PRAYER 

(Listening for God to speak)

My thought:  
This seems to be a time in our lives for telling God what's on our hearts 

but I think it also needs to be a time for us to listen for what God is saying to us.

Inspiration From The Word of God on Prayer

Israel had wandered away from God, so God spoke

2 Chronicles 7:14

14 However, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, 
pray, search for me, and turn from their evil ways,
then I will hear their prayer from heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their country.

Just Asking!

·         What part of this passage sounds most like our country today?

·         Who are “my people” today?  Everyone? The Church/Christians?  Anyone who calls out to God?

·         What does God require of His people?

·         What does God promise to do for His people?

My thought:   This passage was a wake-up call to God’s people, Israel, to return to Him and be a shining light to the rest of the world.  I believe we are in one of those periods of human history where we, as believers, humble ourselves, seek God, pray, turn from any ungodly ways, and trust in God for his promises of forgiveness and healing.

What Is the Most Appropriate & Effective Position For Prayer?

Three ministers were talking about prayer in general and the appropriate and effective positions for prayer. As they were talking, a telephone repairman was working on the phone system in the background.

One minister shared that he felt the key was in the hands. He always held his hands together and pointed them upward as a form of symbolic worship. The second suggested that real prayer was conducted on your knees. The third suggested that they both had it wrong--the only position worth its salt was to pray while stretched out flat on your face.

By this time the phone man couldn’t stay out of the conversation any longer. He interjected, "I found that the most powerful prayer I ever made was while I was dangling upside down by my heels from a power pole, suspended forty feet above the ground."

My thought:  “I don’t recommend the phone man’s position but I do think we are more apt to pray with earnest when our world turns upside down.”

Quotes On Prayer To Make Us Think

o   Is prayer your steering wheel or spare tire?   -Corrie Ten Boom

o   "We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense." -Anonymous

How Not To Pray

A young boy was observed by a minister in church praying very fervently; but much to the preacher’s surprise, he was also heard to say from time to time: "Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo." So the preacher approached the boy after he had apparently finished his prayer and said, "Son, I was very pleased to see you praying so devoutly, but tell me, why did you keep saying ’Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo?"  The boy replied, "Well, you see sir, I just finished taking my geography test in school, and I have been praying for the Lord to make Tokyo the Capital of France."

~ James 4:3   When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

The Final Word

Matthew 6:30-33 (The Message)  “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

My thought:    I have so many things and people to pray for…. And I shall continue…. But I wonder if God’s speaking to me/us for us to fully turn to Him.  I believe that this is a time for all believers to shine.  The world is floundering in the darkness of this pandemic and need the light that only God can bring to their lives. As Jesus is the Light of the world, so we, as His followers, are called to be that light as He shines through us with His hope, His love and His peace.  

God is speaking!  Are we listening?   Let us PRAY with our ears open!