"O God, you are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory." Psalm 63:1-2
Prayer. It is that special conversation we have with God. Our prayer conversations can be about any and everything that is on our hearts or minds. But they are those times when we can also deepen our relationship with our Father through Christ by the Holy Spirit.
God loves having prayer time with each of us. We are told to pray without ceasing, I Thessalonians 5:16-18. It can be as quick as a phone call to a friend just to check in or as long and deep as a special vacation you take with one that you love. But just as we communicate with many others throughout the day, we should stay in constant communication with our God. How do we do that and how do we have time to do that?
God made us people of choice. We can choose when to get up, whether or not to go to work, what to wear, where to go to church, etc. But with each choice there are consequences. Based on the outcomes we desire to have in life, we choose to do one thing or another. For example, most people will get up and get up in enough time to make it to work by the right time. When it comes to praying and finding time to pray, we must do the same thing; Examine the outcomes of spending time in prayer with God in order to help us make the right choice about how and when to pray.
Prayer will move and even disintegrate mountains. It will change circumstances in your favor. It will cause you to gain favor with God and the least likely of people. It will cause doors and windows of blessings to be opened for you. Prayer will stop the hands and tactics of death. Prayer will change things, advance things and manifest things. Prayer will make the difference in your life. Therefore, when should we ever NOT pray?
How do we pray for this type impact? You have to first know who God truly is and what He will and will not do. He is love. Therefore, He will never hate or despise you. He may not like some things you do, but He will always love you. You are His seed that He birthed and has known since the beginning of time. He wants to prosper you and use that prosperity to show the rest of the world how great He is so they too will follow Him. God has no desire to harm you and will not harm you. We get harmed when we step outside of Him to follow the world. Yet, He forgives, again and again if we repent for disobeying His instructions.
Then you need to know who you are to Him. You are His beloved child. whether you do right or wrong, you belong to Him and have been reconnected to Him through Christ once you chose Him over the world. You are His heir and have access to everything He has: His power, authority and life. It is from this place of confidence, or faith, that you must pray in order to have results.
Be sensitive to His presence. He's always right there with you. You can pray while walking down the street or even at your desk. It doesn't have to be loud or even heard by anyone but Him and you. Just stay in constant communication. Ask Him what you should do with your circumstances and how to fight any battles you face. He will direct you. Start each day by asking Him what He wants out of that day and how He wants you to do things. He will guide you. As you do these things, you will start to see things change, first inside you and then around you.
When you consider whether or even when to pray, consider the results you want in each area of your life; the areas of faith, health, relationships, career and finances. Ultimately, we each want peace in each area of our lives and that peace looks a bit different for each of us. The Bible says God will keep in perfect peace, he whose mind is stayed on Him, because He trusts in Him. (Isaiah 26:3) Speak to God throughout the day leaving room for Him to speak back to you. As you keep your mind on your dearest friend and protector, you will have the results you seek in each area of your life. May the Lord, our God, grant you abundant and overflowing peace in each area of your life.
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Monday, January 11, 2016
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Climb Out of the Manhole and Into God's Presence
Matthew 12:13-14 Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.
There is a call coming out from God for His people to enter and remain in His presence. Psalm 16:11 says,
You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Being in the presence of God is the way to life, both in this world and in the one to come. In the presence of God we will find not just joy, but the full measure of joy, which includes but is not limited to,
The presence of God is an awesome place for each of us to dwell. It is the place that we enter by His Spirit, through Christ and where we can constantly commune with Him; the place that He invites us to come and dine with Him every moment of every day. It is a place where we will see beyond what can be seen with the natural eye; the place where we can gain the understanding of life we have been seeking. God wants His people to know and understand Him. That is one of the benefits of salvation. The mysteries of God's Kingdom are mysteries to the world but revealed to His people who will then show the wisdom of God to the principalities and powers of this world (Ephesians 3:9-11).
This is what Jesus did in Matthew 12. The people were caught up in legalism, the law, their roles, timing, who was in charge, who had a "right" to minister or speak a word of life to someone else, what they felt was the right process and who the people chose to honor and exalt. But Jesus, walking in the presence of the Father, exhibited the wisdom of God in healing the man that was stricken, even on the Sabbath. Like the Pharisees, even though we believe, we can let our positions, our roles, our jobs or duties, our possessions, our differences and our attitudes cause us to lose focus on God's wisdom, which He seeks to manifest through us. We fall into these manholes of life, which like the real ones, hold us in dark and low places where it is hard to see the truth. And if you can't see the truth you will definitely have a hard time walking in it. But if we can lift up our eyes and not only read but receive the Word, which is living, we will be able to shift our focus away from darkness to what is most important. What's most important is our relationship with God. And as we humble ourselves and pray, repenting of our sins, He will forgive us without bringing them up again. Then as we seek Him through prayer and the Word with all our heart, and delight ourselves in Him and not the cares of this world, we will find ourselves in His presence.
To remain in His presence we set our hearts first on Him, next on Him and forever on Him. The more of His presence we experience, the more permanent our heart's desire for Him will become. As Paul expressed in Philippians 3:1-11, all the position, education and honor he had in the world became as nothing in comparison to the loving and wonderful relationship he found in Jesus Christ. It may be a press at first to focus on being in God's presence. But with an attitude of humility and thankfulness, make yourself pray, make yourself spend time in the Word and worship so that the Holy Spirit can join in. As you continue in this, you will quickly get to the place where you can't live without doing it and being in God's presence will become as necessary as breathing. Let us all climb out of our manholes of distraction and wrap ourselves in the presence of our God for this is the path of true life.
Click Here to Get MESH, The Bible Study for those that want a deeper relationship with God http://heightsunknown.uscreen.io/programs/mesh
There is a call coming out from God for His people to enter and remain in His presence. Psalm 16:11 says,
You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Being in the presence of God is the way to life, both in this world and in the one to come. In the presence of God we will find not just joy, but the full measure of joy, which includes but is not limited to,
- Peace in the midst of every circumstance,
- healing for every ailment whether mental or physical,
- resolution for every issue whether caused by us or someone else,
- redemption for every fault or sin no matter how "great" or how "small",
- safety in places of turmoil,
- strength to endure and persevere,
- mercy that forgives,
- deliverance that makes whole and sticks, and,
- love that banishes guilt and shame.
The presence of God is an awesome place for each of us to dwell. It is the place that we enter by His Spirit, through Christ and where we can constantly commune with Him; the place that He invites us to come and dine with Him every moment of every day. It is a place where we will see beyond what can be seen with the natural eye; the place where we can gain the understanding of life we have been seeking. God wants His people to know and understand Him. That is one of the benefits of salvation. The mysteries of God's Kingdom are mysteries to the world but revealed to His people who will then show the wisdom of God to the principalities and powers of this world (Ephesians 3:9-11).
This is what Jesus did in Matthew 12. The people were caught up in legalism, the law, their roles, timing, who was in charge, who had a "right" to minister or speak a word of life to someone else, what they felt was the right process and who the people chose to honor and exalt. But Jesus, walking in the presence of the Father, exhibited the wisdom of God in healing the man that was stricken, even on the Sabbath. Like the Pharisees, even though we believe, we can let our positions, our roles, our jobs or duties, our possessions, our differences and our attitudes cause us to lose focus on God's wisdom, which He seeks to manifest through us. We fall into these manholes of life, which like the real ones, hold us in dark and low places where it is hard to see the truth. And if you can't see the truth you will definitely have a hard time walking in it. But if we can lift up our eyes and not only read but receive the Word, which is living, we will be able to shift our focus away from darkness to what is most important. What's most important is our relationship with God. And as we humble ourselves and pray, repenting of our sins, He will forgive us without bringing them up again. Then as we seek Him through prayer and the Word with all our heart, and delight ourselves in Him and not the cares of this world, we will find ourselves in His presence.
To remain in His presence we set our hearts first on Him, next on Him and forever on Him. The more of His presence we experience, the more permanent our heart's desire for Him will become. As Paul expressed in Philippians 3:1-11, all the position, education and honor he had in the world became as nothing in comparison to the loving and wonderful relationship he found in Jesus Christ. It may be a press at first to focus on being in God's presence. But with an attitude of humility and thankfulness, make yourself pray, make yourself spend time in the Word and worship so that the Holy Spirit can join in. As you continue in this, you will quickly get to the place where you can't live without doing it and being in God's presence will become as necessary as breathing. Let us all climb out of our manholes of distraction and wrap ourselves in the presence of our God for this is the path of true life.
Click Here to Get MESH, The Bible Study for those that want a deeper relationship with God http://heightsunknown.uscreen.io/programs/mesh
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