Hello there WordPress friends, Alas, here I am writing again. I took a long break from blogging. These days I have been reading blogs whenever I had the time, but haven’t had much of a…
Please check this out. There is a beautiful video song on this post.
Stephen
Source: February: Healing Is A Process
For a lot of people these days, lying isn’t a subject that they think about or that concerns them. Maybe they don’t think they ever lie and so they are not worried about it. Or maybe they do lie quite regularly, but don’t think it’s any big deal. I haven’t thought about it very much myself—until recently. The recent U. S. presidential debates (Feb. 20, 2016) have brought this subject to our minds hasn’t it? Personally, I have felt rather sick about it—mostly about the accusations.
It was hard to believe the things I heard going back and forth. It was shocking. It was like hearing children bad talking each other on the playground. But these are our presidential candidates! I understand that we are facing important issues, but lying and accusing others of lying isn’t helping anything. I have tried to listen to the debates as closely as possible…
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Basically, this prayer (below) by Paul is a request that the Ephesians might have wisdom to know what the Father has made the Lord Jesus Christ to be unto them: mainly, (1) that they might know the hope of His calling, (2) what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and (3) what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward them.
Here Paul is saying that Christ has called them to (or brought to them) a great hope, a hope which is in Himself. Hence, his prayer is that they might find this hope in Christ. Secondly, his prayer is that they might understand how rich and glorious their inheritance is, that is, what great things eternal life has brought them. I think the thought is that they are gloriously rich because they have gained Christ; their glorious riches are in Christ. Thirdly, Paul prayed that they might see that they are exceedingly powerful in Christ (that they have His power within them), and that it is the same power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at the Fathers right hand.
Ephesians 1:16-23
… [I] do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.
Just before the end of Jesus’ life on earth He began to teach His disciples to pray in His name. He wanted them to know that even though He was physically going to leave them, He would soon be with them in Spirit and would empower their prayers to the Father. He said to them, from John 16:23-24,
And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Well, Jesus still empowers our prayer when we pray in His name. But what exactly does that mean? In a nutshell, it means that we pray in Him, because of Him, and through Him. Let me explain:
1. Prayer in Jesus Name is prayer in Him. When we come to Him in prayer we have the right to approach Him on the basis of whom we are in Him. We come to Him as His sons and daughters, as His body (His church), and His bride. Likewise, we come boldly before His throne on the basis of His mercy and grace (on the basis of what He has done to redeem us). Yes, He died for us on the cross and paid the penalty for our sins. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:7). Now we are His possession. He has given us a new life with a new family. And so, on the basis of who we are in Him we may approach Him in prayer boldly and joyfully.
2. Prayer in Jesus Name is prayer because of Him. We ask Him for things in prayer on the basis of who He is. He is God and is all powerful; therefore, He is able to give us what we ask for. He is our redeemer; therefore, He has qualified us to pray—and we know that because God did not spare His own Son’s life, but delivered Him up for us, that He may also give us everything we need (Rom. 8:32). He is our High Priest and intercessor; therefore, we know that because of Him our prayers are heard by the Father. Moreover, every part of Jesus’ character and personality helps us in prayer. Because of who He is (because of His Spirit in us) we will pray better and wiser and with more persistence and effectiveness.
3. Prayer in Jesus Name is prayer through Him. When we pray in His name we pray on the basis of our relationship with Him. And we can expect to receive what we ask for when we abide in Him. Prayers are not answered only on the basis of who we are in Christ and who He is. They are answered also on the basis of what we do with Christ. It is not enough to be in Christ and to know who He is, we must abide in Him a make Him our Lord. We can be a son of God and we can realize His love for us, but we must show our love for Him; hence, we must pray with a love for Him and with a compassion for His will and kingdom.
Romans 15:5-6
Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In this beautiful benediction prayer, Paul prayed that God, the God of patience and comfort, would grant them like-mindedness—that is, having a spirit of unity, and that, as a result, they would glorify God in their prayers together.
There is nothing more frustrating and boring than to try to pray together with people that don’t know each other and that really don’t care to know each other. I mean I have attended church prayer meetings where you just know that the people have shown up out of some unknown obligation, and that is all. They have no desire to get to know each other in a desire to be like-minded for prayer.
On the other hand, I have been in prayer meetings where there is a constant desire to get to know each other and to pray for each other and to see God work. It is a sweet fellowship and a time that goes by much too rapidly. Yes, a time when God is glorified.
Marco Rubio stands out for me as one who would be God’s choice for president. Here are seven reasons why?
1. He seems to be a good Christian. He has Evangelical belief and values, and he attends church with his family. He also seems to have a good and growing knowledge of the bible.
2. He has a humble disposition and a good heart. He seems to be much like the biblical David who had a heart after God and who had the strength and courage to stand up and fight for the will of God.
3. He has family values. Anybody can see that he is one who puts a high priority on the family. He will work hard to strike down abortion and all other things that go against the family.
4. He has a God-given wisdom and brilliance beyond his years.
5. He would be an excellent…
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When we pray, His desires and burdens must be the central force of our prayers. That is, our desires and burdens must come from His desires and burdens.
Why do we have to have God’s desires and burdens to pray? The most basic part has to do with desire itself. We have to have desire to pray because prayer is made up of desire. Desire is the energy and the force of prayer. But in order to pray with real, Christian prayer our desires and burdens must come from God. They must be His desires, which operate through our desires; for earthly or fleshly desires can never do heavenly work. Here are three steps to acquiring His desires and burdens.
1. Abide in Him. The way we get God’s desires to be our desires is to accept His Son and abide in Him. Jesus has always had the desire to do His Father’s will; and He knows how to pray to the Father with holy desire. When we accept Him and abide in Him we will have compassion for the multitudes just as He had (Matt. 9:36-38); and we will cry out to the Father, “abba Father,” just as He did and does (Rom. 8:15).
And we will have this compassion and this desire in prayer not because He gives us the strength of desire in ourselves. No, the compassion, the desire, the burden that we will get in prayer is His compassion, desire and burden that works through us (through our desires).
But He does not just give us desire and then leave us. The desire we have in prayer is something that always works through Him. That is why we must always abide in Him. He is the source of true prayer; true prayer is energized by His own desires and burdens.
2. Recognize God’s desires and burdens when they come to you. As far as our own personal needs are concerned, if we are abiding in Christ, God will give us the desire to pray for the things that He wants us to have; and, of course He always desires to give us what we need.
God always wants us to pray for others. And He will impart to us the same burdens that He has for them according to their needs. Generally, if they are in need of guidance, like sheep without a shepherd, the kind of burden God has for them and that He wants to give us is a caring compassion—a compassion that not only prays, but seeks to meet the needs (just like Jesus met the needs of the five thousand, Matthew 9:36-38).
If someone has some kind of a sin problem, some kind of addiction or bad habit, the burden God may give us for them is a deep compassion, with a feeling of grief attached to it—for whenever anyone is in bondage to sin the Holy Spirit is grieved (Eph. 4:30), and He wants us to grieve with Him in prayer.
Another kind of burden is sort of a groan. God will give us a groaning burden for a person who needs to grow in the Lord and for whom He anticipates their growth (Rom. 8:22-27).
The burdens He gives us for people are always definite, specific, and personal, according to their need. They are never general or vague.
These burdens, which may come as an inner voice or impression to pray, may be strong and sudden, which means that prayer is needed immediately. Or the burden may last for a long time. In that case it means that prayer is needed for a long time. I suppose we could say that the rule is: God will give us a burden to fit the particular need.
3. Turn the desire God gives you into prayer. As we said earlier, desire is the energy and the force of prayer. It is the energy and force of His desire working through our desire. But if we don’t do something with that energy burning within us, if we don’t use it for prayer, the flame of desire will soon fizzle out and die.
When you feel that God is giving you a desire to pray for a particular person or thing, I suggest the following steps:
(1) Pay close attention to your desires. Try to discern what God is telling you. Spend time in prayer about it.
(2) When you think you know what God is saying to you, when the desire is more specific, go immediately to prayer and pray for as long as the burden lasts.
(3) If the burden is very strong and prolonged, add fasting to your prayers and keep praying. You may also want to invite a friend to pray with you to build more prayer power.
I pray that this image will help to renew your faith and will serve as a reminder that God is always near.
On January 17, 2016, as the sun was rising in the eastern sky, in Michigan, a woman named Mechaele Loraff, stopped her car and captured this image (click here to see the video). Apparently she was so in a hurry that she didn’t even recognize the image of the cross until after she had taken the picture. I wonder how she could have missed it. Anyway, it is all over the internet now and so many people have been blessed by it. People are say…
“God is real.”
“Thank you for helping me renew my faith.”
Some people have negative comments and even are saying that she photo shopped it. But, according to her, she doesn’t even know how to do that.
I really like the picture myself and have copied it as my desktop background.
I wonder if this image would qualify as a great sign from…
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Prayer A to Z 