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Thursday, February 01, 2007
Practical Prayer Happy Black History Month! February is my favorite month of the year. Not only do I have the opportunity to celebrate black heritage, but it's also the month I was born. It could also be considered the month of love, since Valentine's Day is this month. Some would consider it the month of football since the Super Bowl is played the first weekend, thus deciding who will be the champion of the NFL. There are a lot of claims to fame for the month of February. Why don't you personalize this month and make it a month of prayer? Make February 2007 the month you draw closer to the Lord than ever before. This can happen if you make February a month of prayer for you and your family. I have been a youth pastor for a few years and all along I have encouraged students to grow deeper in their walk with Christ. The simple fact of the matter is that this will not happen if students do not pray and read God's word. I tell people all the time, if you don't seek the Lord and develop the discipline of spending time with Him on a consistent basis, you can't expect to live the life of a committed Christian. E. M. Bounds said; "Prayer is what distinguishes the children of God from others. Prayer is the one infallible mark and test of being a Christian". These are strong words, so many of us claim to be Christians, yet we don't spend time on a consistent and regular basis in prayer with our Lord and Savior. How can this be? E. M. Bounds went on to say; "That man cannot possibly be called a Christian, who does not pray. By no possible pretext can he claim any right to the term if he does not pray." Are you a Christian? Do you pray? I have come to realize that the majority of people would pray more if they knew how. As a pastor, I am guilty of telling people to pray but not giving more direction as to how to do it. So, I offer the following advice about how to develop and maintain a consistent prayer life. We will start by first realizing that prayer is a simple conversation we have with God. We talk to him like we do any other friend and we give him the opportunity to speak by being silent during parts of the prayer. For people at he beginning stages of developing a prayer life, I would encourage you to start with 15-20 minutes of prayer a day using the ACTS model and accompany this with 10-15 minutes of Bible reading. The ACTS model is an acronym that stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. This model calls for spending 3-5 minutes doing each of these during the course of your prayer time. Spend the first 3-5 minutes of prayer in adoration of God, worshipping Him for who He is. Spend the next 3-5 minutes confessing the sin in your life and admitting things you have done wrong. Spend the next 3-5 minutes in thanksgiving, offering gratitude for the things He has done in your life and for the promises He has given us in His word. Lastly, spend 3-5 minutes in supplication; this is when you bring your needs before Him. Pick a consistent time that you spend each day in prayer and Bible reading. Put this on your calendar before you fill it up with other things. Treat this as your most important appointment of the day. You don't want to miss an appointment with the King! As you grow in your walk and mature in your relationship, increase the time you spend in each area. The goal should be to spend more and more time with Him and get to know Him on a more intimate level. Prayer helps us understand and acknowledge our dependence on God. He knows what we need before we even ask, but He wants us to pray so that we can recognize and acknowledge our dependence on Him. Make this month, and the rest of this year, your best year ever. And remember, if you pray, all things are possible. Word... Pasta' Alex posted by Pasta' Alex # 10:00 AM   Comments: Post a Comment Links to this post: Create a Link << Home |
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