Skip to main content

Handle Through Prayer!!!

Did you know that the greatest moments in a Christian's life come through prayer? Take our Lord for instance, when Jesus prayed, heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. Then there is the disciples, the Spirit came upon them as they gathered to pray on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 1:14; 2:1). When the disciples prayed together after Pentecost, their gathering place was shaken, and they were emboldened to proclaim the Gospel throughout the city (Acts 4:31).

"When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased." Luke 3:21-22.

I believe that prayer is not a substitute for hard work. I believe that prayer is the work! God does things in and through our lives by prayer that He does in no other way. As we pray and as our attention is turned toward God, we become more receptive to aligning our lives with His will. I doubt that God will equip us with His power while we are racing off to our next appointment. His Spirit will not empower us if we are oblivious to what He is saying. He requires our complete attention before He will fill us with the powerful presence of His Spirit. And that comes only through prayer.

If you need help learning how to pray, use Jesus as your model. His prayers were always heard and answered. You might say or think, that's because He is the Son of God. Not so! He told us Himself that whatever we asked for, in His Name, we would receive. But, the key is that we need to align ourselves with His will and not ours. Jesus never prayed for things out of selfish ambition, but only what was the good and acceptable will of the Father. This is where prayer becomes important in the life of a Christian. How do we know what that will is? We get on our knees before the Father and align ourselves with Him. We tell Him how we are, what we are feeling, then ask Him to show us His will. Jesus always prayed for the will of His Father.

If you do not sense the Holy Spirit's power in your life, you may not be spending adequate time in prayer. Perhaps you are pursuing you own agenda instead of seeking the Father's will. You might even have abandoned your place of prayer before God's answer came. Remember, God works according to His timing, not ours. Sometimes we can be in a hurry to get through our prayer and not hear His voice. If you will commit yourself to spending sustained time in prayer, asking for God's kingdom on earth, God will work in your life just as He did in the lives of Jesus and His disciples. Commitment to God and spending time with Him is the important key to lining up your life with God's will and the life He has in store for you!

May God richly bless you today!! H Trent!



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Thinking About Calling Down Fire!?!

James and John were refered to as "the Sons of Thunder" in the Bible. When they discovered a Samaritan village that would not receive Jesus, they were fully prepared to call down fire to consume the entire community. "And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?" Luke 9:54. Maybe they felt that through such a show of power, the gospel message might be enhanced. The two brothers were willing to sacrifice the lives of the village in order to further the cause of the gospel. However, Jesus rebuked them! Later, the apostles heard that Samaria had responded to the gospel. Guess who was commissioned to go and help them receive the Holy Spirit? None other but Peter and John! It was God's purpose that the people not be destroyed but saved! God chose not to rain down fire on the village, but to shower it with His Holy Spirit! I wonder what w...

Restoration From Our Shepherd!!!

These are very trying times we live in today. Things are happening around us so fast that it is sometimes difficult to know where to go or where to turn. We can easily become stressed and weary of doing the same old grind, day after day, uncertain about what is lying just around the next corner. Well, our Shepherd knows!! He knows our every need, our every hurt, our every pain. He knows that we will grow weary in our pilgrimage with Him as well. He knows that there are times when we need to rest. Our Shepherd also knows what we need to be refreshed. At times, we do need to lie in lush meadows or beside quiet streams. Sometimes we need to be held by our Shepherd. At other times we need to enjoy the pleasures the Shepherd provides. And, our Shepherd will not always replenish us the same way; His response to us will always correspond to our present need, if we will ask Him. "He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." Psal...

Sunday Sermon: Easter!!!

Easter Sunday! “I Know That My Redeemer Lives!” Scripture: Job 1,2,13,19:25-26,23 Introduction: You may never have heard of Robert King Merton, the Columbia University sociologist who died in 2003, but I will bet that you have heard some of the phrases he coined like, self-fulfilling prophecy, and unintended consequences. I would like you to know that it was Merton that invented focus groups and popularized serendipity. Serendipity, by the way, means the accidental discovery of something pleasant, valuable, or useful. It was Merton who coined the phrase role model to describe someone who provides an example of popular behavior. The term may be new, but the concept is as old as the Bible. I would like to say that if you want a role model of someone transformed by the message of Easter, you can find it in the book of Job. You might be saying, “Job!?!” “But he lived before Christ.” Guess what? You are exactly right! But the book of James chapter 5 verse 10-11 tell us that Job is a role mo...