Defining Prayer

I 've been invited to teach on prayer by my home church. We have also talked about leading prayer for the church, so I started thinking about prayer and wanted to share my thoughts with you.

A friend of mine who pastors in Missouri, defined prayer like this:
"Prayer is more than saying prayers. It is more than a religious exercize or duty. It is communication with the Father. It is joining forces with him to carry out his will in the earth. It is entering into vital contact with the Father at his throne to fellowship with him or to get something changed in your life or another's. Learning how to pray consists of learning how to enter the Father's presence to visit or transact business."
Isn't that great and simple and clear?
It's nice to have a working definition of what you want to do, but after that, you have to start praying. You will never learn to pray just by reading about it.
If you love God, talk to him like you talk to a friend, and yet with the respect you owe him. Don't put on a religious voice, just talk.
Are you thankful for anything? Tell him.
Do you need help, or strength, or grace to change a habit? Confess your weakness and ask your father for help.
Does your family or friend have a need that they can't fix alone? Ask him to help them by meeting that need.
Understand that the cross purchased more that a place in heaven when you die. John 1.12 declares, "But to everyone who receives him, he gives them the power to become a child of God..." You have a place in heaven because you are his child ... now, and you are important to him. The Lord says, in Jeremiah 33.3, "Call out to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you don't know."
If you are new to this, I can tell you, you are starting on the greatest adventure. You are being invited to share in the rescue of the people on this planet that Jesus died to save. Read Ezekiel 22:30, 31 and join with him and with us as intercessory prayer partners that learn from Jesus to pray and change the destiny of nations!

"I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land (the people) so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none."

He's still looking today. Will you learn and join the team?

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Hold to God's Unchanging Hand

This post is titled after a song I grew up hearing my mother and my Grandmother (on her side) sing to themselves either as they worked or in times of prayer. To get a full effect, read each verse and then follow it with the chorus:

Time is filled with swift transition,
Naught of earth unmoved can stand,
Build your hopes on things eternal,
Hold to God's unchanging hand!

Chorus:
Hold to God's unchanging hand
Hold to God's unchanging hand
Build your hope on things eternal
Hold to God's unchanging hand.

Trust in Him who will not leave you,
Whatsoever years may bring;
If by earthly friends forsaken,
Still more closely to Him cling!

Covet not this world's vain riches,
That so rapidly decay;
Seek to gain the heav'nly treasures,
They will never pass away!

When your journey is completed,
If to God you have been true;
Fair and bright the home in glory,
Your enraptured soul will view!

"I heard Mama and Papa sing this as they went about their work from as far back as I can remember. It means so much to me." Betty Strickland, commenting on the this song.

I called my mom today and asked her to send me the words to the song, "Hold to God's Unchanging Hand." As I was meditating on it, I thought of yet another old song, with words that compliment the one above.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus love and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus name.

Chorus:
On Christ the solid rock I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand.

I hope you will let its timeless message break through to your soul and spirit today. The core message of the Bible, is that Jesus Himself has stood between us and the destruction that we, through our sins, deserved. That He, himself, took our place in God's judgement of sin and gave us a share in His eternal place of favor with God. And that, finally, the only requirements for receiving this immeasurable gift of forgiveness of sins and redemption for both now and forever, are for you to believe this great news and to vocally identify yourself with him, by making him the king of your life. What that means is that you pray to God and say something to this effect:

Almighty God,
I come to you with nothing in my hand to pay you what I owe you.
You are God, the Creator of everything in the material world.
What can I bring to you that you don't already have?
Only one thing. I bring you my right to choose.
I believe that Jesus lived a righteous life.
I believe that Jesus died for my sins, a just person dying for an unjust person.
I believe that what he did on the cross satisfied my debt to you, owed because of my personal sins.
From here on, I identify myself with Jesus as my Lord and Commander. Everything I can learn about him and what he wants me to do, I will make it my business to learn it and do it.
I know I will need your help and I ask you for it now.
I Make Jesus my Lord, Now and Forever!
Amen.

So, what are you waiting for?
Do it now!
Welcome to the Family!


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