Monday Morning Devotion-January 20, 2014
The Prayer Arsenal
Therefore submit to God. Resist
the devil and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. James 4:7-8
At
my church, Good Samaritan UMC, we have a favorite saying that "we are building
our church one prayer at a time." We are
in our 8th year now and we just had a meeting to plan how to begin
building our second building, soon, we hope.
Prayer
has brought us a long way through the economic doldrums and we are boldly
confident that we are following God's will. So we are looking to push those
plans, that have been just a dream, forward.
Before
the tough times came along we had developed a long term plan that included
three buildings. We built the first and
we are bursting at the seams with an abundance of God's blessings. All the
rooms are being used most nights for everything from worship band practice to
young actors learning their roles.
In
fact, it has become so crowded that we moved our Centering Prayer group to our
home. We are certain that all of this has come about because we are a church
that believes in prayer and is committed to it.
After
all didn't Jesus promise us that "You can ask for anything in my name and I
will do it, because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father." (John
14:13) That means that anything we ask
in His name is according to His character and He will not grant anything that
is contrary to His character." So it is
a great promise and an even greater reminder to us of how we should lead our
lives as Christians.
In
addition to my CP group, we have two intercessory prayer groups and we lift of
the "prayers of the people" each Sunday in both worship services. We have seen some miraculous answers to
prayer come about because we believe in prayer and consistently call on our
Heavenly Father for wisdom and guidance as we remember to praise Him for all He
has done in the past.
Now
that is a long lead in to my topic today which is to call attention to an
aspect of your personal prayer arsenal that is always available. It may be something you have already accessed
without even really being conscious of it.
It
is what I've always thought of as a quickie prayer. It is the kind of prayer that is most often
used when a problem unexpectedly occurs.
You need help fast whether it is an immediate decision that must be
made or there is a dire need for outside human help. It is used in emergencies. But, it has even
more far-reaching propensities.
The
thing about prayer is that it has no particular place, time-frame or restrictions. The Lord does not allot us a certain amount
of prayer time. We don't have to work
ourselves into His busy schedule and -Gosh, if anybody would have a busier
schedule than Him…I'd hate to see it.
Truthfully,
since time means nothing to God there is really no schedule that your prayer
would be interrupting. That's the beauty of it these brief prayers are not
time-restrained.
Let
me share with you what I recently read in "Jesus Today" (pg.24-25) by Sarah
Young.
"Use
your trials and troubles to draw closer to Me.
Whenever you start to feel distresse, turn that around by talking with
Me. Let pain and problems remind you of
your constant need for Me. Create a
collection of brief prayers."
Next
is offered some quickies that you can offer up at anytime, but would be
especially effective when danger, disaster or any difficulty threatens you.
"Help
Me Jesus."
"Fill
me with Your Peace."
"Show
me Your way."
All
of these are good. They are a quick and easy way to immediately call on the
Lord for help. You might want t to develop one
or two of your own. They don't have to
always be used in dire, world-changing circumstances.
Sometimes
you just need to calm down so you can think clearly and this is a good way to
do that…get the Lord involved by asking for His help.
Reading
further in Jesus Today: "These requests are spiritual
nutrients---soul vitamins. The more you
use them, the healthier and happier you will be."
"When
you view troubles in this way---as reminders to draw near Me---you can actually
rejoice in your trials."
Now
think about that. We'd just as soon not
have to face difficulties. But, think
about the times that you have been tested or gone through a tough situation. Then, move on beyond that remembrance to how
you felt when you got through it. How
rewarding it was that you passed the test or even that you survived. It made you stronger. It made you thankful.
"Of
course, this requires training your mind to move quickly from problem mode to
prayer mode. It is crucial to have your
arsenal of prayers that will flow readily out of your heart."
In
the reading Jesus says to practice them to Him, until you are familiar with
them. It is kind of like you do with
your children or grandchildren. You
patiently listen as they recite lessons, or try to memorize something, or
demonstrate what they learned in class or in sports. You never tire because you
love them. That's the way Jesus loves
you.
I
have taken these brief prayers beyond just asking for God's help. I use them every day to quickly thank
Him. As soon as I wake up I thank Him
for The Lovely Susette, my wonderful wife.
I
thank Him for the gift of another day. I
thank Him for my Home. I look outside
and say Thank You Lord for a Sunny Day.
Or Thank you for the rain that we needed. The list is endless and you can cover all
them by simply saying: "Thank You Lord
for All Your Blessings."
The
Lord loves a happy heart and thankfulness is a certain sign of one. So incorporate a little arsenal of brief
(quickie) prayers into your larger Prayer Arsenal that includes public prayer,
silent prayers, intercessory prayers, written prayers,….the list is
endless.
Our
God is a big God who loves to hear from you so keeping on developing that
Prayer Arsenal.
Monday Prayer: Lord
thank you for the privilege and the power of prayer and the many ways we can be
in touch with you through our prayer arsenal.
Amen!
***Author's
note: Wishing you great success this
week in further developing your prayer arsenal.