This
week, Michael writes: Beware of the person who has nothing to lose. In Luke 9:24 Jesus said, "he who loses his life for my sake shall save it." What
the church needs today is men and women of the Spirit, who are mighty in
prayer. O Lord, if there is anything I have left undone, let me be perfect
in prayer. A child of God is a man or woman of prayer. When the Spirit of
the Lord opens the eyes of our understanding, our heart is open to Him in
prayer. Jesus' prayer was that others may see God's good work in us and
glorify our Father in heaven. Despite the distractions of this fallen
world, the challenge is to set our affections on things above, not on the
things of earth. In order to focus our minds on things above, meditate on
the Word of God, fellowship with people of likeminded faith, and become a person
of prayer and thanksgiving.
Men and women often struggle with prayer. Prayer is aligning my heart with His heart ... it is setting our affections on things above and living a life of thanks-giving and thanks-living. Prayer succeeds when everything else fails. In the midst of the darkness of the politics and fallen nature of this world, prayer succeeds according to God's righteous standard. Prayer works. It allows God to work in us and through us to will and to do of His good pleasure. The government may try to silence prayer. However, the powers of this world cannot stand against the holy Word of God in our hearts. Though they may take away our "human rights," we can always draw our hearts to the Lord in prayer. We can never do enough for God in our own power. However, prayer is God's force multiplier. Our Heavenly Father is not concerned about our busyness. He is, however, concerned about our heart. Prayer aligns our heart with God's heart. Prayer allows us to walk in close proximity with Jesus Christ as a true disciplined follower.
The devil will allow you to do anything except pray. Prayer is the most essential value of a child of God. Prayer reminds us of “whose we are”. Prayer aligns our relationship with Him and prayer fuses our will with His will. Failure to pray means that other things are more important than our relationship with Him. It means that our will is more important than His will, and that we love our own pleasures more than our fellowship with Him. Prayer is communion ... co-Union with Him. Fellowship is joining our heart with His heart. Prayer focuses on our righteousness in Him and takes our mind away from an insidious preoccupation with self. The prayer "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," begins with our own hearts. Prayer allows God to transform our hearts from the inside out. Prayer is assuming the posture of receiving and downloading His revelation. The greatest revelation is that He loves us unconditionally.
Men and women often struggle with prayer. Prayer is aligning my heart with His heart ... it is setting our affections on things above and living a life of thanks-giving and thanks-living. Prayer succeeds when everything else fails. In the midst of the darkness of the politics and fallen nature of this world, prayer succeeds according to God's righteous standard. Prayer works. It allows God to work in us and through us to will and to do of His good pleasure. The government may try to silence prayer. However, the powers of this world cannot stand against the holy Word of God in our hearts. Though they may take away our "human rights," we can always draw our hearts to the Lord in prayer. We can never do enough for God in our own power. However, prayer is God's force multiplier. Our Heavenly Father is not concerned about our busyness. He is, however, concerned about our heart. Prayer aligns our heart with God's heart. Prayer allows us to walk in close proximity with Jesus Christ as a true disciplined follower.
The devil will allow you to do anything except pray. Prayer is the most essential value of a child of God. Prayer reminds us of “whose we are”. Prayer aligns our relationship with Him and prayer fuses our will with His will. Failure to pray means that other things are more important than our relationship with Him. It means that our will is more important than His will, and that we love our own pleasures more than our fellowship with Him. Prayer is communion ... co-Union with Him. Fellowship is joining our heart with His heart. Prayer focuses on our righteousness in Him and takes our mind away from an insidious preoccupation with self. The prayer "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," begins with our own hearts. Prayer allows God to transform our hearts from the inside out. Prayer is assuming the posture of receiving and downloading His revelation. The greatest revelation is that He loves us unconditionally.
Prayer reminds us that He is the source of our sufficiency; that we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. He reminds us that we are His servants ... patient when wronged as God's agent to correct others gently and in love so that those who are held captive by the adversary against their wills can escape the snare of the devil. Only when we pray can we hear the voice of the Lord say, "I've got this."
To approach the throne of grace we must come through faith with a broken and a contrite heart. He doesn't want your offerings or your gifts, He wants your heart. We must come humbly and meekly, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. We run to our Heavenly Father meekly, yet boldly, as his dear sons and daughters, not because of our own goodness, but because of the supreme sacrifice of His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. For He who knew no sin was made the perfect sin sacrifice on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him. Because of Christ's righteousness in us, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
May God richly bless you,
Your brother in Christ, Michael
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