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Prayer is simply communicating with God, yet we often make it more complicated than it needs to be. Let's be honest—most of us could use a boost in our prayer life. If we took it a bit more seriously, we’d find that when we pray, we draw closer to God.
There is no greater way to get to know God, His character, His Nature, His goodness, and the life He has for you than reading His Living Word. And yet most people don’t do it. We have access to God’s Word and yet either don’t take time to do it or when we try, we don’t really understand it. That’’s why we’re taking time to get to the basics, the basics of getting closer to God through His Word.
Have you ever been to a retreat or a training program where they had you do the trust fall? The trust fall is where you trust that when you fall backward the people behind you will catch you. It is hard to put ourselves completely into the hands of others, no matter what the situation is or who the people are. We like to be in control. But the Christian faith is fundamentally based on our reliance on another, Jesus, for our fiuture and our entire lives and our salvation.
Peter and John meet a man along the way as they were heading to temple. The only thing that they could give him was the name of Jesus Christ and told him to stand up and walk. The man was healed and we know this story, but what happens next? Peter tells of the goodness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the crowds. Peter and John were committed to share the good news of Jesus as they went out.
Our biggest fights actually begin inside our heads, where our thoughts wrestle and our beliefs clash. So, just like Colossians 3 mentions, we need to regularly refresh and reshape our thinking to better equip ourselves for the challenges we face in life.
Where would you be if your friend or relative didn’t ask you to come to church or attend a Christian event? Think about it. Your friend was most likely your friend first before asking you to hear about Jesus. How we seek people, how we listen, how we engage and invite can make all the difference. It can soften hearts to hear the good news of the love of God through Jesus Christ.
Our God is not only a pursuing God, he is a sending God. Jesus’ great commission is for his people to go and do likewise. To go and seek those who are lost and share their witness, their testimony of who Jesus is and what he has done in and through our lives. God calls us to be part of the rescue mission, the search party, the body of Christ to love those who are lost.
We begin a new series in this new year. It’s entitled, “The One.” This first we we think and talk about ourselves being the one who Jesus sees. Before we become passionate about sharing Christ with others, we have to become secure in the fact that He first loved us. We have to personalize His promises and to a heartfelt understanding that we are God’s dearly loved children.
It’s essential that our prayers be controlled by the word of God. When our prayer life is soaked in the word of God not only are our prayers renewed and fresh, our mind is renewed as well. And when our minds are renewed by the word of God our lives are renewed by the Spirit of God.
Our prayers need to be seasoned with the word of God. When we pray using the Scriptures we talk to God in His language, using His way of speaking. With it, brings power. When we pray through the Bible, we are bringing God’s word directly into our prayers and His power into our praying.
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