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Good Summer Reads
A good friend emailed me commenting on how much she is looking forward to the summer break. I do want to slow down this summer and catch my breath. Maybe even read a little in some of the books I have under my bed! Oh, how delicious – having a space of time to read; to let your soul recover from living in the fast lane and slow down to the speed of life. I, like my friend, am the stacker reader type. Books are stacked on most visible surfaces in my home. While I have more books waiting to be read on shelves that shout – no more room…
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Authentic Relationships: Praying for One Another
To pray “in Jesus’name”means to pray in His Spirit, in His compassion, in His love, in His outrage, in His concern. In other words, it means to pray a prayer that Jesus Himself might pray. Kenneth L. Wilson Taking it to God: Praying for Others as Jesus Would We must be in tune with the Lord’s purpose for the person receiving our prayers (1 John 5:14,15). This means that you will only pray in line with the requestor’s request when it is in line with God’s will. Remember, we are not to make requests that ask God to violate their free will. However, we can ask God for mercy and…
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Discover Prayer (Part VI): Have an Attitude of Gratitude!
Thankfulness is to render gratitude or express thanks for words spoken or actions taken on our behalf. However, to be thankful, we must be able to recognize the giver’s favor, gifts, or promises on our behalf. Realize the Bible is filled with as many as 30,000 different promises from God to us His children. Every day we receive God’s grace (i.e., God’s unearned favor) for the fulfillment of these promises — and yet we often let them go unrequited.
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Discover Prayer (Part V): Live a Lifestyle of Unconditionally Loving Others
We must live a lifestyle of loving others unconditionally for our faith to work (Galatians 5:6) and remember faith (1) is essential for our prayers to be effective. This is because by loving others when they do not deserve it, we cause our own spiritual hearts to believe that God loves us enough to help even when we do not deserve it. The result is our having the confidence to ask God for what we need, want, and desire independent of our circumstances. However, loving others must not be just words alone but rather with actions that are done without false pretense and conditions (1 John 3:18-24. James 2:15,16).
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Discover Prayer (Part IV): Pray in Faith!
if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20) In the previous Discover Prayer blogs we have reviewed the following tenets of prayer: We must ask and ask in Jesus’ name to receive. (1) Our motive in asking must not be selfish but rather to honor God our Father. (1) The requests are to be based on the contract that we have with God. (1) With the introduction of these important foundation principles, we are now poised to analyze the process of prayer to increase our prayer…
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Discover Prayer (Part III): Pray the Promise, Not Just the Problem!
Pray the PROMISE, NOT just the PROBLEM. God was aware of our problem(s) before we were and provided a promise as the solution (i.e., scripture verse(s) in the Bible) long before it came to our attention. Furthermore, rehearsing ONLY the problem to God makes it grow larger in our hearts (1). Praying the promise causes our hearts to believe in God more than the problem. Remember, whatever you place your attention on will grow larger in your heart – PROMISE or PROBLEM.
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Discover Prayer (Part II): Seek Only Our Heavenly Father’s Glory!
When I was a child, my family had a dog named Angus by my father due to this Labrador appearing like a Black Angus cow. He was an outdoor dog that loved to play with me and my two brothers and sister. We could count on him meeting us when we walked home from school via a path through a cotton field. Sometimes he would even meet my older brother and me in the gym at school to the consternation of our coach! He wanted to be with us, even if just to sit quietly together in the cool evening breeze enjoying a sunset together. He was loyal, and although…
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Discover Prayer (Part I): We Must Ask!
We must remember to ask our Heavenly Father for the things that we need, want, and desire (James 4:2. Philippians 4:19. Psalms 23:1. Psalms 37:4). There are several different Koine (common) Greek words that we translate as our English word “ask.” Furthermore, the one used in this verse (James 4:2) is Strong’s number 154 aiteo {ahee-teh’-o} which Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Of The Bible defines as “a demand of something due.” (2) This is not to imply that we are trying to boss God around or be rude. However, it is like being at the supper table with your family and asking them to pass the salt. The salt is rightfully…
