May 22, 2017
This week and this year you will face many different experiences. Problems will arise, burdens will come. Decisions will need to be made and many are life-altering.
What do you do? If you are a serious follower of Jesus, you know you must pray, because only prayer brings God more deeply into the middle of your circumstance. If you try to handle it alone you will quickly discover that the arm of flesh will fail you.
WHAT TO PRAY?
We all want to pray effectively. No one desires to lift some flimsy, selfish prayer that accomplishes little, but the ""effective, fervent prayer"" that “accomplishes much"" of which James 5:16 speaks.
Jesus, as always, gives us the answer. He models for us the perfect prayer to pray on any equation—the prayer that is always rewarded.
""Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name. (John 12:27-28)
EMBRACE GOD'S PURPOSE AND PRAY ACCORDINGLY
Jesus knew that He had been sent on purpose by His Father. That He lived on mission. The most effective, prayer, the one that is always answered is this: ""Father, glorify Your name.""
""Answer my cry, O Lord, in a way that will accomplish Your will, for Your will is good, acceptable, and perfect. It is best for You and therefore, best for me and any others who may be affected by this prayer. Father, I want you to be magnified and seen in this circumstance.""
In the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6, this is encouraged in another way: ""Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is (being done right now) in heaven.""
God delights to answer this prayer and the results are stunning. It is the prayer that never fails.
February 18, 2025
I have known many people who have had great joy and power in the midst of great suffering. It is humbling that the slightest inconveniences deter many of us from following God. We have not gotten to the bottom—settled the issue. Most often, we live for our comfort, reputation, or gain. When any of those goals are touched, we are troubled and discontent.
February 17, 2025
The repentant who finds God gains everything. “He who has God and everything else,” said C.S. Lewis, “has no more than he who has God alone.”
February 12, 2025
Repentance helps us. Repentance heals us. Repentance restores us and refreshes us. And these are all the outcomes a loving Father desires for His children.