Tomorrow is the "National Day of Prayer"

Learn more about the National day of Prayer by clicking on this link http://nationaldayofprayer.org/

For as long as I can remember the National Day of Prayer has been a grand reminder that God is in still in charge of this world and our lives.  Yet our lack of prayer speaks volumes about our faith and what we believe about God.  Be honest.  How much time you spend praying each day?  Just a meal times?  Maybe just when you are in trouble?  Again, be honest and make s choice to pray.

Last week I heard a powerful message from Brian Houston who is the pastor of Hillsong in Australia.  He shared some points that really hit home with me.  You may have read much of this in an earlier blogpost, but here are some thoughts from my sermon this past Sunday which was about prayer:

James 5:16 (NLT) --- Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

Prayer is a God encounter.  Recognize and never under estimate what God can do.  Prayer is multi dimensional.  Those dimensions include lots of power for those who meet God in prayer.

 

There is power in praise.  Don't take it for granted.  Praise is telling God how much you love Him and how good He is.  There is power in being still.  People lean in when you do that.  "Be still and know that I am God."  But being still is not easy.  When we stop and are still, we may just be able to hear God better.  Prayer has lots of pieces to it that we might be missing

1 John 15:14-25 (MSG) --- And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he's listening. And if we're confident that he's listening, we know that what we've asked for is as good as ours.

We can and must Come boldly before God.  We have confidence in Him and because of Him.  He hears.  He answers.  Believe and come to God with no sense of limitation.  We never graduate from the need to come before God in prayer.

 

There is also power in CRYING OUT to God.  There are times when there is a need to CRY OUT to God. Never lose our desperation in trusting God.  One last way we often miss is this: There is power in meditation.  Let God bring it up again (speaking about Scripture).  The capacity to focus on who Jesus is worship and that's when extra ordinary things happen.  There is nothing boring about prayer.

 

We must be people who know the power of prayer.