Prayer Tip: Pray in THE Name of Jesus

Do you feel more like praying after you’ve had a really good day spiritually?  Are you able to ask with greater confidence?  After you’ve messed up (again), do you think God might not be as willing to answer your prayer and that you can only ask small?  Then you’re probably ‘praying in your own name’.

John 16:24   Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.

What does it mean to pray in Jesus’ name?  It means to pray like Jesus, asking for the things He’s asking.  (Indeed when we’re praying in the Spirit, He is the one that is praying.  Gal. 2:20) It’s like writing a check on His bank account with His name already signed by Him on the signature line.  What a privilege!  What a responsibility.  He’s counting on us as stewards.

With all the needs of people we know multiplied by all the people around the world, for how much should we ask?  How much is in His account?  (He’s the Creator.  If you could ask for something not there, He can create it.)

“Thou art coming to a King, large petitions with thee bring, for his grace and power are such, none can ever ask too much.”   John Newton

Prayer Tip: Make The Bible Your Prayer Book

Along with more specific promises God gives you, here are some things that we know are God’s will in any situation.

Cry out to God for contentment and the discernment to know if it’s to be contentment with the battle to change your circumstances or contentment with the circumstances as they are.

Phil. 4:13  Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

God wants us to have an unshakeable and abiding peace.

John 14:27  Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

Also Phil. 4:6,7   Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

God is always working in every situation to focus our faith.  We can always pray for faith that is focused on Him alone.

II Cor. 1:8,9  For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;

Once again, Make the Bible your prayer book and plead the promises of God!

Prayer Tip: Pray the Answer

Reminder: this Saturday 8/12 is 1/2 Day of Prayer. Come join us at the Plaza for any or all of the time 0800-1200.

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Do you remember working math problems when the textbook had the answers to odd numbered problems in the back?  Most of us looked at the answer first and then worked out the problem with the answer in mind.  The Bible is our answer book and we can pray the same way!

II Cor. 1:20 (Berkley)  “..in Him (Christ) all the promises of God are yes…”

“Promises are molds into which we pour our prayers.  They foretell what to expect.  They shape our praying.  They motivate, direct, and determine our supplication.  This makes Christian praying different – we pray from God’s promise which is His answer, and expect it to be fulfilled.”   Armin Gesswein

Make the Bible your prayer book and plead the promises of God!  Fix your eye on God’s promise rather than the need.

Prayer Tip: Bargaining With God

Have you ever tried to bargain with God?  “If you do this for me, God, then I’ll _________”.  You can fill in the blank.  Consider Paul’s description of God to the Athenians.

Acts 17:24-25 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things;

That pretty much leaves us without any bargaining power.  God doesn’t need anything we have since everything we have came from Him to begin with – ‘life and breath and all things’.

The GOOD NEWS is that we don’t need to bargain in order to receive from God what we need.   Consider:

John 3:16  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, …

Rom. 8:32  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

Keep asking and believing God for what you need and keep surrendering your ideas of what that is.

And continue giving Him praise and thanks throughout the process.

Prayer Tip: Emotional Drains that Sap Our Strength

Reminder: 1/2 Day of Prayer this Saturday June 10 at the Plaza 8 a.m. to noon.

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Bitterness is an obvious drain that destroys the person harboring it and defiles everyone around them. But what about things like fear and worry and disappointment and self-pity?

 “The clearest evidence that God’s grace is at work in our hearts is that we do not get into panics.  The one great crime on the part of a disciple, according to Jesus Christ, is worry.  Whenever we begin to calculate without God, we commit sin.”     Oswald Chambers

We’re told (actually commanded) ‘do not fear’, ‘do not worry’, ‘fix your eyes on Jesus rather than yourself or your circumstances’. How are we to do that?    PRAY.

Psalm 34:4 I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT) Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.

Psalm 3:3-4 But You, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head. I was crying to the Lord with my voice, and He answered me from His holy mountain.

Psalm 27:13-14 I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.

John 14:1 Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.

Prayer Tip: Prayer and Will

(Reminder: Don’t forget 1/2 Day of Prayer at the Plaza this Saturday Jan. 14, 8a.m.-noon.)

I have often felt discouraged in praying for another person’s salvation when observing the demonstration of a strong will set against God.  Does God overcome a resistant will? 

Duh.  He had to overcome my resistance to bring me to faith.  Didn’t He you?

John 15:16  You did not choose Me, but I chose you…

1 John 5:16 deals with intercession  and a person’s will.  “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life…”  (There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.)

Oswald Chambers says, “Intercessory prayer for one who is sinning prevails; God says so.  The will of the person prayed for does not come into question at all; he is connected with God by prayer, and prayer on the basis of the redemption sets the connection working and God gives life.”

Unless you are sure there is sin that leads to death, PRAY.

Pray for your loved one to be saved, to experience real life.  Pray for your friend to come to Jesus.  Pray for all men.  1 Timothy 2:1

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Prayer Tip: How to Deal With Your Fears

Philippians 4:6  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

What are you anxious about?  What do you fear?

Jacob (Genesis 32:9-12) gives us a great example for dealing with our fears.  Note:

He addresses his prayer to “O God of my father…O Lord”,  the One and only all powerful God and his Lord.

He’s praying while in the process of obeying God – “You said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives…’”.

He prays with humility and thanksgiving – “I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown…”.  He’s grateful, having come with only a staff and now has ‘two companies’.

He identifies his fear and states his request – “Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me…”

Then he claims God’s promise to him – “But You have said, ’I will surely make you prosper…”

Are you walking in obedience? What promises has God given you?  You can stand on them.  His promises are absolute certainty, no ‘chance’ involved.  (You don’t have to know probability and statistics.  That’s Good News for everyone, not just those who don’t like math.)

For more information on the Grace Bible Church Prayer Team, visit begrace.org/prayer.
For more information about Grace Bible Church, visit begrace.org

Prayer Tip: Prayers for Healing

Matthew 8:16-17 (NASB) When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES.” (ref. Isa. 53:4)

I’ve always thought of Is. 53:5 “by His stripes we are healed” as referring to our soul’s diseases.  I think primarily because I’ve not seen very many physical healings.  I parallel that with Psa. 103:1-3  Bless The Lord, O my soul,…who pardons all your iniquities and heals all your diseases.”

But here is a reference quoting Isaiah and saying it refers to His healing of physical illnesses and even demon possession.

My application:  In prayer for physical needs, always be listening for His direction/will but don’t be shy in asking for physical healing.  Temporal miracles can usher in eternal results.

(Because I do not want to pray my own ‘sympathies’, I do ask how what I’m praying might glorify God and advance His kingdom on earth as well as ‘make my joy complete’. John 16:24)

For more information on the Grace Bible Church Prayer Team, visit begrace.org/prayer.
For more information about Grace Bible Church, visit begrace.org

Prayer Tip: Prayer for the Church – Key to the Nation(s)

Last week I mentioned that the only hope for our nation is revival in the church. Pray for revival in the church.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV)  if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

The church is made up of individuals like you and me.  ‘Wicked way’ is the same as “walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me.” Jer. 16:12   And if we are not listening to God, we will do evil.  2 Chron. 12:14

Pray for personal revival.

What to pray?  (Jeremiah 4:1-2 TLB)
O church, people of God, “… if you will truly return to me and absolutely discard your idols,
and if you will swear by me alone, the living God, and begin to live good, honest, clean lives, then you will be a testimony to the nations of the world, and they will come to me and glorify my name.”

All people need the Lord. The longer we live the more we’ll realize that whatever we can accomplish and gain on our own will not satisfy.  Once acquired it becomes futile and empty. So many professing to know Jesus are engaged in the same pursuits as the world – money, status, power, achievement, a ‘special someone’, comfort – things which cannot profit or deliver because they are futile.

Jonah 2:8 Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

Ask yourself the question: To what/whom am I clinging?

If it’s not God alone, we will be disappointed. God offers grace to free us and transform us and make us world-changers and together draw the nation(s) to God.

For more information on the Grace Bible Church Prayer Team, visit begrace.org/prayer.
For more information about Grace Bible Church, visit begrace.org

Prayer Tip: Pray, Expecting an Answer!

Do you ever feel like ‘what’s the use?’ in certain areas of life – politics and the fickle majority, cancer, certain relationships, weight loss, dealing with depression, damaging habits and addictions, ….?

The song writer put it, “Sometimes the sky looks dark with not a ray of light, we’re tossed and driven on, no human help in sight; but there is one in heaven, who knows our deepest care, let Jesus solve your problem – just go to Him in prayer.”

God Himself says, “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”  Jeremiah 33:3

“Our experience confirms us in the belief that Jehovah the living God really does aid those who call upon him, and therefore we pray and mean to pray, not because we are so fascinated by prayer that for its own sake we would continue in it if it proved to be mere folly and superstition, as vain philosophers assert; but because we really, indeed, and of a truth, find it to be a practical and effectual means of obtaining help from God in the hour of need. There can be no reason for praying if there be no expectation of the Lord’s answering. ” Charles H. Spurgeon

Today is ‘super Tuesday’ of an election year. Arrogance and foolishness have been the marks of many in current leadership – a disdain for God and the faith of our founding fathers.  We would expect that from unbelievers. Let’s focus prayer during these troubling times on the church – those professing to know God and yet many of whom look just like the world when making decisions and living life.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV)  if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

PRAY!  God is GOD!  Nothing is too difficult for Him.

For more information on the Grace Bible Church Prayer Team, visit begrace.org/prayer.
For more information about Grace Bible Church, visit begrace.org