A Church with a Heart for our Community

September 8th Tuesday

Greetings to you in the name of Jesus Christ! I trust that you enjoyed your long weekend and sensed the presence of God around you and your family. This going to be an interesting week as we begin to enter a new season and we wonder what is in store for us. I believe that the One who is in control – 24/7, has our best interests at heart and there is no need to be concerned. Today I will be praying for you, asking Father to release an overwhelming sense of peace over you and yours.

For the last few weeks I have been sharing about aspects of ‘prayer’ with my church family on Sunday mornings. We looked at Hannah’s – praying in the spirit, Moses’ yearning for more of God’s presence, Jesus’ reminder that emptiness is a blessing, and then Jesus’ words about ‘persistence’ in prayer. I tried to stay away from giving some formula or recipe or template…as I had a sense that was not what God wanted, but really didn’t know why…until this morning. I was catching up with a missed devotional reading and God used the written material of a good teacher to reveal the answer.

The first thing that I learned, and will implement into my teaching bag of goodies, is that each one of us must develop our own prayer life that is unique to our personality and character. There are many patterns of prayer to follow from the lives of Christian men and women, but they are not ours. Like young David who was going to battle Goliath, being unable to wear King Saul’s armour, we must develop the pattern and practice of prayer that is uniquely ours. If we do, I believe our prayers will be more effective, natural, and enjoyable. In the life of prayer, each person must be the person that God so beautifully made.

The second thing about prayer, and it complements the first, is that even before we pray – God accepts us as we are. Yes, I know that He wants us to grow and mature in our spiritual life. I am sure that you pray different today than you did in days gone by…and I am confident that in times to come it will be different again. However, God always accepts us – as we are at the moment – with all of our past and present – with all our strengths and weaknesses – with all of our successes and failures. God’s word says: Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God”  – Romans 15:7 NIV.

Therefore, I say to God: “Thank you! I understand. You want people to express your image in them back to You in their own individual and unique way with words or song or pictures or whatever medium they use…and with whatever emotion or feeling that is being experienced at the moment.” 

Something to ponder….have a blessed day!