Deuteronomy 6:4-6 (NASB)
Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.

Religious – the state of having an interest, a belief, or participating in activity that is very important to a person or group.

Recently, I had someone tell me that they were not a religious person. I knew what they were trying to communicate, but the thought stuck with me. It occurred to me that everyone is religious, especially if you apply the broad definition above. The difference between that person and a Christian is that their religion is something of this world. It can be something very good, something that they are very passionate about, something that consumes their thoughts and heart. I think that is why it bothers me when people label me as being a religious person. It is the way God created us; we are all religious.

God wants us to worship Him – with all our heart, soul, and might. When we do, the things of His creation are put into proper perspective. We can enjoy them because they are His creation, not because we worship them.

One of the ways we worship God is through prayer. It creates a bond between Creator and creature. It helps us to know Him as we link His communication to us (the Bible) with our words to Him. It allows our love for Him to grow.

Heavenly Father, I pray that the words of Deuteronomy 6 would fill my heart, soul, and being. Help me to put all things into proper perspective, so that I worship only You. Give me a heart that yearns to know You more each and every day. Praying this in the name and power of Jesus, my Lord and Savior. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Revelation 22:17 (NASB)
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.

The free gift of God; the final invitation in the Bible. Salvation to anyone who wishes to take the water of life – and it is free.

Scoffers will say that it isn’t free. They say you have to bow to Jesus as your Lord. Dear scoffer, we all bow to a Lord in our lives. Do you want to bow to One that is capable of giving you salvation? Or will you continue to bow to a Lord that cannot? He is our Savior, who has paid the price to freely give you an eternity with Him in paradise.

Heavenly Father, what a masterpiece is your Bible. You tell a story of salvation for all who come to You. And You close Your book with an invitation. How can we refuse? I pray that all mankind will bend the knee and declare you Lord and Savior. May Your glory be magnified in all the world! Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Acts 1:14 (NASB)
These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

“Pray in secret before going. Let your prayers in the meeting be formed as much as possible upon what you have read in the Bible. You will thus learn variety of petition, and a Scripture style. Pray that you may pray to God, and not for the ears of man. Feel His presence more than man’s.”
Excerpt from a letter to J.T. Just on how to conduct a prayer meeting, March 27, 1840.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Corporate prayer can be powerful. Amazing miracles are possible through corporate prayer. A group of humble prayer warriors can summon the awesome power of Almighty God, who can bring about healing, revival, and conversion. There is no room for pride, no room for self interest, no room for self righteousness. It is being of one mind, synchronized to the Holy Spirit, and only asking for what is God’s will. Does that sound like the prayer meeting at your church? If so, then you have seen many wonders.

Almighty God and Father, I pray for the prayer warriors of your Church. I pray that they would be humble, of one mind, continually devoting themselves to prayer. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Psalm 116:1-2
I love the Lord, because He hears
My voice and my supplications.
Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.

Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813-1843) in his fourth pastoral letter provides his flock with a discussion about the sweet duty of believing prayer. He gives four responses by God when we pray in faith.

1.  God gives us the very thing His children ask at the very time they ask. Psalm 138:3
2. God often delays the answer to prayer for wise reasons. Matthew 15:21-28
3. God often answers prayer by terrible things. Psalm 65:5 KJV and Romans 7:24. As the Holy Spirit reveals our true sin nature, our faith is increased.
4. God sometimes answers prayer by giving something better than we ask. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9.

Heavenly Father, it is a sweet duty to come to you in prayer. It is your command, but it is also our blessing. Help me to incline my ear to you as you faithfully incline your ear to me. I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Judges 3:9
When the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

“Israel during the time of the judges was not sorry for their sin, but only for their circumstances.”
David Sinclair, from sermon series on Judges 5/6/2018

God’s mercy is amazing.  He is merciful when we cry out for our circumstances.  He wants us to pray for for unpleasant circumstances, for relief, for the hard times we pass through.

He also wants us to pray in repentance for our sin.  Like Israel though, how often do I only focus on the circumstances and not the sin?  How often am I only consumed by the difficulties in life and ignore the sin that is present before me?  I can pray in detail about the difficulties.  Yet I can gloss over the sin by expressing only a blanket sorrow for sin, not giving it the detail that God desires me to express.

Heavenly Father, Holy Son and Spirit, forgive me when I consider only my personal circumstances in prayer.  Reveal my sin.  Make my supplications more about repentance of the sin in my life.  Help me, Holy Spirit.  I pray that the sorrow for sin would overshadow the petty circumstances of life.  Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Psalm 46:10-11 (NASB)
“Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold.

My last post was several weeks ago. There hasn’t been anything unusual going on. I haven’t had any crises in my life. But, the inspiration has waned. I know it’s not because God isn’t near or the Holy Spirit doesn’t have anything to say to me. I have tried to force a few posts, but realized that what I had to say was from me and not the Spirit, so I didn’t send anything out.

Have you had times like that? Times where you try to force the relationship, but it doesn’t seem to work? I was reminded today of Psalm 46. I need to cease striving. I need to be still. And so I am waiting on Him.

Heavenly Father, I pray that You would calm my heart, that I would be still and listen, that I would cease to strive in my own strength. I pray for Your voice. I pray for Your strength. I pray that You would be exalted. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

2 Peter 2:9-10
then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.
Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties,

When you hear certain words, they evoke emotions or images – some good and some bad. Words like self-assured or a relatively new word in our language, selfie, generate positive thoughts to most people in our world. I wonder though about a focus on self.

We are warned in the book of 2 Peter of false prophets and how to recognize them. Traits that seem to start with the rise of self. When we make ourselves more important, when we are so self-assured that we become the focus and not the cross and what it represents. It is so easy to see these traits in others, so easy to deflect the attention away from ourselves. I know I struggle. The battle is constant. If I attempt to rely on self, my self-righteousness steps forward and I lose self-control. Only when I stay focused on scripture and prayer, relying only on the Holy Spirit, is it possible to die to self.

Heavenly Father, I am weak. I am unable to be what you want by doing it by myself. I pray that You would rescue me constantly from temptation. I pray for the ever presence of the Holy Spirit in my mind and my thoughts. I pray this in Jesus’ name, the One who has made all of this possible. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Matthew 28:21-22
Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

What a blessing that my self righteousness is not what puts me in favor with God. What a blessing that as I stumble, trying my best not to sin, that I am still forgiven. What a blessing it is that God gives us second chances.

Peter was trying to understand the law, but he was also testing the limits to determine when he could give up on someone. Maybe Peter had a dispute with someone, who had sinned against him many times. Was there a limit under the law that allowed him to say, “I will forgive you no longer”.

What if God had a limit on the number of sins that we commit against Him? Would anyone survive?

Heavenly Father, thank you for second chances. Thank you that Your forgiveness is complete and without limits. Thank you Jesus for making that possible. I pray that You will give me the strength to forgive others as You have forgiven me. Forgive me for putting limits on others. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Genesis 25:22 (NASB)
But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

The phrase “inquire of the Lord” appears about a dozen times in the Old Testament scriptures. The first instance is by Rebekah when she was pregnant with Jacob and Esau. However, the typical instance is when a King or group of people went to a prophet of God to ask God a question on their behalf.

After Jesus came, we no longer have to go to a prophet, but as a Christian can inquire of the Holy Spirit within us. The question is: How often do we do that? I must admit that I often resort to requests that I have formulated and don’t take the time to ask God what He would have me do. Isn’t that just like us? We would rather have God work on our plan rather than ask Him what He wants us to do for His kingdom.

This follows the world view that God wants us to be happy, so we tell ourselves: Why wouldn’t He want to follow us? It is a distorted view of God, minimizing His Glory and elevating our glory instead. Didn’t He promise in Romans 8:28 (NASB),

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Not, to those who call on Him to work towards our purpose.

Heavenly Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. I am inquiring of Your plan. I am listening. I will remain quiet and wait for the still, small voice that is Your Spirit. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

John 6:63 (NASB)
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

Last weekend, I attended a church conference at a local church. The guest speaker was Donald S. Whitney. He is professor of biblical spirituality and associate dean at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. I knew about him from my grandson, who attended that seminary several years ago and who had recommended Whitney’s book called, “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life”. Whitney travels most weekends of the year giving talks across the country on the topic of praying the Bible.

To say that I was transformed by his teaching is an understatement. I have been involved in prayer ministry for a number of years, but had never heard about his approach to praying. Yes, I had heard of the idea of praying through the Bible and praying through the Psalms, but his approach was different and quite unique. He has captured that concept in his book, “Praying the Bible”.

I can only say that I would recommend that every Christian read both of his books and incorporate his concept of praying. It truly becomes a conversation with God, not as he said our typical prayer life of a one way communication, “praying the same old things, about the same old things”. If you do decide to try his method, you should also pick of the phone app called “Five Psalms”.

Christians want to pray, it is the prompting of the Holy Spirit that encourages us to pray. But we can get discouraged for a number of reasons. When we are able to keep our prayer life fresh by having a two way conversation with God, it makes prayer what God intended it to be.

Heavenly Father, I pray for Donald Whitney. I pray that your Holy Spirit would continue to refresh him as he uses this prayer ministry to transform lives. May Your glory be magnified as our prayers reflect the Psalms that You have given to us. They are Your heart. May our hearts be transformed into Your likeness through them. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,