that prayer brings peace, and I have personally seen it to be true time and time again. During particularly stressful times, I have quoted these verses over and over until I had enough peace to pray about the situation. Then as I prayed, God gave even more peace. Prayer has also brought peace to my marriage. When we first married, my husband started a habit that each night before falling asleep, he and I pray together. This is normally a short prayer thanking God for the day just past. I have found though that the few times there is tension in our marriage, I don’t want to pray with him. That makes it clear that as Ephesians 4:26 warns, "Do not let the sun go down on your anger" there is something that we need to work though before bed. Normally we do, then we pray before falling asleep, which in turn adds peace.
Prayer pleases God.
Proverbs 15:8 The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.
God hears and will answer.
Proverbs 15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
Matthew 21:22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.
See also Mark 11:24 and Philippians 1:19
There are many Biblical examples of prayer for us to follow including Jesus.
Luke 22:45 And when he [Jesus] rose from prayer, he came to the disciples . . .
See also John 17:20, Hebrews 5:7, Acts 1:14, Acts 2:42, Ephesians 1:6
Our prayers are incense in the worship of heaven.
Revelation 5:8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of saints.
Tomorrow we will look at: What should prayer look like?
Today we will focus on the question: Is it important to pray? If so, why?
The answer of course is yes! I found the following reasons for why.
God commands it and tells us it is his will.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Colossians 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
See also Matthew 7:7 – 11, Colossians 4:2, James 5:13, 1 Timothy 2:1, Ephesians 6:18
Prayer brings peace.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.
These Scriptures promise that prayer brings peace, and I have personally seen it to be true time and time again. During particularly stressful times, I have quoted these verses over and over until I had enough peace to pray about the situation. Then as I prayed, God gave even more peace. Prayer has also brought peace to my marriage. When we first married, my husband started a habit that each night before falling asleep, he and I pray together. This is normally a short prayer thanking God for the day just past. I have found though that the few times there is tension in our marriage, I don’t want to pray with him. That makes it clear that as Ephesians 4:26 warns, "Do not let the sun go down on your anger" there is something that we need to work though before bed. Normally we do, then we pray before falling asleep, which in turn adds peace.
Prayer pleases God.
Proverbs 15:8 The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.
God hears and will answer.
Proverbs 15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
Matthew 21:22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.
See also Mark 11:24 and Philippians 1:19
There are many Biblical examples of prayer for us to follow including Jesus.
Luke 22:45 And when he [Jesus] rose from prayer, he came to the disciples . . .
See also John 17:20, Hebrews 5:7, Acts 1:14, Acts 2:42, Ephesians 1:6
Our prayers are incense in the worship of heaven.
Revelation 5:8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of saints.
Tomorrow we will look at: What should prayer look like?
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