Have you ever wished your smartphone had a direct line to God so you could talk to him every day? And tell him all your troubles. I can tell you one better than that. You don't need a smartphone or any other kind of phone. You do have a direct line to him if you have been born again.
I know that there are those that probably do not really know how to pray or perhaps think they don't. Sometimes we don't know what to pray. And so for the next few days, I will focus on prayer and how to call on God in different situations.
The very first thing to know is that God does not listen to the prayers of people that are unrepentant. He only listens to those that have repented and worship him. John 9:31.Those who are open to hearing his voice. The only exception is that he does hear the prayer of a sinner that asks God to forgive him and come into his life.
There are times in my life that I do not know how to pray. Especially when someone needs a prayer answered but cannot or does not want to give details about why they need it. And so the Lord's prayer is the best way for me to go in those situations. And Jesus taught us that prayer in Mathew 6:9-13.
One day one of Jesus's disciples said to him, Lord teach us to pray. Jesus said When you pray to say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be they name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the glory and the power forever. Amen.
This prayer covers the basics of what we all need. First, it acknowledges God is our Father and how great he and his name is. Then we want his kingdom to come as he has promised us and we look forward to that time. We ask for his will to be done not only in our lives but those we are praying for as well. We ask for our daily needs to be met. We then ask him to forgive our sins as well as those that have sinned against us. We want him to keep us from all evil and away from anything that would tempt us to sin against him. And lastly, we acknowledge the fact that he is his kingdom and glory and is all-powerful forever.
Sometimes we ourselves do not know exactly what we need. And sometimes others want us to pray for something, in particular, that may or may not be God's will and but we must always ask for God's will first. For example, I know a woman that is almost 70 years old that I know very well. She regularly asks me to pray for her and yet she has made some very bad choices in her life that she then needs God to get her out of. However, she keeps making the same choices over and over. She does love God, I do believe. But she allows temptation to get her into things she shouldn't And to be fair, she has come from a really sad background. But. I began just praying for God's will because I don't sometimes think she knows what she needs or what is best for her. or if it something she just wants. What she does need is to stop making those bad choices and make the right ones. That I do know. So it is better left up to God to pray his will as to opposed to what she thinks she needs because she goes back and forth in her decisons and can be very wishy-washy.
We all do make bad decisions for sure. We need to know what God's will is and stick with his plan for us. But sometimes we just do not know what to do or what to pray for. Sometimes we jump ahead of him thinking something is his will only to find out it wasn't and now we are in trouble. However, when we do that and confess it to him, he is always ready to help us, even though we may have to pay the consequences. He loves us in spite of ourselves and to him be the glory forever! Amen!
Thanks for coming by today. Please be a blessing to others
and may God bless you as
well! Be sure to come
back tomorrow!
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