Prayer

Our Helper In Prayer

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

The Spirit of God not only maintains this hope within us, but helps us in our present limitations. For example, we do not know how to pray worthily as sons of God, but his Spirit within us is actually praying for us in those agonizing longings which never find words. And God who knows the heart’s secrets understands, of course, the Spirit’s intention as he prays for those who love God. Romans 8:26-27 Philipps Version

Last week we looked at being able to pray with confidence because Jesus taught us and encouraged us to come. This morning we are looking at how we can have confidence because Jesus went far beyond simply instructing and commanding us to pray. He does more than stand by and listen to our requests. The Bible tells us that at those times (For me often) when we don’t know how to pray, that He sends His Spirit as our Helper to give us hope, direction and understanding in prayer. In fact, God knows us so well that He and provides both daily bread, and the ability to realize when we need it. He pours out both mercy as well as the spirit repentance leading us to cry out for it. He is not only able to protect us from the devil, but He also puts into our hearts the hope that when we run to Him, He will be our helper and fortress in battle. This week’s video features these three classics about prayer: Sweet Hour of Prayer – Garden of Prayer and Let Us Have a Little Talk With Jesus. What a wonderful God and an amazing Savior we serve. He alone is worthy of our praise and is waiting to have a little talk with us today!

The God of Every Day Prayers

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Matthew 6:9‭-‬10‭, ‬12‭-‬13 ESV

Forgive us our debts, give us our food and lead us not into temptation are things Jesus taught us to pray every day. I don’t know about you but for me having to constantly ask for God’s help in these areas makes me feel frustrated and weak. But God is not at all frustrated or angry when we sincerely pray. Instead He taught us to pray these things because He is a God who is ready to forgive us every morning, delights in providing for us every day and who knows we need His protection on our journey!

The Whispers of God

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. 1 Kings 19:11-12

There are moments that God allows in our lives in which we are astonished to learn that God has been in control all along! Just like Elijah we have struggled because it has seemed as if our prayers have been denied. Then whether by some event or by a moment when a scripture verse leaps off the page as we are reading alone, God opens heaven’s window and whispers in our ear that He still has plans for us!

Our problem is that we have believed that some specific situation should work out a certain way or else all is lost. We cry and pray as thinking that things are completely out of control. In a way we are right. They are out of OUR control….but not God’s! Just as He did with Elijah there are times when God engineers strange situations in our lives like Elijah’s wind storm, earthquake and fire. After these pass, God certainly has our attention, and we fall silent and from that silence comes a still small voice. The Hebrew meaning reflects a calm such as when Jesus calmed the sea. “What are you doing here Elijah ?” God asked in that moment. What any of us are doing when God is finished is that finally we are listening. We’ve all got problems we want to talk about with God, but are we really listening to His voice? We will never hear the whispers of God until finally we listen, and in the calm after that storm, He has promised to show us way!