JACKS DAILY DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS
(Proverbs 29:18) "Where there is no vision, the people perish."
What do you “see” in your future?
What’s your “vision?”
Many people today live a fruitless life, because they have no vision, dream or purpose to motivate them.
Unfortunately they die without ever experiencing the satisfaction of experiencing a fulfilled life.
In 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation yet one hundred years later, African-Americans were still victims of segregation.
During a speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. expressed his vision, his dream, in these now famous words called “The I Have A Dream Speech".
Dr. King said “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the State of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream…of that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last’!’”
The night before Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, he told his audience he had “seen” the Promised Land, and even though they may not get there at the same time, they would surely one day enter it.
So here’s my question for you today.
Do you have a dream?
If you don’t have a vision for your life, you need to ask God for one.
Your life matters!
There are things that He has planned in your future that need your special touch and the gifts, the expertise that He has gifted you with.
Ask God to reveal it to you today.
And when He gives it to you, pour your life into it believing you’ll live to “see” it fulfilled!
Jesus said "Greater things than these shall ye do" (John 14:12)
Yes we face calamity on all sides and around us… but it cannot steal our hope, our trust, our faith in God, whom promises to meet all of our needs according to His riches in glory.
God wants each of us to feel significant and important in life and He has a plan for each of us.
“For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and give you a future, not plans for evil” (Jeremiah 29:11)
God encourages us to “trust in the Lord and do good, lean not on your own understanding but in all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
I know for some, life seems a little hopeless with little relief from the ongoing stressors we face each new day.
Sickness and disease escalating, the fires that are devastating our homes and communities, and the continued escalation of violence in our communities as never before and the economic upheaval that we all are facing
Every where we turn we see corruption and bureaucratic ineptness in our land.
But still God tells us to “pray for those in authority over us” (1st Timothy 2:2) and submit to His Word “as a lamp onto our feet and light unto our path” (Psalm 119:105)
The writer of the Psalms says “I have been young and now I am old yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging for bread.” (Psalm 37:25)
The old hymn of faith declares, “God will take care of you”.
As God used Martin Luther King, and Abraham Lincoln, and many of the historic figures of Americas past that rose up out of mediocrity… He can still use you and I to make a difference today.
The key is, do we trust Him?
Jesus said “If you can believe, all things are possible to them that believe” (Mark 9:23)
So today, ask God what it is that He has prepared for you to accomplish in your life… in your home… in your community and possibly in this world.
(Daniel 11:32) says the people who know their God will do exploits”
You are significant. You are the apple of His eye. You have great favor with God and He has not forgotten you,
So today go out and make a difference in someone’s life around you as God has prepared for you to do!
Good Day!
(Luke 22:31-32) "Satan hath desired to have you... but I have prayed for thee."
As I watch our society and the people that make up our society, I am often bemused and perplexed, frustrated with and disgusted at the antics I see the youth of our nation engaging in.
As a young father, (though I had no experience raising kids and did not have an instruction manual to follow), I was acutely aware of my responsibility as a father and what the bible demanded of me as the father of my children.
That is to, "train my children up in the way that they should go when they are young and when they are old they won't depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).
Do you realize your "problem child", could be the next "child of promise"!
God has a special destiny in mind for them… that’s why there’s often so much drama around them, him or her.
Satan has targeted them because he sees their potential.
He has discerned God’s plan for them and he’s out to stop it.
For example he used Pharaoh to get to Moses and King Herod to get to Jesus to destroy them before they were two years old.
Why?
Because one day they would grow into Gods plan for their lives as deliverers fulfilling God’s plan for humanity.
Likewise, Satan will attack your child of destiny.
Remember that all the great leaders of our world and history past were once children, whom grew to be leaders of influence.
Your child could be the next great leader or influence in our world.
Paul said, “It pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles” (Galatians 1:15-16).
But Paul spent the first thirty years of his life going the wrong way before he met Jesus and started going the right way.
So as the parent of a child of promise, what should you do?
The answer? Pray for them!
Know that Satan desires to have them, so we must pray for them… we must interceded for them…. We must stand in the gap for them.
“Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you”, (Luke 22:31-32)
While your children are young, lay your hands on them and speak God’s Word over their lives.
As they enter their teenage years, continue to pray and speak God’s blessing upon them.
As they enter adult hood, continue to bathe them in prayer and encouragement.
There is great potential in the life of your child… your grandchildren as well!
They too (like you) are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God.
God has a plan for them!
They are the future… don't let Satan have them!
Fight for them!
Pray for them!
Fight the good fight of faith through prayer for them continually.
Team up with God!
Team up with other parents and pray, pray, pray for your children!
Take them to church with you… do what ever it takes to get them involved… praise them and encourage them in their spiritual growth.
Help them realize that their spiritual growth is as important as brushing their teeth and bathing.
Now I know there are many of you that read this blog and your thinking, but Jack my children are all grown up what can I do now?
My friend you can pray.
Pray for them as parents and pray for them as grandparents!
You can pray for your grandchildren, and you can pray that the Holy Spirit would sovereignly move in their lives and the lives of their parents.
Pray that God will opening their eyes so that they will not be blinded by this worlds sin, acceptance of sin, and the unrighteous morals that our world is promoting as normal and common lifestyles.
Paul told young Timothy in Chapter 3 “But mark this… There will be terrible times in the last days.
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited… lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God… having a form of godliness but denying its power”.
Folks the only way to ever over come this pandemic of sin that is attacking our families and our society, is to bath ourselves and our families in prayer trusting the Holy Spirit to deliver us and protect us with a spiritual covering that we cannot do on our own.
Jesus is still at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf and on behalf of our families… including as well those that we lift up and bath in prayer.
(Hebrews 4:13-15) “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, bit we have one was tempted in every way that we are… yet He was with out sin!
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy, and find grace to help us in our time of need”.
Our families, our children and our grandchildren are in a time of spiritual need as never before.
What can we do about it?
We need to pray!
We need to pray in agreement with God, and pray for His intervention and His covering over our families.
Satan is desiring to have them, but as Jesus said to Peter, “I have prayed for you…”
As Jesus prayed for Peter and His disciples, He is still interceding for you and I and our Children as well.
So as the writer of (Hebrews 4:15) says “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we… (and our children and our grandchildren)… may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Good Day!
(Hebrews 10:25) “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is”
“I Believe in God, but I don’t do church.”
So what your telling me is that you don’t need anybody… you can live this life with out any spiritual encouragement from a fellow believer or prayer support from a body of believers whom are willing to storm heavens gates on your behalf.
Your telling me that you can worship and give praise to Gpd with out the support of believers around you whom are lifting their voices to God building a platform of praise for the Holy Spirit to move amongst the body of Christ touching and strengthening as He wills.
You can do it all on your own.
As a reminder, the enemy has the ability and the power to use both “good and bad things” to keep you from “God things”… but only if you let him.
He uses distractions, such as hurt feelings, bitterness, hard-heartedness, pride, awkwardness, and even feel good/treat yourself days… (which we all have a right to and the freedom to experience) to his advantage.
C.S. Lewis said it perfectly: “The perfect church service would be the one we were almost unaware of… because our attention would have been on God.
The biggest problem or distraction about not finding the perfect church is in the fact that to many fix there attention on the service itself… rather than entering into worship and gleaning what can be received from the spoken word of God that is preached and the praise presented to God in worship.
It is mad idolatry that makes the service itself greater than the God it worships.”
Dear friends, God is the focus of the church.
Neither the church, the service, nor the people attending need to be perfect for you to hear His life-changing word and experience His presence when in a church service… or gathered together with the church the body of Christ”.
Remember Jesus said, “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst” (Matthew 18:19-20)
The truth and the facts are this!
We grow and mature when “we connect” with every day people, pouring our lives into them and allow them to pour their lives into us.
The local church, led by Jesus and the Holy Spirit, is the light of the world… and its in God’s “plan and His way” to disciple the nations in preparation for His return.
(Matthew 16:18) says, “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
How can we despise or resent the church when Jesus not only said He was going to build it, but that He would use it to storm the gates of hell?
That’s something I want to be a part of, don’t you?
It’s true that there are religions in our world which have fallen into the trap of trying to accumulate numbers, followers focusing on building and “mega corporations”… rather than focusing on turning hearts toward God.
But not all church groups are guilty of this.
A bible-believing, bible-teaching church comes together as a reminder that we can only experience “fruitful mission” or “fulfilled purpose”, when we are fully “abiding in” and drawing strength from the true vine (John 15) and from one another.
His word is our daily bread. Our fellowship with one another is our strength.
And in a world offering countless different perspectives to experiencing life in all of its fullness… the church is one place that people can find truth.
The church is a lighthouse in an unethical and immoral fog.
Jesus taught in (Matthew 5:14–16) “You are the light of the world.
A town built on a hill cannot be hidden… neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven”,
If you claim to know and love God, yet do not have a desire to be a part of His church,
I lovingly, passionately implore you to re evaluate your attitude toward the church.
Get in His word and read what He has to say about “His calling” for us, as part of the body, the bride, as the church.
There are a hundred or more things that can distract us from being part of His church, but it all comes down to our priorities.
If you’re hesitant, I challenge you to make an intentional choice to get involved and join in worshiping God with a local church in the days ahead!
I promise you that as many reasons as you might have not to go, there are even more reasons to trust God and pour your life and heart out for Him alongside His people.
Again Jesus said “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst” (Matthew 18:19-20)
I love you all and pray for you all daily!
Good day!
(Hebrews 10:25) “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is”
“I Believe in God, but I don’t do church.”
This is the beginning of a conversation that I have had countless times with people of all different ages, backgrounds and experiences.
This devotion today is an encouragement for all of us to be careful to consider why we or someone we know, would abstain from going to church.
If you are a child of God… a believer in Christ whom has believed and excepted the truth of the Gospel as the light and fulfillment of your salvation with God… then you are a part of the household of faith.
No doubt about it… it is a done deal… For by grace are ye saved thru faith and that not of yourselves but it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8)
Our salvation is based "not on our works" or our church attendance.
But it is vitally important that as a human child matures and grows up become mature in life… it is just as vitally important that we grow up into maturity spiritually as well.
The writer of Hebrews encourages believers to “Press on to maturity” (Hebrews 6:1)
But my friend I have to stress you cannot press on to maturity in Christ with out help, with out teaching and coaching, with out the help of other believers around us.
That’s why we need to go to church… not only to worship, but to be taught in the things of God.
To be taught and fed the scriptures.
I can almost hear some of your thoughts as I type this:
“But I don’t like the worship music; the pastor isn’t friendly enough, I am too busy, having kids makes it too hard to get there, my husband/wife doesn’t want to go so I don’t go, people aren’t friendly and welcoming, it’s not the church that Jesus designed it to be”
And, of course, the most popular argument, “the Church is a corporation created by man for the consumption of money;
I’ve heard it all, and to be honest, many of these things I have thought myself.
Oh by the way the same things you are complaining about or finding fault with, some one else is complaining about and accusing you of as well.
But, let me ask you, “how will we fix what is broken in the church or help right the wrong, if we refuse to be a part of it”?
If you evaluate your life today, are you choosing “busyness and bitterness” over worship?
Ar you choosing spiritual entertainment over worship?
We can sit behind the scenes criticizing, or we can live out an active faith serving and getting involved…making real changes, loving on real people, living life alongside those in real pain.
The enemy of our soul is strategist.
Peter writes in (1st Peter 5:8) “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour”.
He comes to steal, kill and destroy our faith and our relationship with God as well as our relationship with other believers.
All the enemy of our soul had to do, was distract them.
And with that distraction, we are more susceptible to his attack and deception.
A predator seldom attacks the group; they always attack the outside of the fold or the group, looking for those targets that are alone or separate from the fold or the rest of the herd/group.
Unfortunately I’ve witnessed “church-hopping” where people treat church like Goldilocks treated beds.
People want that “just right” perfect church, but when they can’t find it, they walk away setting themselves up for the attack of the enemy.
There is strength in numbers!
Because we are all human and imperfect, and as long as we are housed in these imperfect bodies, we will never find, “the perfect church”.
We should not be looking at what we can get “from” the church… but our hearts should be set on “what can we give” to the church… what can I give to the Lord?
And if you can’t do that in a “big building church”, then there are lots of smaller community churches that would love to welcome you and get you involved in the “on going work” of reaching out to their community and being a light of Christ
Be intentional and be a part of the solution, not part of the problem!
It’s not “all about you”, but it’s about others and the world around us.
How bright is your light shining?
Again the writer of Hebrews encourages us (Hebrews 10:25)
(Hebrews 10:25) “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is”
Lets talk some more about this tomorrow…
Good Day!
I can almost hear some of your thoughts as I type this:
“But I don’t like the worship music; the pastor isn’t friendly enough, I am too busy, having kids makes it too hard to get there, my husband/wife doesn’t want to go so I don’t go, people aren’t friendly and welcoming, it’s not the church that Jesus designed it to be”
And, of course, the most popular argument, “the Church is a corporation created by man for the consumption of money;
I’ve heard it all, and to be honest, many of these things I have thought myself.
Oh by the way the same things you are complaining about or finding fault with, some one else is complaining about and accusing you of as well.
But, let me ask you, “how will we fix what is broken in the church or help right the wrong, if we refuse to be a part of it”?
If you evaluate your life today, are you choosing “busyness and bitterness” over worship?
Ar you choosing spiritual entertainment over worship?
We can sit behind the scenes criticizing, or we can live out an active faith serving and getting involved…making real changes, loving on real people, living life alongside those in real pain.
The enemy of our soul is strategist.
Peter writes in (1st Peter 5:8) “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour”.
He comes to steal, kill and destroy our faith and our relationship with God as well as our relationship with other believers.
All the enemy of our soul had to do, was distract them.
And with that distraction, we are more susceptible to his attack and deception.
A predator seldom attacks the group; they always attack the outside of the fold or the group, looking for those targets that are alone or separate from the fold or the rest of the herd/group.
Unfortunately I’ve witnessed “church-hopping” where people treat church like Goldilocks treated beds.
People want that “just right” perfect church, but when they can’t find it, they walk away setting themselves up for the attack of the enemy.
There is strength in numbers!
Because we are all human and imperfect, and as long as we are housed in these imperfect bodies, we will never find, “the perfect church”.
We should not be looking at what we can get “from” the church… but our hearts should be set on “what can we give” to the church… what can I give to the Lord?
And if you can’t do that in a “big building church”, then there are lots of smaller community churches that would love to welcome you and get you involved in the “on going work” of reaching out to their community and being a light of Christ
Be intentional and be a part of the solution, not part of the problem!
It’s not “all about you”, but it’s about others and the world around us.
How bright is your light shining?
Again the writer of Hebrews encourages us (Hebrews 10:25)
(Hebrews 10:25) “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is”
Lets talk some more about this tomorrow…
Good Day!
(Luke 11:1) “Lord, teach us to pray”
We all have people we admire.
Someone in your life that you admire for the love they have for Jesus.
You hear it in their voice, see it in their smile, and feel it in their love for you.
You know this person has somehow built a communion or relationship with God, personally, intimately, regularly.
You assume they have a vibrant and consistent prayer life, even though you’ve never seen or heard their private prayers.
And you wish your relationship with God was more like theirs.
It’s obviously no surprise that Jesus’s disciples experienced such a closeness with him.
Luke writes, “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray’” (Luke 11:1).
We can safely assume that Jesus prayed with his disciples, probably regularly.
They had heard him pray many times.
Yet this was different. “Teach us to pray,” really meant, “Tell us what happens when you are alone with God”.
What Jesus says in the next few verses are the boldest, and most important words that we need to heed and to take with us into prayer.
Jesus said to them, “pray then like this” (Matthew 6:9–13):
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil".
You may have memorized a version of the "Lord’s Prayer" when you were younger.
It’s simple enough for children to commit to memory.
But we need to remember that Jesus gave this prayer to "twelve grown men".
This is not just a prayer for a sixth-grade Sunday school, but for all of us.
Jesus taught these men this simple, yet awe-inspiring prayer, and then sent them into the world to be persecuted and eventually killed for their faith.
The “Lord’s Prayer” isn’t a childhood poem to be shelved and remembered with affection.
It’s not for nostalgic reflection!
These are words to be rehearsed and held with conviction, through whatever we face or suffer in this life, until our final breath.
Are you looking for a place to start in prayer, for words strong enough to help you in the heavy challenges and hardships before you in our broken world?
Then listen to and understand each line of this prayer.
Jesus is concerned more with Gods glory and Gods fame, than He is about His own.
He says “Father, spread your fame”.
The first and greatest line in this prayer is “Hallowed be your name.”
It comes first and hangs like a banner over all the others.
“God, make your name great, in the world and in me”.
“Reveal your glory”.
“Unleash more of your power and beauty on and in us”.
Paul says, “Whether you eat or drink” (or pray) “or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1st Corinthians 10:31)
This is how (1st Corinthians 10:31) prayers begin, “Hallowed be your name.”
You were made for God and His glory, and you were saved for God’s glory (Ephesians 1:5–6).
And your greatest happiness will be found only in God (Psalm 16:11).
Prayer allows us to daily "tie ourselves" back into that one great purpose and source for our lives.
Don’t ever take God and His glory for granted.
Set your mind and heart to enjoy Him daily, and to display Him daily to the world around you.
Plead with Him for “eyes to see His glory”, in His Word and in this world.
Pray for boldness to share it with others.
I’ve talked earlier about why some of our prayers are not answered.
James says its because we ask amiss.
The greatest mistake we make when we are praying is that we are asking God to do things for us in our selfishness.
For our glory our happiness our comfort. When we become focused in
His glory, and His majesty and His will… I believe we will see the protecting preserving power of God in our lives naturally manifested.
Jesus said “seek ye first, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness… And then all these things will be added unto you.”
I encourage you to read Psalm 91 after you’ve read this devotion and then give prayers of thanksgiving for all that He is, He is doing, and He has done.
Good Day!
(Luke 5:16) “He went away to be by Himself and prayed”.
As believers, as Christians, and as children of God, God wants us to
spend time with Him in prayer.
Jesus had come to earth to bring “The kingdom of God” to men.
He made it clear that things in “The kingdom of God” were very, very
different than the things in this world.
That’s why we need to pray to the Father and be in close communion with Him regularly.
As I started out at the beginning of this devotional, I shared with you that the Bible says “He went away to be by Himself and pray”.
Let’s talk about why Jesus took the time to pray.
Jesus had left His Dad’s side, where He lived in heaven, so as often as possible, He snuck away from other people so He could go talk to His Dad once again.
In these quiet places, Jesus could simply be real with God.
He could talk to His Father about everything that was going on in His life.
He could give God praise, seek God’s perfect will, and ask for the strength He needed to accomplish the amazing task of healing people, casting out demons, teaching, and ultimately going to the cross to pay the price for our sins.
A couple of years ago our church sent a group of teenagers on a month-long mission trip to South America.
The teenagers were told not to take their cell phones because they wouldn’t work so far away.
Telephones were hard to come by in South America, so the students wouldn’t be able to speak to their families for over ten days from the day they left home.
On the eighth day, the parents received an email from the group leader telling them when they could expect a phone call from their child.
It would come the following Saturday, between noon and 4:00.
Let me ask you!
Do you think the parents were excited about getting the phone calls?
Yes! Absolutely!
All the parents cancelled whatever plans they had so they would be home to receive that phone call!
They missed their sons and daughters so much; they couldn’t wait to hear everything that their child was experiencing on their trip.
Jesus was very much like a Son on a mission trip!
He left His Father to come to us, to make the way for us to enter the kingdom.
Prayer was a lot like that phone call.
It was His opportunity to speak to His Dad.
They were crazy about each other and they wanted to talk to each other as often as possible.
As believers in Christ we are on a kingdom mission as well.
This world is not our home!
(Ephesians 2:19) says “we are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”,
Your Dad in Heaven is waiting for your “phone call,” and the awesome part is that there is no limit on the times we can go to the Lord in prayer!
Good day!
(Luke 5:16) “He went away to be by Himself and prayed”.
As believers, as Christians, and as children of God, God wants us to spend time with Him in prayer.
Jesus had come to earth to bring “The kingdom of God” to men.
He made it clear that things in “The kingdom of God” were very, very different than the things in this world.
That’s why we need to pray to the Father and be in close communion with Him regularly.
The disciples that followed Jesus saw that there was a significant relationship that Jesus enjoyed when He went away to pray, and so they requested that Jesus teach them to pray.
In response to the disciples request to teach them to pray, Jesus gave them this formula or example.
In Jesus’ prayer, He started by calling God “His Father”.
If you have faith in God and have put your trust in Him, He is your Father.
You have been adopted into God’s family and you have the right to call Him "Abba Father", or "Daddy".
(Romans 8:15) "but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, 'Abba Father!
Then Jesus praised His Father’s name... “Hallowed be thy name”.
This is the best way to begin any prayer!
Praise honors God, and it reminds you that God can do anything!
Next, Jesus asked for the Gods Kingdom to break out on earth... “May your kingdom come, thy will be done on earth”
In Jesus’ model prayer, God and His kingdom come first (Hebrews 8:10-11)
Space does not allow for a full explanation, but consider that Jesus prayer was about a world in which the human nature will one day be changed and the New Covenant that Jesus mentioned in the Bible will be completely mandated throughout the entire universe.
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people".
Then Jesus asked for His needs to be met that day.
Do you realize that it is alright to pray for what you need?
The Bible says that “every good and perfect gift comes from your Heavenly Father” (James 1:17)
Jesus said “You can ask the Father for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do”,
Next, Jesus said to ask for forgiveness and to forgive others.
Again Jesus explained that “if we are not willing to forgive others, God will not forgive us” (Matthew 6:15)
Finally, Jesus said to ask God to keep us from sinning.
This comes only by God’s grace (Titus 2:11-12) “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age”.
There is no magic formula for praying to your Heavenly Father... but here is a guide to help you pray:
-We start with Praise!
-We acknowledge His Coming Kingdom!
-We lift our needs up before Him.
-We ask for forgiveness, and we also express heart felt forgiveness to those whom have trespassed against us.
-We also ask for continued grace in our own lives.
Of course, there is so much more you can say when you pray, and you don’t have to touch on every point every time you pray!
Just talk to God like you talk to your best friend and remember that God handcrafted you!
(Psalm 139:13) “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well”.
(Matthew 10:30) “He knows how many hairs are on your head”!
God knows you better than anyone and He wants to spend time with you every day and He promises to reward you when you come to Him privately in prayer.
(Matthew 7:10) “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake”
This does not mean that God will give you everything you ask for.
But you can be certain that He will hear your requests and will answer in the way that is best for you.
Good Day