Dearest Tab & Champ
Like to share with you my QT on 1 Samuel 15-16 which I shared with the ladies in the Sat cell.
God had rejected King Saul because he was disobedient to God on 2 major occasions:
1) unauthorized worship - Saul took over the duties of the Levite priest into his own hands (1Samuel 13:8-13). Only the Levite priests are authorized to carry out sacred worship before God.
2) failure to destroy Israel's enemy, the Amalek (1 Samuel 15:19-21). Saul failed the disobedience test when he spared the Amalek king, Agag, and kept the best of the livestock. Saul failed to obey God because he feared men more than God. In 1Samuel 15:24, Saul said to prophet Samuel - "I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them."
When I read the entire 1 Samuel 10 onwards, I realised the underlying character flaws for Saul's disobedience were pride, arrogance and rebelliousness.
The Consequence:
In 1Samuel 16:14, God withdrew from king Saul, His good spirit (which is the Spirit of God) & as a result, Saul lost the assistance of the good spirit - courage, wisdom, encouragement & discernment which Saul needed for his government and wars.
God took away his mercy and grace from Saul as well. God told Samuel in 2Samuel 7:15 "But my love will never be taken away from him (David), as I took it away from Saul whom I removed from before you."
When God's spirit departs from a person, all good goes even God's mercy. Through God's act, & by divine 'permission', an evil spirit came and terrified Saul. He became fretful, ill tempered, discontented and suspicious. When God & His grace do not rule over us, sin and satan will have us!
So what's my application & lesson?
1) I need to keep my heart pure & sincere in what I do for God, in spite of my mistakes.
2) A man after God's heart honours & enthrones God. It is always God's agenda in David's eyes but for Saul, it was always his own agenda.
3) A man who says he wants to follow God must have a soft, repentant heart. When Saul sinned, he gave excuses. When David sinned, he simply said, "I have sinned against the Lord." (2Samuel 12:13).
Children, the above is good for meditation and to develop a HEALTHY FEAR OF THE LORD in our lives.
Proverbs 1:7 "The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom & instruction."
With much Love
Mum
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Miracles
Dearest Champ
Last night, I witnessed a miracle -- again. Pastor Khong preached on the topic of the power of the Holy Spirit. After the sermon, he asked those who want the baptism of the Holy Spirit to come to the front. Later, everyone came up to receive the blessings of the Holy Spirit and we formed 2 long queues to be anointed with oil by either Pastor Khong or Pastor Patrick.
An old crippled man in the wheelchair ( I assumed he was already anointed with oil ) was able to stand up and walk! The stunned man was as stunned as the whole congregation!! He walked to the centre aisle and had to sit down after a while. Everyone clapped and clapped!
Whenever I see a miracle, I remember Psalm 77:14 "You are the God who performs miracles, you display your power among the peoples."
Last night, I witnessed a miracle -- again. Pastor Khong preached on the topic of the power of the Holy Spirit. After the sermon, he asked those who want the baptism of the Holy Spirit to come to the front. Later, everyone came up to receive the blessings of the Holy Spirit and we formed 2 long queues to be anointed with oil by either Pastor Khong or Pastor Patrick.
An old crippled man in the wheelchair ( I assumed he was already anointed with oil ) was able to stand up and walk! The stunned man was as stunned as the whole congregation!! He walked to the centre aisle and had to sit down after a while. Everyone clapped and clapped!
Whenever I see a miracle, I remember Psalm 77:14 "You are the God who performs miracles, you display your power among the peoples."
Miracles that come from God cost nothing.
Love Mum
The Sin of Commission and Omission
Hi LiPeng & little Chungs
Children, Li Peng has asked me to write about sin. It is not a pleasant topic to talk about but it is necessary. Serves as a good reminder even for myself.
Sin (no 's') is fundamentally defined as 'Disobedience to God'. From this root, comes the fruits which are called sins. Everyone ever born, with the exception of Jesus, has inherited the sinful nature of Adam & Eve.
Let me go right into what I have learned about the sin of commission & omission.
1) The Sin of Commission
This is a category of sin describing the things we did and shouldn't have. I committed (commission)
a sin when I lied and I shouldn't have.
Colossians 3:25 "Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong and there is no favouritism."
No one will escape the consequences of sin if one continually does wrong. He will reap what he sows.
2) The Sin of Omission
The parallel verse for this is in James 4:17 "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."
We tend to think that doing wrong is sin. But James tells us that sin is ALSO not doing right. It is a sin to lie but it is also a sin to know the truth and not tell it. If the Holy Spirit has directed you to do a kind act, to render a service, or to restore a relationship, you have to do it.
The idea that someone can be pleasing to God by turning away from evil while remaining idle, so as not to advance the work is the sin of omission. Needless to say, we have to turn away from satan's vices. But satan is just as happy if we sit idly by and let others do the work!
It is so easy to say that when we come to know God and accept Him and His gift of grace, our inner nature is changed and we will be more likely to obey God and make the right choices. True, but we forget the devil our adversary is often on the prowl and will devour anyone who is not alert.
Christians have to make a deliberate effort to keep the Word close to their hearts, OBEY them so that we will not be double minded ie having a divided heart, or live a double life ie go to church, participate in christian activities but view pornography in secret, visit 'questionable' places, participate in 'unwholesome' activities or manifest negative attitudes.
It is good to memorize Proverbs 4:23.
Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."
There are 2 more blogs on sin and the next one will be on the Sin of Unbelief.
Love,
Harriet &
Mum
Children, Li Peng has asked me to write about sin. It is not a pleasant topic to talk about but it is necessary. Serves as a good reminder even for myself.
Sin (no 's') is fundamentally defined as 'Disobedience to God'. From this root, comes the fruits which are called sins. Everyone ever born, with the exception of Jesus, has inherited the sinful nature of Adam & Eve.
Let me go right into what I have learned about the sin of commission & omission.
1) The Sin of Commission
This is a category of sin describing the things we did and shouldn't have. I committed (commission)
a sin when I lied and I shouldn't have.
Colossians 3:25 "Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong and there is no favouritism."
No one will escape the consequences of sin if one continually does wrong. He will reap what he sows.
2) The Sin of Omission
The parallel verse for this is in James 4:17 "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."
We tend to think that doing wrong is sin. But James tells us that sin is ALSO not doing right. It is a sin to lie but it is also a sin to know the truth and not tell it. If the Holy Spirit has directed you to do a kind act, to render a service, or to restore a relationship, you have to do it.
The idea that someone can be pleasing to God by turning away from evil while remaining idle, so as not to advance the work is the sin of omission. Needless to say, we have to turn away from satan's vices. But satan is just as happy if we sit idly by and let others do the work!
It is so easy to say that when we come to know God and accept Him and His gift of grace, our inner nature is changed and we will be more likely to obey God and make the right choices. True, but we forget the devil our adversary is often on the prowl and will devour anyone who is not alert.
Christians have to make a deliberate effort to keep the Word close to their hearts, OBEY them so that we will not be double minded ie having a divided heart, or live a double life ie go to church, participate in christian activities but view pornography in secret, visit 'questionable' places, participate in 'unwholesome' activities or manifest negative attitudes.
It is good to memorize Proverbs 4:23.
Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."
There are 2 more blogs on sin and the next one will be on the Sin of Unbelief.
Love,
Harriet &
Mum
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Wisdom
PROVERBS 3:1-6
My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,
for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you peace and prosperity.
Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Then you will win favour and a good name
in the sight of God and man.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to Him
and he will make your paths straight.
When we read excerpt from the bible, we don't just read & then forget
what we read; we meditate on it for days.. so that we can extract the
wisdom and goodness out of it, s-l-o-w-l-y.
Let it stay on your mind and let your heart absorb the content.
Then only will we benefit from it when we APPLY the truth in our lives.
My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,
for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you peace and prosperity.
Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Then you will win favour and a good name
in the sight of God and man.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to Him
and he will make your paths straight.
When we read excerpt from the bible, we don't just read & then forget
what we read; we meditate on it for days.. so that we can extract the
wisdom and goodness out of it, s-l-o-w-l-y.
Let it stay on your mind and let your heart absorb the content.
Then only will we benefit from it when we APPLY the truth in our lives.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Unfit FOOD
This week, I have been reading Leviticus for my QT. Although I have read this book many times, I specially paid a lot more attention to it because I got to know about Dr Mao Shing Ni who practises TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). He does acupuncture, deals with Chinese medicine and is a board certified anti-aging expert who spent 20 years interviewing centenarians in China.
Dr Mao came to Singapore about 2 weeks ago to speak on holistic healing, wellness and food of course. Although he speaks a lot of sense on attaining good health, I am careful not to take his teaching wholesale as he is a practising Buddhist; some of his philosophies come into direct conflict with Christianity. As you very well know, I do believe in Chinese herb & medicine.
What he said about eating certain meat is what the bible advocates. For example, he said that pork is bad for health; if we want to eat meat, we should eat lamb as it has good nutritional value. Chicken is the next best alternative. You will discover as you read through Leviticus and other Old Testament books that lambs, cattle (cows and bulls), buffalo, elk & goat, chicken, duck & goose are fit for consumption. Unacceptable animals would include pigs, horses, dogs, cats, rabbits, bears, horses, squirrels, rodents, and camels.
Leviticus 11:1-3 "The Lord said to Moses & Aaron, "Say to the Israelites, 'Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat. You may eat any animal that has a split hoof completely divided and that chews the cud.
A clovenfoot is a split hoof of two toes. The 'cud' is partially digested food that is regurgitated from the first stomach into the mouth to be chewed again. These are the two criteria that qualify animals that can be used for food.
Lev 11:7 'And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.'
Trikinosis, parasitic disease caused by the roundworm Trichinella spiralis is found in raw or inadequately cooked meat, especially pork. The larvae are released, reach maturity, and mate in our intestines, the females producing live larvae. The disease exhibits no symptoms in many people and is only discovered during autopsy.
Pig's bodies contain many toxins, worms and latent diseases. Although some of these infestations are harboured in other animals, veterinarians say that pigs are far more predisposed to these illnesses than other animals. This could be because pigs like to scavenge and will eat any kind of food, including dead insects, worms, rotting carcasses, excreta (including their own), garbage, and other pigs. Eating pork can also lead to gallstones and obesity, probably due to its high cholesterol and saturated fat content.
In 1Timothy 4:3-5 Paul affirms that any created thing in the food line is acceptable as long as it is sanctified and it should be prayed over by giving thanks. There is a debate however over this text as the Bible never directly declares pork as holy, but rather God refers to as an abomination and therefore not sanctified.
I guess we have to go by personal conviction through the Holy Spirit. As it is, I'm eating less pork now & gradually I will probably stopped eating it altogether after I have learned how to cook lamb! And Calvin, I hope you will eat lesser pork; you are consuming too much!
There are more instructions in the bible but I'll mention just a few. The coney and the rabbit, though they chew the cud does not have a split hoof. So it is unclean for us. Birds that are an abomination include the eagle, crow, hawk & vultures. Interesting thing is that these birds are birds of prey or scavengers. Predatory animals eat the blood of other animals and scavengers eat dead animals.
As for the living creatives living in the water (vs 9), we can eat any that have fins and scales. But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales.. we are to detest.
One school of thought explains that marine animals without fins and scales tend to be bottom feeders, consuming the effluent (waste water discharge) that sinks to the mud. Aquatic life unfit for human consumption includes shrimp, lobster, oysters, clams, crabs, shellfish and catfish. Modern science is now finding dangerous levels of harmful, heavy metals like mercury and lead in the flesh of many of these creatures. God certainly knows best.
It will be good if you can take the time to read Lev 11 and then move on to Lev 17 which I read today. Lev 17 talks about the eating of blood which is prohibited. Why? God forbade eating or drinking blood for several reasons.
1) To discourage pagan practices among His people. Eating blood was a common pagan practice which was often done in hopes of gaining the characteristics of the slain animal (strength speed, etc).God's people are to depend on God for strength, not on ingested blood for their strength.
2) To preserve the symbolism of the sacrifice. In the old testament, the blood shed symbolized the life of the animal that was sacrificed in the sinner's place. To drink it would be to change the symbolism of the sacrificial penalty & destroy the evidence of the sacrifice.
3) To protect the people from infection because many deadly diseases are transmitted through the blood.
Deut 12:23 "Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat."
Of course, during Holy Communion, we are asked to drink Jesus' blood. But Jesus, as God himself and the last sacrifice ever needed for sins, was asking the believers to identify with him completely. He wants us to take his life into us and he wants to participate in our lives as well.
We just can't fight God's law regarding food kiddos. He knows what is good for us. If you travel, you will notice that people from different nations regularly eat many of the unclean creatures that we have identified. I do not know whether this accounts for certain health problems. An example is Japan which suffers a higher incidence of stomach cancer and prostate cancer than most other countries.
While I realise it is not easy for one to change our diet overnight, but at least we know what God has said and over time I believe we can completely cut off food that are not good for health. Fortunately, I come from a family that eat quite healthily and I don't crave for most of the 'unfit' food stated in the bible. How can people eat cubes of blood? I took blood out of curiosity, went to a restaurant located in a Malaysian woodland and ate bat, squirrel soup & other exotic meat without knowing what they were on the table. Actually while taking the blood and bat specifically, I felt strange in my spirit and sick to the stomach when I realised I ate bat's meat & drank squirrel soup!
Dr Mao besides recommending the various herbs & food to eat, he mentioned about our environment. Choosing the right friends is important coz we tend to mirror them. If we mix with miserable people, we will become like them - miserable! He advocated loving ourselves because that is the secret to good health. God talks about loving Him first; only then can we love ourselves.
Since our heart is made up of about 60% nerves, we ought to learn how to handle our stress, if not, it will kill us. The other is pain. When the heart feels intense emotional pain, it makes you feel like you are dying due to the constriction of the heart. So we need to relax, meditate on the Word and get rid of all emotional pain and stress through God's power.
Anyway, I've got a book with 9 secrets of Dr Mao's longevity recipes :) I'll try my best to cook them and live long. Hee..By the way, eat berries. The smaller the fruits, the better they are for overall health.
One more thought : You can follow all of Dr Mao's methods and ways of attaining long life but what's the use if pre believers do not go to heaven? So if you preach food, preach the gospel too, through living out your Christian walk (practising love, kindness etc) and sharing your testimony which are lessons or trials that you have gone through and come up victorious.
With much love
Mum
Salvation
Dearest Children
I used to pray like this for non believers, "God save so and so." But I realised God has already done all He is going to do about saving them. The blood is shed, the gospel is given, and the light is already here. It can't shine because of what the devil has done - blind them. Perhaps, I have approached my prayer in the wrong way.
2 Corin 4:4 "The god (satan) of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
Tonight I was watching a show with daddy called 'Knowing', the lead actor is Nicholas Cage. It is about a prophesy that was given many years ago about disasters and catastrophe that are going to happen in the future. The dates are given together with the number of deaths. Even though some disasters had already taken place, yet some people refused to believe.
The bible has prophesied earthquakes, famines and increased wickedness in Luke 21:10-11 and they are happening or had already happened, yet people still do not believe in God. They see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear.
Therefore our intercession is mainly to break the bondage and blindness that the devil has over men. Now my prayer goes like this:
'In the name of Jesus, I break the power of the devil over so and so's life and I claim his deliverance. I tear down the veil that covers his/her eyes so that he/she will not be blinded & he/she will see the light. I claim his/her full salvation in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.'
Mum
I used to pray like this for non believers, "God save so and so." But I realised God has already done all He is going to do about saving them. The blood is shed, the gospel is given, and the light is already here. It can't shine because of what the devil has done - blind them. Perhaps, I have approached my prayer in the wrong way.
2 Corin 4:4 "The god (satan) of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
Tonight I was watching a show with daddy called 'Knowing', the lead actor is Nicholas Cage. It is about a prophesy that was given many years ago about disasters and catastrophe that are going to happen in the future. The dates are given together with the number of deaths. Even though some disasters had already taken place, yet some people refused to believe.
The bible has prophesied earthquakes, famines and increased wickedness in Luke 21:10-11 and they are happening or had already happened, yet people still do not believe in God. They see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear.
Therefore our intercession is mainly to break the bondage and blindness that the devil has over men. Now my prayer goes like this:
'In the name of Jesus, I break the power of the devil over so and so's life and I claim his deliverance. I tear down the veil that covers his/her eyes so that he/she will not be blinded & he/she will see the light. I claim his/her full salvation in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.'
Mum
Saturday, March 17, 2012
A Lifestyle of Prayer
Helloooo kiddos & lp
It's been so long I didnt blog - sorry lp!
Anyway kids, I promised my friend to blog about prayer. The secret to Jesus' success in ministry was a lifestyle of prayer.
Of all the things Jesus' disciples observed Him say and do, the bible records only one thing they asked Him to teach them, and that was how to pray (Luke 11:1). Why would the disciples do that? It was because they saw Jesus pray more than anything else.
Martin Luther said, "More work is done by prayer than by work itself." Most of the time, you dont have to say so much, counsel so much, do so much.. you just have to pray to see the inner transformation in a person or see the situation turn around.
The sad thing is that christians often put off praying because they think it is less important than other activities. They also think the length of time they pray isn't important. Why did Jesus spend hours in prayer? It is because He had a genuine relationship with the Father and any relationship that is worthwhile takes time to build and maintain.
Jesus knew that prayer is not automatic and that is why He understood that his disciples needed to learn how to pray. Often a new believer is told that he has to 1) read the Word 2) go to church 3) and pray. Yet many people don't stop to think that these things do not come naturally to us. We have to learn how to study the Word, how we are meant to function in the body of Christ, and how we are to pray.
Pastor Khong had once taught us to use the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11:2-4. Well, we don't need to repeat the words of this prayer exactly, but should instead use it as a pattern.
1) Our Father
We identify who He is & He is the s-o-u-r-c-e who can provide for the needs of everyone. "Lord you are the source of all that I need in this life."
2) In heaven
When we pray, we are not praying to someone on earth, the problems are on earth. We need external help, help from the spiritual realm.
3) Hallowed be your name
Hallowed means reverenced, set apart or sanctified. We are to first worship the Father as the Holy One. So in our prayers, we can say 'I want to proclaim aloud my praises for you for you have been good to me. You are a compassionate & gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness." And where do I get these words from? They are from the book of Psalm. Sometimes I would recite a Psalm of declaration before I move on.
4) Your Kingdom Come, Your Will be Done as it is in Heaven
A true person of prayer is not interested in His own kingdom. His interest is in God's Kingdom and what God wants to see accomplished. So we should have this attitude of asking for the fulfilment of God's prayer list before our own.
Eg When I pray for your future wife, Calvin, I would pray that she will be a prudent wife cos in Proverbs 19:14 it says "Houses & wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord." & she will be one of noble character as she is going to be Calvin's crown.. taken from Proverbs 12:4 "A wife of noble character is her husband's crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones." I wont mention about the 'disgraceful wife' in my prayer cos it ain't going to happen to you Calvin :)
Another eg would be in finding a job. If you know the marketplace is where you should be, then pray " Lord, I have an interest in finance or marketing or ??.. place me in a job where I can be used by you & be a testimony for you in the office."
5) Give Us our Daily Bread
We not only ask God for bread for ourselves, we have to ask for bread for everybody.
6) Forgive Us our sins for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us
Jesus is dealing with relationships. When you come before God, check to see if anyone has anything against you or if you are holding anything against anyone. Don't come into God's presence and expect to have your prayers answered if you are asking God to forgive you, but you are refusing to forgive others.
This is difficult but we have to will ourselves to say to God, " I choose to forgive so & so for ?? done to me in Jesus name. I choose to bless him/her that ?? " It is a conscious effort. We can't do business at a holy altar when we have a bitter heart.
7) Do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one
This does not mean that God will steer us toward temptation against our wills. God doesn't tempt us but He does test us. It simply means that we are to ask God for wisdom so we won't put ourselves into situations that will cause us to compromise our values or our relationship with Him. We are to influence others, be the salt of the earth and not allow ourselves to be influenced by others negatively.
8) Yours is the Kingdom, Power and Glory Forever
Some bible versions include this benediction. After you have prayed, worship God again. You are in effect saying "I know you are going to answer this prayer, therefore, I'm going to thank you ahead of time. I'm going to give you all the glory that comes from what happens."
It will take some work but you will learn the secret to answered prayer. It took me many years to learn how to pray effectively and the way that God wants to see it done. God loves to answer our prayer and loves to spend time with us. Our image of our earthly father often affect how we approach God. If we view our earthly father as one who is unapproachable & ready to punish us for the slightest error, then our view of God will be one where we feel we have to step on egg shells whenever we approach Him. Some fathers are non communicative or for a better expression, a man of few words. Then we will view God as one who is probably not interested in talking to us or even interested in what we have to say.
So before we approach God, we have to correct our image of God first. The Word gives us plenty of examples of God's love, compassion and mercy for people.
The bible says that we can make a difference and change the course of history (even in our family line) if we understand the purpose and power of prayer!
xxx
It's been so long I didnt blog - sorry lp!
Anyway kids, I promised my friend to blog about prayer. The secret to Jesus' success in ministry was a lifestyle of prayer.
Of all the things Jesus' disciples observed Him say and do, the bible records only one thing they asked Him to teach them, and that was how to pray (Luke 11:1). Why would the disciples do that? It was because they saw Jesus pray more than anything else.
Martin Luther said, "More work is done by prayer than by work itself." Most of the time, you dont have to say so much, counsel so much, do so much.. you just have to pray to see the inner transformation in a person or see the situation turn around.
The sad thing is that christians often put off praying because they think it is less important than other activities. They also think the length of time they pray isn't important. Why did Jesus spend hours in prayer? It is because He had a genuine relationship with the Father and any relationship that is worthwhile takes time to build and maintain.
Jesus knew that prayer is not automatic and that is why He understood that his disciples needed to learn how to pray. Often a new believer is told that he has to 1) read the Word 2) go to church 3) and pray. Yet many people don't stop to think that these things do not come naturally to us. We have to learn how to study the Word, how we are meant to function in the body of Christ, and how we are to pray.
Pastor Khong had once taught us to use the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11:2-4. Well, we don't need to repeat the words of this prayer exactly, but should instead use it as a pattern.
1) Our Father
We identify who He is & He is the s-o-u-r-c-e who can provide for the needs of everyone. "Lord you are the source of all that I need in this life."
2) In heaven
When we pray, we are not praying to someone on earth, the problems are on earth. We need external help, help from the spiritual realm.
3) Hallowed be your name
Hallowed means reverenced, set apart or sanctified. We are to first worship the Father as the Holy One. So in our prayers, we can say 'I want to proclaim aloud my praises for you for you have been good to me. You are a compassionate & gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness." And where do I get these words from? They are from the book of Psalm. Sometimes I would recite a Psalm of declaration before I move on.
4) Your Kingdom Come, Your Will be Done as it is in Heaven
A true person of prayer is not interested in His own kingdom. His interest is in God's Kingdom and what God wants to see accomplished. So we should have this attitude of asking for the fulfilment of God's prayer list before our own.
Eg When I pray for your future wife, Calvin, I would pray that she will be a prudent wife cos in Proverbs 19:14 it says "Houses & wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord." & she will be one of noble character as she is going to be Calvin's crown.. taken from Proverbs 12:4 "A wife of noble character is her husband's crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones." I wont mention about the 'disgraceful wife' in my prayer cos it ain't going to happen to you Calvin :)
Another eg would be in finding a job. If you know the marketplace is where you should be, then pray " Lord, I have an interest in finance or marketing or ??.. place me in a job where I can be used by you & be a testimony for you in the office."
5) Give Us our Daily Bread
We not only ask God for bread for ourselves, we have to ask for bread for everybody.
6) Forgive Us our sins for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us
Jesus is dealing with relationships. When you come before God, check to see if anyone has anything against you or if you are holding anything against anyone. Don't come into God's presence and expect to have your prayers answered if you are asking God to forgive you, but you are refusing to forgive others.
This is difficult but we have to will ourselves to say to God, " I choose to forgive so & so for ?? done to me in Jesus name. I choose to bless him/her that ?? " It is a conscious effort. We can't do business at a holy altar when we have a bitter heart.
7) Do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one
This does not mean that God will steer us toward temptation against our wills. God doesn't tempt us but He does test us. It simply means that we are to ask God for wisdom so we won't put ourselves into situations that will cause us to compromise our values or our relationship with Him. We are to influence others, be the salt of the earth and not allow ourselves to be influenced by others negatively.
8) Yours is the Kingdom, Power and Glory Forever
Some bible versions include this benediction. After you have prayed, worship God again. You are in effect saying "I know you are going to answer this prayer, therefore, I'm going to thank you ahead of time. I'm going to give you all the glory that comes from what happens."
It will take some work but you will learn the secret to answered prayer. It took me many years to learn how to pray effectively and the way that God wants to see it done. God loves to answer our prayer and loves to spend time with us. Our image of our earthly father often affect how we approach God. If we view our earthly father as one who is unapproachable & ready to punish us for the slightest error, then our view of God will be one where we feel we have to step on egg shells whenever we approach Him. Some fathers are non communicative or for a better expression, a man of few words. Then we will view God as one who is probably not interested in talking to us or even interested in what we have to say.
So before we approach God, we have to correct our image of God first. The Word gives us plenty of examples of God's love, compassion and mercy for people.
The bible says that we can make a difference and change the course of history (even in our family line) if we understand the purpose and power of prayer!
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