This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Today we are going to feast on prayer and what God is looking for in it. This should bless us all.
Today’s Prayer
Dear Lord Jesus, today and everyday, help each of us to prepare to consider some serious questions that we face as citizens and voters in our beloved nation. Remind us that there is a time to “turn the other cheek,” and a time to defend Your moral principles! You said that You always consulted God the Father, and then acted according to His will. You were seen standing firmly against the money-changers in the temple because they were desecrating Your Father’s house! Lord Jesus, what about our nation today? Is nothing sacred any more? Is nothing either right or wrong? Is nothing worth the risk of defending? Are honesty and character no longer important? Can a nation long exist without these virtues? Help us, Lord Jesus, to humble ourselves individually and to seek the Father’s will for our lives and for our nation, and to pray for the courage to make responsible decisions concerning what is best for our nation, and for our children. Only then can we be worthy to receive both Your love and Your blessing. In Your holy name we pray, Amen.
Let’s eat.
A Remnant That Prays
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” – Luke 11:1
God is calling out a remnant of believers throughout the world who understand the role of prayer in every part of their life. These people need to know that prayer is not a five-minute exercise in the morning devotion time, but it is a vital strategic tool to discern and know God’s will and purposes in their lives and daily walk. You see they have learned that their business and work lives are their ministries to God and others.
These men and women have entered into covenant relationships with intercessory prayer partners who help discern the activities they should be involved in. Some even have paid staff, who intercede for the decisions and activities in which they will be involved. They are a small remnant of believers who know that skill and technique are not enough to fulfill God’s purposes.
A servant of the Lord has well said: Prayer is the rail for God’s work. Indeed, prayer is to God’s will as rails are to a train. The locomotive is full of power: it is capable of running a thousand miles a day. But if there are no rails, it cannot move forward a single inch. If it dares to move without them, it will soon sink into the earth. It may be able to travel over great distances, yet it cannot go to any place where no rails have been laid. And such is the relation between prayer and God’s work. Without any doubt God is almighty and He works mightily, but He will not and cannot work if you and I do not labor together with Him in prayer, prepare the way for His will, and pray “with all prayer and supplication” (Eph. 6:18) to grant Him the maneuverability to so work. Many are the things, which God wills to do, and would like to do, but His hands are bound because His children do not sympathize with Him and have not prayed so as to prepare ways for Him. Let me say to all who have wholly given themselves to God: Do examine yourselves and see if in this respect you have limited Him day after day. [Watchman Nee, Let Us Pray (New York, New York: Christian Fellowship Publishers, 1977), 11.]
Is prayer a vital part of your strategic business, work and life practices?
Put prayer on the front lines, instead of making it an afterthought. You will begin to see renewed power in your life.
Quote of the Day
He who has learned to pray has learned the greatest secret of a holy and happy life. ~William Law~