Growing in Prayer Life
Let's start our discussion by these verses from (Matthew 6:5~13) which are some verses related to prayers...In our daily life, we can continue to have a personal and yet intermiate (close) relationship with the Lord through prayers besides reading His Words. Prayer is more like talking to a person; in Christians case, we do talk to our Lord. It is important to let everyone to know that we cant just do prayer alone without reading the bible. This is because we will become "floating Christians" where we do not have "an anchor" to grip the ocean floor when waves arrive. Therefore, both act must be well balanced so that we won't pray for something which is out of track and the bible shows us the reality. As a Christian, a non-prayer life is definately DULL!!! Some of us indeed may require help when it comes to Prayer lives because they do not know how to pray; as in starting and closing it.
Below are the components of prayer. You are NOT necessary to follow it, just a guideline!
a) Praise --> We should praise God for who is He and for what He has done for us. We can also begin by telling how great He is[e.g. Our Heavenly Father, The Creator of Life, Almighty God, and etc..]. They are two kinds of praise which are Adoration; where we proclaim His Character. Another praise is with Hallowed which is through Respect.
b) Thanks Giving--> We should show our gratitude towards God for what he has done for us; may it be an abundant and little blessing. We also should thank Him for His mercy [what we do not deserved] and grace[receiving something that I don't deserve] towards us. The most important thing we should thank Him for is "salvation". Therefore, we should never stop being thankful towards the Lord.
c) Confessing our sins --> We should always confess our sins that we have either done it intentionally or unintentionally and either sinning against God or man. We usually commit sin when we disobey God and we behave in a manner that is below God's standard. Confession of sin will able to free us from bondage of sin and give us another chance to start a new day with the Lord. However, do not misuse/abuse the chances given by committing sin again and again. Besides, we can also make restitution to others if necessary [Matthew 5: 23~24]
d) Asking --> As Christians, we have the right to ask God for what we need because we are His children. We know that our father loves us, therefore we ask God to provide us our daily needs. Furthermore, we should not only ask God for what we need but we ask for other's needs as well. However, please do remember that we must ask Him according to His will; It's all about the Father's will to be done not ours.
e) Closing prayer: It's rather simple, you can just say " In Jesus name I pray to, Amen". Some ask why in Jesus name...This is because God's blessing come to us by the power of His name
[Matthew 7:7~8]. Therefore, always pray in Jesus name.
Why must we pray?
a) It is command of the Lord. [1 Thessalonians 5: 17 says "pray continually"]
b) Apart of our lives
c) Even Jesus also pray to His father early in the morning... [John 17:1~26]
d) God delights in hearing our voice..God wants us to depend on Him.
e) Will not be easily defeated when we face trials and temptations.
How do we enhance our prayer life?
a) Right Attitude-->we must always humble ourselves, correct motives, hatred & unforgiveness free when we pray. Hatred and unforgiveness can lead to unheard prayers because it forms a hinderence. One major point here is BE REAL when in prayer [Matthew 6:5]. We should not impress people like the Pharisees where you pray in different ways, colorful and bombastic words and try to cover our weakness. It is always the best where we go straight to the point where your heart leads you!
b) Be Relax ~> Find places where you can be alone and quiet. This helps us to be more focus into God. It is also important to set up a specific time to talk to God on daily basis. Find a time where we can leave all our worries of the day behind.
c) Be revealing (Matthew 6: 7~8) ~> Do not hide anything from God, as He knows everything and witnessing in what we have and will go through. Just be yourself, do not copy others when praying.
d) Recognize your position ~> We must always keep in mind that whose will must be done...It's the Lord's will not ours.We as man can only plan out things, but it's up to God to make the ultimate decision. We can also use a humble position when praying such as kneeling down.
e) Join Prayer Meetings [Acts 2: 42] ~> Group prayer is powerful
Conclusion
a) Prayer is a very powerful weapon that God gave us.
b) Praying in groups has greater effects.
c) Believe by faith in whatever you are praying for.
d) Prayer will also can help to train us to become more godly [more like Christ-like character]
e) Pray Daily!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Joke--- First Time Sex
It is clean and funny. FIRST TIME SEX
A girl asks her boyfriend to come over Friday night to meet, and have a dinner with her parents.
Since this is such a big event, the girl announces to her boyfriend that after dinner, she would like to go out and make love for the first time.
The boy is ecstatic, but he has never had sex before, so he takes a trip to the pharmacist to get some condoms. He tells the pharmacist it's his first time and the pharmacist helps the boy for about an hour. He tells the boy everything there is to know about condoms and sex.
At the register, the pharmacist asks the boy how many condoms he'd like to buy, a 3-pack, 10-pack, or family pack.
The boy insists on the family pack because he thinks he will be rather busy, it being his first time and all.
That night, the boy shows up at the girl's parents house and meets his girlfriend at the door.
"Oh, I'm so excited for you to meet my parents, come on in!"
The boy goes inside and is taken to the dinner table where the girl's parents are seated.
The boy quickly offers to say grace and bows his head. A minute passes, and the boy is still deep in prayer, with his head down.
10 minutes pass, and still no movement from the boy.
Finally, after 20 minutes with his head down, the girlfriend leans over and whispers to the boyfriend, 'I had no idea you were this religious.'
The boy turns, and whispers back,
'I had no idea your father was a pharmacist.'
A girl asks her boyfriend to come over Friday night to meet, and have a dinner with her parents.
Since this is such a big event, the girl announces to her boyfriend that after dinner, she would like to go out and make love for the first time.
The boy is ecstatic, but he has never had sex before, so he takes a trip to the pharmacist to get some condoms. He tells the pharmacist it's his first time and the pharmacist helps the boy for about an hour. He tells the boy everything there is to know about condoms and sex.
At the register, the pharmacist asks the boy how many condoms he'd like to buy, a 3-pack, 10-pack, or family pack.
The boy insists on the family pack because he thinks he will be rather busy, it being his first time and all.
That night, the boy shows up at the girl's parents house and meets his girlfriend at the door.
"Oh, I'm so excited for you to meet my parents, come on in!"
The boy goes inside and is taken to the dinner table where the girl's parents are seated.
The boy quickly offers to say grace and bows his head. A minute passes, and the boy is still deep in prayer, with his head down.
10 minutes pass, and still no movement from the boy.
Finally, after 20 minutes with his head down, the girlfriend leans over and whispers to the boyfriend, 'I had no idea you were this religious.'
The boy turns, and whispers back,
'I had no idea your father was a pharmacist.'
-Shared by Gwee Shang Jun-
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