Content. Day 1 Prayer and Faith. Day 2 A Quiet Place. Day 3 Call to Me, and I will Answer You. Day 4 A True Prayer. Day 5 The Prayer of Jabez

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Content. Day 1 Prayer and Faith. Day 2 A Quiet Place. Day 3 Call to Me, and I will Answer You. Day 4 A True Prayer. Day 5 The Prayer of Jabez"

Emil Newton
5 years ago
Views:

2 Content Day 1 and Faith Day 2 A Quiet Place Day 3 Call to Me, and I will Answer You Day 4 A True Day 5 The of Jabez Day 6 Abide in Me, And My Words in You Day 7 Be Anxious For Nothing 1

3 Day 1 and Faith But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6) Faith is the foundation of the Christian walk. In all matters of the kingdom, faith is a necessity. Speaking to someone you cannot see requires a level of trust in that person to do what they ask of you, the same goes with faith in prayer. God expects us to put all our trust in Him even though we cannot see Him. and Faith go together, without one the other is lifeless. For he who comes to God must believe, there is no room for doubt when we pray. Faith does the impossible because it brings God into the impossibilities of your life. There should not be a plan B when it comes to prayer; either God answers your prayer or nothing happens. Your faith must maintain its hold even in the face of adversity. It must have an attitude of even if my prayers are not answered I will keep on trusting the God. (Psalm 62:5) Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. (Mark 11:24) The key here is: believe that you receive them; have faith, confidence and assurance that you receive whatever things you ask for, and you will have them. If your faith is failing in any area, you can pray and ask the Lord to pray for you like He did for Peter (Luke 22:31) LORD, increase my faith in You and in Your word at all times without doubting Your ability and willingness to answer me when I call. LORD, I put my trust in You and I believe that whatever I ask when I pray, I receive them and I have all that I ask in Jesus name. 2

4 Day 2 A Quiet Place But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly (Matthew 6:6) As life gets busier each day with so many voices and adverts screaming for our attention, one can easily get overwhelmed with the amount of things thrown at us. God wants your undivided attention when it comes to prayer. Jesus said But you, when you pray, go into your room, in order words leave the noisy environment and go into a quiet place, your closet. We all need to have a quiet place, a place where there is little or no distraction, a place where you can pray without the kids screaming or the phones ringing. For Jesus, His quiet place was the wilderness, away from the multitude: So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. (Luke 5:16) You don t have to go to the wilderness to be at your quiet place. For many of us our quiet place is within our reach, for example your living room during the day might be noisy but quiet during the early hours of the morning, so you can make it your quiet place in the morning. Isaac went into the fields to meditate (Gen. 24:63) that was his quiet place. Elijah sent Ahab away to go and eat and drink while he went up to the top of Carmel to pray (1 Kings 18:41-42) that was his quiet place. It is good to be alone with the LORD. He desires to fellowship personally with us. Seek for a place to meet with the Him and make use of that time to pray. Lord, please help me to choose my quiet place, a place to meet with You as often as possible. Lord, please help me to make the best of my time with you in prayer. 3

5 Day 3 Call to Me, and I will Answer You Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know. (Jeremiah 33:3) We have a guarantee from the LORD to answer our prayers when we call on Him but we must not forget that when we ask for things that would not give Him glory we might not receive what we ask for. Call on Me, and I will answer I will answer does not mean He will answer as we wish to be answered. If you ask for something that is not fit for you to receive or you ask amiss, He will give you something better or appropriate. Suppose you ask your 5 year old daughter to ask you anything she desires and she asks for a Mansion in Las Vegas. As a good parent you will not grant that desire even though you have heard her and it is within your means to give that child the mansion she desires. The willingness of God and His timing can be different, even though He is willing to answer us, the timing for that thing might not be now, hence the reason for seeking His will in prayer i.e. LORD, is it in Your will for me to have this or that? Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, 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 the petitions that we have asked of Him. (1 John 5:14-15) A good understanding of this truth makes prayer exciting and interesting because we know that each time we come to God in prayer, He hears us and we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. LORD, I thank You that You always hear my prayers. LORD, please help me to understand Your will for my life so as to know what to pray for. 4

6 Day 4 A True Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And they divided His garments and cast lots. (Luke 23:34) It is easy to ask God to forgive your enemies who are now friends but what would you pray in the midst of persecution; when betrayal is now a reality? In the case of Christ, while He was right in the middle of His crucifixion, His prayer was Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. That is a true prayer from the heart filled with love. On His way to His death, He still prayed compassionate prayers. He was weak, He felt rejection from His Father and abandonment from His followers yet, He showed us an example of a true prayer. At this point, Jesus could no longer lay hands on the sick nor could He feed the multitude but was still able to minister in prayer to those who were involved in His crucifixion and death. What an awesome lesson for us to learn from. No matter the pain, our prayers, vision and focus must not change from what God desires. The Father was willing to forgive, and Jesus prayed for that forgiveness. His prayer was a fulfilment of His very own words in Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you (Matthew 5:44) A true prayer sometimes can be hard to pray but must not be done based on our feelings but because of our love for God and the desire to please Him. Pray for someone who has hurt you today and watch God touch their lives. Father, I ask that You please forgive all those who have spitefully used me and persecuted me. Father, I ask that You bless every life that has caused me pain by Your mercy. 5

7 Day 5 The of Jabez And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain! So God granted him what he requested. (1 Chronicles 4:10) Among his brothers was this more honourable child whom his mother bore in pain. His honour did not come from his past but rather from answered prayers. Nothing great was written about his past but something that could not be missed about Jabez was his desire for a change which was intimated in his prayers. The circumstance of his birth was not a deterrent to the future he craved for. One day, he cried to the God of heaven for a blessing and that changed his story forever. The answer to prayer he enjoyed would not have been possible if he had kept quiet and not contested for the blessing of the LORD. Jabez was clear about what he wanted from God: 1. The blessing of the LORD 2. An enlargement of his territory; an increase of his capacity to expand as far as the LORD would take him 3. The mighty hand of God that ensures that he never walked alone 4. The safety of the LORD from every form of evil. He recognised that the blessing might attract evil so he even prayed against such 5. A life that is a delight; free from the pain of his past So God granted him what he requested, every one of his prayers were answered. This man was a man of prayer; every prayer point was significant and instructive. God loves bold prayers like the prayer of Jabez. No matter what your past is, you can create a honourable future through prayers. Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain! 6

8 Day 6 Abide in Me, And My Words in You If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. (John 15:7) To abide in Christ simply means to remain, to tarry, to continue to be present, and not to depart from Him. However, that s only one part of our text. His words must also abide in us. For us to abide in Him and His words in us, we must place great emphasis on Him and His words. Christ should not be overlooked in our lives neither should His words in us be taken lightly. Jesus assured His disciples that if these things were present in them, whatever they desired in prayer shall be done for them. What a great promise we have from Christ Himself. Our intimacy with God is so important that the LORD expects us to come to Him as a child goes to his or her father. When His disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray in what we call the model prayer (Luke 11:1-8), the first thing He mentioned was Our Father and not just any father but Our Father in heaven. This speaks our relationship with God; our walk with Him; our abiding in Him is our guarantee to answered prayers. While asking amiss may be a reason for unanswered prayers, we see in our text that when something is wrong with our relationship with Him, our prayers might also go unanswered. What you desire comes immediately after your intimacy with Christ is sorted. With this assurance of answered prayer, you will always look forward to a time of fellowship in prayer. Lord Jesus, please help me to abide in you all the days of my life. Lord Jesus, please help me to give Your words attention in my life. 7

9 Day 7 Be Anxious For Nothing Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; (Philippians 4:6) Webster s 1913 Dictionary defines anxiety as Concern or solicitude respecting some thing or event, future or uncertain, which disturbs the mind, and keeps it in a state of painful uneasiness. But we have an admonition from God s word that says Be anxious for nothing. What boldness for the believer that in the midst of any kind of storm or uncertainty, don t be anxious. The King James Version (KJV) puts it this way, Be careful for nothing. So if we are to be careful for nothing, what then should be our reaction to the issues of life? The answer is in the next sentence, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. In every concern of our life regardless of how big or little, take it to the LORD in prayer. A good lesson to learn in life is to know how to give God all our concerns and worries. In His first epistle to the Churches in Asia, Peter wrote Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:17 NIV). We were not created by God to be anxious for the issues that life throws at us. When we give Him our anxieties, fears and worries in prayer, He gives us His peace that surpasses all understanding and that peace will guard or keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7) I refuse to be anxious or worry about anything. LORD, I believe that You are able to take care of all my anxieties. LORD, please give me Your peace that surpasses all understanding to guard my heart and mind through Christ Jesus. 8

About The Author Jeremaine is the coordinator of Connections, a ministry with a mandate to inspire people to pray. He is man nurtured with the Word of God and is passionate about.

He is a teacher at the RCCG School of, UK; a school with the vision to teach people on how to pray effectively.

10 About The Author Jeremaine is the coordinator of Connections, a ministry with a mandate to inspire people to pray. He is man nurtured with the Word of God and is passionate about. His desire is to see everyone connect with God in the place of prayer. He believes prayer plays a vital role in birthing seasons aimed at establishing God s purpose on the earth. He is a teacher at the RCCG School of, UK; a school with the vision to teach people on how to pray effectively. Jeremaine is an IT management consultant with speciality in the Business Intelligence space helping firms to build sustainable data and analytics infrastructure. He is an ordained Minister and serves at The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Stillwaters Parish, Colchester. He is married to Josephine and they are blessed with three daughters. Appreciation I would like to thank my dear wife Josephine for her love and support in the ministry without which I won t be here today. I also want to thank my big brother, friend and mentor Akin Akinyemi (Believer s Faith Campaign) for his spiritual insight and guidance in the faith. God bless you. Contact info@prayerconnections.org Facebook: prayerconnections Twitter: prayerconnectn Instagram: prayerconnections Download Our Mobile App Search Connections on Apple Store and Google Play 9

PRAYING OUR WAY TO SUCCESS AS WE LIVE FOR THE KINGDOM CAUSE

PRAYING OUR WAY TO SUCCESS AS WE LIVE FOR THE KINGDOM CAUSE It is God s desire to help us to be successful in life and to live a life of great purpose and meaning as we live for the Kingdom Cause We all