Hey all my Loves.
How are we doing? Are we soaking in God's goodness today?
Here we go.
"Earnest prayer from a righteous person has powerful results" James 5:16.
Okay so I’ve got to thinking. I want powerful results when I pray, right? Why else would I pray? To hear myself talk? I do that much too much as it is. So I’m thinking I might want my prayers to be earnest and with a righteous heart so as to receive powerful results...that’s two things that I can work on. Earnestness and righteousness...But how do I do this? I have some thoughts, just personal thoughts. I have no theology degree to back me up. I’m just a Christian striving to serve Christ. I’m just part of the conversation, part of the journey.
Well first, let's focus on righteousness, anyone have a Webster in the house? If you do please look it up and email me the definition, just kidding, I’d prefer if you explored its meaning in the Bible. Find it? Because it's kind of all over the place in there.... but anyway, for the time being I’m just going to put it in simple terms of my understanding. I understand it as doing what is "right" before the Lord, and bringing glory and honor to Him with our lives. Walking in harmony with God if you will.
And now earnestness.... is that a word? Hmm....um yeah; I don’t' have much knowledge on that, but I would say that maybe in a sense it applies to seeking what God wants for us and what will bring the most glory to Him. Of course God wants us to ask Him for what we want and most importantly, He wants us to be honest before Him. But in our prayers do we surrender our will to His good and perfect will?
Are we tracking, here? I hope so because I’m not sure if I am, so hopefully at least one of us is.
Every time I pray I try to remember to ask Jesus to purify my requests before the Father. It's funny; sometimes I get this image of me standing there with the Holy Spirit running through me, Jesus interpreting for me and the Father listening. And then even funnier I get this idea...this thought…and to best explain it I have a word picture:
Let’s picture me driving down the road. I begin to pray, "Jesus, please come down and purify my prayers before the Father so that they may be pleasing and refreshing to him. Father, could you please bless me with the mighty miracle of a gas station so I can buy some soul satisfying chocolate? Thanks God!"
So Jesus listens to this request, bites his lip in a how-should-I say-this-to-the-Father type of a way, and turns to the Father and says "Father, could you please bless Kaylee with a fitness center. She really likes it when she works out. She feels so much better about herself and she releases so much stress. Thanks! Oh and P.S. please deliver her from chocolate because she’s struggling to eat healthy and take care of herself. Praise you for your faithfulness!"
Yeah, I know, deliver me from chocolate? But hey, everyone has their own struggle.
The prayer that Jesus interceded for me was really the cry of my soul, not quite what I was asking for with words, but was my heart’s true desire. I guess what I’m trying to say here is the saying we've heard since the beginning of our walk: sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes no, and sometimes not right now. Sometimes He answers it in a different way. but so much better of a way because He truly knows what's best for us. He hears our cries just as they are but He also hears our heart’s cry. He knows every strand on our head, every beat of our heart. He knows what’s best.
Wow, if you made it through this....nice work.
Have a wonderful day, full of prayer, praise, and petition of Christ.
Cheering you on as you continue to pray knowing the Spirit intercedes.
May you rejoice in the answers given from those prayers (though maybe not exactly what you were asking).
Kaylee
How are we doing? Are we soaking in God's goodness today?
Here we go.
"Earnest prayer from a righteous person has powerful results" James 5:16.
Okay so I’ve got to thinking. I want powerful results when I pray, right? Why else would I pray? To hear myself talk? I do that much too much as it is. So I’m thinking I might want my prayers to be earnest and with a righteous heart so as to receive powerful results...that’s two things that I can work on. Earnestness and righteousness...But how do I do this? I have some thoughts, just personal thoughts. I have no theology degree to back me up. I’m just a Christian striving to serve Christ. I’m just part of the conversation, part of the journey.
Well first, let's focus on righteousness, anyone have a Webster in the house? If you do please look it up and email me the definition, just kidding, I’d prefer if you explored its meaning in the Bible. Find it? Because it's kind of all over the place in there.... but anyway, for the time being I’m just going to put it in simple terms of my understanding. I understand it as doing what is "right" before the Lord, and bringing glory and honor to Him with our lives. Walking in harmony with God if you will.
And now earnestness.... is that a word? Hmm....um yeah; I don’t' have much knowledge on that, but I would say that maybe in a sense it applies to seeking what God wants for us and what will bring the most glory to Him. Of course God wants us to ask Him for what we want and most importantly, He wants us to be honest before Him. But in our prayers do we surrender our will to His good and perfect will?
Are we tracking, here? I hope so because I’m not sure if I am, so hopefully at least one of us is.
Every time I pray I try to remember to ask Jesus to purify my requests before the Father. It's funny; sometimes I get this image of me standing there with the Holy Spirit running through me, Jesus interpreting for me and the Father listening. And then even funnier I get this idea...this thought…and to best explain it I have a word picture:
Let’s picture me driving down the road. I begin to pray, "Jesus, please come down and purify my prayers before the Father so that they may be pleasing and refreshing to him. Father, could you please bless me with the mighty miracle of a gas station so I can buy some soul satisfying chocolate? Thanks God!"
So Jesus listens to this request, bites his lip in a how-should-I say-this-to-the-Father type of a way, and turns to the Father and says "Father, could you please bless Kaylee with a fitness center. She really likes it when she works out. She feels so much better about herself and she releases so much stress. Thanks! Oh and P.S. please deliver her from chocolate because she’s struggling to eat healthy and take care of herself. Praise you for your faithfulness!"
Yeah, I know, deliver me from chocolate? But hey, everyone has their own struggle.
The prayer that Jesus interceded for me was really the cry of my soul, not quite what I was asking for with words, but was my heart’s true desire. I guess what I’m trying to say here is the saying we've heard since the beginning of our walk: sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes no, and sometimes not right now. Sometimes He answers it in a different way. but so much better of a way because He truly knows what's best for us. He hears our cries just as they are but He also hears our heart’s cry. He knows every strand on our head, every beat of our heart. He knows what’s best.
Wow, if you made it through this....nice work.
Have a wonderful day, full of prayer, praise, and petition of Christ.
Cheering you on as you continue to pray knowing the Spirit intercedes.
May you rejoice in the answers given from those prayers (though maybe not exactly what you were asking).
Kaylee
No comments:
Post a Comment