Tag: How to pray

Principles of Prayer

On By Ed AlgreenIn A Lamp unto My Path, Adoration, Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Awesome God, Beyond Description, Blessing, Celebrate God, Needs, Praise, Praise-worthy, Prayer, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED: Friday, 2023-03-03
WRITTEN AT: O’Brien, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Luke 11:2-4; 9-10;
TRANSLATION: Contemporary English Version (CEV)

BIBLE TEXT: 2 So Jesus told them, “Pray in this way: ‘Father, help us to honor your name. Come and set up your kingdom.
3 Give us each day the food we need. 4 Forgive our sins, as we forgive everyone who has done wrong to us. And keep us from being tempted.’ ”
9 So I tell you to ask and you will receive, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you. 10 Everyone who asks will receive, everyone who searches will find, and the door will be opened for everyone who knocks.

OBSERVATION: I find it intriguing when a young child asks for an adult to ‘dumb down’ their response to a question, or to better explain their advice or information. They need help in a certain area, and unless they receive clear and understandable information, they still won’t be able to do what’s needed or expected of them. Imagine a young Christian, they too need clear, concise and understandable direction. Jesus knew that, like His disciples, young Christians need direction on how to pray, and seasoned Christians need a refresher every so often. As applicable to you, so let today’s Scripture apply.

APPLICATION: When we are hungry, often we have been without food for a while, but we know where to go to satisfy that hunger. The disciples felt they were missing out on the benefits of prayer (communication with God), so they went to Jesus and asked how they might accomplish that. You may be approached by a new believer asking the same question, or you might benefit from the tips that Jesus gave to His disciples, to help you in your journey of communicating with God. Here are some key points that I found helpful:

  • Honor the name of Jesus – to address a judge of our court system, he will insist that you recognize his position and approach him as ‘your honor’. Therefore, we must not just barge in on Jesus with your demands, but instead recognize Him for who He is and for all He has done. Give Him honor and glory and praise for who He is.
  • Acknowledge His kingdom rule – He is King of all kings and Lord of all lords. He has charge of everything He created, and although God allows earthly men and women to rule here on earth, it’s only until He returns to take His bride (the born-again church) home to the Father. After experiencing so much turmoil here on earth, no matter what country you’re in, aren’t you ready to have the Prince of Peace assume His sovereign reign here on earth, as He is doing already in heaven? In your prayers. let Jesus know how you feel about that. You will not only reassure Him of your desire to see Him rule and reign eternally, but it will also give you opportunity to acknowledge your state of readiness for His rule, His return and His reign.
  • Forgive us, as we forgive others – Interesting how Jesus uses the same concept as He used about our giving. He said He would give us in the spirit that we give. Both in our giving and in our request for forgiveness, we must always be reminded that God’s Word declares that He will treat us like we treat others. Our actions set the stage for God’s reaction.
  • Temptation – I believe that Satan considers it his full-time job to temp humans – especially believers in Jesus Christ. While we hate our reaction to temptation, it does act as a test if our commitment to our Lord and our dependence on Him is at a level where it should be.

I especially included verses 9&10 so that we might rejoice in the blessings promised to those of us who sincerely communicate with, and honors God for, His promised blessings. Everything God does, and everything He asks of us, is from a heart of love, as He strives to make us the best children possible for Him to work through.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Praise God that He cares for us! In spite of knowing our wicked heart, yet He calls us to Himself, loves us, and desires to see us be usable vessels for His glory!

PRAYER: Praises to our wonderful, all-powerful and awesome God, who knows us, yet He loves us anyway and will always be ready to accept us into His kingdom, if we so desire and acknowledge Him as Lord. Thank You Father for teaching us the basic principles of prayer. We realize that it is open and unfiltered communication with You, but in following Your principles, we have a better idea of what you expect when You hear from us. please forgive us Lord if we have ever been too trivial in our prayers to You. We have been reminded that You deserve our utmost respect and honor as we seek Your face in worship and prayer. Please keep our hearts and minds fixed on You and may Your commands always come to mind when we communicate with You. Please speak to the hearts of those who need You as Lord and Savior, and may Your words be made clear for them to follow You in a spirit of holiness. Please continue to bless us Lord, as only You can. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog might indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. You may also visit me on Spotify and listen to Nuggets while you’re out and about. I would encourage you to find a church home near by your home, and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!

How to Pray

On By Ed AlgreenIn Obedience, Prayer, SalvationLeave a comment

The Holy Bible  (The Message – 1 Timothy 2:1-6): The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live. He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out.

Thoughts:  Like me, you may have thought that prayer is personal communication with God, so it is up to us what we talk to God about, right? While that may be a true statement, I believe that we must also be obedient to God’s Word. So when He instructed Paul to include his instructions to Timothy on how to pray for, and with, the churches that were organized, I believe that God wanted us to also take the same lead. While I believe that The Message does a great job of relaying these instructions simply and understandably, there are a few points that I would like to remind myself about, hoping that you also might be enriched by the Word of God today:

  • Pray in every way you know how, for everyone you know – friends we must be careful that our prayers are deeper than just responding to a prayer request by a friend by quickly responding that we will pray for them. Way too often that’s the extent of our prayer for them. Furthermore, if a non-believer asks for prayer, we must remember that their most important prayer need is salvation. Perhaps the need they are asking you to pray about will lead them to knowing the God that they are asking us to pray to, on their behalf. God works in mysterious ways, so He will hear our prayer and work out His plan in the lives of those we earnestly pray for, according to His perfect will. Our role is to pray;
  • Pray for rulers and their governments – friends, I believe that we spend way too much time in opposition to God’s desire for our government leaders. How? God never tells us to whine, complain, or bad-mouth our government leaders. Instead, in Romans He tells us that governments are ordained by Him, and their work will be a part of Him fulfilling His will for the people served by these leaders. God wants us to live humble, peaceful, prayerful lives imitating Him in every way possible. Our government leaders must know that Christians are praying for them so that they may properly lead us as Christ would have them do. This will not happen if they think or imagine that we are beating up on them at every opportunity. Please don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of corruption and greed in government, but I don’t believe we could find scripture to support that it’s our job, as Christians, to tear down and destroy governments who do this. Yes, we have the privilege to vote on whether we feel led by God to decline voting for ones we feel are not properly performing, but when they are elected, according to our prayers, it is not our job to step in and evoke, or recall those prayers and constantly be a thorn in the side of the politicians and/or God’s work through our political system. God really don’t need any help from us!
  • Pray for ourselves to be a channel that can be used by God to reach the unsaved – The latter part of this scripture relays what was on Paul’s heart, and again I believe that he was a mere messenger speaking the words from our Savior. God’s work and His heart is all about seeing the lost come to know Him as their personal Savior before it is eternally too late. In my opinion, this leaves an onus to constantly pray that we will be worthy vessels that God can use to extend His reach to our family, friends and other circles. We can only do our part of being used by God, for we can save no one. Let us therefore be in a constant cleaning mode and polishing our relationship with the Lord so that we might be attuned to His will and desire for us, and be usable vessels for Him to use.

Prayer is the key, and the answer, friends!

Prayer:  Dear Lord, thank You for the privilege of prayer! Thank You that we can pray to our Father who has time to acutely listen to us, and not distracted by the things of this world that plays such a distraction in our lives. Lord, You’ve given us direction on how to pray, and what we should be focusing on in our prayers. Yes, I am guilty of bogging down my prayer life with all the sickness and other depressing things that constantly bombard my life, but Lord I believe You are telling me today that although my concerns are important to You, there is direction given in Your Word as to how and what I should primarily pray for. Please help me to keep this foremost in my mind every day, so that I may pray in accordance with Your will and for Your sake, knowing that as Your people are touched by You, their lives will be capable of achieving Your perfect will. You are God, and we are not, so help us Lord to place full control in Your hands, as we stick to the will of the Father and pray as instructed in His Word. Bless us this day oh Lord so that we may pray aright and live like You, for I ask this in the all-powerful name of Jesus, my Savior, AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring, FL! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!