Power Of Prayer

"...The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." - James 5:16

I would like to take a little time this week to talk about the most important thing in the life of the Christian, but it is also the most neglected, and that is prayer.  Here is what E.M. Bounds had to say about prayer: "We can do nothing without prayer. All things can be done by importunate prayer. It surmounts or removes all obstacles, overcomes every resisting force and gains its ends in the face of invincible hindrances."

You might be asking yourself right now how I can be so sure that there is power, when those that have been born again, begin to pray.  I know that there is power in prayer because of what our family has experienced over the last several weeks.

Many of you know that our youngest son, Brayden, was hospitalized a couple of weeks ago due to the fact that he had been vomiting for over a week with no end in sight.  I will never forget how I felt on Wednesday July 4, 2012; I literally felt like I was watching my little boy slowly die.  I will also never forget that day for another reason, because that is when God's people began to pray for Brayden.  First, we sent out a message to the prayer chain at our church and asked them to pray for Brayden and for wisdom for the doctors that were treating him .  Then we began to post on Facebook about the situation and asked our brothers and sisters in Christ to please pray for Brayden.  It was so amazing how quickly the Lord began to put things together and answer the many prayers that were being made for Brayden.

The next day, on Thursday July 5, Brayden was transferred to a Roanoke hospital and their pediatric unit.  We could not begin to imagine how tremendously the Lord had blessed us with this move until we talked with one of Brayden's doctors on Saturday.  On Saturday morning as the doctor came by to talk with us the conversation turned to spiritual things.  We found out that this doctor was a Christian as we talked with him, but I must admit that I was not expecting what he said to us.  Once the doctor found out that we were Christians, he asked us to pray for him because his knowledge was limited.  He went on to tell us about how that he would pray over his patients and ask the Lord to show him what to do.  When I heard this, it literally brought tears to my eyes.  God in His sovereignty and divine providence had given us a doctor that was a Christian!

On Sunday July 8 they did a endoscopy and colonoscopy on Brayden so they could see what was going on with him on the inside.  Again, we sent out something on our prayer chain at church and began to ask our pastor friends to have their churches pray too.  We also put out a request for prayer to our brothers and sisters in Christ on Facebook.  We could not begin to imagine how many people were praying for our little boy and how far this prayer request had traveled.  After the procedure we finally had a diagnosis of what was happening and what was causing Brayden to be sick.  It wasn't what we were expecting or even what we wanted to hear, but it definitely wasn't the worst that we could have heard.  Even with hearing this bad news, God wasn't done working in the situation.  The next day as Brayden's doctor came by to talk with us more about the diagnosis, we were totally in awe at what happened next.  As the doctor finished talking with us, he went over and closed the door and had prayer with us all.

Through everything that has happened to Brayden over the last several weeks, the only thing that I can say about it all is that Jesus Christ has been so good to us and that our family stands in awe of our Savior!  My mind cannot even begin to comprehend how good God has been to us through everything.  The Lord has been so gracious and merciful to us through all of this and it has been an amazing blessing how He has shown His sovereignty and divine providence in this situation.  It is our prayer that Jesus Christ has been glorified through all of this and that He will continue to be glorified as our family moves forward.  Words cannot express how much we appreciate all of our brothers and sisters in Christ praying for our little boy.  We stand in awe at how the Body of Christ has responded to us over the past several weeks. It is our prayer that this situation can be used to show our family and friends that are lost without Christ their need for Him before it is eternally too late.  Again, thank you all so much for the prayers, first and foremost, and the cards, visits, calls, and gifts that were sent to Brayden!  We have been humbled by the tremendous show of prayer and support from the Body of Christ!!!

How do I know that there is power in prayer and that prayer really works?  I have experienced firsthand the results when Christ's people get on their knees and intercede to Him for another family in Christ!

Is Christ Central?

"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." - Ephesians 1:7

‎"If the Lord Jesus Christ is not crucial, central, vital, and occupying the very center of our meditation and our living, thinking, and praying, we have no right to look for revival." - Martin Lloyd-Jones

Here is a question for us to ponder today: Is the Lord Jesus Christ really central in our lives?  It is amazing how many people you can talk to that profess to be Christians but yet you never hear them mention the name of Christ.

Is Christ crucial, vital, and central to your life?  Is Christ at the center of your meditation, living, praying, and worship?  I know that many times I fail to make Christ central in my life.  I might say that He is with my words, but I deny it with my actions.  Could it be that the reason we are not seeing revival in our churches and in our own personal lives is because Christ is not central?  When you and I make Christ central in our lives it will make a difference!

There is a great deal of so-called Christianity that is quite Christ-less.  We must remember that it is all about Jesus Christ, and Him alone!

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, may I remember and never forget the centrality of Christ in all things!  Forgive me for denying Your centrality in all things by my actions.  May You occupy my every thought, meditation, and prayer.  Help me to see that You are crucial, vital, and central to my life.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Faithful In Prayer

"Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me." - Psalm 66:20

During my 10 years in the ministry, I have found that the most important church service is also the most neglected and poorly attended service, the midweek prayer and Bible study.  If you were to announce that you were having some form of entertainment you would be amazed at the turnout, but announce that you are meeting to spend time in prayer and hardly anyone shows up.  Why is this?  The answer is simple, Christians do not have the right priorities.  Even in our unfaithfulness to God, He is still faithful to us.

Let's think about our prayer lives for just a moment.  Think about how faithful God has been to hear our prayers even we have not been so faithful to commune with Him in prayer.  Notice what Charles Spurgeon says about this: "Oh! it is marvellous that the Lord should regard those intermittent spasms of importunity which come and go with our necessities. What a God is he thus to hear the prayers of those who come to him when they have pressing wants, but neglect him when they have received a mercy; who approach him when they are forced to come, but who almost forget to address him when mercies are plentiful and sorrows are few."  If we are honest, we all would have to admit our neglect to be faithful to God in prayer; we only call on Him when we are desperate.  Even with that said, God is still faithful and merciful, not only to hear, but also to answer our prayers.  I must admit, I am so guilty of doing this very thing.  When things are going good I tend to slack in my prayer life, but then when things take a turn for the worse I am calling out to God for help.  Let us purpose in our hearts that we are going to be faithful to commune with God in prayer just as much when things are going great as we do when things are going wrong.

Now, let's turn to another aspect of our prayer lives: what about the character and nature of the prayers that we offer to God?  Here is what Spurgeon said about the nature of our prayers: "In looking back upon the character of our prayers, if we do it honestly, we shall be filled with wonder that God has ever answered them."  Let us be totally honest about the character and nature of the things that we pray for.  Sadly, most of the prayer requests that you hear from Christians during the midweek prayer service are very inwardly and carnally focused.  We have gotten away from getting on our faces before God and crying out to Him for the spiritual needs of those around us.  Yet, despite our inwardly and carnally focused prayers, God is still faithful to hear and answer our prayers.

I pray, that because God hears our prayers such as they are, it will touch and stir our hearts to be more faithful to God in our prayer life.  I pray that it will stir our hearts to be more spiritually and eternally minded when we approach our Heavenly Father.

Standing In The Gap

"And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.  Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin-; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." - Exodus 32:31-32



Without a doubt, the prayer in these verses is one of the greatest intercessory prayers offered in all of Scripture.  The Lord is ready to totally consume the children of Israel because of their sin against Him.  Their sin of idolatry has brought the wrath of God upon them, and rightly so.  They had just been delivered by the hand of God Himself from the bondage of the Egyptians, delivered at the Red Sea, their every need has been provided for, and now they have forsaken the Lord for a golden calf.  Even though they deserved the wrath of God to come upon them, Moses stood in the gap for Israel and interceded to God for them on their behalf.  Moses even told God that if He would not forgive Israel for their sin to blot his own name out of the Lord's book.  WOW, now that is a man that had a burden for the people he was leading!

Where is are the Moses' of today?  Where is that kind of intercessory prayer today?  Even the Apostle Paul was willing to be accursed that Israel might be saved.  Unfortunately, our prayers today have become so self-centered that we have no time to intercede to God for others.  Are we willing to stand in the gap like Moses did for Israel?  Are we willing to intercede to God for those around us that are lost?  Are we willing to intercede to God for those who have backslid on Him?  Have you ever considered that you might be the only one standing in the gap interceding for another person?

We are in desperate need today of people who are willing to stand in the gap and intercede to God just like Moses did!  Lord help us to see our need to stand in the gap and intercede for our homes, our churches, and our nation!

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, when I pray, help me no to simply offer a bunch of self-centered prayers, but help me to stand in the gap and intercede for those around me.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Stop Praying

"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? - Psalm 8:3-4


 

I want to say first of all, please don't let the title of my post today scare you away, bear with me for a little bit.  The other day, I started reading "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan and he made a statement that just grabbed me. He said, "What if I told you to stop talking to God for a while, but instead, take a long, hard look at Him before you speak another word?"  He went on to say, "The wise man comes to God without saying a word and stands in awe of Him."

I want you to check out the video below before you continue reading.


After he first saw the video, Francis Chan said, "When I first saw those images, I had to worship.  I didn't want to speak to or share it with anyone.  I just wanted to sit quietly and admire the Creator."  In Psalm 8, David pondered the same things about God.  When David thought of the heavens, the moon, and the stars that God had created, it was hard for him to comprehend that God would even be interested in man.  David was truly in awe of the majesty and glory of the Lord!

I'm afraid that when we pray, we approach the Lord too casually, and do not approach Him in awe of His majesty and glory.  Before you pray the next time, stop and just stand in awe of Jesus Christ and all that He has done.  May you and I be gripped by the reality of our smallness and by the reality of the bigness of our God!

"Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God." - R.C. Sproul

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, I stand in awe of Your majesty, glory, and power!  In light of that, I see how small, weak, and insignificant I am compared to You.  Help me, because of my smallness, to be gripped by the reality of Your greatness.  May I proclaim to all, How Great Is Our God!  In Jesus name, Amen!

A Stranger With God

"Hear my prayer; O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were." - Psalm 39:12


 

"I am a stranger with thee..."

Does this describe your fellowship with Jesus Christ?  Even though we have trusted Christ as our Savior, I'm afraid that many of us are strangers when it comes to our fellowship with Him.  I do not mean strangers in the sense that Christ does not know us or who we are, but rather that we do not spend intimate time with Him the way we should.  There are many people that we may know who they are and maybe even know a little about them, but in reality they are strangers to us.  Sadly, this describes many of us when it comes to Jesus Christ.  We are strangers with Him.

I can't help but be convicted about my lack of prayer and intimate fellowship with Christ.  I believe this is the state of most Christians today in that we are seriously lacking in our prayer life and intimate fellowship with Christ.  Simply put, we are not spending time with Christ the way the disciples and the early Church did.  It seems that our churches as a whole and us as individuals know very little of the power that the early Church had because of their time spent in prayer declaring their utter and complete dependence on the Lord.

One area pastor made the following statement: "You can have as much of God as you want, and that you already have as much of God as you want."  I can honestly say that I want to have more of Christ, I want to know Him in a more intimate way, I want His presence to more real to me, and I want to see a glimpse of His glory!

I am challenging myself and you to develop a life of prayer declaring your absolute, complete, and total dependence upon Christ for every need in our lives.  May we cry out to the Lord to work in our lives, homes, and churches in such a mighty way that He will draw others unto Him.  May we not be strangers with Christ in our prayer life or our intimate fellowship with Him. 

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, may I not be a stranger with Thee.  I pray that I can have more of You, that I can know You in a more intimate way, and that Your presence will be more real to me each day.  Help me to totally, completely, and absolutely cry out to You and depend on You for everything!  It is my desire to develop of a life of prayer and intimate fellowship with You.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Given To Prayer

"They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.  For my love they are my adversaries: but I will give myself unto prayer." - Psalm 109:3-4


What is your first instinct or what is the first thing that you do when opposition comes?  If we all are honest, we would have to say that we probably would take some sort of action in our own strength to deal with the situation.  I know that is one of my biggest faults, I try to handle things in my own power and wisdom.

Notice what David said that he did when opposition came his way.  He said that he would give himself unto prayer.  When people speak words of hatred to him, when they fight against him without a cause, when they go against him in spite of his love for them, David says that he will give himself unto prayer.  When opposition comes our way, our flesh says that we need to respond, that we need to take action against it.  However, you will find that Scripture tells us something completely different.  When we face opposition, when people come against us without a cause, or when they reward our love by becoming our adversaries, the Bible tells us that we are to give ourselves unto prayer.

I must admit that I am a complete and utter failure when it comes to doing this.  When I face the things that David is talking about, usually the last thing on my mind is giving myself unto prayer.  I know that giving myself unto prayer is what I should do and it is what I must do, but for some reason I do not.  If we all are honest, we all are guilty of this.  I can't help but wonder what a difference we would see in our churches and our own lives if we all would give ourselves unto prayer when we face opposition.  Satan has tricked us into thinking that we must do something to retaliate or that we must respond to the situation in some way.  The only way that you and I should respond is by totally and completely giving ourselves unto prayer.

When you and I get on our knees before God, desperately cry out to Him, and utterly depend on Him, that is when He can work in our lives and the lives of others.

Will you give yourself unto prayer?

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, when people speak words of hatred against me, when they fight against me without a cause, and when they become my adversary in spite of my love for them, may I completely and totally give myself unto prayer.  Help me not to handle things or situations in my own power or wisdom, but rather I confess my utter and complete dependence on You and Your power to work in those situations.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Be With Him

"And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.  And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach." - Mark 3:13-14


What do you think our primary responsibility is as a child of God?  Most Christians would probably say that it is to be a witness for Christ.  Most preachers would probably say for them it is to preach the Word of God.  However, both of these answers would be wrong.  Notice what the Bible says in the above verses.  Our first call and responsibility is to be with Christ, preaching is secondary.  We can't be a witness or preach His Word until we have been with Him.

Just think about it, the Creator of everything, the Savior of the world, His desire is to be with us!  That is such an awesome thought!  Have you been with Him lately?  Maybe you are facing a trial or difficult situation today and don't know what to do, just be with Him.  Maybe you are in total despair and are ready to throw in the towel, just be with Him.

I can't help but wonder how different our lives would be if we would just be with Him more.  Think of the impact it would have on our spiritual walk.  Think of the difference that we would be able to make in the lives of others as a result of us being with Him more.  Witnessing is not the most important thing that we can do, preaching is not the most important thing we can do, the most important thing is for us to be with Him.

When was the last time that you were just with Him?

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, help me to remove all of the cares of this world and burdens from my heart that I might just be with You.  It humbles me that Your desire is for me just to be with You.  Forgive me for putting other things ahead of You and failing to just be with You.  Father, I pray that You would make Your presence so real to me today as I am with You.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Power In Prayer

"Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." - James 5:16


Have you ever heard the phrase "the power of prayer?"  Have you ever stopped and thought about the reality of that phrase?  If we are not careful it is so easy for us to take those words for granted.  Prayer is our conduit to access the power of our Heavenly Father that is available to us through Jesus Christ.  Prayer is not something that we are to take lightly or that we are to just do occasionally.  However, I am afraid that we ALL are guilty of both taking it lightly and just doing it occasionally.

Prayer changes things and it changes us!  I know that is a very simple statement, but it is so true.  As you and I begin to pray and pour our hearts out before our Heavenly Father, our hearts begin to change as we commune with Him.  Even if our circumstances never change, our hearts have been changed, and that will change how we view our circumstances or how we handle our circumstances.  The quality of your spiritual life will be in direct proportion to the quality of your prayer life.  This is why we have so many people in our churches that are struggling spiritually, because the quality of their prayer life is low or non-existent.

Instead of turning things over in our minds, we must learn to turn them over to the Lord in prayer.  You and I have the tendency to try and figure things out in our heads, constantly going over it again and again trying to figure out what to do.  What we need to do is to quit worrying about our next decision, quit replaying events over again in our minds, and give it to the Lord and ask Him to lead the way for us.  We must learn to constantly and consistently pray about all things, great and small.

Will you continue to ignore the power that is available to you through prayer?

"When prayer has become secondary, or incidental, it has lost its power. Those who are conspicuously men of prayer are those who use prayer as they use food, or air, or light, or money." M.E. Andross

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, help me to bring everything to You in prayer; my hopes, my dreams, my doubts, my fears, and my burdens. Lord, may others see my utter dependence on You for everything in my life. It is my desire to devote my life to a life of prayer. Father, may I bring all things to You and may I trust Your will to be accomplished in areas of my life. In Jesus name, Amen!

Learning To Be Content

"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." - Philippians 4:11


Are you content with things in your life?  We learn from the above verse that it is not natural for our flesh to be content.  Paul tells us that he had learned to be content in whatever state that he was in.  If you and I are to learn to be content, it is going to take prayer, denying ourselves, and surrendering to Christ.

Have you ever noticed that you do not have to teach your children to complain?  We are quick learners when it comes to the art of complaining, even without any education.  If you and I are to learn to be content, it is something that we must cultivate and grow in our lives.  You would not be able to plant a garden without plowing it, then sowing the seed, and cultivating that garden.  Contentment is not going to grow in you and I by nature, it is something that will only be produced by allowing Christ to grow it in us.  There is something else interesting about Paul's statement in this verse.  It cost Paul some pain and suffering to learn how to be content. If you and I are going to learn to be content, it is going to cost us something.

Here is what Spurgeon said about this verse:

"We might well be willing to endure Paul’s infirmities, and share the cold dungeon with him, if we too might by any means attain unto his good degree. Do not indulge the notion that you can be contented with learning, or learn without discipline. It is not a power that may be exercised naturally, but a science to be acquired gradually."

How are you doing with learning to be content?

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, help me to learn how to be content, no matter my circumstances.  Help me to surrender my complaining and allow You to cultivate a spirit of contentment in my life.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Starving Our View Of God

"Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth." - Isaish 40:26


As you read through the book of Isaiah you will find that the people in that day had totally starved their view of God because of their idols.  I'm afraid that we have done the very same thing today.  We have failed to behold the One who has created all things and instead of cast our eyes upon idols.

Have you ever stopped and thought about the greatness of God that is revealed in nature?  Every time that the wind blows, every time you see a streak of lightning, every time a flower blooms, we see the might and greatness of God revealed to us.  However, many of us have so starved our view of God, because of our idols, that we fail to see and realize how awesome these things are and how awesome the Lord is.  I would encourage you sometime to spend some time surrounded by God's creation and just have a time of meditation, fellowship, and worship.  Allow the Lord to speak to your heart and truly see how great, marvelous, mighty, wonderful, amazing, awesome, holy, high and lifted up, that the Lord is.

The idols that we have allowed in our lives have lowered our view of God and elevated our view of ourselves.  Is it any wonder that we are hindered in our prayer life or in our worship of Christ?  When we are facing difficulties, discouragements, and disappointments, is it any wonder why we have no power?

I want to share with you a quote by Oswald Chambers:

"One of the reasons of stultification in prayer is that there is no imagination, no power of putting ourselves deliberately before God. We have to learn how to be broken bread and poured-out wine on the line of intercession more than on the line of personal contact. Imagination is the power God gives a saint to posit himself out of himself into relationships he never was in."

Do you lift up your eyes upon high and behold the One who created the universe?  Do you behold the greatness of His might and power?  Have you lowered your view of God and elevated your view of yourself?  Have you starved your view of God?

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, Your name is above all other names.  You are high, holy, and lifted up.  Help me today to see Your power, might, and glory in Your creation all around me.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Dejection

"But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done." - Luke 24:21


Do you ever feel dejected in your life and your walk with Christ?  The disciples sure did feel this way after Jesus had been crucified.  Just imagine, these men believed Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah, the One who would redeem Israel, and now they have just seen all of their hope and faith crucified on that cross with Jesus.

In the preceding verses every fact that the disciples stated was correct, but the inferences they drew from them were wrong.  Jesus Christ was sent from God, He did mighty miracles before all of the people, He was delivered to the chief priests and condemned to death, He was crucified on the cross, and He was the One to redeem Israel.  Their last statement is where they missed it.  The nation of Israel and even the disciples were looking for the wrong kind of redemption.  They were looking for a physical redemption from Roman oppression instead of a spiritual redemption from their sins.

If we are not careful, we will fall into the same trap that the disciples did.  Ask yourself this question: "What have I been trusting God to do?"  The disciples were trusting Christ to do something different.  Today, the immediate present, is the third day, and He has not done it, therefore we imagine that we are justified in being dejected and blaming God.  Does this describe where you are spiritually today?

I'm afraid that this is where many of us are when it comes to our prayer life.  Whenever our insistence is on the point that God answers prayer, we are off track.  The purpose and meaning of prayer is that we get a hold of God, not of the answer.  The disciples already had a preconceived idea in their heads of what they thought the answer should be, and when it did not happen that way the became dejected.  If you and I are honest, we are guilty of the exact same thing.

I would like to share with you a quote from Oswald Chambers about dejection:

"We look for visions from heaven, for earthquakes and thunders of God’s power (the fact that we are dejected proves that we do), and we never dream that all the time God is in the commonplace things and people around us. If we will do the duty that lies nearest, we shall see Him. One of the most amazing revelations of God comes when we learn that it is in the commonplace things that the Deity of Jesus Christ is realized."

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, help me today not to be dejected and discouraged.  May I not have a preconceived idea of what I think You should do, but help me when I pray to seek You.  Help me Lord to see Your presence in the common things and people around me.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Choices

"Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him." - 2 Corinthians 5:9


Your life is a series of choices.  You make them from the time that you wake up till you go to sleep everyday.  You make the choice to get out of bed in the morning and this starts a series of choices that you will make the rest of the day.  Some choices you make will be good and some will be bad.  As a Christian, you must strive to make choices that are pleasing and honoring to Jesus Christ.

I must say honestly that I am very disturbed and troubled by the choices that many in our churches make today.  These are people that have made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ.  Even though with their mouths they profess Christ, they make choices that show Christ in not really a priority in their lives.  Jesus Christ demands preeminence in your life, He will not settle for second place.  Are you giving Christ preeminence in your life?  Do you skip out on church to do other things?  Do you neglect to spend time in God's Word each day because you have more pressing things to attend to?  Do you fail to spend time every day in prayer because you are too busy?  If you are going to tell the world that you are a Christian and that Jesus Christ is your Savior, YOU MUST MAKE HIM PREEMINENT ABOVE ALL ELSE, NO MATTER WHAT IT IS!  This is a choice that you and I must make in our lives everyday.  Do the choices you make show Jesus Christ to be preeminent in your life?

I'm afraid that far too many of us are making choices that show how little we really think of our Savior and how little He really means to us.  Jesus Christ, God Himself, took our sins upon Himself and suffered our punishment on the cross that we deserved, and saved our wretched souls from eternity in Hell.  In light of this, why is that we choose not to make time to read His Word, why is it that we choose not to make time to pray to Him, and why is it that we choose not to make it a priority to be faithful to His Church?  If Christ has really done for us what we say He has done, then why do we choose to put other things and other people before Him?

If you sincerely want to lead and model a life that is pleasing to Christ, then you must make choices that are pleasing and honoring to Him.  CHRIST DESERVES NO LESS THAN PREEMINENCE!

"Life is a series of choices between the bad, the good, and the best.  Everything depends on how we choose." - Vance Havner


Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, help me today to make choices that are pleasing and honoring to you.  Help me to make Jesus Christ preeminent in my life.  May I put you above all other things and above all other people.  I pray that the choices I make each day will show the preeminence of Christ in my life.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Got Wisdom?

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." - James 1:5


Got wisdom?  Most of us remember a while back the commercials and ads that would ask "Got Milk?"  Do you have wisdom today?  The Bible tells us that if any of us lack wisdom that we should ask God and He promises to give us wisdom.  In fact, the above verse says that God will give to us liberally when we petition Him for wisdom.

During His earthly ministry Jesus taught His disciples to always ask God to meet their needs and depend on Him totally.  We should do the same.  No matter what your situation or need is today, you can go to the Father and bring your petition before Him.  The genuine heartfelt prayer of the child God will produce powerful change in them and in the world.  Christ told thee disciple that they had not because they asked not.  We are plagued by the same problem today.  Do you go to the Father with your cares, burdens, and petitions for wisdom?

Do you have questions about your future that you have no way of answering?  Do you have needs that are impossible to meet by your power or ability?  Do you sincerely desire for God to give you wisdom and guidance for your life?  If the answer is yes, then ask Jesus Christ today and then keep asking Him everyday to meet your needs.

Man typically have the reputation of not admitting that they are lost and not asking for directions.  However, we ALL are guilty of this when it comes to our spiritual walk with Christ.  We convince ourselves that we know what we are doing, we know how to handle the situation, we don't need any help, and that we can reach our destination without any directions.  Many a man will keep up the charade of thinking that he is not lost until he realizes that it is hopeless and he is lost.  Until he stops and asks for directions, he will never arrive at the correct destination.

How many of us today are guilty of the same thing in our spiritual walk with Christ?  Are you willing to admit that you need direction and wisdom today?  If you need wisdom or direction from Christ for your life, all you have to do is ask.

Prayer For Today:

Lord, help me when I have questions about the direction of my life or when I need wisdom to turn to You.  When I am weak, may I seek Your strength; when I am confused, help me to seek Your wisdom; and when I am discouraged, may I be reminded of Your love, mercy, and grace.  May I trust you for everything that I need.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Starting Your Day With God

Recently I started reading the book Transformational Church by Thom Rainer and Ed Stetzer.  As I was reading a few days ago, the Lord spoke to my heart about using my blog for prayer and devotion.  So, here we go as we start on this journey.  I pray that it will be a blessing and help to us all in our walk with Jesus Christ.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me." - Exodus 20:3

I would like to start off by sharing a few thoughts about starting our day with God.  How do you start your day?  Do you get up enough early enough to spend time with God in prayer and His Word?  Most of us if we are honest would have to say that we sleep to the last possible moment and then spend our mornings rushing around while leaving us no time for spiritual matters.  Is it any wonder why we struggle to make it through our days when do not get the proper start to each day by spending time with Christ?

Here is another question to ponder.  When it comes to spending time with the Lord, are you a person who squeezes God into your busy schedule with an occasional prayer before your meals and a visit to church on Sunday mornings?  I'm afraid that this is where most of us are at in our spiritual walk with Christ.  We just try to squeeze Him into our already busy and hectic schedules and then our flesh says "You have done your part."

I would like to challenge you to start your day with God by spending at least five minutes each day in devotion, prayer, and fellowship with Him.  I think that five minutes each day is a great place to start, but that is exactly what it is, a place to start.  As we continue on this journey, we should find ourselves spending more time each day with our Lord Jesus Christ.  As you begin each day, use this time to align your priorities with the teachings and commandments of God's Word.  Making the effort to spend quality time with God every day will change your life!

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, I desire You to reign over every corner of my heart.  I will have faith in You, I will trust Your will, and I will praise You for who You are.  Help me Lord to start each day right by spending time with you in prayer, devotion, and fellowship.  In Jesus name, Amen.