(picture used from showkindness.com)Prayer Through the Word
MONDAY
1. PRAISE IN PRAYER – (our devotion, and honor of God) - Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. (Matthew 6:9 KJV) - Our Father in heaven, Reveal who you are. (The Message)
It doesn’t matter the words you use to start your prayer, but you should always first give honor to God. Never simply start with your list of things that you want God to give you. This is a time that we take to remind ourselves of who we are talking to. We are talking to our Father in heaven. We are talking to the mighty God of the universe. He is our Hightower, our fortress; he is our deliver and our King. We want to take this time to simply honor him and to tell him of our reverence, our admiration, and our love for him. We want to ask him to reveal himself to us and we start this process by taking a time of praise and devotion unto him. We also want him to reveal to us, what it is we need to pray for, for him to reveal to us who is in need of our prayers? Let us image for a moment, on the other side of the door standing there is the great king waiting to come into the room. He is waiting for us, however to summon him in with the respect and honor that he is due from us. He is waiting for us to announce him into the room. As we do, he enters the room. When he enters he comes in and image if you will a cloud of smoke filling the room and every area of the room is covered. Or maybe you wish to image God’s entrance into the room as one where beauty enters the room and you see a long white and gold train filling the room. Whatever you do, this is simple an exercise to image how you would feel if someone of greatness comes into the room. That is what we are asking from God, to come into our presence and fill the room, and not just the physical room, but also the space in our hearts. So in order to do that we must first put the praise in our prayers before we can begin to ask for anything. Do you know when we take the time to first praise him that draws us up to meet him? That draws us up from our worries, our concerns, and our heartaches. It places us in the right mindset to really receive the answers we are seeking.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Take the time today to praise God in your prayer.
TUESDAY
2. PRACTICE OF PRAYER – (being pro-active, it is my involvement to accomplish that which I am praying for in my prayer life) - Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10 KJV) - . Set the world right; Do what's best— as above, so below (The Message).
Even though this is talking about the actions of God, we need to see it also is calling for us to put into practice that which we are praying about. We say, God make the world right; do what is best as in heaven as well as on earth. So then what I am saying to God is in fact, God allow me to be a part of your plan for this world. Set things, as you would want them to be. Reach those that you want reached, and allow me to be a part of that plan. So when we pray Jesus is telling us to seek your part in the plan of God. An example of this is “Lord, change the lives of my children so they will learn to love you more (that is calling for the action of God and that takes place from above). And allow me to be the example set before them so they can see how to walk (that is what is enacted in the below, the on earth part by me).” Or “Lord, change my husband’s heart so that he can learn to be the man of God you have called him to be (that is what take places above, this is what God will do), and help me to continue to stand before him and to submit to your plan for our lives so that as you say in scripture through my life he might be changed (that is how it is enacted below, through me).” We pray for God’s kingdom plan to be done and we pray with our minds to be involved.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Ask God today as you pray, how can you be involved in the action that needs to take place.
WEDNESDAY
3. PROVISIONS THROUGH PRAYER – (access to God’s answers and directions) - Give us this day our daily bread, (Matthew 6:11 KJV), Keep us alive with three square meals (The Message).
God makes provisions for us. He gives us not only our physical needs, but we are also made to have access to our spiritual provisions. When you and I need the food that will sustain us, we can go to God and he will give us what we need. When we need spiritual food, we too can go to him and ask God for what we need and he will give it to us. We can pray and ask God to provide for “our” need and that “our” is the entire family of God. God bless my sister, she is in need of healing. God touch the life of my brother, he is in need of…
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Are you asking only for your provisions or are you seeking God for the needs of others?
THURSDAY
4. PROMISES IN PRAYER – (my promises to God) - And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors (Matthew 6:12 KJV) Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others (The Message)
We often do not think of prayer as something we are promising to do. However if we look closer at this prayer we see that we are making a promise. When we ask for example God to forgive us as we forgive others what we are really saying is this, God I promise to forgive others, so please forgive me. So the moment we refuse to forgive someone, what we are actually doing is breaking our promises to God. We then cannot expect to receive from God when we refuse to keep our promises to him. There are also promises in prayer from God to us. He promises to forgive us and then he says go and do likewise. To keep my promise in prayer I must seek God to give me his strength to do it. So when we pray the promises of prayer, what we are doing is this, Lord help me to show love to those that have not been loving to me. It has been difficult but I know I can show love because you promise to give your love to me. What you give to me, you can do through me, so help me to do the same. If there is any unforgiveness within the heart, now is the time to confess it. Any anger, now is the time to confess it and promise God that you will obey. And then rejoice because if you promise to do it, he will provide a way for you to do it.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Today as you pray, examine yourself to see if you are keeping your promises to God. What have you told him you would do that you have not done?
FRIDAY
5. POWER OF PRAYER – (access to his strength to carry out his purpose) - And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen (Matthew 6:13 KJV), Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You're in charge! You can do anything you want! You're ablaze in beauty! (The Message)
There is something else we forget about prayer and that is how much power we have. We say things like, when I’ve tried everything else, I can pray. Prayer needs not be the last thing we do, but the first thing we do. We need to pray with assurance and know that we are given the ability to make a different in the spiritual realm. This is the area we hinder God the most. We pray amiss. We pray maybe hoping he will do what we ask, but sometimes we are not sure if he will. We need to pray with that assurance that what we ask for God is going to do. He can do even what seems to be impossible to do. Is there anything to hard for God? There are times when what we pray for does not go our way, but it doesn’t mean that God did not answer. He did answer your prayer. His answer was simply different than what you expected. And what he does, is he will strengthen you to be able to accept what his answer is. He will strengthen you so that you will not become tempted to believe his word is not true. That is what doubt really is. We begin to doubt that God will answer, if he has answer our prayers differently before. Someone may have asked God to heal their body and yet the healing did not come. Does that mean he cannot heal? Not it meant that he had a different plan and there was something that he was going to do to glorify himself through the sickness. So he will strengthen you to help you not become tempted by the devil to believe God has no strength or that God is not listening. Let us pray now and with the belief that God is going to answer what we are now praying for. Have not doubt.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Have you accessed the power God has given you in prayer? Have you allowed him to work out those things that seem impossible? This weekend when you go to worship, go knowing that God's power is made available to you, do you possess it?
