“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.” Jude 1:20
Prayer is not optional for the follower of Jesus. We often live as though it is. Prayer can easily get slipped to the back burner as things that feel more pressing take front and center stage. Then, when need arises, we leap to prayer and ask God to work according to our sense of understanding what the solution ought to be.
I remember the day a couple called me over to pray with them in a specific situation. I made the appointment. I listened. And I prayed. Yet when I left I had the sense that my prayer had not gone past the ceiling. I felt frustrated. I asked the Lord about it and received a clear sense in my spirit that I had simply prayed for the solution they desired rather than pausing and asking the Spirit of God to pray through me.
When we pray, depending on our own understanding, we limit God. When we depend on His living word, the Bible, to guide us and, when we ask His Spirit to pray through us, it’s like linking up two sticks of dynamite to move what needs to be moved.
When we sense God speaking to us by His word and through us by His Spirit, we don’t leave our prayer time frustrated, but encouraged and built up in our faith.
What an awesome privilege as followers of Jesus, to have the Bible to instruct our prayers and the Spirit of God to speak through us as we exercise the invitation to come boldly into His presence.
Father God, Thank you that You have provided Your word and Your Spirit to guide me in coming into Your presence to ask of You. I praise You for the opportunity of prayer and I ask that You would increase my dependence on You as I learn to walk in the power of Your Word and Your Spirit. In Jesus’ strong name I pray, amen.
Thought: Consider the deepest need on your heart and mind today. Set aside some specific prayer time to talk with God about it. Ask Him to guide you through His word. Allow His Spirit to pray through you by shaping your thoughts by the Scripture. Depend on His word and His Spirit to shape your prayers rather than simply praying your own best solutions to the situation. Write and tell us what you experience.
By Gail Rodgers
Used by Permission
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