James 5:17a "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly..."
One of our favorite "catch phrases" is "Well...I've prayed about it". We use that phrase to excuse and rationalize just about every wrong decision we make. The truth is...most of the time we have not prayed about it. And if we have...it has not truly been earnest prayer. It amazes me how we can pray for five minutes about a matter and feel that we know God's will. I know many Christians who have made life-altering decisions after only a few moments of prayer. Have we completely lost the kind of earnest praying that keeps us awake through the night? It seems to me...if we have prayed about something earnestly...then the decisions we make would line up with the Word of God. If it doesn't...then it wasn't the Holy Spirit giving us the leadership to do it and chances are we didn't truly pray earnestly about that decisions. God would not lead us contrary to His Word.
In the garden of Gethsemene...Jesus prayed until He sweat drops of blood. He was earnest about His prayer. Until you find yourself sacrificing both time and energy...you're not going to see great things from God. Great answers to prayer come from earnest praying.
Our homes and our churches need men...women and young people who can earnestly get ahold of God in prayer!!
To be quite honest...we need to be more serious about prayer than anything else in our lives. We seem to burden ourselves down with so many meaningless interests and duties while at the same time we fail to really get serious and earnest with God about the most needful things in our lives.
This is an area of my life that God is dealing heavily with me lately. My prayer life is not near what it should be. Would that all of us that say we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ would get serious and burdened about our prayer life. If we did then we would make a change in that area and we would have more Spirit-filled Christians doing what God commands us to do with His power upon our lives!!
James 5:16b "...the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
24 comments:
oh sis. Julie all I can say is oh me.... Thank you for this great post. really encouraging
love you,
marsheila
sis. marsheila....I'm so glad it helped you. I know you are going through a terrible trial as most of us are. I'm praying for you that God strengthen you and encourage you as you wait on Him to do His will in that situation.
I can say a big 'Amen' to that. Sometimes I think we give up the best....prayer....for even good things like church programs. Intimacy with the Father is crucial to learning to hear His 'voice' and know His will. Sometimes we are so 'busy for God' that we neglect our time in the 'prayer closet'. And you're absolutely right. He will never lead us to do something that is contrary to His Word. Good post.
sis. karen....Amen!! You are so right. I'm glad this post blessed you and helped you.
This is excellent and timely. I've been convicted lately about my lack of effort at real prayer time. I see why Satan tried to mess it up for you today! But look who prevailed? Yipee!
Julie,
this was very beneficial for me as I have a dear friend needing prayer... the kind of prayer that needs to be on going (the answer will not come immediately) so often we think that we should get the answer right away, so we shoot of a prayer to God and then forget about it thinking he will answer when he is ready... when in face he may be waiting for us to LISTEN to him by reading the bible with a continuous prayer in our heart for him to lead us through his word...
Thank you for this post...
sis. pam...Yes....we DO see Who ended up winning that battle didn't we. Praise the Lord!!
sis. mimi....I too have several that need me to be praying in this manner for them. In fact...we should be praying about everything in this manner. Those people are counting on us taking them to the Lord in prayer!!
That was convicting and encouraging. I should really change my ways. Thanks for your blog. I love it. Thanks for the name of your blog as well.
jules....thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment. I can see why you would like the name of my blog. LOL!! Please come back.
Sis. Julie,
The Lord has dealing with me much in this area lately, also. He is so faithful. God knows everything we are going through, but He wants to hear from His children. Unlike the unjust judge, He doesn't tire of our continual coming to Him with our burdens, petitions and requests. Thank God! Sis Becky.
sis. becky...I'm so glad He doesn't tire of hearing from us!! Amen!!
Wow..ottally can see why the enemy was trying to THWART this post...you are so right on...we take this priviledge and requirement(Pray without ceasing)...so flippantly...myself included...and it is sure right there with something the Lord has been dealing with me about...
Thanks for plugging at the way and putting up the post.
Deby
sis. deby...with the response I'm getting on this post I can see why I had such a hard time publishing it.
Amen Mrs Julie we are back on line with dial up so it still may be until this weekend before I post again or I may do it tomorrow. How true that so many times in our lives prayer does lack. I know their are things going on up there that God has to give peace about. The Lord is blessing already here and we do miss you all up there.
Bro Tim
bro. tim....Your poor thing...you have to deal with dial-up for a few days. My husband said you were getting dsl but it won't be available to you till later this week.
The Lord will take care of us here. So just please keep praying for us that the Lord's will be done. We love you both!!
That was a very true and real post. And I appreaciate it so much. You just have a way of pin pointing the problem and addressing it. It's very refreshing.
Ginger
ginger...Praise the Lord!
May we all take this to heart.
Lord Bless...
bro. chris....We all certainly should.
I think we can all do better in our prayer lives. I know I can.
Prayer is our strongest link to God.
Great post!
~Kristi
sis. kristi....yes we can all pray more...and yes prayer is definitely our strongest link to God.
I know that there have been times in my life when I made decisions without the Lord's guidance. I'm so glad that the Lord used those intances to teach me how important seeking His will is! I still don't always make the right choices, but I sure try to!! I love what you said about "the kind of earnest praying that keeps us awake through the night" I have definitly been experiencing that lately!! You know all about the situation that I'm praying about. And I am trusting that the Lord is going to do great things real soon!! :)
jessica...yes I do know the situation you are praying about. I'm just thankful that you are praying!! But it is those earnest and fervent prayers that do the job so to speak. Just keep praying!! I'm praying for you!!
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