Hear Our Prayer!

 In the year 2022, many years after Jesus pronounced that He would return for His saints, I am setting my face to the Lord God, I am far, far, infinitely far from being chosen of God as Daniel was chosen so wondrously so many years ago to do God's will. But I am using Daniel's prayer as an example. Daniel prayed as the prophecy of Jeremiah was being completed. Daniel understood that the 70 years of desolation in Jerusalem was soon to be up. I don't have a set time prophecy to begin my prayer with, I only know that one day my Lord and Savior will return and I can only hope and pray it is very, very soon. 

I set my face unto the Lord God- to seek by prayer and supplication, with a bit of fasting, in my ordinary clothes, and no ashes- just a painfully furrowed brow. I pray unto the LORD my GOD, I make my confession- 

O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love You and to them that keep Your commandments- WE have sinned. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. We have rebelled. We have departed from Your precepts. We have departed from Your judgments. Neither have we hearkened unto Your servants the prophets which speak in Your name through Your Holy Word. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You! But to us CONFUSION of faces. This day the men of God wherever they may be- YOUR people, those CALLED to be YOUR people - those who believe in Your Son Jesus Christ- to all of those who are near, or far - wherever they are because of their trespass that they (we) have trespassed against You. O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to all of us, because we have sinned against thee over and over, and over again. To you, Lord our God, belongs MERCIES and FORGIVENESSES though we have rebelled against You!  We haven't obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in Your laws, which You set before us by Your servants the prophets. Yes, all of YOUR people have transgressed Your law, even by departing that they might not obey Your voice, therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against You! And You have confirmed Your words which You spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing us a great evil, for under the whole heaven has not been done as has been done in the land of Your people worldwide! As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand Your truth! Therefore You have watched the evil and what it brought upon us, for You LORD our God are righteous in all YOUR works which YOU do, for we obeyed not Your voice. And now, O Lord our God, that brought us YOUR people throughout all the many, many ages, from Egypt You freed Your people miraculously with a mighty hand, and You have gotten renown to this day! We have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to ALL Your righteousness, I beseech You, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from the land of Your people, from the people who are waiting the NEW Jerusalem, because of our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, All Your people are a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, O our God, HEAR THE PRAYER OF YOUR SERVANT, and my supplications, and cause YOUR face to shine upon Your people who are desolate,  for the LORD'S sake. O my God, incline Your ear and hear, open thine eyes and behold our desolations, all that is called by Your name, for we do not present our supplications before You for our righteousnesses but for YOUR great mercies! O Lord, hear, O Lord, forgive, O Lord, hearken and do, defer not for Your own sake, O my God, for Your city, and Your people are called by Your name! 

O my God, forgive! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear! O Lord, for Your great mercies! O Lord, hear! O Lord, HEARKEN AND DO, DO NOT DEFER FOR YOUR OWN SAKE, O my God! FOR NEW JERUSALEM, O my God! FOR YOUR PEOPLE CALLED BY YOUR NAME!  Please, God! O Lord, please come soon! Let Daniel's prophecy spoken so many years ago be completely and utterly fulfilled down to the last bit! 

Dan 2:44  And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. 

Dan 2:45  Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. 

O my God of heaven! O my God, set up YOUR kingdom! Set up Your kingdom which shall NEVER be destroyed! O my God, set up Your kingdom which shall not be left to any others. O my Lord, set up Your kingdom which will break in pieces and consume ALL these kingdoms! O my God, set up Your kingdom which will stand FOREVER!

O my God, LET the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, let it break in piece the iron, the brass, the clay, the sliver and the gold! O my God, that all MUST come to pass, LET it come to pass! O my Lord, forgive us our iniquities, forgive us…forgive us… forgive us…forgive us…forgive us…forgive us…for give us! O my Lord, it SHALL come to pass, please fulfill it ALL please! O my God, that dream was certain, that interpretation was certain, please finish it. Not for our righteousness, we have none! But for the righteousness of YOUR SON, the LORD JESUS CHRIST, who sacrificed Himself for us, please, GOD, please hear our cry, hear our supplications, please hear us! Please, Just as Daniel prayed for understanding, we pray for understanding, please, Lord. THANK YOU! All thanksgiving, all honor, all glory unto YOU LORD GOD, ALL GLORY TO YOU!!!!!!!

Sin's Slow Deadly Poison.

Serpents everywhere biting people, killing people - why? Because the people sinned against God. God gave the enslaved freedom, yet the enslaved were so filled with their mistrust, they could only think of the comforts of their slavery. Is it strange to believe there were/are comforts in slavery? Even right now at this very moment there are people caught up in the comforts of their slavery. It's not that they want to have a master over them forcing them to do their bidding no matter how laborious. They don't enjoy the whip, or chains, the restrictions on their ability to do as they please in all phases of their lives. They despise the abuse heaped upon themselves day after day and they do long to be free of the anguish of slavery. However, given an opportunity to leave a lot don't readily jump at the chance when it means suddenly having to fend completely for themselves. Yes, they are abused but they are also fed and clothed. Now on their own they have to find a way to provide for their own needs something their tortured, enslaved mindset can scarcely fathom. The fear of freedom can be overwhelming. Some would rather die than face that fear, others will leap at the chance to embrace that fear for their freedom.  God's chosen people, the descendants from Abraham were enslaved and now given their freedom. Out on their own, some began to believe they marched to certain death from deprivation of the necessities to life. They started to long to return to their enslavement - the comforts of slavery- rather than die free.

Even after all God had done to obtain their freedom, they still doubted His protection, they doubted His ability to provide for them. They were choosing death over living for God and the promises offered to them by God and that choice became quite literal for many. The serpents came. Deadly venomous serpents began striking out at person, after person and each bite brought the preferred slavery to death over the hardships of life.

Finally the people had enough losses of loved ones and the fear of their own demise. They turned to Moses, God's chosen liberator, and begged him to do something to stop the serpents from killing them all.  They took their minds off themselves and sought a redeemer, someone to save them. They realized they couldn't depend on themselves to keep safe, they needed outside help. They needed a supernatural power to stop them from dying. So…

Joh 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 

Joh 3:15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 

Moses was told by God what to do (Numbers 21:8,9) he lifted up the brass serpent on the pole and when anyone was bitten by a serpent all they needed to do was look upon that brass serpent and they lived.  Prior to the brass serpent every single bitten person died. Only those bitten who looked upon the brass serpent lived.

The Son of man, Jesus Christ just like that brass serpent had to be lifted up for all to look upon. Today almost 2000 years after Jesus was hung upon the cross He is still lifted up for ALL to look upon.

We can remain enslaved to sin and all its many, many comforts, or we can look to the lifted Christ and find freedom from sin's slavery.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

Joh 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 

Joh 3:20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 

Joh 3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. 

Men loved darkness rather than light- why? Because their deeds were evil.

Those who embrace the evil hate light because they don't want their evil exposed for what it is. They want to call their evil a good thing, a right thing, it pleases them and brings them mental, physical, emotional pleasure to commit the evil. They believe they have a right to the evil and the evil can't be all that bad because it's what pleases them, and why shouldn't they be pleased on any level they choose? Why should they deprive themselves of any evil, they live for themselves and believe others should too.

There is so much evil in the world that is called good, so much. We don't want to believe things we do are evil so we convince ourselves they are good and along the way we have turned our backs on the God of truth, and serve the god of deception carefully disguised as the true God.

We need to look to the lifted Jesus Christ our Savior and seek only His truth. WE need to allow the Holy Spirit to convict us on any point in our lives that is a disguised evil. We need to throw ourselves as the foot of the cross and reach for the salvation found only through Christ.

This prison planet we are living on has a myriad of evil traps set up around every corner of our lives. Our hope must forever be before us, the hope of salvation, of a new life. With this hope of a new life we need to live with our eyes set only on the cross where Jesus our Savior died and then rose from that death to a newness of life so that we too may live in newness of life- newness of hope, that same Jesus will return for us and free us from this prison planet.

We have a liberator, we have a path to freedom, we will be set free right now and that hope of a future life without any of sin's stain will keep us free in the knowledge that sin will not win.

Please, Lord give us the newness of life through the Holy Spirit so we may live completely for You in Your truth. Protect us, keep us from ALL evil. Convict our hearts so that we may never be deceived and give us all we need to be wholly Yours now and forever!!!!!!!

Amen!

Serve

Let me ask you a question. When you love someone are you to serve them? Seriously, are you to serve those you love? Maybe you're saying it depends on what you mean by serving them. What I mean is let's suppose the Savior was walking upon earth again (not going to happen - we were told He would return in the same manner He left - all eyes could see as He ascended.) But, let's just suppose Jesus were to knock on your door, enter your house and sit down on your couch. Would you serve Him? Would you desire to know if He needed anything and if you could help Him in any way? Would you want to see to any needs He had? Feed him, get Him fresh clothes, allow Him to use your shower to wash if needed? Would you offer Him a place to sleep if He wanted to nap? I think if you're a Christ follower you'd want to do anything He asked of You, that you would serve Him. Do you think you'd complain under your breath, muttering even if it's just inside your head, that doesn't Jesus know you're busy right now with something and your needs should be taken into consideration before being asked to serve in any fashion?

I'm going to ask again, when you love someone are you to serve them? Seeing to their needs before your own? Not buying into the take care of yourself first before you take care of others or you won't be able to take care of them. Wait, what? Yes, if we neglect our vital needs of living (whatever they may be for your particular existence), we are going to stop being able to serve others. Anyone who starves themselves to the point of sickness and death, just because they can't stop serving others even long enough to put a crumb in their mouths, well that person has taken things a bit too far. It takes seconds to put crumbs in your mouth, seconds to drink some water. Anyone who has ever taken hours to prepare a huge meal for family and then watches as it is consumed in mere minutes, knows how quickly people can eat.  We need to put others first while taking the opportunities when they arise to tend to ourselves. We value ourselves way too much, and way too often. We don't like stepping out of the comfort zones we've surrounded ourselves with all in the name of self-preservation. 

1Ti 6:1  Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. 

1Ti 6:2  And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort.

Servants need to honor their masters-  this is the will of God. Servants need to honor their masters even if they are unbelievers- this is the will of God. Servants should not despise their believing masters because their masters are not choosing to serve them, but serve them because- this is the will of God.

I don't know of any servant/master relationships today. I do know employee/employer though and it's along the same lines as servant/master. I do know that wives and husbands,    children and parents,  younger and elder - all these are relationships and it's the same bottom line for all of them. Serving.

Sometimes the master will serve the servant, but this isn't something we are ever to strive for- being the one served. IF we are the one who needs to be served, we need to be very gracious to those serving us.  We need to serve those serving us with prayer, kindness, gratitude, thankfulness.

Remember this-

Mat_20:27  And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant

Mat_23:11  But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

Mat_24:46  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

Joh 13:3  Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; 

Joh 13:4  He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. 

Joh 13:5  After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. 

Joh 13:6  Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? 

Joh 13:7  Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. 

Joh 13:8  Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. 

Joh 13:9  Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 

Joh 13:12  So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? 

Joh 13:13  Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 

Joh 13:14  If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. 

Joh 13:15  For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. 

Joh 13:16  Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. 

Joh 13:17  If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. 

We are to serve, ever serve, ever seek to serve.

Php 2:14  Do all things without murmurings and disputings

And we are to serve in love, not begrudgingly. We need to ask for forgiveness, over and over if needed, if we find ourselves murmuring and disputing (even in our thoughts) when we are called to serve another. By the grace of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit we are to stamped down the rising self-server in us, and instead give praise when we are called to serve. God's will be done, always!

Through Jesus Christ our LORD, our SAVIOR, now and forever!

Amen.

'We Ought to Pray' Even when we have no desire to pray

'The deeper the desire, the stronger the prayer. Without desire, prayer is a meaningless mumble of words. Such perfunctory, formal praying, with no heart, no feeling, no real desire accompanying it, is to be shunned like a pestilence. Its exercise is a waste of precious time, and from it, no real blessing accrues.

And yet even if it be discovered that desire is honestly absent, we should pray, anyway.

We ought to pray.

The "ought" comes in, in order that both desire and expression be cultivated. God's Word commands it. Our judgment tells us we ought to pray -- to pray whether we feel like it or not -- and not to allow our feelings to determine our habits of prayer. In such circumstance, we ought to pray for the desire to pray; for such a desire is God-given and heaven-born. We should pray for desire; then, when desire has been given, we should pray according to its dictates. Lack of spiritual desire should grieve us, and lead us to lament its absence, to seek earnestly for its bestowal, so that our praying, henceforth, should be an expression of "the soul's sincere desire."

A sense of need creates or should create, earnest desire. The stronger the sense of need,
before God, the greater should be the desire, the more earnest the praying. The "poor in
spirit" are eminently competent to pray.

Hunger is an active sense of physical need. It prompts the request for bread. In like manner, the inward consciousness of spiritual need creates desire, and desire breaks forth in prayer. Desire is an inward longing for something of which we are not possessed, of which we stand in need -- something which God has promised, and which may be secured by an earnest supplication of His throne of grace.'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 13)

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Truly our adversary, the devil, will do all he can to keep us from praying! The belief that we must feel like praying to pray is one of those tricks he uses to keep us from communicating with our Father God.  The knowledge that we should pray regardless of our feelings is what we need embedded in us.  We most definitely shouldn't wait till we are trouble to turn to God in prayer, yet that's exactly what a lot of people do. Waiting until they have a need for help, not realizing that we have a desperate need of prayer daily. We need daily spiritual bread as well as daily physical bread.  Only one of those two things are within our power of enacting. We cannot always supply daily physical bread but we can daily supply spiritual bread because that spiritual bread is just a prayer away from us. We can open the lines of communication in our happiest and our most desperate of hours. There is never a time we are forbidden to pray because prayer is so incredibly important and special. We can pray in complete silence without anyone knowing, or we can choose to be outspoken and loud in our prayer.  If we choose to be outspoken and loud we may be asked to stop, but even if we do stop the noise of our prayer, inwardly no one can stop us from praying - not a single person. Spiritual sustenance is extremely necessary. We no more can keep living without physical food than we can keep spiritually alive without prayer.

Here, E.M. Bounds speaks of desire and lack of desire in prayer. When our hearts are sometimes at their lowest point and life has tormented us with it's evils, the slicing arrows of satan cutting us to the quick, the poison tipped barbs infuse us with a desire to turn from God, not towards Him, it is then we need to take that lack of desire to pray and pray even harder!

We will not be left to a life filled with wondrous and constant joy despite life's hardships, not if Satan has anything to say about it, and truly...not if God has anything to do with it as well.  We are being refined! Our patience is being perfected! These awful trials and tribulations are ripping our hearts out and wringing the evil from them by the grace of our GOD.  Satan would turn that grace into disease, wanting us to shun it at all cost, but our God is greater than the evil one!

Please, LORD, please SAVIOR, please HEAVENLY FATHER live in us and us in You!  We need You more than anything else! We need YOU!

Job was tortured physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually tortured as Satan tried his best to rip him from God's love.  All by God's grace that wasn't possible! Please, LORD, keep us in YOU, in YOUR grace no matter what. We don't want pain and heartache, we don't want to be tortured in any way at all, our desire is to be kept in YOU free from all that, but we know that this world is filled with pain and heartache that You cannot keep us from, but You can keep us from EVIL that would destroy us by wresting us permanently from You! Please, we pray the desperate prayer to be kept from EVIL! Deliver us, LORD, deliver us from evil, lead us not into temptation, not into despair!  You have the POWER, You have the GLORY, Yours is the KINGDOM forever and ever.  All in YOU in YOUR grace, YOUR mercy, YOUR love… we PRAY.

Prayer- Hope, Trust

'Do we believe, without a doubt? When we pray, do we believe, not that we shall receive
the things for which we ask on a future day, but that we receive them, then and there?

Such is the teaching of this inspiring Scripture. How we need to pray, "Lord, increase our faith," until doubt be gone, and implicit trust claims the promised blessings, as its very own.

This is no easy condition.

 It is reached only after many a failure, after much praying, after many waitings, after much trial of faith.

May our faith so increase until we realize and receive all the fulness there is in that Name which guarantees to do so much.

Our Lord puts trust as the very foundation of praying.

The background of prayer is trust.

The whole issuance of Christ's ministry and work was dependent on implicit trust
in His Father.

The centre of trust is God.

Mountains of difficulties, and all other hindrances to prayer are moved out of the way by trust and his virile henchman, faith.

When trust is perfect and without doubt, prayer is simply the outstretched hand, ready
to receive. Trust perfected, is prayer perfected. Trust looks to receive the thing asked for
-- and gets it. Trust is not a belief that God can bless, that He will bless, but that He does
bless, here and now.

Trust always operates in the present tense.

Hope looks toward the future. Trust looks to the present.

Hope expects. Trust possesses.

Trust receives what prayer acquires. So that what prayer needs, at all times, is abiding and abundant trust.'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 12)
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Is this truth?

Maybe I've spent so much time hoping I've forgotten about trust.  Am I so timid in my faith I just stop at hope?  Do my own doubts rear up their ugly little heads so that I'm not able to trust fully? I don't want to believe that it could be true, I want to trust. I want to ask and trust. But… see, there's one of those doubts already. The 'but' says all too loudly, 'What happens if you trust and it doesn't come to pass? Doesn't hope leave room for a little doubt so that there's wiggle room to pacify self by saying, 'I hoped but I knew it could go either way.'  Trust on the other hand doesn't say at all that it could go either way, I WILL get what I prayed for beyond doubt.  Do we truly believe we get what we pray for WHEN we pray for it, or are our prayers always geared towards a future response?  The … 'I'll pray for you.'  That's a promise for a future prayer for someone that might need prayer right then and there.  We pray for someone and we continue to pray for them asking God over and over to grant their petition- all the while not believing the very first time we asked for that particular petition that it was answered.  We don't believe because results aren't immediate in our understanding. That job we pray for that never seems to come, is it God not hearing so we keep praying?

What about this parable of our Savior's...

Luk 18:1  And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
Luk 18:2  Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
Luk 18:3  And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
Luk 18:4  And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
Luk 18:5  Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
Luk 18:6  And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
Luk 18:7  And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
Luk 18:8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

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We ought to always pray- NOT FAINT.

God will avenge His own elect… THOSE crying to Him DAY and NIGHT, THOSE He bears long with!

We must keep praying with hope not lamenting our lack of the described trust above because we must cry day and night for our Savior to Save us, even as we know He is willing to save us. We must keep praying for His return, though we KNOW He will return.   We must keep praying because WE BELIEVE, and we need His bearing long with us, helping our unbelief!

That job, that healing, that helping all that left in God's hands to provide as He sees fit IS an ANSWERED prayer if we are praying for HIS WILL BE DONE.  We WANT HIS WILL, and He who sees the end from the beginning knows what is best, this is what we must TRUST, not that we will see the immediate results we DESIRE! This isn't about our desire, or at least it isn't supposed to be about what we want. Our desire must be HIS WILL and this we can trust in! His Will Be Done!

Let us TRUST in HIS WILL, believing when we pray all our prayers are answered according to HIS will, not our fleshy, finite, limited, lowly manner of comprehension of how we think things would be best- how can we ever truly know.  We have our hopes and a lot of them are based in selfishness, not God.  We must HOPE IN GOD, we must TRUST IN GOD!

IN HIS LOVE!

'An earth-bound, earth-satisfied spirit cannot pray'

'Great incentives to pray are furnished in Holy Scriptures, and our Lord closes His teaching about prayer, with the assurance and promise of heaven. The presence of Jesus Christ in heaven, the preparation for His saints which He is making there, and the assurance that He will come again to receive them -- how all this helps the weariness of praying, strengthens its conflicts, sweetens its arduous toil! These things are the star of hope to prayer, the wiping away of its tears, the putting of the odour of heaven into the bitterness of its cry. The spirit of a pilgrim greatly facilitates praying. An earth-bound, earth-satisfied spirit cannot pray. In such a heart, the flame of spiritual desire is either gone out or smouldering in faintest glow. The wings of its faith are clipped, its eyes are filmed, its tongue silenced. But they, who in unswerving faith and unceasing prayer, wait continually upon the Lord, do renew their strength, do mount up with wings as eagles, do run, and are not weary, do walk, and not faint.'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 12)

Mat 6:13  ...For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

The kingdom.

We live for the same kingdom our Savior lived and died for.  We pray for the same kingdom our Savior prayed for.

'The spirit of a pilgrim  greatly facilitates praying.'   How amazingly true!  If we aren't convinced that we are but pilgrims here, if we don't LIVE as if we are pilgrims here, that this is just a temporary existence as we journey towards the kingdom , then we are not living as our Savior lived. This was not His world-  read the following -

Joh_8:23  And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

Jesus said- 'I AM NOT OF THIS WORLD.'

Joh_12:31  Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

The prince of this world is SATAN.

Joh_18:36  Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

Jesus said- 'My kingdom is NOT of this world.'

2Co_4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Satan BLINDS the minds of those who refuse to believe in our SAVIOR.

We live in a world whose ruler is trying desperately to blind us to truth! We live in a world that is NOT our final home! We are striving for the KINGDOM to come, not this world! Why do we forget this and get all caught up in the angst and evils of this world? Satan uses everything at his disposal to tempt us to leave our SAVIOR. Satan does NOT want us to be in the kingdom that is to come and he will stop at NOTHING to keep us focused on this world!

Are we focused on this world? If we are caught up in any turmoil of any sort right not there is a good possibility that we are focusing on here and now and NOT on the KINGDOM to COME.

'An earth-bound, earth-satisfied spirit cannot pray. In such a heart, the flame of spiritual desire is either gone out or smouldering in faintest glow. The wings of its faith are clipped, its eyes are filmed, its tongue silenced.'

Truth.  If we want this to be our only home, if we are satisfied with this world being our only home then truly we cannot pray. How can we?  Our hope is in HEAVEN with our SAVIOR and if it's not we are praying AMISS! We don't want our wings of faith clipped, we don't want our eyes covered in film, we do not wish our tongue silent. Please LORD and SAVIOR, please let us live for YOU and YOUR kingdom and EVERY TIME we pray let us comprehend this!

Please LORD, we would be YOURS in all things in all ways! Help us! This world's ruler would lead us into all evil and we pray that YOU keep us from all evil!

In YOUR LOVE, YOUR GRACE!

No Doubting

1Ti_2:8  I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

Doubting is always put under the ban, because it stands as a foe to faith and hinders effectual praying. In the First Epistle to Timothy Paul gives us an invaluable truth relative to the conditions of successful praying, which he thus lays down: "I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting."

All questioning must be watched against and eschewed. Fear and peradventure have no
place in true praying. Faith must assert itself and bid these foes to prayer depart. Too much authority cannot be attributed to faith; but prayer is the sceptre by which it signalizes its power. How much of spiritual wisdom there is in the following advice written by an eminent old divine.

"Would you be freed from the bondage to corruption?" he asks. "Would you grow in grace in general and grow in grace in particular? If you would, your way is plain. Ask of God more faith. Beg of Him morning, and noon and night, while you walk by the way, while you sit in the house, when you lie down and when you rise up; beg of Him simply to impress Divine things more deeply on your heart, to give you more and more of the substance of things hoped for and of the evidence of things not seen."

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 11)

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No doubting.  We talked yesterday, and several times about not doubting and how we are prone to doubt. We have to guard against the things we are prone towards. We must seek forgiveness for our failings not simply blow them off as if they don't matter. We can never say, 'Oh well, that's it, I'm only human.'  It's true we are only human, but we must lament our failings, we must lament our shortcomings not excuse them. We must seek forgiveness for our sins, not excuse them. Doubting must be lamented, doubting, lack of faith- doubting is a faith destroyer if allowed to flourish without check, without seeking forgiveness.

Paul says that HE wills therefore that men PRAY EVERYWHERE, lifting up holy hands, without wrath...WITHOUT DOUBTING.

Pray everywhere...and yes, pray without doubting. If we pray without doubting we are praying with FAITH, with BELIEVING.

The person quoted above asked--   'Would you be freed from the bondage to corruption?'

We all would answer, 'Yes.' wouldn't we?  We don't want to be captive to corruption.  We would GROW in GRACE in anyway we possible can. We need to ASK for MORE FAITH from GOD, remember faith can increase.   We need to BEG morning, noon, and night! Sitting, laying, rising we must BEG to have our GOD impressed upon our HEARTS, to give us MORE FAITH- which we are told -- '...is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' Heb.11:1

We need MORE FAITH in our GOD.  We need more faith...please LORD, please...more faith, all by YOUR grace!

In YOUR LOVE!

Before Prayer There Is Faith

'We catch a glimpse of the tremendous importance of faith and of the great value God has set upon it, when we remember that He has made it the one indispensable condition of being saved. "By GRACE are ye saved, THROUGH FAITH." Thus, when we contemplate the great importance of prayer, we find faith standing immediately by its side. By faith are we saved, and by faith we stay saved. Prayer introduces us to a life of faith. Paul declared that the life he lived, he lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved him and gave Himself for him -- that he walked by faith and not by sight.

PRAYER IS ABSOLUTELY DEPENDENT UPON FAITH. VIRTUALLY, IT HAS NO EXISTENCE APART FROM IT AND ACCOMPLISHES NOTHING UNLESS IT BE ITS INSEPARABLE COMPANION. FAITH MAKES PRAYER EFFECTUAL AND IN A CERTAIN IMPORTANT SENSE, MUST PRECEDE IT.

"For he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

Before prayer ever starts toward God; before its petition is preferred, before its requests are made known -- FAITH MUST HAVE GONE ON AHEAD; must have asserted its belief in the existence of God; must have given its assent to the gracious truth that "God is a rewarder of those that diligently seek His face." This is the primary step in praying. In this regard, while faith does not bring the blessing, yet it puts prayer in a position to ask for it, and leads to another step toward realization, by aiding the petitioner to believe that God is able and willing to bless.'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 9)

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(Eph_2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.

Gal_2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

2Co 5:7  (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

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'Before prayer ever starts toward God; before its petition is preferred, before its requests are made known -- FAITH MUST HAVE GONE ON AHEAD…'

Faith must have gone on ahead before we even begin to pray. We can only pray if we have faith. 

True, a prayer can be made to someone other than God, the TRUE GOD, the Heavenly Father, but the one praying is praying to someone, this is what prayer is.  Prayer is seeking intercession from another. Some people seek intercession from false gods, those people are putting their faith in a false god.  They have faith, just not in the Heavenly Father. We MUST have FAITH first in order to begin to pray.  WE DO believe in the Heavenly Father, and therefore our faith, our belief is in our Heavenly Father.  We petition our Heavenly Father, through FAITH. Prayer and faith go hand in hand.  FAITH MUST HAVE GONE ON AHEAD.

By the GRACE of our GOD, through HIS LOVE ALWAYS!

'Faith is not an aimless act of the soul, but a looking to God and a resting upon His promises.'

'Faith is not an abstract belief in the Word of God, nor a mere mental credence, nor a
simple assent of the understanding and will; nor is it a passive acceptance of facts,
however sacred or thorough.

Faith is an operation of God, a Divine illumination, a holy energy implanted by the Word of God and the Spirit in the human soul -- a spiritual, Divine principle which takes of the Supernatural and makes it a thing apprehendable by the faculties of time and sense.

Faith deals with God, and is conscious of God.

It deals with the Lord Jesus Christ and sees in Him a Saviour; it deals with God's Word, and lays hold of the truth; it deals with the Spirit of God, and is energized and inspired by its holy fire.

God is the great objective of faith; for faith rests its whole weight on His Word.

Faith is not an aimless act of the soul, but a looking to God and a resting upon His promises.

Just as love and hope have always an objective so, also, has faith. Faith is not believing just anything; it is believing God, resting in Him, trusting His Word.

Faith gives birth to prayer, and grows stronger, strikes deeper, rises higher, in the
struggles and wrestlings of mighty petitioning.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the assurance and realization of the inheritance of the saints.

Faith, too, is humble and persevering. It can wait and pray; it can stay on its knees, or lie in the dust. It is the one great condition of prayer; the LACK of it lies at the root of all poor praying, feeble praying, little praying, unanswered praying.'

Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 6)

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TRUTH!

Faith is REAL.

FAITH is ACTIVE.

It is BY FAITH we please God!

Heb_11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

TRUTH!

We must BELIEVE that HE IS!
We must BELIEVE that HE REWARDS those who DILIGENTLY SEEK HIM.

You don't diligently seek anything if you don't believe in it!  What person would diligently search for something they didn't believe existed? How preposterous it would be for someone to NOT believe in the very thing they are seeking desperately.  What a colossal waste of time to search for something you don't believe is really there.  However, if you believe something of great price is to be found, you search like you've never searched before, don't you?

We must believe our GOD rewards us for diligently searching for Him, for believing in Him! This is FAITH!

Truly our prayers only have any worth at all based solely upon the One we pray to and not our own feebleness. It is God's righteousness, and HIS amazing mercy that is truth.

If we pray without believing we are speaking to only hear ourselves.

Mar 12:38  And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,
Mar 12:39  And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts:
Mar 12:40  Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.

Jesus said to BEWARE of those who for a pretence make long prayers.

He didn't say that because long prayers are wrong, but long prayers spoken to appear godly are very wrong, they are prayers without any faith in God. Any prayers spoken without faith is worthy of damnation.  WE must pray as the man seeking mercy and healing for his son…

Mar 9:23  Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mar 9:24  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

LORD, WE BELIEVE; HELP THOU OUR UNBELIEF!

This is our desperate cry as we pray, knowing we believe and not wanting any lack of our own faith to stop us from believing still!

All in the LOVE of our SAVIOR!

Take no thought for the morrow

Isa_26:3  Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER  By E.M. BOUNDS (Excerpt 4)

'When we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," we are, in a measure, shutting
tomorrow out of our prayer. We do not live in tomorrow but in today. We do not seek
tomorrow's grace or tomorrow's bread. They thrive best, and get most out of life, who
live in the living present. They pray best who pray for today's needs, not for
tomorrow's, which may render our prayers unnecessary and redundant by not existing
at all!

True prayers are born of present trials and present needs. Bread, for today, is bread
enough. Bread given for today is the strongest sort of pledge that there will be bread
tomorrow. Victory today, is the assurance of victory tomorrow. Our prayers need to be
focused upon the present, We must trust God today, and leave the morrow entirely
with Him. The present is ours; the future belongs to God. Prayer is the task and duty of
each recurring day -- daily prayer for daily needs.

As every day demands its bread, so every day demands its prayer. No amount of
praying, done today, will suffice for tomorrow's praying. On the other hand, no praying
for tomorrow is of any great value to us today. To-day's manna is what we need;
tomorrow God will see that our needs are supplied. This is the faith which God seeks to
inspire. So leave tomorrow, with its cares, its needs, its troubles, in God's hands. There
is no storing tomorrow's grace or tomorrow's praying; neither is there any laying-up of
today's grace, to meet tomorrow's necessities. We cannot have tomorrow's grace, we
cannot eat tomorrow's bread, we cannot do tomorrow's praying. "Sufficient unto the
day is the evil thereof;" and, most assuredly, if we possess faith, sufficient also, will be
the good.'

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Mat_6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Truth!

Jesus speaks ONLY truth!

So our doubting our Savior impedes our faith.  When He spoke the words -- 'Take therefore NO thought for the morrow…' -- did He mean what He said?  Did He mean it?! He had to mean it, He had to.  Take therefore NO thought…  how many thoughts? NONE, not a single one! No thought for the morrow, yet we can't help but think of the morrow all the time, right? Tell me how many time just today have you thought of not only the morrow but several morrows, weeks, months, years ahead. We tell ourselves that we have no choice but to think of the morrow, life forces us too and yes, it does in many ways but perhaps we need to think about tomorrow in the light of God's will and not our own.

All our prayers must be in light of God's will.

We truly cannot have tomorrow's grace now, and we cannot eat tomorrow's bread, and we cannot pray today the prayers meant for tomorrow.

We have to believe that we live now, pray now, trust now. The faith we have right now is a faith that believes in the reality of a very loving Savior, an all loving Savior. To live believing in our all loving Savior means that we KNOW, we BELIEVE that all that happens will be according to HIS plan for us.  Every single thing that happens is by HIS design. Do I mean that He designs for us to suffer? Yes, but the suffering is not senseless as we often believe. We can't comprehend the how's and why's and so we believe it's meaningless, it's pointless, and therefore all that remains is that it is cruel and we doubt God's love calling Him a cruel Master, an unloving Master. We say that a loving God would not allow this horrific suffering, this real torture, we say this because we cannot fathom the whys of it all. All we choose to comprehend is the awful pain, the agony emotional, mental, physical suffering. Our belief has to comprehend that our GOD knows why it is happening even when we don't and never learn why. God's design is for us to be HIS.  The pain and suffering isn't meant to drive us away from Him, but to move us ever closer to Him in FAITH, in His grace, HIS LOVE.

Our daily bread- spiritual and physical- we must PRAY daily. Every day we need this closeness with our SAVIOR, our LIVING, LOVING SAVIOR.

Yes, we must pray for the future, but live in today not allowing the anxiety of trying to live in the future overcome us.

Please, LORD, bless us, keep us in YOU! Teach us to live in today with YOU, believing in YOUR truth that we aren't to take thought for the morrow. All in YOUR LOVE!