Category Archives: Prayer

All Powerful / King of All, Blessed, Faithful, Father / Yahweh, Obeying God, Praise / Worship / Glorify God, Prayer, Protector / Deliverer, Provider, Thankfulness, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

Recount Your Blessings and Victories Which YHWH Has Delivered

Deuteronomy 3 reminds us to remember the victories which the Lord has given to us. While we journey through life with the Lord, He grants us many victories and blessings, in particular when we live in obedience to Him and with love for Him. Reflecting on what He has done for us can be very encouraging and remind us that He will continue to be with us, so long as we do not turn from Him.

Deuteronomy 3

Conquests Recounted

     1“Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Edrei. 2“But the LORD said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.’ 3“So the LORD our God delivered Og also, king of Bashan, with all his people into our hand, and we smote them until no survivor was left. 4“We captured all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5“All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars, besides a great many unwalled towns. 6“We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women and children of every city. 7“But all the animals and the spoil of the cities we took as our booty.

      8“Thus we took the land at that time from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon 9(Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir): 10all the cities of the plateau and all Gilead and all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11(For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was an iron bedstead; it is in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits and its width four cubits by ordinary cubit.)

      12“So we took possession of this land at that time. From Aroer, which is by the valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead and its cities I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites. 13“The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob (concerning all Bashan, it is called the land of Rephaim. 14Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called it, that is, Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.) 15“To Machir I gave Gilead. 16“To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even as far as the valley of Arnon, the middle of the valley as a border and as far as the river Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon; 17the Arabah also, with the Jordan as a border, from Chinnereth even as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

      18“Then I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘The LORD your God has given you this land to possess it; all you valiant men shall cross over armed before your brothers, the sons of Israel. 19‘But your wives and your little ones and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall remain in your cities which I have given you, 20until the LORD gives rest to your fellow countrymen as to you, and they also possess the land which the LORD your God will give them beyond the Jordan. Then you may return every man to his possession which I have given you.’ 21“I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings; so the LORD shall do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. 22‘Do not fear them, for the LORD your God is the one fighting for you.’

      23“I also pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying, 24‘O Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? 25‘Let me, I pray, cross over and see the fair land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’ 26“But the LORD was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me; and the LORD said to me, ‘Enough! Speak to Me no more of this matter. 27‘Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes to the west and north and south and east, and see it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. 28‘But charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go across at the head of this people, and he will give them as an inheritance the land which you will see.’ 29“So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

Take time to list some of the major victories and blessings that the Lord has delivered to you in your lifetime or just recently. Consider writing it down and sharing it with someone. Surely I could not remember all of them in one sitting, but I could remember many key victories. There are many. YHWH is such a wonderful, loving, and generous Father! Praise Him! He alone is worthy of our worship.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Discipline / Guidance From God, Fear / Reverence for God, Merciful, Prayer, Repenting from Sin, Seeking God, Teachable

Remember God’s Mercy Even In Hard Times And Ask For It

We are all sinful. Sometimes the Lord chooses to rebuke or punish His people for their sin for our benefit and His glory. He is a loving God but also a just God.

Remember God’s mercy even in hard times and ask for it.

Psalm 102

Prayer of an Afflicted Man for Mercy on Himself and on Zion.

A Prayer of the Afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD.

      1Hear my prayer, O LORD!
And let my cry for help come to You.

      2Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress;
Incline Your ear to me;
In the day when I call answer me quickly.

      3For my days have been consumed in smoke,
And my bones have been scorched like a hearth.

      4My heart has been smitten like grass and has withered away,
Indeed, I forget to eat my bread.

      5Because of the loudness of my groaning
My bones cling to my flesh.

      6I resemble a pelican of the wilderness;
I have become like an owl of the waste places.

      7I lie awake,
I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop.

      8My enemies have reproached me all day long;
Those who deride me have used my name as a curse.

      9For I have eaten ashes like bread
And mingled my drink with weeping

      10Because of Your indignation and Your wrath,
For You have lifted me up and cast me away.

      11My days are like a lengthened shadow,
And I wither away like grass.

      12But You, O LORD, abide forever,
And Your name to all generations.

      13You will arise and have compassion on Zion;
For it is time to be gracious to her,
For the appointed time has come.

      14Surely Your servants find pleasure in her stones
And feel pity for her dust.

      15So the nations will fear the name of the LORD
And all the kings of the earth Your glory.

      16For the LORD has built up Zion;
He has appeared in His glory.

      17He has regarded the prayer of the destitute
And has not despised their prayer.

      18This will be written for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created may praise the LORD.

      19For He looked down from His holy height;
From heaven the LORD gazed upon the earth,

      20To hear the groaning of the prisoner,
To set free those who were doomed to death,

      21That men may tell of the name of the LORD in Zion
And His praise in Jerusalem,

      22When the peoples are gathered together,
And the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.

      23He has weakened my strength in the way;
He has shortened my days.

      24I say, “O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days,
Your years are throughout all generations.

      25“Of old You founded the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.

      26“Even they will perish, but You endure;
And all of them will wear out like a garment;
Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.

      27“But You are the same,
And Your years will not come to an end.

              28“The children of Your servants will continue,
And their descendants will be established before You.”

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

All Knowing, Compassionate, Guide, Hearing from God, Learning To Pray Effectively, Loving / Kind, Seeking God

Bring Your Concerns Before The Lord; He Cares and Has Time For Us

Bring your concerns before the Lord. He cares for His children and He has time for us. I grew up assuming that God was too busy or not interested or something. Somehow I should just handle everything I could on my own and only when I could not handle something… then I should come before the Lord. This is not at all how the Lord wants us to live. He wants us to experience Him daily. He wants us to bring our concerns before Him, and not just when we can’t figure something out. He is interested in being an active Father in our lives, helping and guiding us. He is not disinterested and He is not “too busy”. He is infinite in His ability to listen and His love and interest in the lives of His children.

Numbers 36

Inheritance by Marriage

     1And the heads of the fathers’ households of the family of the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before the leaders, the heads of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, 2and they said, “The LORD commanded my lord to give the land by lot to the sons of Israel as an inheritance, and my lord was commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. 3“But if they marry one of the sons of the other tribes of the sons of Israel, their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of our fathers and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; thus it will be withdrawn from our allotted inheritance. 4“When the jubilee of the sons of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; so their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”

      5Then Moses commanded the sons of Israel according to the word of the LORD, saying, “The tribe of the sons of Joseph are right in their statements. 6“This is what the LORD has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them marry whom they wish; only they must marry within the family of the tribe of their father.’ 7“Thus no inheritance of the sons of Israel shall be transferred from tribe to tribe, for the sons of Israel shall each hold to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. 8“Every daughter who comes into possession of an inheritance of any tribe of the sons of Israel shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, so that the sons of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers. 9“Thus no inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another tribe, for the tribes of the sons of Israel shall each hold to his own inheritance.”

      10Just as the LORD had commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did: 11Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad married their uncles’ sons. 12They married those from the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained with the tribe of the family of their father.

      13These are the commandments and the ordinances which the LORD commanded to the sons of Israel through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

Bring your concerns before the Lord regularly. Ask Him to lead and guide you. Seek relationship with Him. Expect Him to answer. Do not dismiss it as coincidence when He does.

For more information, consider the following:

  • Learning to Pray Effectively
  • Posts related to hearing from God 
  • Experiencing God, by Henry and Richard Blackaby, is a modern classic that has sold millions of copies worldwide. Experiencing God is based on seven Scriptural realities that teach us how to develop a true relationship with the Creator. By understanding how God is working through us even as we try to fathom His ways, we can begin to clearly know how to relate to Him.
  • Experiencing Prayer with Jesus, by Henry and Norman Blackaby,  takes you into what many aren’t experiencing in their prayer life – intimacy with God. Experiencing Prayer with Jesus is not simply more information about prayer, but rather a leading into a life-changing encounter with Christ.
  • Hearing God’s Voice, by Henry and Richard Blackaby, is for those who are ready to listen. Henry Blackaby and his son Richard help those who are listening to discern the voice of God, to identify ways He speaks, and to respond to His revelations of His will.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

All Powerful / King of All, Justice / Judgment, Praise / Worship / Glorify God, Prayer, Provider, Righteous, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

Praise To The Lord For His Faithfulness

The Lord is in control. He is King of Kings. He is both holy and just. He answers our prayers and yet also disciplines us for disobedience and rebellion. He is a loving Father to His people. He is worthy of praise and worship.

Psalm 99

Praise to the LORD for His Fidelity to Israel.

      1The LORD reigns, let the peoples tremble;
He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake!

      2The LORD is great in Zion,
And He is exalted above all the peoples.

      3Let them praise Your great and awesome name;
Holy is He.

      4The strength of the King loves justice;
You have established equity;
You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.

      5Exalt the LORD our God
And worship at His footstool;
Holy is He.

      6Moses and Aaron were among His priests,
And Samuel was among those who called on His name;
They called upon the LORD and He answered them.

      7He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
They kept His testimonies
And the statute that He gave them.

      8O LORD our God, You answered them;
You were a forgiving God to them,
And yet an avenger of their evil deeds.

      9Exalt the LORD our God
And worship at His holy hill,
For holy is the LORD our God.

When you reflect on your life, not your intentions, is their clear evidence you are exalting the Lord? or yourself and your desires? Ask the Spirit to show you and then take time to listen, without getting defensive. Be like a child, seeking to hear the instruction from his Father as to what he should do to please Him.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Abortion, Discerning / Judging, Divorce, Homosexual Behavior, Marriage, Prayer, Purposeful / Intentional, Rebuke Wrong Behavior, Repenting from Sin, Wickedness / Evil

We Must Not Normalize And Accept Sin

As we dive into Luke 16, the parable of the unjust steward there is much to explore as we have begun in previous articles. Today, we look at Luke 16:18. On the surface it appears to be almost randomly placed.

It is clear and direct… YHWH does not intend for divorce. He intends marriage to be “until death do us part”. There is no clause for “until I change my mind” or “until it gets hard”.

Luke 16:18

      18“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.

For those seeking marriage or married… the message is clear… it is for keeps. Take it seriously and do not make quick or rash decisions in how you select or later treat your spouse. Invest in the relationship.

For those who have divorced… if you have not yet done so, seek the forgiveness of our gracious and merciful Lord. If you seek to remarry or have remarried… see the advice above. Seek the Lord in prayer. While we know we can be forgiven, we should never make light of divorce. It is a sin that often tears apart families in destructive ways.

However, let us explore the context of the placement of this verse in Luke 16. It follows the parable of the unjust steward. Ellicott’s Commentary summarizes it as follows:

Here, again, the explanation that has been given of the parable of the Unjust Steward, offers the only satisfactory explanation of the introduction of a topic apparently so irrelevant. The doctrine and discipline of divorce which the Pharisees taught, lowering the sacredness of the life of home, and ministering to the growing laxity of men’s morals, was precisely what was meant by the steward’s bidding the debtors take their bill and write fifty, or fourscore measures, instead of the hundred.

Our culture is still making the same mistake that the Pharisees did. We continue to downplay sin such as divorce, abortion,  homosexuality, adultery, and fornication. It is almost normalized as acceptable behavior. This approach of changing or lowering the standards that YHWH set leads to cultural and moral decay, focused on and filled with unrepentant sin. All too often we find this attitude is true even within the community and churches of those who claim to follow Christ. They may say “it is not right for me, but we should let others live this way”.

I understand how one can make a mistake, repent, and be a follower of Christ. But truly, how can one claim to follow Christ while actively advocating for sin and against what He taught? That person does not know Him. Those who know Him should not be passive, but actively engaging against normalizing sin in our culture. This includes engagement in the community, the church, and yes… government.

Take some time to pray and ask for the Spirit to speak to you about where you stand and what you should do next to get involved in the fight for Christ and His values. Then listen and obey. Praying for our country and your local community and state for revival is a great place to start. Pray for the wicked to be defeated and the righteous to rise up.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Courage / Fear, Disobeying, Rebelling Against, Ignoring God, Faith / Trusting God, Fear / Reverence for God, Hebrew Roots / Commands / Law, Obeying God, Prayer, Purposeful / Intentional, Rebuke Wrong Behavior, Repenting from Sin, Seeking God, Spiritual Warfare, Wickedness / Evil, Worldliness

Choose YHWH Instead of The World

When YHWH brought the people of Israel to the promised land, He did not instruct them to make friends with the wicked people there and accept them and all their sin in hopes that everyone would just get along together. YHWH was punishing these evil people and taking the land from them, while also delivering it to His chosen people.

Numbers 33:50-56

Law of Possessing the Land

     50Then the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, 51“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; 53and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. 54‘You shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to the larger you shall give more inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give less inheritance. Wherever the lot falls to anyone, that shall be his. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. 55‘But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live. 56‘And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you.’”

YHWH instructed Moses to drive out the inhabitants and destroy all their worship places and idols for their pagan gods. He gave also a clear warning that if this was not done, there would be consequences…  including ultimately His taking the land away from Israel because they would be corrupted by blending with pagan beliefs and practices instead of following His ways.

While we are not faced with a situation where YHWH has instructed us to go take a specific land and drive out pagans, we can certainly take heed from the warning He provides in this situation.

If we choose to accept and blend with, or even normalize pagan and ungodly practices within our society, then we as His people will be corrupted and become more and more separated from Him. Ultimately, He will remove His hand of blessing and punish us as a nation, even using pagans to do so. This is what happened to Israel. Why do we not take heed it may happen to us as well if we, as a nation, reject our Father and Creator. He gave us the United States of America as a unique and powerful nation founded on freedom and founded firmly in the Christian faith.

We can already see the moral decay in our society. In particular, we can see the grossly out of control federal government taking away more and more freedom from the people and the states. Many people choose to rely on the government rather than YHWH. We see adultery and fornication abounding and normalized. The murder of the unborn is not just accepted but celebrated and funded by the government on a grand scale. Education systems and news media have been corrupted and are propaganda tools for rejecting God and all He tells us to do.

Pray for revival. Do not accept the world’s ways.  Pray for your church family around the world and for the Father to raise up community, state, and national leaders who will lead us boldly toward YHWH rather than away from Him. Then ask Him to show you what your role will be and help you to accomplish it.

If you want revival, pray for it and then act as if you are part of bringing it forward by how you live your life. Revival only comes when we actively challenge the accepted pagan practices. It comes with conflict from those who do not want to change. It requires courage and faith.

We can not create revival by our own efforts without YHWH. The battle is not one of flesh but spiritual and it is YHWH who must move in the hearts of those who do not yet know Him to bring about change.

Ephesians 6:12-13

12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

John 6:44

44“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Father / Yahweh, Learning To Pray Effectively, Loving / Kind, Purposeful / Intentional

Who Better To Ask About Prayer Than Jesus Himself?

Who better to ask about how to pray effectively than Jesus Himself?

Note how He guides His disciples. These are not “magic words” but rather a framework to help guide us. Start with focus on the Jehovah and His relationship with us as our Father. He is a loving Father who wants what is best for us. Focus on His name being holy and His kingdom rather than our own. Then we transition to asking for Him to provide for us and we are to come to Him daily.

Our relationship with the Father is not complete without recognizing our sin and asking forgiveness. We must also forgive others and we can ask the Lord to help us avoid temptation.

Luke 11:1-13

Instruction about Prayer

     1It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”

2And He said to them, “When you pray, say:
‘Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.

      3‘Give us each day our daily bread.

      4‘And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”

      5Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8“I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

      9“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10“For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. 11“Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? 12“Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? 13“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

We may have a tendency to think we are bothering God or not having faith if we keep asking Him over and over again for something. Here Yeshua encourages His disciples to be persistent in prayer before the Lord. It is interesting to note in the text it focuses on something the neighbor would want to give the person asking and it is just a timing issue. He is in bed. The neighbor does not agree to give something to Him that is bad for Him or that He would not normally give Him just because of persistence.

The closing verses of this topic, 9-13, are a very important reminder as well.  Jehovah is our loving Father. He wants what is good for us. If we ask for something which is good, will He give us something bad? No. We can also deduce from context that a loving Father who is asked for something which is bad will indeed withhold it and perhaps instead give something which is good… even if it was not asked for.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Fear / Reverence for God, Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Learning To Pray Effectively, Miracles, Purposeful / Intentional, Seeking God, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

He Went Up On The Mountain To Pray

Prayer is an integral part of our communication and relationship with the Father. We must make time for prayer if we are to come into close relationship with the Father. Yeshua set the example to go off in private to pray and to do so in a way that is not rushed. He still met the needs of the people. He had a busy schedule. But He knew that time with the Father was a focal point to make the rest work right. It is a first priority.

Luke 9:28-36

The Transfiguration

     28Some eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming. 30And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah, 31who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him. 33And as these were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not realizing what he was saying. 34While he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!” 36And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent, and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen.

Peter, John, and James almost missed this encounter because they slept. We can assume that if they were overcome with sleep, that Yeshua was also equally tired. They were keeping the same schedule. Yeshua remained awake to pray and had an amazing and personal encounter with the Father.

We can also note, that Peter seems to have put his “foot in his mouth” by speaking up while he was still very sleepy. The Lord seemed to prefer to emphasize that Yeshua is the Son, the Chosen One. There are no peers or equals, not even Moses and Elijah. That is a good point to remember for all of us.

How would you rate your prayer life? How much time do you spend undistracted with the Lord… not just talking but listening as well? It is in prayer that He often meets us and spends time with us. He often speaks in a still, small voice to guide us. If we are too busy and too distracted, we will miss it.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Guide, Healer, Learning To Pray Effectively, Miracles, Miracles, Prayer, Seeking God

Don’t Overlook the Importance of Prayer

It is easy to overlook the importance of prayer in our daily lives. Most of my life, I did not fully understand the role of prayer properly. I would tell myself that I don’t want to “bother” God with the details and small decisions I could or should be able to handle myself. To the extreme, I made major life decisions without asking for His guidance or listening for His input. Even if we use the Bible as our guide, which is good, it is no replacement for a close, interactive relationship with the Lord focused through prayer.

The Lord has matured me quite a bit and I stand amazed to watch how interested He is in being actively involved in my life. We should look to Yeshua as our example for how to live our lives. He did not just ask the Father once what His mission was and then go do it… NO! He spent a lot of time in prayer talking and listening with the Father, especially before making key decisions, such as which disciples to choose as His core twelve. He did not simply pray for 5 minutes to mention to Jehovah what He wanted and then go get busy again doing other things. He prayed all night in a solitary location where He could be undisturbed.

Luke 6:12-19

Choosing the Twelve

     12It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. 13And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles: 14Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; 15and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; 16Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

      17Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, 18who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. 19And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.

I have a tremendous amount of growth still to come in regards to maturing my prayer life. This is not an area of strength for me as it is for others who truly seem to be prayer warriors. I am asking Him, though, to grow me in my prayer life and I know He will… if I continue to humbly seek Him and lead my heart to have more time to spend with Him.

I invite you to join me in praying for yourself (and me) in this area.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

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God’s Eternity and Man’s Brief Life Span

It is good for us to focus on the Lord, His eternal nature. He is far above even our ability to fully understand Him. We are transitory… each of us with a brief life in which even that which we create will fade in short time. Only in the Lord is there eternity and I choose to spend eternity with Him.

This prayer does well to remind us that our time is brief and all that we think is important to “accomplish” is not going to last. Our relationship with the Lord, and any we can help lead to Him… those things are eternal.

With that in mind, is the focus of your life on the right things? Are you placing your value in career and business? hobbies? or serving the Lord and leading and supporting others to submit to and serve  Him as Lord?

Psalm 90

BOOK 4

God’s Eternity and Man’s Transitoriness.

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

     1Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.

      2Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

      3You turn man back into dust
And say, “Return, O children of men.”

      4For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night.

      5You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.

      6In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
Toward evening it fades and withers away.

      7For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been dismayed.

      8You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.

      9For all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a sigh.

      10As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.

      11Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?

      12So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

      13Do return, O LORD; how long will it be?
And be sorry for Your servants.

      14O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,
That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

      15Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us,
And the years we have seen evil.

      16Let Your work appear to Your servants
And Your majesty to their children.

      17Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.