31. Prayer Times Do you have a special time for prayer? Each morning after my shower and after the coffee maker is working, I sit at the kitchen table and pray. This is my habit. Many years ago, when our children were still at home, I decided to get serious about prayer. But, I needed to find a time when I could pray undisturbed. This necessitated my getting up an hour earlier than the rest of the family. Getting up early was a bit of a sacrifice at first. But, before long I was looking forward to this daily appointment with God. Now the question, do you have a prayer habit? In Acts 3:1 it says, One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer--at three in the afternoon. It seems that even the early Christians had their special times and places for prayer. Their lives were probably less busy than ours, yet they too had to make time for prayer. Some would claim that prayer should be something we always choose to do. Therefore, making a habit of prayer is not a good thing. I disagree. I find that if I do not make a regular time for prayer, I will tend to ignore it. When I ignore prayer, I also ignore God. I have learned from past experience that life is always easier if I stay close to God. The only way I can stay close to God is to make a habit of staying in touch with him. Therefore, I have specific times each day for prayer. I pray at other times too, but these planned times are important for me to stay in touch with my Father. Your prayer time may not be in the morning, although, I find it a fitting way to start the day. You may find the evening is better for you. I have a friend who prays in her cubical at work during her lunch hour. Forming a habit of prayer is something I recommend for every believer. Find the time and God will bless you for it.
32. Prayer Places Do you have a special place for prayer? For my morning prayer time, I sit at the kitchen table. I keep my Bible in a drawer next to the table. I keep other devotional material there as well. It is the place where I meet with my Father each day. We have a daily appointment at 6:30 in my kitchen. I know he will always keep his appointment, so I must too. Jesus instructs us to find a private place for our personal time with him. He said in Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Jesus also had his favorite places to meet with his Father. He led a busy life, with lots of people making demands on him, so he had to get away at times. It says in Mark 6:46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. I have a friend who often climbs Camelback Mountain to pray. He has found a little niche in the rock where he can sit and look out over the city while he prays. Our city needs his prayers. In Acts 10:9 we read about Peter s place of prayer. It says Peter went up on the roof to pray. When Paul and his companions arrived in Philippi they looked for a place of prayer. It says in Acts 16:13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. There is no limit to the appropriate places for prayer. Almost anywhere will do. The mother of John and Charles Wesley would sit on a chair in the middle of her kitchen and throw her apron over her head. This was a sign to her 13 children that mother was keeping her appointment with God and was not to be disturbed. So, find your place for your daily appointment with God. He is waiting for you there, so don t miss this opportunity to meet with your loving Father.
33. What Does God Expect Have you ever wondered what God expects of you, relative to your prayer life? Do you think he expects you to spend a specific amount of time in prayer? Are there specific things that he wants you to cover in your prayers? Have you wonder if he knows that you have other important things to do? What does he expect? Let s see if we can find some help in scripture. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray continually. Does that help? Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:13, Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Maybe that s what I should do? Paul writes in Philippians 1:4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy. Praying with joy, maybe that s the answer. Peter adds in 1 Peter 4:7, be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Maybe God expects me to be single minded when I pray. Then, Jude adds in verse 20 that we should pray in the Holy Spirit. Now how exactly do I do that? Lots of questions and no easy answers. Prayer is important, so we want to do it right. So how exactly does God expect me to pray. Here is the short answer. God expects to have a love relationship with us, and prayer is part of that relationship. If we love him, we will want to have some kind of communication with him. The people we love the most are the ones we want to spend the most time with. God says to us that he wants to be the most important person in our lives. We don t seem to have a problem communicating with the other people we love, so why is it so hard to speak with God? I think it is because we have a wrong impression of God. We see God as one who expects to be worshiped, served and feared, not as a Father who loves to hear from his children. God loved you so much that he sent his own son to die for your sins. He did this so sin would no longer come between you and your Father. His door is always open and he waits anxiously for you to come and visit.
34. Confession We often think of King David as one of the most godly of men. God actually referred to him as A man after my own heart. Yet, we find that David was a sinner just like the rest of us. In fact, he committed adultery and murder. We could easily think we are a little bit better than he was. Of course, we are all lost with out the blood of Jesus covering our sins. David acknowledges that when he failed to confess his sins and ask for forgiveness, he suffered physically. He wrote in Psalm 32:3-4 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. After admitting and confessing his sins, he adds in Psalm 66:18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. Sometimes we, too, have unconfessed sin that keeps us from communicating fully with our Father. Like David we may be suffering physically as a result of our sin and we might even pray for healing. Healing may not happen because, like David, we have unconfessed sins that get in the way of our prayers. Our pride often gets in the way and we try to rationalize our sin. We say, After all I m only human. or, Everyone does it. or It s only a small thing. or It doesn t hurt anyone else. or this one, Maybe it s God s will. Our prayers, too, may be hindered by our refusal to confess our sins. So, here is the solution. Ask God to reveal any unconfessed sins to you, then agree with God that they are sins, confess them and accept God s forgiveness in Christ. Your prayer life will improve dramatically.
35. Pray for Words Paul writes in Ephesians 6:19-20 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. Have you ever been at a loss for words and asked God to provide them for you? A number of years ago, I helped a new church that was a just getting started in north Phoenix. The pastor and I knocked on doors in the neighborhood of the church nearly every day for a year and a half. Before we went out into the neighborhood, we spent time praying. Our prayer was similar to Paul s. We would ask God to prepare people for our visit and for the right words to say when people answered the door. I admit I was a bit skeptical about God actually answering this prayer. Yet he did. Time and after time, and day after day, he would give us the right words for every situation. Often we would say something inappropriate and God would have them hear something else, but yet exactly what he wanted them to hear. Other times, people would answer the door and say they had just been talking about finding a church. I am firmly convinced that God will provide the words for me each time I am required to speak on his behalf. In fact, these messages on the telephone are all from his prompting. So, learn to listen to your Father and also learn to trust that he will do what he says and give you words when you need them.
36. God s Promises Many of us have prodigals in our lives. Those people, who in spite of everyone s best efforts, have continued to reject God s grace. Many of these people were raised in Christian homes and Christian churches. Some were even raised by us. We were the ones who taught them the truths of God s word. Yet they continue to be unresponsive. What do we do? When I am uncertain, I have learned to appeal to God s word. Is there some word from God that can lead us to the truth as to what we should do? If you are like me, you have run out of words to say. You have said everything you can think of to the prodigal and still he lives away from God. What does God say? John writes in 1 John 5:14-15, This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him. There is not much room for misunderstanding this passage. Anything we ask for, if it is according to God s will, we will have it. Now let s look at another promise. Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. It is clear from this passage that God wants everyone to come to repentance. God does not want anyone to be lost. So, here is God s answer to the question of the prodigals in our lives. Pray for their salvation. This prayer is according to God s will as he wants all to be saved, so it is a prayer he will answer. Remember though, that God is patient and we might have to wait a long time to see our prayer answered. In fact it may not be answered in our lifetime, but it will be answered. God said so,
37. Pray for Protection We live in perilous times. There are dangers at home and abroad. We dare not let our children play outside anymore and we certainly wouldn t let them walk to school. Even when they are older and we send them off to college in a strange place or off to war we fear for their safety. What are we to do. How can we reduce our fear of the world around us? The psalmist helps us out when he writes in Psalm 91, He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. Dwelling in the shelter of the Most High. Now how exactly do we do that? Paul tells us how he dealt with this problem in Romans 15:31, Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there. And again in 2 Thessalonians 3:2 pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. The world is full of opportunities for evil. Our only protection will come from God. If we are to be safe and if we are to be rescued from evil, we must rely completely on our Heavenly Father. Pray that God will protect those you love from the danger and evil in this world. He loves you and he loves those you love, so trust him for your security in this world and for eternity.
38. The YMCA We often look at the world around us, and not only see the evil in it, but we also see the indifference of most people toward this evil. We wonder what we can do. We are so small and the problems are so big. Let me give you an example of how one person made a big difference. In 1841 George Williams arrived in London to work for a fabric manufacturing company. He had recently begun to grow in his faith and was amazed at the lack of spiritual interest in his co-workers. In fact, he wrote in his journal that he found no spiritual interest of any kind. However, he soon found a fellow worker who was an active Christian. They met regularly for prayer and began to pray by name for each of their co-workers. Williams writes in his diary that the Spirit began to work and soon the room they met in was filled to overflowing. They had conversion after conversion and even the company president confessed his faith in Jesus. An observer of the spiritual activity at this company commented that before Williams came it was impossible to find a young man who was a Christian. Three years later, he said, it was impossible to find one who was not a Christian. This spiritual revival spread to other companies and in 1844 twelve men met and formed an organization that would impact the world. The organization they founded was the YMCA. So, don t despair. You can make a difference. Pray for those around you and see what God will do.
39. Unity All of us, who are believers in Jesus Christ, have a heart for the lost. Some, of course, to a greater extent than others. We look at the world around us, and see all of the lostness, and wonder what impact we can possibly make. The task is just too big. God s plan for his church is found in Matthew 17:20-23, here Jesus is praying for his disciples and for the church they will help build. Jesus prays "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. It was supposed to be our unity that attracted others to Christ s church. The church is in decline in this country. Maybe it is our lack of unity that keeps more people from joining us. Disunity in the church is also a problem too big for any one of us. Yet if we begin with ourselves and then invite one other to join us, we can make a difference. Let s try this. Ask one other believer to join you once each week for prayer. Pray together specifically for the church, the body of Jesus Christ. Pray that God will cause a new day of unity and selflessness within his church. Then, after praying, commit yourselves to do what you can to improve the unity within the body of believers.
40. God is Waiting to be Asked Have you ever considered this? God may want to do things in your life or in the life of those around you, but will not do it until you ask. If God gives you what you want without your asking, you may begin to think you don t need him. But, how do we know what God wants to give us? Start by looking around you and see what God has already started. If you see evidence of his working in your life or in the life of another, pray for more of that. Look in your church or in your neighborhood and see where God seems to be working. Pray for that working to continue and to increase. Maybe you don t really know what to say in your prayers. Start with the Psalms. David wrote in Psalm 3:8, May your blessing be on your people. That would be good prayer to start with. The writer of Proverbs says in Proverbs 11:11 Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted. Begin praying for God s blessings on your city. If we all did this I suspect we would notice an immediate difference. This is happening in other parts of the world, but it is only happening when people pray together. Isaiah makes a prediction for God s people if they return to God. God says through Isaiah in Isaiah 44:3, I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. God is ready to do this, too. God wants to bless your family, all you have to do is ask. We have not had rain in a long time. God speaks through Ezekiel in Ezekiel 34:26 I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. Maybe God is waiting for us to ask him for rain. Paul writes this in Ephesians 3:20-21, Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. God can do more than you can imagine. Begin imagining and then begin asking.