Time and Place to Pray

 Daniel 6:10
 He (Daniel) kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before.

We often find ourselves praying in desperation when things suddenly turn bad. We double up on our prayer time, we reach out to others to help us pray for an urgent situation. This is a normal response to a believer to cry out to Jesus, “Lord help us in our time of need.” God delights in our petitions and will come to us in a time of need. This was not the case with Daniel. Daniel had a consistent prayer life. Going to prayer was not motivated by an emergency situation, or by a last attempt to be recused. Daniel prayed because it is how he lived his life. He prayed without ceasing and making special time when he shut out the world around him and focused on Jehovah God. We also know that Jesus would often get away to find a place to pray to His Father. I don’t doubt that Daniel went into his chamber with this decree from Darius on his mind. He no doubt took this to God and submitted himself to God’s will. His life was not his own, it belonged to God. We find Daniel opening up his windows in defiance of the king's order and obeying God rather than man. His consistent prayer and communion with God assured him that his life was in the hands of God. Historically, men and women of God have practiced taking time out of the day to get alone and have communion with God in prayer. It is a good habit to establish in one’s life. Prayer is our lifeline to spiritual victory and a weapon against spiritual darkness. Prayer is also a state of mind that we practise through the day, in season and out of season. We are not confined to a specific time of the day for God to answer prayer on our behalf, but taking time out of our day with God is a lifestyle that pleases God and honors His name. 

Let Us Draw Near to God

 

Heb. 10:22

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

It is not possible to draw near to God when sin is in the heart. There is a gap that separates us from having fellowship with God. As sinners, we live in darkness and God is light. There is no fellowship for those who live in darkness with the light. To have fellowship is to have communion, and a person who dwells in darkness is living a life of sin, and sin is enmity against God. It is not subject to God and is not able to draw near to Him. But Jesus bridged the gap, taking our sins and nailing them to the cross with His blood provided a way for us to draw near. Before we can draw near to God, we must confess our sins. If we humble ourselves before God, He is faithful to take our sins and cast them in the sea of forgiveness, not to be remembered against us anymore. God will hear the prayers of a sinner that repents of their sins and has a heart that is broken, and is sorry for their sinful ways. It is only with a clean heart and pure motives that we can begin to draw near to God. It is God’s will that we live in the light. As we walk in His light, we start to draw near to His desires for our lives. Let us put aside the sin that easily besets us and pray with a pure heart to live in the light of God’s presence.

Burden Bearer

 Gal 6:2
Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

Called to be a burden bearer. The load of cares is heavy among all of us, but there are times that the load gets too heavy, causing our brothers and sisters in the Lord to crumble and break down physically and emotionally. The law of Christ teaches us to pray for each other, reach out to and give a helping hand to those that are burdened with the cares of life. It may be the loss of a loved one, loss of a job, broken relationships, physical and mental stress due to an unforeseen event. The list goes on. The burdens of life are real and it often takes the body of Christ pulling together, supporting each other in the faith. Christ is our burden bearer, but Christ uses the Church as his hands to help carry the load. Be a burden bearer.

The Will of God

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

 Rejoice always,  pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

What is the will of God? There are a lot of things in life we are not sure of God’s will. We make choices every day and those choices often lead us down a road that we regret or rejoice. Finding God’s will in every decision of life is not realistic. We often make our decision base on our state of mind, the information we have, or how we feel. We do know that a heart that desires God’s will follows the admonish of His word. It is His will to rejoice and praise Him for salvation, for the blood that He shed for our sins. It is also His will that we have a praying heart, keeping the communication channels always open to talk to Him. His will is done when in spite of what happens in life that we are to lift up our voices and give thanks, and lastly, it is the will of God that we be sanctified, set apart from the evil of this world, choosing good over evil. Made vessels unto holiness to be preserved blameless and holy at His coming. This is done, when we allow the Holy Spirit to have free access and control of our heart. “This is the will of God, even your sanctification”. We may not know what to do, but we can know to choose that which is good and acceptable to God.

End of Your Rope

2 Corinth 1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

Have you ever been at the “end of your rope”? Paul and those with him were facing physical danger and were near death because they were spreading the gospel. They believed that unless God intervene they were destine to be put to death. They were beyond helping themselves and all hope seem to be gone. We may not be facing physical warm or death, but we can find ourselves at a dead end facing a difficult situation or circumstance. We have done all we can and there is nothing else to do, but pray. Yes, pray! God often will put us in a places where our only way out is to let God take over. God who can overcome the power of darkness and do miracles is waiting for us to put our trust in Him. In our time of trouble, we are not alone, for their are people all around us that are praying and trusting God to carry us through. Trust not in the arm of flesh, but lean strong on the arms of Jesus.

Second Change

Jonah 2:1,7-   Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly… When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

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The life of Jonah demonstrates that serving God sometimes requires us to make hard choices, choices not always to our liking. When we avoid making the right choice we often find ourselves in the “belly of the fish” praying for another chance. Jonah was a man in earthen vessel, his heart wanted to do right, but the flesh was weak to do what God wanted him to do. The story is not given to us to show the imperfection of man, but to show the mercy and grace of God. For even in our weakness, we can be made strong to do the will of God. Doing the will of God is at the heart of full obedience and surrender to God. Just because we love and serve Him, does not mean that it will be easy to follow His will.  Jonah realized that not doing God’s will led him to an undesirable situation and circumstances. But, Jonah was given a second change. He is a God of second changes.