"Sweet Hour Of Prayer"

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Matthew 7:7

I am pulled between two words to give you this morning so I believe I am to give you both. They are both on the subject of prayer. Yesterday we talked about how life will knock us to our knees sometimes and when it does we are in a perfect position to pray. So why don't we pray, even when we are "knocked down"? Prayer is not always an easy thing. I remember my mother in law years ago making the comment about the song "Sweet Hour of Prayer". She commented that the time spent with Jesus is sweet, there is nothing like being in His presence, but it's not always a "sweet hour" sometimes it's work, sometimes it's difficult.

We often have struggles praying because it is "work". It's work in the sense of disciplining your flesh and bringing it under subjection to pray- it does not like to pray. It's work because it sometimes involves "travail". When the needs are great, the prayers become more effectual and more intense and we have to "push" a little harder to make our request known. When I think of prayer being hard work, I am reminded of Jesus in the garden. His prayers were so agonizing that He sweat drops of blood. It's work to stay in prayer until the answer comes, we tend to try to hurry it up. Prayer takes perseverance. The woman with the issue of blood had a prayer- to touch His hem- the pressing through the crowd was literally her prayer. She did not stop pressing and received the answer.

The second thing I want to say is, prayer puts us in a 'low" place- on our knees or on our face before the Lord. When we are low, there is only one direction to look-- up-- up to God. The good news is that when we look up, we don't have to look very far because God will come down low to meet us where we are. He may sit high, but He looks low. He will draw near to us when we draw near to Him. He isn't a God that is afar off. He is a very present help in time of trouble. He is right there with us. He will come to where you are.

Don't put off prayer. Don't let the "work" that it is sometimes cause you to hold back and neglect it. It may be work, it may be travail, it may involve knocking, persistence and perseverance, but it is worth it. God will come to you in prayer, where you are, even in a low place.

Have a great day. Prayer is work, but the rewards are sweet- it brings God close and He answers.

"Positioned To Pray"

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Philippians 4:6

Last night I came upon a quote that I thought was go good. I want to share it with you this morning. "When life knocks you to your knees, you are in a perfect position to pray." (Isn't that a good.) Life often tends to "knock us down", but what do we do when it does?

When you feel as if the situation has knocked you down, what do you do? Do you whine about it? Do you complain about it? Do you lay there and wallow in it? Do you start feeling sorry for yourself? Do you look for someone to blame? Do you blame God? Do you try to find help in getting up through the arm of flesh? What do you do?

Does it ever occur to you that since you are already "down" to just stay there and pray? Pray until the victory comes. Pray until you touch the hem of His garment. Pray until peace is restored. Pray until you have been strengthened to get up. Pray until you have heard from the Lord. Too often prayer is the last resort during these times. May I say that it should be the first course of action. Jesus told us that some solutions only come through prayer. The Bible tells us that we have not because we ask not. We are also told to pray without ceasing- that means all the time and in every situation.

The Father tells us that when we pray He will answer, yet prayer is so neglected. Actually, He promises us that He will hear and answer our prayers. So why do you try everything else then "try" prayer because nothing else has worked? Prayer is your key. If you have been "knocked to your knees" stay there and cry out to God, and stay there until the answer comes.

Have a great day. "When life knocks you to your knees, you are in a perfect position to pray."

"Pay Your Vow"

"Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." Psalm 50:14,15

This morning you'll notice that I used two scriptures as our reference. I was reading the other morning in Psalm 50 and my attention was drawn to these two verses. I have them both underlined in my Bible and have read them numerous times, but I saw them in a different light this time.

If you'll notice, just because the first verse ended the sentence didn't. That means it was one thought. So, in that one sentence the Lord says to us that when we offer God thanksgiving and we pay our vows to Him, when we call upon Him in the day of trouble He will deliver us. The end result will be that we shall glorify Him for His deliverance and answer.

The verses are telling us that if we want God's delivering power in our situation, we need to give Him thanksgiving and pay the vows we make to Him. Are you paying your vows? Have you promised Him something yet you haven't fulfilled that promise? Have you made a "deal" or "bargain" with Him about a particular situation and He answered but you have not kept your end of the bargain?

The vow may have been made in haste in the heat of an urgent moment, it may have been made without any careful thought given, it may have been such a "small" vow- one which seems insignificant now. It doesn't matter when or how it was made, it needs to be kept. Making a vow to God is a serious matter. Ecclesiastes 5:4,5- "When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay."

God remembers the vows we make to Him and expects us to keep them, just like we remember the vows/promises that He makes to us and we expect Him to keep them. Are you keeping your vows? Is there a vow that you have neglected to pay? Then pay it if you are still able to do so.

Have a great day. Give God thanksgiving, pay your vows you make to Him, and when you call on Him in times of trouble, He'll deliver you.

"Outlook"

"But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel." Philippians 1:12

This verse in the Amplified Bible reads as follows: "Now I want you to know and continue to rest assured, brethren, that what [has happened] to me [this imprisonment] has actually only served to advance and give a renewed impetus to the [spreading of the] good news (the Gospel)." What a wonderful outlook on the situation. Paul knew that he was called by the Lord to spread the gospel, he knew that he was called to reach the lost, he knew he had been given a commission to fulfill and he knew that his steps were ordered by the Lord. Therefore, he knew that whatever he went through, even imprisonment, that it served a purpose. He knew that all things work together for the good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. He knew he wasn't in prison by accident. He knew he was there by the divine will of God. He knew that if God had ordered his steps into the prison, then God was going to get glory from it somehow and it was to be an instrument to help further the gospel.

I wonder if we were Paul living in prison would we be able to say the same thing? I wonder if we would see it as an opportunity to spread the gospel? I wonder if we would see any "good" in it? I wonder if we would have the same outlook? I wonder if we "do"? I haven't been imprisoned, but I face many trying situations. I find myself going through stormy times, perplexing times, times of illness, times of attack by the enemy, times of weariness and times when the enemy tries to hold me captive to a bondage of the flesh. If I know that I am called to represent the kingdom of God and help spread the good news about Jesus, then I need to realize that whatever comes my way is an opportunity to help further the gospel.

How so? The way I handle the situation either lifts Jesus up or pulls Him down. It either testifies of who He is or it testifies against Him. It either shines the light on His power, love and glory or it hides it. When I go through these times, I can either moan and groan, murmur and complain, feel sorry for myself, ask endless "whys" or I can exhibit the peace of God, the joy of the Lord, praise Him in spite of the situation, point to Him as my source of strength, help and grace. When I do the latter, I am helping to further the gospel because I am lifting Jesus up and He said that if He was lifted up He would draw all men to Himself.

Have a great day. What are you "spreading" in your situation?

"Cleaning Out"

"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Psalm 51:10

I am looking at my office this morning thinking, "What a mess!" Last night I had to go through boxes of business papers and receipts looking for some important documents from a particular year. I discovered that much of the paper work that was taking up space was unnecessary and needs to be discarded. So I am sure that today I will take time to sort, re-file and discard this endless stack of papers.

When I do some cleaning out in my house I discard things that are no longer needed, things that have become just clutter, things that aren't valuable, things that are unproductive and take up space needed for something else, and things I never use. "Cleaning out" isn't just confined to my physical house, I have to do it spiritually as well.

There are so many unnecessary, unuseful things, space wasting things that we hold on to in our lives that need to be discarded. Bitterness, for one, takes up space that is needed for love. Jealousy needs to be cleaned out and discarded. Grudges that have set in your heart for years and years stop you from being productive. It's time to stop holding on to past failures- there is nothing productive about them, they just waste space. Are you getting the picture?

Many of us need to do some cleaning out. We are holding on to things that should have been discarded a long time ago. We are holding on to things that are unnecessary. We are holding on to things that are wasters- wasters of our time, our peace, God's plan, our talents and gifts. We are long overdue a cleaning out. That's the difference between cleaning out my physical house and my spiritual one. I clean out the physical when the mood hits me. The spiritual should be done on a regular basis-- daily. If it were, we would not have so much spiritual clutter weighing us down and hindering us from making the best use of the "space".

Have a great day. How long has it been since you have done a "spiritual cleaning out", and what are you holding on to that should be discarded?