Friday, February 8, 2008

Prayin'

I have taught the subject of Biblical prayer a number of times and I am still amazed at the number of folks who do not understand that prayer is about God before it is about us. I have a preference to reduce things to their lowest common denominator. This helps in understanding and definitely aids in communication. Biblically speaking, prayer is a form of worship. As His children, we are allowed into His presence only by His grace. Our first duty as we come into His presence is to praise Him. Remember that we praise Him for who He is. We give thanks to Him for what He has done – with us..

I like to refer to our prayer time as our personal battleground! Spending time alone in prayer with our Father will find you tested as never before. This is spiritual warfare, up front and personal.

We have several of our partners standing in need of our prayers. Intercession, the act of praying for someone else, is an obligation of our faith of the first magnitude. Prepare first by spending time thinking on the attributes of God the Father. Complete this sentence: “God is _______________.” Be prepared to control your thoughts. The enemy will attempt to lead you to think of other things. Be prepared for interruptions. The enemy will try every resource available to interrupt your time seeking the presence of the Lord. Remember, you are in the kingdom of the enemy. You will have to work at it. Never forget that subtlety is the first attribute of the devil. The promises of Scripture are true, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” He will flee, but not without a fight.

Remember Starry Knight as she continues to struggle with health issues. Dutch Dave now has her home. This in itself is a testimony of God’s goodness (an attribute). Praise Him for His goodness and for His continued grace on Starry and her family and pray for strength where there is weakness, and continued healing all to the praise of His glory.

Remember Tody Brown as she struggles with a troubled heart with family and job issues. Pray that God will lead her as she seeks that path solidly in His will and that she will be at peace in His will.

Pray for Don Stanton as he struggles with God’s call on his life and the effort to balance ministry and full time employment.

Personally, a heart felt “Thanks Partner” to Sawbone Dan for being an encourager. We all need balcony people and the words from your balcony were most kind when they were sorely needed.
Pray for our witness in this game we all love.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey There! I agree, thanks!

Anonymous said...

I'd complete the sentence, "God is awesome" and that would be true, but I have discovered that my favorite way to complete that sentence is "God is God and I am not!" He continues to remind me that He and He alone is in control, no matter how hard I try. I thought I could save my daughter from the devil called alcohol, but when I found myself exhausted and gave her to God, Satan backed off and let her go. My husband was sent home from the hospital on November 10 with directions from the doctors to enjoy the comfort that Hospice could provide for him in the days before he died. We had no idea that we would be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with him. He was reconciled to the fact that nothing further could be done to save his life. He is a Christian man and felt that he was prepared to die. Once more God took control and reminded us that "He is God and we are not!" Not only is he still alive, he is thriving. He is regaining his strength and his weight and his energy. My husband is RH Brown and I know that many Cowboy Church members have prayed for him. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and want you to know that we pray for you as well. God bless you and yours.