Tag Archives: pray

January 8, 2018 · 5:27 AM

Exceedingly And Abundantly

What’s the biggest or greatest thing you can ask God for? Think about that for just a minute. Seriously. For some of you, it might be the healing of a terminal illness. Others might need a financial miracle. For Abraham, it was an heir to leave all his belongings to. He was getting old, and he was already thinking about end of life details. He told God that his reward for his faithfulness was useless without a child.

Asking for an heir to be able to pass down his estate to was the biggest thing he could think of, and he asked God for it. In Genesis 15:5 it says, “The Lord took him outside and said, ‘Look at the sky and try to count the stars; you will have as many descendants as that’” (GNT). All Abraham was asking for was one descendent, and God points to the countless stars and says, “That’s how many I’ll give you!”

No matter what you or I can think of or ask for, God can do exceedingly and abundantly more. Abraham thought that asking for one descendent was Impossible, and God blew his mind. I don’t know what your prayer is, but I want you to know that God is able. What seems impossible or too big in your mind is not even the beginning of what God can do. Every time you begin to doubt, look at the stars and remember that nothing is impossible for God.

Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

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January 5, 2018 · 5:46 AM

Waiting

Do you know the difference between going to a fast food restaurant and going to the DMV? At one of those places, you’re going to have to wait a while. I recently had to get my drivers license renewed. As I looked around the waiting room, no one was upset. Everyone was waiting patiently. We all knew going in that we were going to have to wait, even if we were in a hurry or had other things to accomplish that morning.

When we pray though, we treat God like the drive thru at a fast food restaurant. We want it now, we want it quick and we get mad if it takes longer than a minute. Good things take time, and our answers to prayer are often complicated with a lot of moving pieces. When we pray for things, we should think of ourselves as going into a waiting room. If God answers quickly, what a blessing! If not, wait patiently and trust His timing. He’s working in your favor.

Here are some Bible verses on waiting for God.

1. Listen to my cry for help, my God and king! I pray to you, O Lord; you hear my voice in the morning; at sunrise I offer my prayer and wait for your answer.

Psalm 5:2-3 GNT

2. Wait for and confidently expect the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for and confidently expect the LORD.

PSALM 27:14 AMP

3. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.

Lamentations 3:26 NLT

4. And I myself will send upon you what my Father has promised. But you must wait in the city until the power from above comes down upon you.

Luke 24:49 GNT

5. But those who wait for the LORD [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] Will gain new strength and renew their power; They will lift up their wings [and rise up close to God] like eagles [rising toward the sun]; They will run and not become weary, They will walk and not grow tired.

ISAIAH 40:31 AMP

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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January 1, 2018 · 5:24 AM

2018 New Year’s Prayer

Each year, I write a prayer of blessing over the coming year’ that you can pray. As you read this, let it become your prayer for 2018.

Heavenly Father,

I want to pause and give you thanks for how you moved and worked in my life over the past year. I know that you did so many things in my life where I failed to recognize it as your hand working things out for my good. You are a good Father who has provided for me in the past, and i know you’ll continue to in the future. I give you permission to continue to work out your good and perfect plan in my life in the coming year.

For 2018, I’m asking that you would awaken dreams I’ve let go of. Bring them back to life so you can fulfill them this year. I pray that the seeds I’ve sown will bear much fruit in 2018. Show me where to scatter seeds, and teach me to water them with prayers from your Word. Rebuke the devourer in Jesus’ name. Keep him away from all that you’ve given me and placed in my hand, and multiply my crops.

Help me to grow closer to you in 2018. I want to walk with you daily so that I know you more. Help me to hear your voice more clearly, and give me the courage to do what you say. I want to be known an as a person who obeys you. Use me to accomplish your plan in this world, and help me to love others the way you want me to. I want my life to be a life that leads others to you rather than one that pushes them away.

Grant my prayers this year like never before. Help me to delight myself in you. I pray that your hand of favor and blessing would rest on my life so that I can be a blessing to others. Continue to heal the hurts and wounds in my life and make me whole. Watch over me and those that I love. Block any and all attacks from the enemy that would come against me and try to prevent what you want to do in my life this year. I love you, Lord, and thank you in advance for all you’re going to do this year.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen.

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

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December 27, 2017 · 5:30 AM

How To Pray Eloquently

I’m counting down my most popular devotions of the year. This was my third most popular one written in 2017.

I was in need of prayer recently, and a friend came to visit me. We talked about everything going on and caught up on a few things. Before he left, he asked, “Do you mind if I pray for you before I leave?” I nodded. He then said, “My prayers aren’t that eloquent though.” I replied, “God listens more to our heart than our words.” After we prayed and he left, I began to think about that. How many of us hold back on prayers because we think it’s the eloquence of our prayers that cause God to reply?

God is not like us. He is not impressed by our mastery of language. He isn’t moved by flowery speech. He looks into our heart and sees our intent. We’ve grown so accustomed to having please and impress others with our words that we think we have to do it with God. Religiosity is the art of impressing others while making a show of our faith. God doesn’t respond to that because He doesn’t like it.

In Matthew 6:7-8, Jesus said, “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!” (NLT) God knew I was in need of prayer. He didn’t need an eloquent prayer that explained what was going on and what I needed. What He needed was our faith to trust Him with the problem.

Prayer is not about saying the right words the right way. It’s about trusting God with the things we can’t handle. My son often wants things (and he hints at it), but I always say, “Use your words.” I think our Father in Heaven does the same. He knows we need it, but He’s teaching us to communicate with Him through prayer. Your communication skills don’t have to be excellent either. Your heart is what matters. Initiate the conversation with Him and open up your heart. Those are the most eloquent prayers He ever heard.

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November 9, 2017 · 6:00 AM

Training For Godliness – Avoiding Injury

Each year, I take one week off from writing to help me refresh and reset. This is that week. To help you stay faithful to your daily devotional time, I’m bringing back a series I wrote a few years ago on disciplines we as Christians need to have. Enjoy and I’ll be back next week with all new devotions.

Avoiding Injury

The way to avoid or minimize injury in sports is to do all the right things. The same applies spiritually. One of the things you can do to prevent injury is stretching. When is the last time you stretched yourself spiritually? I’m not talking about a faith pledge financially. I’m talking about stepping out in faith and you really doing something positive for the Kingdom. It could be walking up to a stranger and just telling them, “God wanted me to tell you that He loves you.” It could be fasting for three days with water only to grow closer to God. It could be any number of things that you don’t think you can do for God.

Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” The same thing applies spiritually. If you don’t stretch yourself and think you can do more than you are right now, you’re right. You will stunt your growth and never do more than what you’re doing today. God wants us to step out of the boat like Peter did. When he saw Jesus walking on the water and asked Jesus to call him out of the boat, I’m sure his mind told him that he couldn’t do it. Thankfully his faith in God told him that he could. Have you asked jesus to call you out of your boat? Which voice are you listening to? Stretch yourself.

Pre-Training

So before you begin your in depth training for Godliness you need to be able to do some things first. You need to be able to read God’s Word without interruption. How much you read isn’t important in the beginning. It’s not about reading a chapter a day or at a time. God can speak to you with just one verse, but you need to be where you can hear Him speak to you through it. Get away from all distractions and the noise in your life. Jesus went away from others to hear God. You should too.

You also need to be in the habit of praying and listening. Prayer is important. I think contemplative prayer is even more so. I’ll do a post on this soon because it’s more than just praying what comes to mind. It’s purposefully thinking through your prayers. That’s something you work up to though. Beyond just praying, you need to learn to quiet your mind and give God time to speak to you. We, like Elijah in I Kings 19:11-14, think that God speaks loudly all the time. We want Him to speak to us audibly. Elijah saw a windstorm that tore rocks loose from the mountains, but God’s voice wasn’t there. He saw an earthquake, but God’s voice wasn’t there. He even saw fire, but God’s voice wasn’t there either. After the fire, there was a gentle whisper of God’s voice. That’s how God speaks to us. We need to get to where we can hear His voice, then quiet our mind and listen for it.

Tomorrow I’ll wrap this series up with some final thoughts and encouragement to continue your training for Godliness.

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October 16, 2017 · 5:56 AM

Walking In God’s Presence


My son is competitive like most kids. He wants to be first everywhere we go. The problem is that he doesn’t always know where we are going. Sometimes when he gets a few steps ahead, I turn and he keeps going straight. I’ll usually make a noise to let him notice. He then runs over and tries to stay in front. With each turn, I remind him that I’m the one who knows where we are going, and that he should follow. 

There are other times when he’s just trying to keep my attention. If I’m trying to do something, he’ll get in my face. If I direct my attention elsewhere, he moves to try to stay in my face. Sometimes it makes me laugh how hard he tries to get and keep my attention. The truth is that it’s a picture of how we are to be with God. Sometimes we forget to be like children, which is what Jesus told us to be like. 

I believe God is looking for us to be in His presence. He’s not wanting us to be out in front of Him trying to guess where He’s leading us, and He’s not just wanting us to be somewhere in His vicinity. He wants us to go get in His face, and to be where He is looking. Psalm 116:9 says, “I walk in the Lord’s presence as I live here on earth!” (NLT) The Psalmist understood what God desires from each of us, and that is to walk in His presence. 

The word “presence” in its original meaning, is the word for face. So to walk in the Lord’s presence is to walk where He’s facing. In order to do that, we need to be constantly looking at Him to make sure we are going the same way He is. We have to spend time in prayer throughout the day constantly grabbing His face and attention. It’s what children who love their parents do. God is not annoyed by us in trying to do this. He is honored when we walk in His presence. 

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September 29, 2017 · 5:46 AM

The Power To Bless


There have bee several times in my life where others have blessed me. When I was in my late teens, my car died and I didn’t have the money to get another one. The next day, a couple at church came up to me and said while they were praying, God spoke to them and told them to bless me with a car. Another time, my second mom was on her death bed. She pulled each of her kids into the room one by one and gave us a verbal blessing just before she passed away.

It’s good to be blessed, but there is power in being able to bless. Ever since I got that car, I have always wanted to be the person who blesses rather than the one who receives the blessing. Whether it is the ability to give a gift as a blessing, or it’s the ability to speak a blessing to someone, it is a great thing to be able to bless others. In today’s world, where people are quick to destroy each other, we need the power to bless more than ever. 

Here are some blessings from the Bible.

1. May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.
Numbers 6:24-26 NLT

2. For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy.
Colossians 1:9-11 HCSB

3. I ask God from the wealth of his glory to give you power through his Spirit to be strong in your inner selves, and I pray that Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love, so that you, together with all God’s people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ’s love. Yes, may you come to know his love—although it can never be fully known—and so be completely filled with the very nature of God.
Ephesians 3:16-19 GNT

4. From the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, may God always give you abundant harvests of grain and bountiful new wine. May many nations become your servants, and may they bow down to you. May you be the master over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. All who curse you will be cursed, and all who bless you will be blessed.
Genesis 27:28-29 NLT

5. Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would indeed bless me and enlarge my border [property], and that Your hand would be with me, and You would keep me from evil so that it does not hurt me!” And God granted his request.

1 CHRONICLES 4:10 AMP

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August 14, 2017 · 5:34 AM

Learning To Wait


One of the lessons my son is having the hardest time with is learning to wait when he has a question. My wife and I will be in a conversation, and he will walk up, interrupt us, and ask a question. We will tell him we will answer when we are done talking, but that’s often difficult for him when he has a question. I’m teaching him to walk up and just put his hand on mine when he has a question. I told him that when he does that, I’ll acknowledge him and then answer him when I can.

I wish I could say that works all the time, but it doesn’t. It’s as hard for him to wait for an answer as it is for us as adults to wait for one. When we have a pressing need or question, we’ll bombard God with questions and demand an answer immediately. We call it faith when we pray that way, but I wonder what God calls it. One of the hardest lessons any one of us has to learn is how to approach God and to ask for what it is that we want or need, especially when we feel we need it urgently.

They say that patience is a virtue, but we often lack it in waiting for God to answer our prayers. In Psalm 69:13, David prayed a tough, but wise prayer. He said, “But as for me, I will pray to you, Lord; answer me, God, at a time you choose” (GNT). He was telling God that he wasn’t expecting Him to operate on his timetable. He was willing to wait for God to answer on His. That’s a hard thing to pray and to do. 

This verse challenges me because I’m not there yet. In my prayers, I’m like my son trying to get an answer. I don’t want to wait for God to finish what He’s doing. I want my answers right now. If David was a man after God’s own heart, and he had the ability to pray this way, i believe it’s something we all can learn to do. Instead of trying to force God in our timeline, we can start asking God to give us the answers to our prayers in His. I’ll just need a little help learning to wait. 

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July 12, 2017 · 4:28 AM

Full Speed


My son is every bit of six years old. He runs through the house at full speed, laughs so hard he can’t hear anything and has to do everything himself. There are many times when I’m trying to give him instructions, but he keeps going. I yell his name to get his attention, but he keeps going. I’ve tried with everything in me to get him to hear me, but often I get no response while he’s moving around. It’s not until I have to get up, go over to him and get in his space that he hears me or realizes I’m trying to give him instruction. 

I know he probably gets that from me, and as I think about it, I wonder how often that describes me today. How often is God trying to get my attention, screaming my name, but I can’t hear Him because of my busyness? I’ve got a lost of things to do, my mind is racing with ideas of what’s next and I’m halfway looking where I’m going. I don’t stop until God gets in my space and says, “Hey! I’m trying to talk to you. I’ve been trying to get your attention, but you won’t stop and listen.” 

In those moments, I wonder how long He had been trying to get my attention. I have to think back, replay the last little bit and see all the ways He was trying to get my attention. I then seek forgiveness for being to busy to hear Him and renew my commitment to slow down. That’s when I’m reminded of Psalm 46:10. It says, “Be still, and know that I am God!” (NLT) I think the Psalmist was a lot like me and that was his message from God that goes out to all of us who run full speed all the time.

I’ve learned that God cares less about my busyness and more about my ability to stop and listen. I’m learning from my son that when I’m running around, I can’t hear what’s being said. I can’t focus on what I’m supposed to. How many mishaps could have been prevented? How many blessings have I missed out on because I was too busy to hear Him? If you’re like me, let me encourage you to take time to stop today and listen. Chances are that God is calling your name and is trying to get your attention. 

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July 6, 2017 · 5:00 AM

The Walk Of Shame

Throwback Thursday is a new feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other writing ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.


One of the things I love about our car is when you get low on gas, not only does it notify you, the navigation screen automatically shows you where all the gas stations are. If I keep going, the alarm will continue to let me know every few miles that it’s time to fill up. So far I haven’t run out of gas in it. That’s a good thing because I know what it’s like to run out of gas and to have to do the walk of shame to the gas station.

What about you? Have you ever run out of gas? Have you ever run out of gas spiritually? Again, I’m guilt of that too. I’ve let myself run out gas spiritually and I’ve stalled. There were warnings that I over looked and things that I did that caused me to run out. One of the first things I quit doing was reading the Bible daily. It was more of a box to check off for me at the time and I saw it as a chore. When I quit reading my Bible, my faith took a hit.

Romans tells us that faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I increase my faith by putting God’s Word in me. I wasn’t doing that, and I quickly found out that I was susceptible to attacks. It turns out that faith is also our shield that helps protect us against the fiery darts of the devil. I then began to slip in areas I had never had trouble in. I started to go places and to do things that I never dreamed I would have.

After that, I noticed that my church attendance began to slip. “I wasn’t getting anything out of it,” I would say. I wasn’t getting anything out of it because I wasn’t trying to. I wasn’t listening because I didn’t want to be convicted of the things I was doing. I didn’t want to be questioned by people at church when I did go, so I started leaving as soon as the pastor ended his sermons. I cut myself off from the community of believers.

Hebrews 10 tells us not to forsake the assembling of fellow believers. I looked up “forsake” and dictionary.com said, “to quit or leave entirely.” Because I did it, I know why the writer said we shouldn’t. I left a group of people who loved me, prayed for me and lifted me up when I needed it. Church is more than just a group of believers going to hear a message. It’s a place where we connect and find a sense of belonging.

After I left, it didn’t take long before I ran out of gas. When I couldn’t move forward in my life anymore, I decided to take that walk to the altar. The good news is that this walk isn’t a walk of shame. It’s a walk of rejoicing because God comes in, fills us with His love and restores us to a right relationship with Him. If you’re on empty today, you might have made the same mistakes I did. The good news is that He’s waiting to fill you up again and to restore your life. He did it for me and my church accepted me back with open arms. There’s no shame in walking home. 

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