How to Pray Effectively
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How To Pray Effectively [3:11m]:
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“Please remember what you told your servant Moses: “If you sin, I will scatter you among the nations.”” Nehemiah 1:8 (NLT)
Here are four secrets to answered prayer from the life of Nehemiah:
1. Base your request on God’s character. Pray like you know God will answer you: “I’m expecting you to answer this prayer because of who you are. You are a faithful God. You are a great God. You are a loving God. You are a wonderful God. You can handle this problem, God!”
2. Confess the sins of which you’re aware. After Nehemiah bases his prayer on who God is, he confesses his sins. He says, “We’ve sinned.” He says “I confess . . . myself . . . my father’s house . . . we have acted wickedly . . . we have not obeyed.” It wasn’t Nehemiah’s fault that Israel went into captivity. He wasn’t even born when it happened and he was most likely born in captivity. Yet, he’s including himself in the national sins. He says, “I’ve been a part of the problem.”
3. Claim the promises of God. Nehemiah prays to the Lord, saying, “I want you to remember what you told your servant Moses.” Can you imagine saying “remember” to God? Nehemiah reminds God of a promise he made to the nation of Israel. In effect, he prays, “God, you warned through Moses that if we were unfaithful, we would lose the land of Israel. But you also promised that if we repent, you’d give it back to us.”
Does God have to be reminded? No. Does he forget what he’s promised? No. Then why do we do this? Because it helps us remember what God has promised.
4. Be very specific in what you ask for. If you want specific answers to prayer, then make specific requests. If your prayers consist of general requests, how will you know if they’re answered?
Nehemiah is not hesitant to pray for success. He’s very bold in his praying. Have you ever prayed, “Lord, make me successful?” If you haven’t, why haven’t you? What is the alternative? A failure?
Is it okay to ask God to make you successful? It all depends on your definition of success! I believe a good definition of success is: “Fulfilling God’s purpose for my life in faith, love, and the power of the Holy Spirit, and expecting the results from God.” That is a worthy life objective that you should be able to pray for with confidence.
Consider this: If you can’t ask God to make you a success at what you’re doing, you should be doing something else. God doesn’t want you to waste your life.
Question: How are your prayers similar to or different than Nehemiah’s?
About this Author: Rick Warren
God’s Timing is Not Ours
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God's Timing is Not Ours [3:55m]:
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Jairus is in a hurry. If you have children, or even if you don’t, you can probably sympathize with his plight. You see, his little daughter is dying. Or, as the Message paraphrase puts it, his “dear daughter is at death’s door.” (Mark 5:23)
So you can imagine why he’d be more than a little perturbed when, the Lord tarries on the way to Jairus’ house. “Who touched my clothes?” Jesus suddenly asks the crowd. The disciples, perhaps a bit anxious themselves given the gravity of the situation, reply “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”. Then Jesus proceeds to leisurely engage the woman in conversation. It turns out that she’s suffered from a medical condition for the last twelve years.
“Twelve years?” thinks Jairus, “My daughter is dying! Surely this woman can wait a little longer!”
Then, while Jesus is still talking with the woman, messengers arrive with the most dreaded news imaginable: “Your daughter is dead.”
“Oh Lord, why couldn’t you just have hurried?” Jairus probably cried to himself. From a human perspective, all was lost. But from a heavenly perspective, “all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27) Jesus responded immediately: “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” (Mark 5:36)
God’s timing is not ours: “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (1 Peter 3:8) But we can be confident that whenever and however God chooses to respond to us, it will be good, just, and to His glory.
If you’ve been patiently praying with seemingly no response, don’t lose heart. Jesus implores us to not be afraid and trust in Him; consider the parable of the persistent widow Jesus told in Luke 18:1-8, which Jesus told to encourage us that we “should always pray and not give up”. Be encouraged that while God’s timing is not ours, because He is always for you, not against you, and we will someday, at just the right moment, fully understand His divine timing.
Questions: What is a prayer that you have been earnestly praying for lately? Are you ready to leave it in God’s competent hands when/how/if he answers it?
About this Author: Darren Hewer
Deny Self
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Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
What does it mean to deny myself?
The primary thing that springs to mind is the idea of doing without things desired - a picture of a monk leading a strict and harsh life, far from luxury.
Although the concept of doing without is found in the dictionary under “deny”, the first definition under “deny” is “to declare untrue”. Of course the dictionary was referring to denying a statement, but I began to wonder if it might apply to denying oneself.
If I declared myself as being untrue, I would point to someone or something outside myself as the ultimate source of truth - it could not be found in me.
If I declared myself as being untrue, I wouldn’t trust my feelings or my interpretation of the facts.
If I declared myself as being untrue, I would admit that I am not right, that my ways are not right, that I indeed have a sinful nature that desires what is contrary to what God desires.
Is that not what Jesus is asking us to do? We must acknowledge Him as the only true one. God’s ways are always right.
We are called to choose His way rather than our own, to surrender our will to Him and to follow Him where ever He leads.
Question: What does the idea of “declaring yourself untrue” mean to you and your approach to God?
About this Author: Suzanne Benner
Living Water for the Thirsty
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Living Water for the Thirsty [2:34m]:
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Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for November 6th, AM.
Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2008.
“I will pour out water to quench your thirst” Isaiah 44:3
When a Christian believer falls into spiritual depression, he or she often tries to lift themselves out of it by focusing on their sorrow. That’s not the way to rise from the dust. It’s a sure way to continue in it.
It is not the law, but the gospel which saves the seeking soul. And it is not legal slavery, but gospel liberty which can restore the hurting believer. Slavish fear won’t bring back the backslider to God, but the sweet wooings of love will draw them back to Jesus. Similarly, the spiritually depressed must focus on the living God’s love and promises.
Are you today thirsting for the living God, and unhappy because you cannot find him to the delight of your heart? Have you lost the joy of your relationship with God? Then this is this your prayer: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation.” (Psalm 52:12)
If you are feeling totally barren, like the dry ground, in this state you are not producing the fruit which God has a right to expect of you. Here is the promise which you need: “I will pour out water to quench your thirst.” (Isaiah 44:3)
You will receive all the grace you require, and it will exceed all of your needs. Water refreshes the thirsty and you will be refreshed. Your desires shall be gratified. Pulse quickened by exhilarating grace. Harvest of fruit multiplied. You will enjoy all of the goodness of divine grace. It will be as though you were drenched with the water of divine grace. How do I know that? Because God promised it!
And as sometimes the meadows become flooded by the bursting rivers, and the fields turn into pools, you yourself will become a pool of living water as God fills you. In this way the entire thirsty land can become full of pools of living water for the good and refreshment of all!
Question: Have you felt spiritually dry lately?
About this Author: Charles Spurgeon
Love that Sweats
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Love That Sweats [1:51m]:
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When Jesus loves, he works up a sweat; he rolls up his sleeves, gets on his knees, and washes our feet with his blood, sweat, and tears.
He labors at love, though his love is never like labor. He’s a giver, not a taker, loving us into being with a gifted carpenter’s hands. And he’s no slacker, loving us until we can take no more; no more because we’re filled to overflowing, his love spilling and splashing through our pores into the cores of those we love with his love, a love’s labor not lost on a world that needs to be found.
He wrestles our fears and wrangles our doubts and labors at love until he’s exhausted, lying prone in a garden, drinking from God’s cup the nourishment necessary for one last heroic sweaty, bloody, tearful lift of the Father’s infinite love; ready to die for God’s undying love.
A Jesus-love sticks to it, even when the it seems like an unstickable fury that’s no longer fun or convenient or even something you want to do. Jesus keeps on laboring in you and through you, finishing what he started, loving until the last with a love that lasts forever (John 13:1).
Question: What example of Jesus’ labor in love is most striking to you, and why?
About this Author: Jon Walker
When We Miss the Target
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When We Miss The Target [3:20m]:
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Read the first verse of Matthew’s gospel. Jesus knew David’s ways. He witnessed the adultery, winced at the murders, and grieved at the dishonesty. But David’s failures didn’t change Jesus’ relation to David. The initial verse of the first chapter of the first gospel calls Christ “the son of David” (Matt. 1:1 KJV). The title contains no disclaimers, explanations, or asterisks. I’d have added a footnote: “This connection in no way offers tacit approval to David’s behavior.” No such words appear. David blew it. Jesus knew it. But he claimed David anyway.
He did for David what my father did for my brother and me.
Back in our elementary school days, my brother received a BB gun for Christmas. We immediately set up a firing range in the backyard and spent the afternoon shooting at an archery target. Growing bored with the ease of hitting the circle, my brother sent me to fetch a hand mirror. He placed the gun backward on his shoulder, spotted the archery bull’s-eye in the mirror, and did his best Buffalo Bill imitation. But he missed the target. He also missed the storehouse behind the target and the fence behind the storehouse. We had no idea where the BB pellet flew. Our neighbor across the alley knew, however. He soon appeared at the back fence, asking who had shot the BB gun and who was going to pay for his sliding-glass door.
At this point I disowned my brother. I changed my last name and claimed to be a holiday visitor from Canada. My father was more noble than I. Hearing the noise, he appeared in the backyard, freshly rousted from his Christmas Day nap, and talked with the neighbor.
Among his words were these:
“Yes, they are my children.”
“Yes, I’ll pay for their mistakes.”
Christ says the same about you. He knows you miss the target. He knows you can’t pay for your mistakes. But he can. “God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins” (Rom. 3:25 NLT).
Since he was sinless, he could.
Since he loves you, he did. “This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:10 NLT).
He became one of us to redeem all of us. “Jesus, who makes people holy, and those who are made holy are from the same family. So he is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters” (Heb. 2:11 NCV).
He wasn’t ashamed of David. He isn’t ashamed of you. He calls you brother; he calls you sister. The question is, do you call him Savior?
From Facing Your Giants
© (W Publishing Group, 2006) Max Lucado
Used by permission
Question: Are we sometimes “ashamed of Christ” when we are talking with non-Christians? (See Mark 8:38)
About this Author: Max Lucado
Let God Vindicate You
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Let God Vindicate You [2:41m]:
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“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice… ” Isaiah 42:3
I had been accused of something I didn’t do. Now it was being gossiped about. When I tried to correct the misinformation, the response was, “Why are you so defensive?” The more I tried to explain, the worse it got.
Crushed I went to my friends, both in their eighties, who had often been my listening posts. “It’s not the truth, is it? Then don’t hang on to it,” they advised. “Don’t give the gossip any weight by mulling it over or talking about it. In due time God will vindicate you.”
But I couldn’t just leave it. Silence is consent, isn’t it? I spent much emotional energy trying to prove my innocence. To no avail. Finally I realized my friends were right: I needed to focus my energy on more constructive coping. How?
Searching out what God thinks about me, I wrote out Scripture verses on cards so I could say them while driving the car or walking the dog, verses such as: “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:33-34).
In these words I heard Jesus saying, “I’m the only one qualified to judge you and I don’t condemn you.” In fact, He let me know his pleasure in words like these: “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17)
Focusing on God’s truths helped me walk with dignity and courage.
And in time, it happened just as my friends predicted: the gossip was proved wrong and I was vindicated.
Questions: Have people spread rumors or gossip about you before? How did you respond? How can you aim to respond in the future?
About this Author: Helen Grace Lescheid
Surviving Your Schedule
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Surviving Your Schedule [2:32m]:
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“An intelligent person aims at wise action, but a fool starts off in many directions.” Proverbs 17:24, TEV
Do you ever get to the end of your day and think “Did I accomplish anything today?” Where does all the time go?
If you don’t master your schedule, it will master you. Here are three suggestions from the Bible for reducing the stress of your schedule:
Line up your priorities. Obviously, you don’t have time to do everything. You must make choices. You must decide what’s really important and what isn’t. Take some time to consider the direction of your life.
- “It is stupid to waste time on useless projects” Proverbs 12:11, TEV
- “You may make your plans, but God directs your actions” Proverbs 16:9, TEV
Lighten up your attitude. Do you really have to do everything on your to-do list? No one is holding a gun to your head. A lot of your stress is self-imposed. The Bible says that God gave us humor as a stress reliever.
- “Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up” Proverbs 12:25, NLT
- “A relaxed attitude lengthens life; jealousy rots it away” Proverbs 14:30, NLT
- “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength” Proverbs 17:22, NLT
Look up to God. Stress is always a warning light that you’ve taken your focus off God and are looking at your problems from your limited viewpoint. I believe the single greatest cause of stress is this: We take ourselves too seriously and we don’t take God seriously enough!
Need more time in your schedule?
- “Fear of the Lord lengthens one’s life, but the years of the wicked are cut short” Proverbs 10:27, NLT
- “Those who fear the Lord are secure; he will be a place of refuge for their children” Proverbs 14:26, NLT
Question: Most people feel like they never have enough time … what do you find yourself spending most of your time doing?
About this Author: Rick Warren
Evangelism? Me?
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Evangelism? Me? [2:40m]:
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Please open your Bible and read Matthew 28:16-20.
Evangelism. Does the word make you uncomfortable? It makes a lot of people uncomfortable. Sharing our the good news of the gospel is sometimes a thankless job. Yet Jesus calls us to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).
Don’t we have an obligation to share the message of God’s grace and love with others? Paul says “woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16, KJV) It would be rather selfish to keep such amazing truth to ourselves!
Why then is evangelism so uncomfortable? One reason is that we’re worried that we’ll fail. We know that often people don’t accept the gospel. Sometimes people refuse to believe even what’s right in front of their face. Read the passage from Matthew again about when Jesus appeared on the mountain to the disciples: “When they saw him [Jesus], they worshiped him - but some of them doubted!” (Matthew 28:17) Did you catch that? Some of the disciples even doubted!
When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, a prominent Pharisee, Jesus lamented that we Christians “speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony” (John 3:11). We shouldn’t feel that we’ve failed when people do not accept the gospel, for it is only through God’s grace, not our own efforts, that someone may be saved. By sharing our faith and giving someone to think about, we may have helped alter their life course to bring them one step closer to knowing the living God.
A second reason is that we may have negative images of what evangelism is like. Street evangelism (such as handing out tracts or shouting “Repent sinners!”) is surely not the only way to share our faith. The internet, for example, gives us an incredible new method to reach people all over the world. Over one billion people worldwide now have access to the Internet, and this is an amazing opportunity to share the gospel all over the world regardless of whether you are shy or outgoing. Your talents and God-given gifts can be used for ministry online. Let’s use the internet for God’s glory!
“Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out!” Psalm 107:2, NLT
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Questions: Why do most people find evangelism so uncomfortable? How can we seek to alleviate this discomfort?
About this Author: Darren Hewer
Only One You
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Mister Rogers was right after all: There is only one you. But this information is much more important than to just be boosting your self-esteem. It is to help you better serve others by being more confident about your God-given role in life.
No one else fits your shape. No one else has your blend of gifts, talents and natural abilities—making you very important in the whole scheme of things. “God made our bodies with many parts,” wrote Paul, “and He has put each part just where He wants it” (1 Corinthians 12:18). And as it is with the human body, so it is with the Body of Christ — the corporate collection of all who believe.
But this uniqueness goes beyond giftedness; it reaches as well into the depth of each of our experiences in life. No one else has your life. No one else has your pain, your hardship, your joys and sorrows. Everything in life shapes us and we are shaped by everything for a reason: so that we can touch others in a unique way based upon who we are and what we’ve been through. God doesn’t waste anything in our lives.
Every piece of our lives and experiences can be used of Christ to touch someone else. We were made for each other; we live for each other; we even die for each other. We die with hope so that others who live might see the reality of Christ in even the darkest of hours. God uses everything.
Are you just getting by, or are you living for a reason? Think about your unique gifts and ask yourself how those gifts are benefiting others. What specific way is God using you to touch others in the Body of Christ?
Do you seem to have an extra measure of wisdom, or mercy, or discernment, or knowledge, or administration, or desire to serve? These will help determine how you can look for opportunities to help others.
And then think about the things you have gone through so far in your life—especially the difficult or challenging things where God has met you with His presence and power. That information is not just for you, it’s for you to empathize with and encourage others who have encountered similar struggles.
God isn’t messing around here. There are no accidents with our lives. Whatever we have received and experienced has shaped who we are, and because of that, we are qualified servants. There is truly no one else like you … for a reason.
Question: How has God crafted you uniquely, to make you uniquely you?
About this Author: John Fischer
