5-9-2016
From here on were gunna be going a little deeper. As the title says today were gunna go over what prayer IS and is NOT. If you seem interested and wanna follow along or just comment and chime, feel free! If you want the book you can go Here. If you wanna comment, boxes are at the bottom and I'll reply as soon as I can.
Chapter 5
"As for me, my prayer is to you" - Psalms 69:13
When you pray, obviously it should be to the good Lord. But, prayer is NOT *just* prayer. Just like a cell phone isnt a cell phone, and a car isnt just a car. A car is a mode of transportation taking you from one place to another. A cell phone connects you to other people. Prayer connects you to God. If a car, cell phone, and yes, even prayer isnt used correctly its pretty useless.
Let me explain 'not used correctly its useless' for a moment. So as stated, a cell phone isnt just a cell phone. Its a constant link with many uses. Talking, texting, social media, you name it you name it, you can probably do it on this nifty little device. A car, you drive it, you clean it, listen to music, pick up friend or a date. They dont just sit there looking pretty; to just show off. Otherwise it would really useless just taking up space and being a waste of money right? The same goes for prayer. If you pray but you're hust doing it to do, its an empty prayer which is completely useless. God is quite the amazing guy. Shouldn't you be trying to get more use out of it by being sincere? Totally gut wrenching, heart pouring sincerity? I mean, he does answer prayers, hes the one who allowed you get up this morning, guides your steps, etc(i could seriously have a whole laundry list of reasons).
Heres a brief history lesson. When the first temple was built. They were commanded to place a veil between the main 'temple' and the holy place which God would come visit. No one could see or look at God. Once a year, ONE man who was chosen would visit past the veil once a year for confirmation. That was. BUT, years later, when Jesus chose to sacrifice himself for us, the veil split. "But the others said "leave him alone. Let us see if Elijah comes to save him. When jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he yeilded up his spirit. At that moment the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks split. Tombs broke open and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised." - Matthew 49-52.
Because of Jesus' sacrifice, he acts as "insulation", so to speak, between us and God. To explain what i mean by 'insulation' lets use the folloing perspective. A fire fighter had his special gear that helps protect him from the smoke and flames should he enter a building on fire. Jesus is like pur fire fighter gear, and God is like the flames. Jesus allows us to enter the presence of God without being consumed by Gods mighty and glorious power which could pretty much kill us instantly. Jesus acts as our 'insulation' because while he walked the earth, tempted by sin, he never faultered. Jesus is aware of all of our struggles and trials we have to face day in and day out. So he acts almost like our attorney before God our judge. Even on the cross he cried out "forgive them father, for they do not know what they are doing" -Luke 23:34.
This brings me to what IS prayer. There are 3 different ways in prayer to commune with God.
The first, is when we pray, we should be intimately knowing, loving, and worshipping him. Our prayer life is our way for communicating with God. Getting to know him better, praising him, thanking him. Even just simply talking about our day so he can come to know us in return. Our love for him can NEVER match his love for us.
The second, is praying to understand and align ourselves to His will. God reveals his will and ways to us in SO many ways. Be it, missing an exit only to find out there was an accident shortly after you had just passed it, all of a sudden getting enough money to pay that bill you were so stressed about. God always makes sure to get our hearts and minds aligned with him. That way wether good or bad, he knows we hold his will in high reverence. When the shepherd leads all his sheep will follow at the command of his voice(paraphrasing John 10:3-4).
And third, prayer is access and advances to His kingdom, power, and glory. When we pray, we are granted access to Gods power and resouces. As well as his kingdom. This allows him full access to work all those miracles and blessings in out lives. "When we seek first his kingdom, thats when other things fall into place"(matthew 6:33).
From here on were gunna be going a little deeper. As the title says today were gunna go over what prayer IS and is NOT. If you seem interested and wanna follow along or just comment and chime, feel free! If you want the book you can go Here. If you wanna comment, boxes are at the bottom and I'll reply as soon as I can.
Chapter 5
"As for me, my prayer is to you" - Psalms 69:13
When you pray, obviously it should be to the good Lord. But, prayer is NOT *just* prayer. Just like a cell phone isnt a cell phone, and a car isnt just a car. A car is a mode of transportation taking you from one place to another. A cell phone connects you to other people. Prayer connects you to God. If a car, cell phone, and yes, even prayer isnt used correctly its pretty useless.
Let me explain 'not used correctly its useless' for a moment. So as stated, a cell phone isnt just a cell phone. Its a constant link with many uses. Talking, texting, social media, you name it you name it, you can probably do it on this nifty little device. A car, you drive it, you clean it, listen to music, pick up friend or a date. They dont just sit there looking pretty; to just show off. Otherwise it would really useless just taking up space and being a waste of money right? The same goes for prayer. If you pray but you're hust doing it to do, its an empty prayer which is completely useless. God is quite the amazing guy. Shouldn't you be trying to get more use out of it by being sincere? Totally gut wrenching, heart pouring sincerity? I mean, he does answer prayers, hes the one who allowed you get up this morning, guides your steps, etc(i could seriously have a whole laundry list of reasons).
Heres a brief history lesson. When the first temple was built. They were commanded to place a veil between the main 'temple' and the holy place which God would come visit. No one could see or look at God. Once a year, ONE man who was chosen would visit past the veil once a year for confirmation. That was. BUT, years later, when Jesus chose to sacrifice himself for us, the veil split. "But the others said "leave him alone. Let us see if Elijah comes to save him. When jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he yeilded up his spirit. At that moment the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks split. Tombs broke open and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised." - Matthew 49-52.
Because of Jesus' sacrifice, he acts as "insulation", so to speak, between us and God. To explain what i mean by 'insulation' lets use the folloing perspective. A fire fighter had his special gear that helps protect him from the smoke and flames should he enter a building on fire. Jesus is like pur fire fighter gear, and God is like the flames. Jesus allows us to enter the presence of God without being consumed by Gods mighty and glorious power which could pretty much kill us instantly. Jesus acts as our 'insulation' because while he walked the earth, tempted by sin, he never faultered. Jesus is aware of all of our struggles and trials we have to face day in and day out. So he acts almost like our attorney before God our judge. Even on the cross he cried out "forgive them father, for they do not know what they are doing" -Luke 23:34.
This brings me to what IS prayer. There are 3 different ways in prayer to commune with God.
The first, is when we pray, we should be intimately knowing, loving, and worshipping him. Our prayer life is our way for communicating with God. Getting to know him better, praising him, thanking him. Even just simply talking about our day so he can come to know us in return. Our love for him can NEVER match his love for us.
The second, is praying to understand and align ourselves to His will. God reveals his will and ways to us in SO many ways. Be it, missing an exit only to find out there was an accident shortly after you had just passed it, all of a sudden getting enough money to pay that bill you were so stressed about. God always makes sure to get our hearts and minds aligned with him. That way wether good or bad, he knows we hold his will in high reverence. When the shepherd leads all his sheep will follow at the command of his voice(paraphrasing John 10:3-4).
And third, prayer is access and advances to His kingdom, power, and glory. When we pray, we are granted access to Gods power and resouces. As well as his kingdom. This allows him full access to work all those miracles and blessings in out lives. "When we seek first his kingdom, thats when other things fall into place"(matthew 6:33).
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