Seven Days of Devotionals - Day Five - PRAYER
How many of us pray on a daily basis? Prayer develops our relationship with God. If we never spoke to our friends, family, or spouse, those relationships would quickly fall apart. In the same way, lack of prayer causes your relationship with God to suffer, so it is important to keep those lines of communication open.
There are different types of prayers. There are individual prayers, community prayers, prayers for forgiveness, prayers for healing, prayers for help and guidance, prayers for financial aid, prayers for thanksgiving, etc. One can pray with words or sometimes I personally like to pray with song. When I take time to play the piano and I sing hymns to God, that is my private time with Him. As believers, we can pray from our hearts and use our own words to convey our feelings. Your prayer does not have to be eloquent or wordy, just from your heart. You can kneel to pray, stand, go in a closet, fold your hands, whisper, or speak out loud. God hears all.
Do you sometimes feel as though God is not hearing or answering your prayers? I think we all feel that way at some time in our lives. I often question myself and wonder if maybe I am not praying in the right way or maybe my prayer will be answered at a later date when it would be the most beneficial to me. Prayer should not be a grocery list of things that we desire. It should be a quiet time to talk to God about your worries, your needs, asking help for others in need, asking for His healing power. Just a sweet time of connection.
Joel Osteen said the other day that our prayers should start with reminding God of His promises to us rather than just asking for thing after thing after thing. If you are a parent and your child begs you for this or that, sometimes we turn a deaf ear. But if that child comes to us and reminds us that we promised him or her a particular thing, our ears perk up and we listen because we do not want to disappoint by breaking a promise. God is the same way. He does not break his promises to us.
God instructed us to pray in Matthew 26:41: "Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak!"
The first mention of prayer is found in Genesis.
Genesis 4:26 - "And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD."
Despite our heartfelt prayers, things do not always go the way we want. You may lose a loved one or your job. The relationship you are in may fizzle out. You pray and yet the outcome seems to be the opposite of what you asked for. I do not profess to have all the answers, but I know God has made mighty promises to us if we only pray. He wants to hear about our heartaches and He works in your life for your good if you love Him.
I love this verse and it brings hope to me.
1 John 5:14-15: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him."I leave you with this prayer:
Dear Lord, bless those that are reading this today. Place your love in their lives and your peace in their hearts. Amen.
There are different types of prayers. There are individual prayers, community prayers, prayers for forgiveness, prayers for healing, prayers for help and guidance, prayers for financial aid, prayers for thanksgiving, etc. One can pray with words or sometimes I personally like to pray with song. When I take time to play the piano and I sing hymns to God, that is my private time with Him. As believers, we can pray from our hearts and use our own words to convey our feelings. Your prayer does not have to be eloquent or wordy, just from your heart. You can kneel to pray, stand, go in a closet, fold your hands, whisper, or speak out loud. God hears all.
Do you sometimes feel as though God is not hearing or answering your prayers? I think we all feel that way at some time in our lives. I often question myself and wonder if maybe I am not praying in the right way or maybe my prayer will be answered at a later date when it would be the most beneficial to me. Prayer should not be a grocery list of things that we desire. It should be a quiet time to talk to God about your worries, your needs, asking help for others in need, asking for His healing power. Just a sweet time of connection.
Joel Osteen said the other day that our prayers should start with reminding God of His promises to us rather than just asking for thing after thing after thing. If you are a parent and your child begs you for this or that, sometimes we turn a deaf ear. But if that child comes to us and reminds us that we promised him or her a particular thing, our ears perk up and we listen because we do not want to disappoint by breaking a promise. God is the same way. He does not break his promises to us.
God instructed us to pray in Matthew 26:41: "Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak!"
The first mention of prayer is found in Genesis.
Genesis 4:26 - "And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD."
Despite our heartfelt prayers, things do not always go the way we want. You may lose a loved one or your job. The relationship you are in may fizzle out. You pray and yet the outcome seems to be the opposite of what you asked for. I do not profess to have all the answers, but I know God has made mighty promises to us if we only pray. He wants to hear about our heartaches and He works in your life for your good if you love Him.
I love this verse and it brings hope to me.
1 John 5:14-15: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him."I leave you with this prayer:
Dear Lord, bless those that are reading this today. Place your love in their lives and your peace in their hearts. Amen.
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