How to Pray Specifically: 3 Steps to Follow

Posted on April 2, 2016 by Stephen Nielsen

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Specific prayers are always better than general prayers.

  • Specific prayers are more natural
  • Specific prayers are more honest and authentic
  • Specific prayers help us express our faith
  • Specific prayers are more effective

If you want your prayers to be specific instead of general, here are…

3 steps to follow

1. Pray for God’s leading. God has certain things in His mind that He wants us to pray for. When we pray for His leading and direction in prayer He will show us those things that are on His heart; and He will help us to pray specifically for each of those things.

2. Work at prayer. In order to pray specifically we must be willing to work at it and not give in to laziness. This kind of prayer requires the hard work of Bible Study and of searching the scriptures in order to find God’s will. It takes the work of an investigator, to investigate problems and to discern specific needs. It also takes the work of asking questions.  We must ask questions of people to discern needs; and when we pray we can also ask questions of God.

King David often asked questions of God when he prayed. For example, when he was trying to decide whether or not to attack the Philistines who were plundering the threshing floors in Keilah, he prayed, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines” (1 Sam 23:2)?

This seems like such a simple way to pray, but in order to get clear, specific answers from God we must ask simple, direct questions.

3. Be honest. Specific prayers are humble, real, honest, and revealing. If you aren’t willing to open your heart to God to reveal your needs, then prayers will never be specific or true. We must take the time to search our heart and to ask the Holy Spirit to help us search our heart. Also, take the time to read and meditate on the Word.  God will speak to you through the Word, and He will show you what is in your heart and how He wants you to pray.  He will show you specifically what to pray for.

 

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Happy Easter Thoughts: The Path of Life — Psalm 16:8-11

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Stephen Nielsen

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Psalm 16:8-11

8 I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

 

There could not be a group of more wonderful verses as these, especially on Easter. What great joy and hope they bring to us!

Verse 8 tells us most directly what we should do each day—to set the Lord as Lord before us, as our Leader and Shepherd. And when we do, our lives will not be moved (shaken, upset, disturbed).

Verse 9-10 is an Easter message—that because God did not allow His Son, the Holy One, to remain in the grave, He will give us (His believers) that hope as well.

Verse 11 is most precious to me. It shows us most vividly that if we listen to His voice and trust Him, He will show us the path that leads to eternal life. And on this narrow path, though troubles will appear on each side, He will always be with us, guiding us and giving us the joy of His presence.

Stay on this path and His presence will be sweet. That sweet and lovely path will lead to a wonderful open space where we will enjoy pleasures for evermore—pleasures that will never end and always satisfy. Oh yes, as David once wrote, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Ps. 23:6).

 

 

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Christ’s Resurrection is the First Fruits of the Dead — from 1 Corinthians 15:20-25

Posted on March 24, 2016 by Stephen Nielsen

Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

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TumbThe teaching in this passage is that Christ has become the first fruits of the dead—He was the first to be resurrected from the dead; and then all true believers in Christ will correspondingly be made alive in their own order. This means that there will be a certain order of resurrections of all believers of all times.

Rapture pictureThe first resurrection will be of church believers just before those who are raptured (1 Thess. 4:15-17). The next two resurrections will be of the tribulation saints and the Old Testament saints. These resurrections will be at His second coming, just before the millennial kingdom. The last resurrection will be of the believers during the millennium. We don’t know exactly when this will occur. They may be resurrected to eternal life individually, immediately after each one dies; or they may possibly be resurrected all at once just prior to the destruction…

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God Commands us Not to Fear

Posted on March 24, 2016 by Stephen Nielsen

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Joshua 1:9

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

 

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Promise of His Presence

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Stephen Nielsen

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Exodus 33:14

And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

 

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3 Ways to Get Rid of the Sin and Darkness that Overcomes Us

Posted on March 18, 2016 by Stephen Nielsen

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I think we all understand the temptation to sin. We understand that there is a devil that temps us, that we have sinful flesh, and that the world is also tempting us.  But what is really difficult to understand is why we give into temptation when we know how destructive it is to our body and to our relationship with God and Christ.

So why do we continue to do things that we know are wrong and destructive to us? Why do we continue to do things that are irrational and insane?  And after we do those things we always say in retrospect, why did I do that? That was dumb.  I really didn’t want to do that.  That’s just not me.

And it’s true. If a person is a Christian, he or she absolutely does not want to sin—because a Christian person has been given a new Christ-like nature.  And even though he or she still has their sinful flesh and a sinful nature, their new nature is dominant and they walk in the light as Christ does.

John 8:12

Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

So what happens? Why does a Christian who lives in the light and has a dominant new nature give into sinful temptation time and time again? (Yes, even a Christian may have some habitual sins he is not proud of.)

Well, I think it has a lot to do with the power of darkness that occasionally and temporarily overcomes us. We know that a Christian does not walk in darkness; he walks in the light. However, I think that when he is tempted to sin and decides to give into that sin just a little, that is when spiritual darkness will creep in and do much damage to our heart and mind.  It will cause us to not see things as they are—to be blinded to the truth. It will cause us to only see the pleasure of sin; it will cause us to shut off the thought of sin’s consequences.

So how do we get rid of the sin and darkness that overcomes us? Here are 3 ways:

1. Understand what spiritual darkness is. Spiritual darkness is a place or a spiritual realm where demons may dwell and where unconfessed sins are stored and hidden. Hence, the darkness conceals sins that we would rather not confess. Moreover, this place, or places of darkness in the mind is where truth is blocked out. It is an evil stronghold. And the more sins one choses to hide there, the stronger the stronghold becomes (read 1 Cor. 4:5; 2 Cor. 10:4-5).

2. Understand how it traps us and overcomes us. We are trapped by sin and darkness when we are not prayerful and are not abiding in the word; for when that happens we become spiritually sleepy and lazy and we give the devil and sin an opportunity to creep up on us and take us off guard (1 Thess. 5:4-6).

Also, when we mistakenly participate with the world in sinful activities, this is unpleasing to the Lord and if it is not immediately forsaken will work in your mind to build up a dark and evil stronghold.

3. Take these four positive steps. First of all, you should confess and forsake all unconfessed sins and all open avenues to sin. Clean out and be rid of all materials and all activities that would cause you to sin. Secondly, begin meditating and memorizing scripture verses that God puts before you that you think would help you. I do this a lot myself. I have a box of verses I review daily next to my bed, and a few blank cards that I write new verse on. Third, if you are not already, become active in church and a small group or bible study. We all need constant fellowship and Christian companionship. Last, develop a regular habit of prayer every day. Pray over every sin problem and over every trouble you have.  Give everything to God.  Trust Him with everything.  Pray also for others and trust God for them.

Soon, as you do these things, you will experience victory over sin and the darkness will turn to light.

 

Posted in Bible Studies, From My Pastor's Sermons, Prayerful Thoughts and Intentions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ephesians 3:16-19: Paul’s Four-Point-Prayer that Flows from His Heart

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Stephen Nielsen

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Ephesians 3:16-19

That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. NASB

 

Here Paul bows his knees to God (v. 14), being in great awe of His grace, by which He has given believers a new identity in Christ. He has given them a new spiritual life (Eph. 2:5) and has unified them—both Jews and Gentiles—together with Christ and made them sit with Him in heavenly places (Eph. 2:6).  Hence, as Paul prays for the Ephesians, he is mindful of these things and that God is the Father of all believers.

His petitions for them are four fold: first, that God would strengthen them with power through His Spirit, so that they would have what it takes (the power) to trust Him and live pure and holy lives; second, that as they trust Christ He would dwell in their hearts—that He would feel at home within them; thirdly, that their roots would go down deep into God’s love and that they would feel and understand how good and great and full His love is, that is, that they would experience it for themselves; and fourth, consequently, that they would be filled up with God.

We see by Paul’s prayers, that he is a man with a great intellect and that he has acquired a remarkable love relationship with God. And so, by this observation, we must conclude that our prayers will be reflective of our relationship with God.  Accordingly, if we want our prayers to be true we must endeavor to let them flow from our heart—so that our heart (our true self) is revealed.

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Nancy Reagan did not use taxpayer money to decorate the White House!

Posted on March 9, 2016 by Stephen Nielsen

Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

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Nancy Reagan has just died, and one of the main complaints about her that has survived all these years was just casually mentioned by someone in the media—that she extravagantly spent a fortune of public funds to decorate the White House. Well, that’s just not true!  And I am really angry that that rumor has survived all these 35 years.

Ronald autoI think it is way past the time to set the record straight. As it happens, I have been reading Ronald Reagan’s autobiography, Ronald Reagan, An American Life. I love it!  And one of the things I clearly remember reading is how Nancy decorated and refurnished the White House “at no cost to the taxpayers.” She did it all from donations, which she worked hard to get.

Being a painting contractor myself—and I also get involved in decorating—I really appreciate all that Nancy Reagan did, especially that she thought…

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4 Reasons Why Specific Prayer Is Better Than General Prayer

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Stephen Nielsen

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Specific prayer is prayer that is focused and direct, definite and exact. If you want your prayers to be faith filled and effective they must be specific.  For this reason, specific prayers are always better than general prayers.  Therefore, when you pray, think of specific (or definite) things you want to pray about, and then fix your mind on one of those things at a time.

When you think about it, praying specifically is really pretty easy; but I wonder why we don’t very often pray as specifically as we could?

I hope the following discussion will be of some help to you. Here are four reasons why it is better for prayers to be specific rather then general:

1. Specific prayers are more natural. It is normal and natural to ask God to give us exactly what we want and need. Any other way would be odd. We don’t go to a restaurant and say to the waitress, “Bring me some food.” No.  After looking at the menu we would tell her exactly what we want—“a baked potato, green beans, white bread, butter on the side, and a T-bone steak, medium rare.”  So it should be with our prayers to God.  It is the way God has designed us to pray and how He leads us to pray.

2. Specific prayers are more honest and authentic. General prayers tend to gloss over personal needs. But when we aim to pray specifically, we will come to grips with our needs and the needs of others. Likewise, the more we practice praying specifically the more God teaches us about it; that is, He teaches us that in order to pray correctly (specifically) we must search our heart and be willing to admit our needs and weaknesses, and to admit that we need His help.

3. Specific prayers help us express our faith. General prayers aren’t prayers of faith, because there is no definite thing in them to believe God for. People who pray general prayers pray not because they expect God to do any certain thing for them. They pray perhaps to fulfill an obligation, or to help themselves gain some sense of fulfillment.

Specific prayers, on the other hand, do help us to express our faith in God, because we are asking Him to do a definite thing for us or to give us a certain thing; and we trust Him to bring it to pass based on a certain promise of His, or on His good character.

4. Specific prayers are more effective. The mind cannot fasten its desire intently upon many things at the same time. But when desire is focused on one need at a time prayer for each thing is more intense, fervent, faith filled, and therefore more effective.

 

Posted in Part 3, Principles of Prayer, Prayer A to Z Excerpts, Zenith of Prayer | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ice Crystals On My Window

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Stephen Nielsen

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I don’t know anything about how ice crystals form on windows, but it sure looks beautiful.  I wonder why the crystals look so different on one window than the other. God’s handiwork is sure something!  It’s a beautiful peace of art work.

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