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Life Changing Prayer
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Colossians 4: 2
Watch and Pray
Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41 Even the disciples who walked with Jesus had to learn the value of prayer. The more we receive the truth about who God really is and how He sees us, the more effective and joyful our prayer will become. It is important to shake off weariness and disappointment so that we can have our minds renewed with truth about who God is and what is significant to His heart. If we truly know who God is we will get greater and greater revelation of His consistent goodness and trust fully that seeking to pray His will is time better spent than only coming to Him with a list of requests. Watching what the Father reveals to you and praying His will and purpose is dynamic and fulfilling.
Take Refuge in his Presence
He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; Psalm 91::4. Of course God is interested in even our little requests, the Bible says He knows the hairs of our heads. God is more interested in us than anyone else. Often when a little child first learns to speak their little voice almost melts their parent’s hearts. Just to hear them say “Daddy” brings most fathers immense joy. How much more does our heavenly Father cherish our talking to Him and letting Him comfort, encourage and give us wisdom. We mustn’t fall into the trap of thinking that we are too busy to pray. With so much to do for the kingdom it is important that we continually take refuge under His wings. People do all sorts of things to relax and to cope with the stress of life. How wonderful that we are welcome at any time, night or day to take refuge under His wings. We are not called to be doing so much that we can’t take time to be with Him. Apart from Him we can do nothing anyway (John 15:5).
Decree What God Has Said
When Jacob was on his way back to meet Esau he prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, `Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,' Genesis 32:9 He declared what God had said and then proceeded to pray with that in mind. When we take time to hear from God and grow in sensitivity to the Spirit we are able to boldly decree. We can’t be passive, we need to pray over the prophecies and promises of God and declare what God has said in the midst of every battle. So many were deeply impacted by the recent conference on prayer with Corey Russell and are stirred up afresh to pray. God really impressed upon us that it is vital at this time not only in terms of what He wants to do among us but also because of the times we are in that we not only learn more about prayer but also pray as never before. This is a call to a lively, wonderful, powerful and effective prayer life, not something dull or heavy but exciting and significant. So lets keep pressing in. We are so encouraged by what God is doing among us and we are prayerfully considering how we can continue to move together as a church in the area of prayer. With our love and prayers, Pastors Phil and Caroline
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