Been thinking about prayer...
Jodi and I were away for a week recently. The primary purpose of our trip was to attend the JAX Pastor's Conference at First Baptist in Jacksonville, FL. We got in on 3 1/2 days of great preaching and challenge. Our hearts were recharged and our souls filled up. I was grateful to be able to go.
One of the challenges that God brought to my own heart was a reminder of the importance of prayer. How often do we pray like the early church prayed? I wonder how often we really cry out to God, believing that we will see Him answer our prayer and fulfill our request? After all; Jesus had told the disciples that if they had "faith like a grain of mustard seed [they could] say to this mountain, 'move from here to there' and it will move, and nothing would be impossible for them." It's not the quantity of faith; its the object of faith that counts.
I know the caveats that we use. I realize that we sometimes pray with wrong motivation or with impure hearts. I accept that we sometimes don't realize what we are praying for and that God knows best. I certainly fully affirm the sovereignty of God to whatever pleases him.
Still; why did the early church pray with such conviction and confidence? Because they believed that when God said "Ask, seek and knock" that he meant it. Time and time again, they prayed for God to move in impossible situations and he did. It always ended up with God's glory being seen in a greater way, even if individual Christians didn't fare well in the process. But they were more concerned with God's glory than with their comfort, so they prayed for God to be huge in the eyes of people.
I came away from that conference with a renewed desire to pray and watch God do amazing things that will result in his glory being seen in a greater way. I'm going to strengthen my resolve to ask God...no; cry out to God to accomplish what seems impossible. I will seek His face and ask him to intervene in situations that look bleak and to reveal himself and his power on behalf of those I pray for. Right now I'm thinking of Rick, whose daughter has cancer. For my missionary friends who need a very specific amount of money to take the next step toward the field of service God has led them to. For some family members who are in a painful situation listening to testimony regarding a man who killed their husband...son...cousin. For a family whose husband/father is returning from a year long deployment in Afghanistan. For another who is soon to leave.
How is it for you? How is your prayer life? Are you passionately seeking the face of God and spending time with him seeking to get into the flow of his purposes and to watch him do what is impossible with men, but possible with God?
"...And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness." (Acts 4:31, esv)
One of the challenges that God brought to my own heart was a reminder of the importance of prayer. How often do we pray like the early church prayed? I wonder how often we really cry out to God, believing that we will see Him answer our prayer and fulfill our request? After all; Jesus had told the disciples that if they had "faith like a grain of mustard seed [they could] say to this mountain, 'move from here to there' and it will move, and nothing would be impossible for them." It's not the quantity of faith; its the object of faith that counts.
I know the caveats that we use. I realize that we sometimes pray with wrong motivation or with impure hearts. I accept that we sometimes don't realize what we are praying for and that God knows best. I certainly fully affirm the sovereignty of God to whatever pleases him.Still; why did the early church pray with such conviction and confidence? Because they believed that when God said "Ask, seek and knock" that he meant it. Time and time again, they prayed for God to move in impossible situations and he did. It always ended up with God's glory being seen in a greater way, even if individual Christians didn't fare well in the process. But they were more concerned with God's glory than with their comfort, so they prayed for God to be huge in the eyes of people.
I came away from that conference with a renewed desire to pray and watch God do amazing things that will result in his glory being seen in a greater way. I'm going to strengthen my resolve to ask God...no; cry out to God to accomplish what seems impossible. I will seek His face and ask him to intervene in situations that look bleak and to reveal himself and his power on behalf of those I pray for. Right now I'm thinking of Rick, whose daughter has cancer. For my missionary friends who need a very specific amount of money to take the next step toward the field of service God has led them to. For some family members who are in a painful situation listening to testimony regarding a man who killed their husband...son...cousin. For a family whose husband/father is returning from a year long deployment in Afghanistan. For another who is soon to leave.
How is it for you? How is your prayer life? Are you passionately seeking the face of God and spending time with him seeking to get into the flow of his purposes and to watch him do what is impossible with men, but possible with God?
"...And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness." (Acts 4:31, esv)
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