| Topic: |
Religions > Bible |
| User: |
"Carl" |
| Date: |
26 May 2007 10:30:27 AM |
| Object: |
Thinking of Prayer as Jesus Taught |
I enjoy reading the daily devotionals by Oswald Chambers. Here's one on
prayer.
May God bless,
Carl
website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
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Thinking of Prayer as Jesus Taught
by Oswald Chambers
Pray without ceasing . . . -1 Thessalonians 5:17
Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own
mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the
breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our
breathing continues "without ceasing"; we are not even conscious of it, but
it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in
perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is
not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops
the offering up of prayer. "Pray without ceasing . . ."- maintain the
childlike habit of offering up prayer in your heart to God all the time.
Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer. He had the unlimited certainty of
knowing that prayer is always answered. Do we have through the Spirit of God
that inexpressible certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of
the times when it seemed that God did not answer our prayer? Jesus said, ".
.. . everyone who asks receives . . ." ( Matthew 7:8 ). Yet we say, "But . .
.. , but . . . ." God answers prayer in the best way- not just sometimes, but
every time. However, the evidence of the answer in the area we want it may
not always immediately follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer?
The danger we have is that we want to water down what Jesus said to make it
mean something that aligns with our common sense. But if it were only common
sense, what He said would not even be worthwhile. The things Jesus taught
about prayer are supernatural truths He reveals to us.
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