Posted on 09/27/2016 11:57:35 AM PDT by metmom
"With all prayer and petition pray at all times" (Eph. 6:18).
Make prayer an ongoing part of your day.
As important as prayer is to your Christian life, you might expect Paul to list it as another piece of spiritual armor, but he doesn't. Instead, he makes it all-pervasive by instructing us to pray at all times. That's our spiritual lifeline—the air our spirits breathe. The effectiveness of each piece of armor is directly related to the quality of our prayers.
We see the importance of prayer throughout the New Testament. Jesus instructed His disciples to be on the alert at all times, praying so that they would have strength to face the trials and temptations that lie ahead (Luke 21:36). The apostles devoted themselves to prayer (Acts 6:4), as did godly people like Cornelius (Acts 10:2). Every Christian is to be continually devoted to prayer (Rom. 12:12).
In Philippians 4:6 Paul says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." He told the Thessalonians to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17) and instructed men everywhere to "pray, lifting up holy hands" (1 Tim. 2:8).
Jesus and Paul not only exhorted believers to pray, but also modeled diligent prayer in their own lives. Jesus often went for extended periods of time alone to pray. Paul wrote often of his own fervent prayers on behalf of others (cf. Col. 1:9; Philem. 4).
As a child, you may have been taught that prayer is reserved for mealtimes, bedtime, or church services. That's a common misconception many children carry into their adult years. But believers are to be in constant communication with God, which is simply the overflow of seeing all of life from His perspective. Just as you would discuss your everyday experiences and feelings with a close friend, so you're to discuss them with God.
God loves you and wants to share your every joy, sorrow, victory, and defeat. Be conscious of His presence today and take advantage of the sweet communion He offers.
Suggestions for Prayer
Thank God that He's always available to hear your prayers. Ask Him to give you a desire to commune with Him more faithfully.
For Further Study
What do these verses say about the most appropriate times for prayer: Psalm 55:16-17, Daniel 6:10, Luke 6:12, and 1 Timothy 5:5?
Amen.
Who are "you guys?" Look 👀 bro, I am not into the health/wealth, name it/claim it gospel. If you are, so be it, but I am not. With that, I will not say anymore on the subject. 👋🏿
What would you say to those whose loved one had cancer, who were prayed over and for, yet died?
Funny story about the father of John the Baptist, Luke 1.
Anyway, Zacharias is in the temple, performing his priestly duties, when Gabriel shows up *in answer to his prayers*.
That's what we know from the plain text:
Luke 1:13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
But then Zacharias is incredulous, saying basically, "Huh? My wife and I are too old for that."
So what exactly was going on here? Gabriel told Zacharias why he was there - it was in answer to Zacharias' prayer. But if Zacharias had been praying for a child, he would not have responded in that manner. He would have been all excited that finally, his prayers for a child had been heard! Whoo-hoo! Instead, it's more like, "Right, how would I know this? This is illogical."
He did not believe Gabriel. Yet this is fact: Gabriel showed up in response to his prayer. So what was he praying?
All the priestly courses had duties at main festivals, and at Passover who was everybody praying for to arrive? Elijah.
Poor old Zacharias. Struck mute because he didn't believe Gabriel. Guess he forgot that Sarah was ninety and Abraham one hundred? Not any excuse for that. Well be that as it may, sometime afterward, Elisabeth conceived. Give it three months (plans gets routinely delayed when there's a lack of faith), and John (Elijah) would have been born the following Passover.
The take away message is that people might not even know what they are praying for when they pray, so when those prayers are in fact answered, it sails right over their heads. Gabriel even gave Zacharias some details (And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias...). Regardless, he and Elisabeth were the parents God chose for John. God has a selection process that is different than man's.
It would make plain dumb simple sense if Zacharias had been praying for Elijah to come, whether it was actually Passover or not. Gabriel would have then showed up with what else, but the reply. You just have to laugh. :)
On the subject of [old] people laughing, the traditional date for the birth of Isaac is 15 Nisan (Passover).
I know, I know, we must have faith. Where is it available at Walmart or anywhere else?
It could be in the clearance aisle with the end-of-season items. Life is weird like that - go to Wal-Mart for an ice scraper, but come home instead with a bird bath... for next Spring.
love that post!
BTW, I buy my ‘work T-shirts’ after St Pattie’s Day and after such holidays ... Wally World marks them down to $1-3 dollars each. I could care less what color they are so long as they are mostly cotton. The messages on the front are irrelevant, too. I’m wearing a green one now that has Be and Er, for beryllium and erbium, captioned ‘pub crawling is a science’
Amen! It certainly does. It also benefits our relationships with fellow Christians when we share our needs, desires, problems and join our prayers to theirs. It strengthens our faith when we see the hand of God - sometimes in miraculous ways. In Philippians 4:6, Paul says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Some forget that the next verse says:
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
We shouldn't expect EVERYTHING we ask of God will be done according to our wants, but He will answer according to our needs. And that is why the peace of God WILL guard our hearts and minds through Christ. When God says, "No.", I have always found the reason and the awesome wisdom behind it. It gives me peace to know that He loves me and, no matter what, I have faith that ALL things work together for my good. That is FAR more a blessing than expecting Almighty God to be our Fairy Godfather.
Hey! I think that SAME angel has helped me out many times, too.
Seems to me that one Jesus was in the Garden praying that this cup (His crucifixion) would pass from Him, and yet it didn’t.
Gee, according to some then Jesus didn’t have enough faith, did He?
And I guess thorn in the flesh Paul and frequent ailments Timothy didn’t have enough faith either, did they?
The power of positive thinking, eh?
Gee, if all those people living in third world hellholes just knew about the prosperity gospel, then all their problems would be over.
But I guess they don’t have enough faith or they’d have had all their problems solved by now.
Excellent, ;-)
There you go. Salvation comes from the punniest places:
The same thing had happened to me MANY times when I was in college, paying my way through and sometimes working three different jobs. Money was tight and on several occasions, I prayed the same thing that my empty gas tank would last long enough to get to a gas station. I would pull up to the pump and my car would die at the same time! I imagined an angel had given me a final push. Talk about faith strengthening!
I’ll tell you, when the van is sliding off the road to the left and suddenly gets slammed back towards the right, it’s really an eye opening experience.
And it wasn’t like the van just started going in the right direction gradually, or hit some noon icy patch and stopped sliding where I could drive it back in the right direction.
It was SLAMMED back to the right.
Nothing can explain how a van sliding in one direction gets thrown back in the opposite direction where it belongs without divine intervention.
Stuff like that is wonderful to hear and less wonderful to have to live through.
Beautiful!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.