praying Archives - Page 4 of 5 - Daily Thoughts about God

“You were not to know any god except Me, for there is no savior besides Me. I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of drought. As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, and being satisfied, their heart became proud; therefore they forgot Me.” Hosea 13:4a-6 (NASB)

“God, please bring suffering into my life.” Why would someone ever pray that? Seems foolish! Back in 1997 I had the audacity to pray this while attending a discipleship training school abroad. Was I just an enthusiastic, but rather naïve 19-year old, or was I on to something?

We need to be careful what we pray for. God I need a better job. Lord, please help us get a house with more room. Please help me find the right person to marry! God, can you heal my back pain? There’s nothing wrong with these prayers. God wants to hear our concerns and desires, but we so often pray for what we think will make our lives better. Gaining comfort is often our primary motivation.

Greener grass is not what we really need. When Israel got what they wished for, they forgot all about God in their prosperity. When life gets easier, we tend to take His kindness for granted and fail to live with an attitude of thanksgiving. God’s generous gifts then become idols that stifle our spiritual growth.

I’m not suggesting that we pray to have suffering, but we do need to think through our priorities. Our greatest need as followers of Jesus is to become more like Him. In God’s plan that often means allowing seasons of trials to drive us to greater dependence in Him. If God’s bottom line is to make us more like Jesus, then we should start praying like it’s ours too.

Dear God, make me more like Jesus no matter what it takes. Amen.

By M Jantzen

Used by permission
www.thelife.com/dailydevotions

Recently, I received an email with this question. “Why is it important to pray?”

Before I answered the question, I reminded the writer that praying is a two-way communication between God and His people. God speaks to us through His Word, through impressions, nature and people. We talk to God out loud or in our mind.

There are Many Reasons to Communicate with God.

1. To glorify God. Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13). The Father loves us and wants to bless us. We ask, He will do, and the Father will be glorified (get the credit).

2. To obey God’s command. “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We should talk to God thousands of times a day about everything. Big problems, small problems, quick prayers of thanksgiving, “help me” prayers or “help them” prayers.

3. Fellowship with God. “The prayers of the upright are His delight.” (Proverbs 15:8). Revelation 3:20 tells us that if we open our heart to Him, He will come into our hearts and have fellowship (we hang out with Him) with us. The Westminster catechism tells us the chief end of man to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. God loves for us to talk to Him.

4. We follow Christ’s example. There are so many references in the gospels of Jesus taking time to pray. (Luke 5:16) says, “But Jesus often slipped away to others places to be alone so that He could pray.” We are His followers and we too must make prayer a priority.

5. Prayer brings results. “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” (James 5:16). I encourage you to take the time to think about the prayers that God has answered. And also, make a goal to pray more.

6. Prayer is vital to Christian maturity. We will not grow in our faith, if we do not spend time with God and His Word. We can go without food for a day or two without too much effect but then we begin to get weak. In the same we way, we will get weak in our spirit if we go without spending time with the Lord every day. Prayer and the Word are food for our souls.

Father, what a privilege it is to talk to You. How awesome to think that You actually love to hear our prayers. Help us to spend more time talking to you—about everything. Amen.

Some of the content was taken from “How to Pray”, by Dr. Bill Bright.

By Katherine Kehler

Photo Credit: Chris Ford
Creative Commons License:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Email Visitors, please visit our webpage to leave a comment. We warmly invite your thoughts on this devotional.

Share with a Friend

Would you take just a moment to prayerfully consider sending this to two friends who might be blessed by what we’ve shared today?
If you received this issue from a friend, you can join our list at www.thoughts-about-god.com/blog/

Be Careful What You Pray For

Why Should We Pray?

Photo Credit: Chris Ford
Creative Commons License:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Share with a Friend

Would you take just a moment to prayerfully consider sending this to two friends who might be blessed by what we’ve shared today?
If you received this issue from a friend, you can join our list at www.thoughts-about-god.com/blog/

Brought to you by www.thoughts-about-god.com

Tag: <span>praying</span>

Be Careful What You Pray For

Why Should We Pray?

Photo Credit: Chris Ford Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Share with a Friend

Would you take just a moment to prayerfully consider sending this to two friends who might be blessed by what we’ve shared today? If you received this issue from a friend, you can join our list at www.thoughts-about-god.com/blog/

Brought to you by www.thoughts-about-god.com

Photo Credit: Chris Ford
Creative Commons License:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Would you take just a moment to prayerfully consider sending this to two friends who might be blessed by what we’ve shared today?
If you received this issue from a friend, you can join our list at www.thoughts-about-god.com/blog/