You are in the
church service and the minister says Let us pray.
He might open his little black book,
put on his official prayer voice and read
the “appropriate prayer” for the day.
It might be in English or in Latin which you do not understand and
all the people answer ‘Amen’.
You might be at home on your own and decide, and think,
I had better start or end the day the correct way,
let me pray.
You go through your often repeated ritual.
You know it by heart.
You already know that the whole process has to be allocated five
minutes
otherwise you will be late for whatever.
After all you are a very responsible, and busy person,
and you have to earn a living.
If you are feeling well you might be able to race through
the routine and get it all over in less time.
You might repeat some
prayers you were taught at school
many years ago.
One of my friends said that when a particularly violent hurricane
struck, he was petrified out of his mind.
He prayed all the prayers they used in the Church services,
then he recited the prayers he had learnt as a child
and when those ran out, he started to make some up.
Quite possibly those were the only useful ones.
You might decide to read some prayers from your favourite
prayer book. You might race through the ‘Rosary’ a couple of times
and repeat the ‘Our Father’.
For good measure and having done your duty,
you then hurry off to get on with the important business of living
in the real world.
There is the job, your mate, and the home.
Then there are the children, even grandchildren and the countless
obstacles which confront each of us daily as we struggle to
survive
and make sense of things that defy logic and reason.
We thought that it would get easier when the children grew up.
You quickly learn that it does not.
You never have time, there is so much to do.
There are not enough hours in the day, but at least today,
you did pray today.
For many of us, prayer is a ‘gimme’ list of things for God to do
for us.
There are the relationship problems,
There are the money problems, and the never ending bills,
There are the health problems,
There are the work problems,
There are the weather problems,
You might even have stopped watching the news as it frightens
you so much. The worry seems never ending.
On and on the list goes.
If you are really
‘Spiritual’ you might even fast
for a day or two
to try to twist God’s arm a little in order to obtain a result.
You are quite unaware that fasting is not simply a matter of
starving
yourself and enduring pain and discomfort to enable God to hear
you.
You fail to realise that the Eternal does not have a hearing
problem
which is improved by your fasting.
Fasting is rather a matter that you are so focussed on praying
that you have no time to worry about eating.
This is a very different matter from the normal concept.
Just being hungry does not achieve anything in the spirit world.
Prayer is often a cold, lukewarm, lifeless, formal, customary
ritual.
True prayer is not what is written in a book.
It comes from the heart, and is prompted by the Holy Spirit.
Maybe for a few weeks you might nag God.
Most times nothing tends to happen, so eventually you have
to move on as you reason that whatever it was that you were
praying for was obviously not God’s will, otherwise you would
have had an answer already.
So you generate a new list of wants and the cycle goes on
repeating
itself. Eventually, you might decide to give up on that as
you now feel that it makes no difference anyway.
You fail to realise that patience is a fruit of the Spirit and that
it is being developed in you.
You cannot see the importance of patience and that it is
an essential and intrinsic attribute of the Eternal.
The Eternal has shown total perfect patience and endurance as
He waits on you and all of us everywhere to turn to Him and seek
Him with our whole heart and not some half hearted crisis driven,
knee jerk reaction.
He patiently and painfully suffers as He watches us make the wrong
choices as we embrace the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,
not realising that the fruit is death, rather than the Tree of
Life.
We think that we would have made the right choice unlike Adam,
yet,
we make the very same mistakes of ‘independence’
rather than ‘dependence’ on God.
He wants us to grow and to become as patient
with others as He is with
us.
If we are honest, we will admit that most times we do not know
what
we want much less what we need.
How many times have you earnestly sought to buy or get something
and then when you get it you wonder why on earth did you ever want
it.
So often it is almost an automatic reaction.
Even the ‘treat’ to cheer yourself up, after all you deserve it,
ends up in the bin or drawer for future generations.
Sometimes you pray about a particular situation seeking
God’s intervention. Often almost immediately things get decidedly
worse. Once again we do not recognise that God is responding
to your prayer and quickly.
The problem is that you have decided
what needs to be done and how it should be done.
and as far as you can see, it certainly is not what is taking
place.
You are totally oblivious to the fact fallen mankind’s thinking is
flawed.
Additionally the Eternal and His ways are far superior and on an
entirely
different plane to anything we could even begin to conceive.
Isaiah 55:9 For as the
heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
We need to accept that we haven’t a clue what is the best answer.
We also only see a tiny aspect of the situation,
that is if we see anything at all.
The Eternal sees the whole picture and acts out of perfect love
and works for the best interest of all the parties involved
in any situation, whether we understand it or not.
We think that the solution is a beautiful bouquet of flowers
and God thinks a spank would be the most appropriate as nothing
else will be effective.
Revelation 3:19 As many as I
love, I rebuke and chasten:
be zealous therefore, and repent.
We are now so modern and sophisticated that of course
this is unacceptable. However, this will continue to happen
to individuals. nations, and the world at large.
We can be certain that God is not interested in our concepts
of how things should be done. Rather we should concern ourselves
with how He wants things done.
We are clearly told that correction is done in love, nothing else.
The verse said … as many as I love.
We must never forget that it was out of love that God
in the person of Jesus Christ died for us.
The often repeated verse says is clearly.
John 3:16 For God so loved the
world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.
God is not monster waiting to swat us.
Unfortunately we have been conditioned by the enemy
to think of God as a harsh God, waiting to crush us at any
opportunity.
The truth is that is the way that the enemy operates.
So often that which you accuse others turns out to be that of
which
you are guilty yourself.
He is utterly unscrupulous and without the tiniest scrap of
compassion.
He appears as an angel of light
2 Corinthians 11:14 And no marvel; for
Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light.
Although many Christians know these verses,
they still are confused by the very nice person they see before
them.
They are ignorant of the fact that the person confronting them is
being manipulated by Satan right in front of their eyes.
That is why Satan the person is able to use the person to pull all
the strings that really affect you, even when they know little
about you.
This is not some intellectual idea in your head.
How is it do you think they can point at the things of which
you are very uncertain or that concern, confuse and are really
secret
and personal to you and certainly should not be known by them?
Some people move from one place to another hoping to resolve some
weakness, time soon shows that the same thing surfaces wherever
they go.
To think that the enemy is thwarted by changing location is an
error.
He is the god of this world.
Wherever you go your problems follow you.
2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this
world has blinded the minds
of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel
of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be
vigilant; because your adversary the devil,
as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour.
This is not simply symbolic language but rather a stark fact.
John 8:44 You are of your
father the devil,
and the lusts of your father your will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the
truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie,
he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father
of it.
If you are in any doubt that he will badly maul you, consider Job.
Most Christians fail to see or apply the verses to their daily
situations.
The reason is that the enemy has blinded them to his great
activity
in and around them and they do not tag him as the culprit, which
he is.
They think that as they are now Christians they do not have
to worry about Satan.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The opposite is true.
Satan is called the serpent.
As we know we are told that we are made out of the dust.
We are also told that the serpent will eat dust all his life.
As he is still alive, and he will continue to do this,
whatever the preachers say.
Genesis 3:14 And the LORD God
said unto the serpent,
Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle,
and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shall you go,
and dust shall you eat all the days of your life:
We are called first of all to believe not to understand.
Understanding why some things take place can come some time
after the event. Meanwhile you have to hold fast to the fact that:
Romans 8:28 And we know that
all things work together for good
to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose.
The difference between and ant and a human being is smaller
than the Gulf between God and man although we are made in His
image.
We need to recognise that if we had a problem and we had
the entire population of the world, all 6 + Billion,
present a solution, the Eternal’s solutions would start at 6 +
Billion + 1
and go on until He decided to stop.
It is naïve to think that God’s solution would be the same as
ours.
It is almost as if by definition He would do something different
and
in the process show His total sovereignty.
It is quite common for people to say that God does not answer
their
prayers. They are very surprised when I say that often God has
answered many of their prayers.
I ask them what did you really expect to happen?
Often they say, well if I am honest, I did not really expect
anything.
Well that is what you got, so what is the problem?
You receive as you believe!
Please do not think that I am promoting a health and wealth
gospel.
I am not.
In fact this is such an important principle and one which takes up
a great deal of prayer time that we will look at it in detail,
a real actual fiery trial.
It is commonly taught today that by some form of law keeping we
can
guarantee in some way shape or form, health, wealth, success etc.
can easily be ours. Whether you are a New Covenant or Old Covenant
person, it does not matter. Many preachers say that they are not
legalistic but observation shows that this is not so at all.
They actually do have formulae.
Some say if you ‘Pray in tongues you will get answers’.
That is simply not true.
Faith, belief and God’s will are all involved.
If we are blessed, it is rather in spite of ourselves and what
we have done, rather than because of what we are or have done.
If we are blessed and are passive Christians, we need to be
careful
as to whom much is given, will be expected. We have to be wise stewards.
Luke 12:48 But he that
knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes,
shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is
given,
of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed
much,
of him they will ask the more.
The following two verses from the book of James reveal why many
prayers are not answered.
1) We do not receive because we do not ask.
2) When we do ask, we ask selfishly.
James 4:2 You lust, and
have not: you kill, and desire to have,
and cannot obtain: you fight and war, yet you have not,
because you ask not.
James 4:3 You ask, and
receive not, because you ask amiss,
that you may consume it upon your lusts. {or pleasures}
Satan’s two most powerful tools in the world today are probably,
Religion and Money.
(Religion opposes Christianity,
There is a separate message on The Religious Spirit
and a separate message on 'Money'.)
Many think that money will solve their problems,
but all it does is present a new and different set of problems.
Look at the track record of Football Pool’s or Lottery winners.
It was not the thieves, murderers, prostitutes and tax collectors
who killed Christ. It was the religious people who killed Christ
and
countless people through the ages.
In today’s system everything is controlled by money.
Without money you are pursued and even treated as a criminal.
Money leads to power.
Money is the fuel for war.
Money is a crucial factor in winning a war.
Luke 16:13 No servant is
able to serve two lords;
for either he will hate the one,
and he will love the other; or he will cling to one, and he will
despise the other.
You are unable to serve God and mammon.
That is the choice we have to make.
Mammon is money, of the ‘god of this world’, Satan.
It is qualified as being unrighteous.
Just as I said, I am not promoting a health and wealth gospel
neither am I suggesting a life of begging and poverty.
Wealth is a blessing that needs to used in a proper manner
as you are prompted by the Holy Spirit.
This principle applies to your entire life.
The reality is that a Christian is called to a life of suffering
and rejection but spiritual prosperity.
John 10:10 The thief cometh
not, but for to steal, and to kill,
and to destroy: I am come that they might have life,
and that they might have it more abundantly.
The Greek word life,
‘Zoe’ refers to spiritual and
eternal life not physical wealth.
We need to remember that ultimately he world that we see,
all of it, is going to be burnt to a cinder and replaced by
a new and better world.
Of course we can expect physical blessings but the more
spiritually focussed you are the possession of materials
become less important.
But at the same time you see, rejoice and appreciate
the handy work of God in the creation which surrounds us.
The physical world and all life is temporary.
We need to keep that clearly in mind.
2 Peter 3:7
But the heavens and the earth, which are now,
by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against
the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
Experience shows us that many of the wealthiest people and those
doing well financially are not Christians.
The life death and resurrection of Christ showed that God
is supremely interested in our physical situation and His entire
creation for that matter.
However, the greater priority is the transformation of us from
stones of dirt to the precious stones of which the New Jerusalem
in Revelation 22 is comprised.
We fulfil the suffering of Jesus.
We have to remember that whatever happens to us, Christ said that
He will never leave or forsake us. Needless to say He means
what He says. He knows our position precisely.
Hebrews 13:5 Let your
conversation be without covetousness;
and be content with such things as you have: for He has said,
I will never leave you, nor
forsake you.
He therefore knows precisely how you feel male or female.
He wants to be our Strength, our Comforter, our everything.
He is within and with us.
When Daniel’s three friends were thrown into the over heated
fiery furnace, which was so hot that it killed those who stoked
up the fires. The Eternal did not prevent them from entering the
fire and neither did He blow it out.
Rather He went right in there with them.
Daniel 3:15 …you fall down
and worship the image which I have made;
well: but if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into
the
midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall
deliver you out of my hands?
17 If it be so, our God
whom we serve is able to deliver us from
the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your
hand,
O king.
19 Then was
Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his
visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego:
therefore he spoke, and commanded that they should heat
the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
The fact that the fire was heated 7 times is significant.
In this dispensation 7 denotes completeness.
It could not be heated any hotter.
You can face trials that can go right up to 7 on the scale.
20 And he commanded the
most mighty men that were in his army
to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into
the burning fiery furnace.
21 Then these men were
bound in their coats, their hosen,
and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into
the midst of the burning fiery
furnace.
23 And these three men,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
They were bound with no chance of escape.
Their garments which would easily burn were left with them.
Spiritually we are in the very same position.
24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the
king was astonished,
and rose up in haste, and spoke, and said unto his counsellors,
Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?
They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
25 He answered and said,
Lo, I see four men loose, walking
in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt;
and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
26 Then Nebuchadnezzar
came near to the mouth of the
burning fiery furnace, and spoke, and said, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, you servants of the most high God, come forth,
and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
came forth of the midst of the fire.
They came out without even the smell of fire on their clothing and
no damage at all.
Daniel 3:27 And the
princes, governors, and captains,
and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together,
saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power,
nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats
changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
Some might say well that does not happen to everyone.
The reality is that spiritually many go through fiery trials,
but God is not a respecter of people.
Acts 10:34 Then Peter
opened his mouth, and said,
Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
He will be there for you, period, even if it does not seem so.
We must live by faith and not by sight.
Daniel’s friends could not live by anything else but faith.
There could be no doubt in their mind about the reality of the
fire.
They had just seen the stokers of the fire burnt up.
Daniel 3:22 Therefore
because the king’s commandment was urgent,
and the
furnace exceeding hot, the
flame of the fire slew those men
that took up Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego.
The bible is full
of people who made the mistake to mess with
the servants of
God. It is just not a good idea.
Goliath did not
find that out.
He was dead
before he knew what hit him.
We should also remember that
a) Satan spends his time accusing us before God.
He is the accuser of the brethren.
Revelation 12:9 And the great
dragon was cast out,
that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan,
which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him.
10 And I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven,
Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God,
and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of
our brethren is cast
down, which accused them before our God day and night.
We need to notice that Satan is very angry indeed.
Revelation 12:12 Therefore
rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them.
Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil
is come down unto you, having
great wrath, because he knows that
he has but a short time.
Although Satan has not been cast down as yet, he is still having a
field day,
which will be worse. But he must know that he is running out of
time.
b) The letters to the churches are very revealing.
It is easy to miss the point that the letters are not to the world
at large
but to the churches.
All the churches are admonished to become overcomers.
It is profitable to read these letters and to take the lessons
onboard.
There are many believers who are lukewarm
Revelation 3:16 So, because you
are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I am about to vomit you out of My mouth. (The Bible in
Basic English)
We can see that these people are quite comfortable,
they feel self-satisfied.
17 Because you say, I am
rich, and I am made rich,
and I have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched
and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
We also notice that gold which represents divinity comes
at a very high personal price.
To have Salvation which is totally free to us and is by Grace,
is one thing.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye
saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
As a believer you have that, and it is guaranteed although some
teach against this.
(There is a separate message on Salvation.)
John 10:28 And I give unto them
eternal life; and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
John 10:29 My Father, which
gave them me, is greater than all;
and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
However, your position in the kingdom, your reward is another
matter.
When we arrive at the place that we can see
what we could have obtained is another matter.
Many will be gutted, sick to their stomach as they pine,
‘If only I had’,
‘What if ?’
When we see that we are saved alright but not invited
to the wedding feast and others are where we should be ourselves
there will be indeed ‘Weeping and gnashing of teeth’.
Some think that this phrase means they will be destroyed in hell
fire.
Well the problem with that is that dead people neither
weep or do anything.
The solution for us is
18 I advise you to buy
from Me gold having been fired by fire,
that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed,
and your shame and nakedness may not be revealed.
And anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
Death does not put right all the things that are wrong with an
individual.
Salvation is assured but discipline is required.
This will take place somewhere and sometime after the
resurrection.
Understanding all of these things will affect your prayer life.
Not everyone in the army belongs to the S.A.S.
there are cooks and clerks in and army, not all want to fight.
You might be privileged to be a special services soldier at this
critical
time in world history. It requires more than passive membership.
It is inevitable that you are trained.
The greater the opportunity the more severe the training will be.
We are called to be the stronger part of ‘the woman’,
‘the man child’ as stated in Revelation.
We can be amongst the victorious overcomers who will actively
fight
against Satan now and also finally in the future right
up to Armageddon. You will notice that a custom of Daniel and
his three friends was that they prayed,
and absolutely trusted and believed the Eternal. It was their
custom.
Thus they were delivered from fire and lions.
When your life is on the line you do not go by carrying out some
a ritual when facing a fiery furnace or roaring lions.
When you speak of the life of Jesus you are speaking about a life
of rejection and suffering, which is different to the life of
Christ.
There were two sides of his life, suffering and glory.
Romans 8:17 And if
children, then heirs; heirs of God,
and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him,
that we may be also glorified together.
Phillipians 1:29 For unto you it
is given in the behalf of Christ,
not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
It would be much wiser and more profitable to ask what are God’s
needs first and only after that seek our own needs.
Christians right now are the temple of God.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Know you not
that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
The next question we can ask is what was the purpose of the
temple?
Christ said the temple should be a house of prayer.
Therefore we should be a house of prayer.
Matthew 21:13 And said unto
them, It is written, My house shall be
called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.
Now, if we are not a house of prayer, we might find that action
has
to be taken to correct the situation.
For many of us we are pre-occupied by things that will have to be
over turned and thrown out. These can be at either ends
of the spectrum. Some
dishonest practices would qualify
as den of thieves activities and some seemingly innocent practices
such as selling doves for sacrifices when evaluated will be found
to be unacceptable. A whip of cords will have to be made and used
to drive these things out of our lives.
The ‘money items’ will end up on the ground where they should have
been in the first place in their correct position and status.
John 2:15 And when he had
made a scourge of small cords,
he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen;
and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
Matthew 21:12 And Jesus went
into the temple of God,
and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple,
and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers,
and the seats of them that sold doves,
We need to understand what prayer is, its purpose,
and the priorities of prayer.
When Christ taught his disciples to pray,
He set down the ground rules for profitable praying
in his example prayer. We are clearly told that we are to pray
to our Father in heaven. You will not find any instruction
anywhere
in God’s inspired word to pray
to anyone or anything else in all creation.
It therefore follows that praying to any other person, dead or
alive,
or thing is totally unprofitable and in a worse case scenario can
be
praying to demons. When people encountered angelic beings their
magnificence caused them to want to worship them.
The angels quickly told them not to do it
as they were just their fellow servants.
Many pray to Mary as she is supposedly more gentle,
kind and more compassionate that Jesus.
She is deemed to be a better intercessor to approach the harsh
God the Father. There are several problems with this false idea.
Scripture is very clear that the only human being who is in
heaven,
is Christ. There is no other.
King David was a man after God’s own heart
Acts 13:22 And when He had
removed him, He raised up unto them
David to be their king; to whom also He gave testimony, and said,
I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart,
which shall fulfil all My will.
However, we are clearly told that after Christ’s resurrection
and ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit on the
Day of Pentecost that even David had not ascended into the
heavens.
Acts 2:34 For David is
not ascended into the heavens…..
We can come up with all sorts of ideas but when they are flatly
contradicted by scripture. We have to discard them.
If we are praying to someone who can neither hear nor answer,
it is no wonder that many prayers fall on deaf ears.
The Word emphatically states that there is only one mediator.
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one
God, and one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
This verse says that the man, Christ Jesus is in heaven mediating
on our behalf. There is no other.
Therefore to pray to another when we are told to pray ‘Our Father’
is to simply waste our time and further more it is to disobey,
and therefore to sin.
Many people pray to dead Saints.
The reality is that even a cursory study of the apostle Paul’s
writings would show that it was believers who were still alive
that were referred to as Saints
Romans 15:25 But now I go
unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints.
Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus..
Psalm 31:23 O love the
LORD, all you his saints:
for the LORD preserves the faithful,
and plentifully rewards the proud doer.
Psalm 34:9 O fear the
LORD, you his saints: for there is no want
to them that fear him.
Whether you study the Old
or the New Testament,
you will see that saints, were saints when they were alive.
There is a further problem with Saints.
According to one church people can be made into saints.
When there are too many with which to cope they can me unmade.
This presents further problems.
For example say that you have been praying to St Christopher for
years.
But suddenly he is declassified as a saint.
What happens to your prayers now?
Is he no longer in a position to pray for you?
Have you to find another available saint?
There are also problems praying to or for the dead.
The idea that someone can lead any kind of life that they desire
and then when they are dead, paid prayers can remove their sin
so that they can get into heaven, is diabolical.
Money can never resolve any spiritual problem.
Neither does death somehow wipe out all our past sins and give us
a clean slate. We need to clearly focus on what we should be
praying
about now while we are able.
Satan has been after the worship of human beings from the
beginning.
He had the absolute nerve to tell Christ, the Eternal God in the
flesh
to worship him. If he could do that to Christ, he can certainly
have
us running down blind, and unprofitable alleys.
If he can steal your worship and cut you off from God then
he will do so without batting an eye lid.
Idols which demand our worship are all around us and are not just
confined to statues in a church. Most people spend more time
attending to their cars, sport, clothes, TV, computers, food,
etc.,
etc than in any type of relationship with God.
This is a sobering thought, if you do not watch TV,
but just watch the news to keep up with world events,
for most people this would still be more time than they spend
praying and or studying their bible.
Furthermore Satan loves to use workaholic Christians,
“do-gooders” who think
their “good works” are SIN-onymous
with “God’s Will”!
The idea that surely God will understand my difficulty in my lack
of time to pray or study is without substance.
That is a ploy by the enemy. The enemy is after your time your
most
precious asset.
When the mess hits the fan, you need to go to your idol,
whatever it might be, your car, drink, fags, TV or anything else
in order
to get a solution to your difficulties.
Pretending that everything is ok, does not make it so.
This is a relatively broad net to cast but there are many other
procedures which can be discussed, but this will suffice for this
document.
Matthew 6:9 After this
manner therefore pray you:
We are told these are the things that we need to concern ourselves
with when we pray. Obviously this does not mean that this is the
only
thing that we can pray
Our Father which art in heaven,
We are acknowledging that our Father is in heaven, the Creator
and Sustainer of all things. He is the Sovereign Lord.
He is in heaven and we are on the earth but in our spirit we are
also in the heavenlies above the prince of the power of the air
who is below us. We are in this position because of the victory of
Christ on the cross over our enemy, Satan the devil.
So although we might not realise it we are on the high ground
and the defeated demon is on the low ground.
Hallowed be thy name
B.B.E. May your name be kept holy.
Darby Let thy name be sanctified,
Today we use the name of the Lord in vain as a byword or a curse
word.
We do not realise the great might and power in the name of the
Lord.
It is a name at which the demons fear and tremble but human beings
in their ignorance, and arrogance use the name without recognising
what they are doing. The name of the Lord is holy and it needs to
be
treated with reference and respect.
10 Thy kingdom come.
Ever since the creation, the Eternal has been working to restore
the creation to how it was before the sin of Adam and Eve.
He has been patient beyond our capacity to understand. Allowing us
time to repent from our ways so that none perishes,
but His goal which will be realised is that the kingdoms of this
world
will ultimately be replaced by and become the kingdom of God.
Thy will be done in earth,
When God made Adam and Eve, He decided to do an amazing thing.
The Eternal God restricted himself to working on the earth through
man.
He tells us what His will is, then he wants us to pray to Him to
carry out
what He has made known to us in the first place.
This is something that is only taking place on the earth.
If we do not pray for His will to be done, as we are told to do,
it will not be done.
If it did not matter whether we prayed or not there would be no
need to tell us to pray as it was going to happen anyway.
as it is in heaven.
In heaven as regards the heavenly government regarding such things
as the universe in its entirely, the myriads of angels, etc.,
God just declares it and it is done.
The holy angels do not argue and debate, unlike us they just do as
they are told. The Eternal wants us to be praying for His will to
be
done in a similar way by our cooperation.
11 Give us this day
our daily bread.
12 And forgive us
our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.
Amen.
Some other specific things to pray about.
The list can be increased indefinitely.
Pray that your family, friends and acquaintances be given
the gift of Salvation.
Pray that the eyes of the spiritually blind and the backsliders
are opened to the truth.
Pray for the protection and success of those doing the genuine
work of God and the binding of Satan so that he does not hinder
what
they are doing.
Pray that they will not be deceived and preach error instead of
freedom giving truth.
Pray for yourself, family and acquaintances to be accounted worthy
to escape the hour of trial which is going to come to the whole
world.
Pray for protection over the food we eat and drink.
We are told that we can eat deadly things, even poison and that
they will not harm us. We may well be waiting for someone to force
us
to drink a glass of poison not realising the seriousness of the
situation
today. We already have to content with many toxic substances in
our
food and water. We have to expect this as we are in the end times.
Pray to experience the full reality of Christ in a practical way
in our daily living.
Pray for discernment so you can know what is going on around you
and the subtlety of the enemy.
Pray that you will be able to pray.
Pray that the kingdom of God will advance in you and that the
thoughts,
words would be words of life and encouragement and not death
and discouragement. That Living Water will flow through you to all
those
you encounter in any way.
Pray that you will become
an overcomer who is amongst the firstfruits
or the ‘manchild’ warrior mentioned in Revelation that Christ is
going
to use to deal with Satan, his demons and rebellious man.
This is a very privileged position.
At this time I do not know of any higher status.
Seek God earnestly, walk and talk to him throughout the day.
Constantly thank Him for the countless blessings he has given you.