A Solemn Confession and Warning

Warning

Warning: We Pray Too Little

Everywhere people confess, “We pray too little!” Yet there seems to be a fear that, because of pressure from work and the force of habit, it is almost impossible to hope for a change. Such thinking can only hinder our own joy and our power in God’s service.

What a solemn confession and warning: we pray too little! Is the call of God for our time and attention more important than our work and our service to Him? If God is waiting to meet us and to give us power from heaven for His work, it is shortsighted to put other work in His place? If there is to be significant experience of God’s presence, there must be more definite and persevering prayer.

Andrew Murray circa 1880

What is God’s Will

Pondering

Provoking Thoughts on Prayer

“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Praying these words, humble yourself before the Lord, earnestly asking Him to accomplish His whole will in you and through you. Surrender your heart into His hands. Surrender your freedom into His hands. Yield to your Lord His right to do with you as He pleases.

Do you know what God’s will is? His will is that His children love Him. Therefore, when you pray, “Lord, Your will be done,” you are actually asking the Lord to allow you to love Him. So begin to love Him! And as you do, beseech Him to give you His love. All that I have described to you will take place very sweetly, and it will take place very peacefully through prayer.

Gene Edwards

The Fire that Consumes

Holy Spirit fire

The Fire that Consumes

Prayer has an incredible power to arrest and change the purposes of God. The prayers of righteous men relieve the stroke of His power. We can witness both the possibilities and the necessity of prayer when we see how the prayer of God’s saints brought about a change in God’s plans.

-Abraham prayed and God healed Abimeleck, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare Children.
-Jonah prayed and Nineveh prayed and God’s decree against the city was changed.
-Moses prayed forty-days and nights and God’s anger was kindled against Aaron to not destroy him.
-Hezekiah prayed and God added fifteen years to his life.

All of these people knew how to pray and how to prevail in prayer. Everything is possible to men and women who know how to pray, and it is still possible today.

E.M. Bounds

The Ministry of the Interior Part II

AbidingThe Ministry of the Interior Part II

Am I fulfilling the ministry of the interior?

Provoking Thoughts on Prayer

There is no snare or any danger of infatuation or pride in intercession, it is a hidden ministry that brings forth fruit whereby the Father is glorified. It is the interior ministry. Am I allowing my spiritual life to be frittered away, or am I bringing it all to one center—Jesus? Is Jesus Christ more and more dominating every interest of my life?

I must take time to realize the central point of power in my interior. Do I give one minute out of sixty to concentrate upon it? Do I take time to abide? Is the greatest factor of power in my life work, service, and sacrifice for others, or trying to work for God? We must be determined to be limited and concentrate our affinities. The disciple who abides in Jesus is the will of God, and his apparently free choices are God’s foreordained decrees.

Oswald Chambers

The Ministry of the Interior Part 1

Interior

Provoking Thoughts on Prayer

Drawing close to God will give you personal rest and power in prayer. Draw near to God then it will be easy to pray in faith.

Let me remind you, when God calls you into the school of intercession, it is always more for your own benefit than others. He is drawing you near for deeper and more critical purpose. It is to be trained by the Holy Spirit. Here’s the question of the day, the month, the year, and maybe for your lifetime: Am I trainable? You have to be trained by the Holy Spirit to be still, to love, and to pray and believe.

Each one of us must learn to give ourselves to the “Ministry of the Interior”–it is here that we are trained for service by the Holy Spirit. How are you doing stewarding this ministry?

Tim Cameron

We Are That Widow

Widow

Day 5 of a week with Francis Frangipane on Prayer

Provoking thoughts on prayer

When it is all said and done, is it possible that this widow in Luke 18 may not have been a singular person but a corporate church—a “widow church”—united in Christ in a singular, desperate prayer for protection from her adversary?

It is our turn to pray. We are the widow who cannot give herself a reason for failure; God will answer our day-and-night cry. Let us position ourselves at His throne. Certainly, He will grant us legal protection in or cities.

Heavenly Father, forgive us for our lack of prayer and for giving ourselves excuses to fail. Lord, we thank You for making us desperate. Help us now to prevail, to attain the “legal protection” You have provided us against the adversary. In Jesus name.

Francis Frangipane