Daily Scripture Reading
Luke 11:1-13
Matthew 18:1-4
Day 4 | Thinking of Prayer as Jesus Taught
Ephesians 6:10-24Thinking of Prayer as Jesus Taught "Pray without ceasing." 1 Thessalonians 5:17Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the...
Day 3 | “Work Out” What God “Works In” You
Philippians 2:5-13 "Work Out" What God "Works In" You "Work out your own salvation...for it is God who works in you." Philippians 2:12-13 Your will agrees with God, but in your flesh, there is a nature that renders you powerless to do what you know you ought to do....
WE HEAR IT SAID that a person’s life will suffer if he doesn’t pray, but I question that. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer. When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life. Prayer is the way that the life of God’s Spirit in us is nourished. Our simple ideas of prayer are not consistent with the New Testament letters. Most think of prayer as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the actual purpose of prayer scripturally is for developing in our relationship with our Heavenly Father; getting to know Him. “Ask, and you will receive” (John 16:24 NIV). We often complain to God, and sometimes we are nonchalant or even apologetic to Him, but we tend to ask Him for very few things. Yet a child demonstrates an impressive boldness to ask! Our Lord said, “Unless you . . . become like little children” (Matthew 18:3 NIV). Ask and our Heavenly Father will act. Give Him the opportunity and the room to work. The problem is that we often choose not to until we’re at our wits’ end. When we’re at our wits’ end, it no longer seems to be a fearful thing to pray; in fact, it is the only way we can get in touch with the truth and the reality of Christ in us. Be yourself before the Holy Spirit and present Him with your problems—the obvious things that have led you to your wits’ end. However, as long as we think of ourselves as self-sufficient, we’ll never ask Him for anything. To say that “prayer changes things” is not as close to the truth as saying, “Prayer changes us and then we change things.” God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally; it supports the miracle of “Christ being formed” in our inner nature.
Prayer
Lord, teach us to pray so that You can be formed in us. Help us to be Your children and interact with You as our Father. Help us to be available to You so that through us, You can be the redeemer to everyone in our path. Give us Your zeal for serving the lost and those of the household of faith alike.