-T-
Day 5 –
Talk With God In Prayer (John 15:7, 16)
7 If you
abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it
shall be done for you.
16 You did
not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear
fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in
My name He may give you.
Yesterday we discussed the
vertical relationship with God being important in being filled with the Spirit.
The Bible talks about John the Baptist being filled with the spirit before he
was even born (Luke 1:15). John’s mother, Elizabeth, was filled with the Spirit
when she heard Mary’s voice (Luke 1:41). His father was filled with the Spirit
after John was born (Luke 1:67). Jesus was filled the Spirit after He was
baptized (Luke 4:1). The early church was filled with the Spirit on the Day of
Pentecost (Acts 2:4), the first deacons were full of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:3,
6:5, 7:55), and numerous times the Spirit filled the church members (Acts 4:8,
31, 5:3, 9:17, 11:24, 13:9, 13:52).
All of these show that while
we have the presence of the Holy Spirit with us always, there are certain times
when He fills us up with a special empowerment and blessing. We are commanded
to be filled (Ephesians 5:18), so we should seek Him to fill us.
The power God gives to us
comes when we read His word, witness to others, and talk with God in prayer. Notice
that prayer is not just talking to God, but talking with God. We should open
our ears and eyes for Him to communicate back with us.
When we read God’s Word, we
should first ask God to open the eyes of our heart (see Ephesians 1:18). When
we witness, we should seek God to open the ears of the unbelievers’ hearts (see
Acts 28:27). Someone has said that the best way we can tell others about God is
for us to talk to God about others first!
Verse 7. One of the chief reasons the Bible attests to a lack of answers to
prayer comes from a lack of abidance with God. God will not bless disobedience.
If we obey and are producing fruit, both fruit of the spirit and witnessing,
Jesus promises a more effective prayer life.
While there are numerous
different ways to pray, one of the most popular outlines to keep before us to
help our prayers is to use the acrostic “ACTS.”
Adoration Proclaim to God your love
for Him
Confession of Sin Admit and repent of your sins
Thanksgiving For all things, good
and bad
Supplication For others as well as for
ourselves
ADORATION. We are to worship God,
to declare His worthiness. In your adoration time, you may praise God by declaring
God’s attributes, such as “I praise you God that you are merciful and do not
give what we deserve.” Praise differs from Thanksgiving in that it honors God
for Who He is, not for what He has done.
CONFESSION. We are to agree with God in what He says about
sin. Confession is more than just saying “I’m sorry.” We should say, “God, I
agree with You that ___________ is wrong. I was wrong for committing this sin
against You and others.”
THANKSGIVING. We are commanded to give thanks and we are also shown as an
example by Jesus to give thanks. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and Ephesians 5:20 says
we are to give thanks in everything, whether good or bad. It
does not say to give thanks for everything. We do not have to
like everything. But, an attitude of gratitude allow us to claim Romans 8:28,
which states all things work together for good for those who love God and are
called according to His purpose.
SUPPLICATION. Granted, supplication is
not a commonly used word today, but Webster’s Dictionary defines supplicate as
“to ask for humbly as by prayer, to make a humble request of.” We are to make
requests for others and also for ourselves. The Lord’s Prayer gives us an
excellent example that we should pray for our daily needs.
Day 6, Have Fellowship
Day 6, Have Fellowship
No comments:
Post a Comment