I am continuing my journey to becoming "A Woman After God's Own Heart". This week I have been reading on prayer. According to Elizabeth George...there are 7 blessings to prayer (I am sure there are more, but these are the 7 discussed in the book!). I am going to break this down into 2 posts for ease of reading.
1) A Deeper Relationship with God
Prayer increases faith and provides a place to unload your burdens. No matter what this world can do, God has already overcome it!
"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33.
Prayer connects you to God in a personal and intimate way. I have a place to go and lay all my burdens down on God and He cares personally for each and every one.
"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:6-7.
Prayer teaches us that God is always near. It is vitally important to take time every day to spend alone with God. I find the more I do that, the more I find my self seeking Him in times of joy as well as trouble.
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1
"The purpose of prayer is to reveal the presence of God equally present all the time in every condition." Oswald Chambers (Scottish minister & teacher 1874-1917)
Prayer trains us not to panic. Often we go to God in a panic already, over a situation that has arisen in our lives. But He already knows, and does not desire His children to panic. If we are constantly seeking Him in prayer, we have no need to lose heart and panic.
"Then he spoke a parable to them, that men ought always to pray and not lose heart." Luke 18:1
2) Greater Purity
Confessing sin is imperative to the process of spiritual growth. We cannot continue to mature if we are holding on to our old and sinful ways.
"Likewise their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things." 1 Timothy 3:11
Confess sins not only at prayer time, but each time you do them. Pray for God to remove it from your life. I often find myself frustrated with people on the road...especially when I am in a hurry; I also find myself frequently confessing my sin of anger (otherwise known as 'road rage') to God as I am driving!
"If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell." Matthew 5:29
3) Confidence in Making Decisions
Make no decision without prayer. Great idea...but harder than you think. I make dozens of decisions on a daily basis, some big, some small, but I know I should stop and pray before each and every one. Prayer before making decisions results in peace about what you decide and a confidence in that decision and its outcome. Prayer can also prevent us from making decisions to please others or ourselves rather than what pleases God.
"For do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ." Galatians 1:10
Lord, guide me in my prayer life. Help me to build a stronger relationship with You. Remind me to confess my sins to You, for otherwise, I cannot mature. Let me bring every decision to You. Guide my heart and help me to please You, not me, not anyone else.
-Amen-
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