This is from the notes on the subject of prayer that my husband Ivan presented to the Silver Saints, a monthly luncheon for the older members of our church. Each month someone will deliver a short Bible topic and my husband was asked several times to speak.
Please enjoy Ivan's message.
Lesson Topic--Prayers for blessings.
Matthew 6:31, 32. Therefore do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”
Prayer is letting God know your personal wants for yourself and to others even though He already knows. Being able to talk with God one on one, letting Him know personally what you are asking, even when He already knows what you’re going to say. It isn’t selfish to ask for blessing or pray for yourself because He wants to hear from us individually. It pleases Him for us to talk with Him.
If you’re praying for health and wealth and you don’t get it, you may decide your faith isn’t right or maybe not enough. You begin to believe that’s why you’re not getting what you’ve asked for. I think that when we pray or ask for a blessing, we would like to have a response quickly, but time to the Lord is on a different schedule than ours.
Isaiah 55:8 "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways' Says the LORD."
Blessings don’t always equal health and wealth but praying for blessing is a good thing to do. It’s not selfish to ask. God wants to give everything good to us. But a good thing to remember is it’s not always a good thing to ask for yourself. Ask for others to be blessed; family, friends, even the unsaved, and your enemies.
If you prayed for someone to accept Jesus’ salvation and they do accept it at some point, it certainly is a blessing for them. It also blesses you and it blesses God. That’s a positive. And further, now they will have blessings of their own! Just think; if they accept Jesus as Savior, they then would have their lives turned around and their focus changed. They wouldn’t still be seeking the things mentioned in the verse in Matthew. Now, you can join in their happiness too.
I don’t know about you but I don’t think I pray enough.
Examples of men who diligently prayed are Daniel, Paul, and Jesus.
Daniel 6:10 cf (....knowing the writing had been signed... he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom.."
(Paul’s letters open with praying blessing for someone. Romans 1: 7, Corinthians 1:3, 2 Cor 1:2 and so forth)
Daniel and Paul were very steady with prayers, praying everyday and anytime.
We know Jesus often went to be alone to pray and gather strength and get refreshed. Getting alone with God is important, but He prayed for His people.
Finally, asking for blessings we don’t get doesn’t mean we’re not blessed. We might not receive blessing in our time but in God’s time.
We are still being blessed. We’re making God happy!
I found these 2 quotes from Our Daily Bread that I feel sum up prayer.
And this quote—If God doesn’t give us what we ask for, we can be sure that He has something far better.
Have faith in the Lord for who He is and what He can do or will do for you or anybody. You can be certain it will come about in His time.
God is the Living God, there is no other we can go to have our prayers answered.
Please enjoy Ivan's message.
Lesson Topic--Prayers for blessings.
Matthew 6:31, 32. Therefore do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”
Prayer is letting God know your personal wants for yourself and to others even though He already knows. Being able to talk with God one on one, letting Him know personally what you are asking, even when He already knows what you’re going to say. It isn’t selfish to ask for blessing or pray for yourself because He wants to hear from us individually. It pleases Him for us to talk with Him.
If you’re praying for health and wealth and you don’t get it, you may decide your faith isn’t right or maybe not enough. You begin to believe that’s why you’re not getting what you’ve asked for. I think that when we pray or ask for a blessing, we would like to have a response quickly, but time to the Lord is on a different schedule than ours.
Isaiah 55:8 "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways' Says the LORD."
Blessings don’t always equal health and wealth but praying for blessing is a good thing to do. It’s not selfish to ask. God wants to give everything good to us. But a good thing to remember is it’s not always a good thing to ask for yourself. Ask for others to be blessed; family, friends, even the unsaved, and your enemies.
If you prayed for someone to accept Jesus’ salvation and they do accept it at some point, it certainly is a blessing for them. It also blesses you and it blesses God. That’s a positive. And further, now they will have blessings of their own! Just think; if they accept Jesus as Savior, they then would have their lives turned around and their focus changed. They wouldn’t still be seeking the things mentioned in the verse in Matthew. Now, you can join in their happiness too.
I don’t know about you but I don’t think I pray enough.
Examples of men who diligently prayed are Daniel, Paul, and Jesus.
Daniel 6:10 cf (....knowing the writing had been signed... he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom.."
(Paul’s letters open with praying blessing for someone. Romans 1: 7, Corinthians 1:3, 2 Cor 1:2 and so forth)
Daniel and Paul were very steady with prayers, praying everyday and anytime.
We know Jesus often went to be alone to pray and gather strength and get refreshed. Getting alone with God is important, but He prayed for His people.
Finally, asking for blessings we don’t get doesn’t mean we’re not blessed. We might not receive blessing in our time but in God’s time.
We are still being blessed. We’re making God happy!
- We awoke this morning. We’re blessed!
- We got dressed. We’re blessed!
- We ate breakfast. We’re blessed!
- We’re breathing. We’re blessed!
The list goes on and on and on………
I found these 2 quotes from Our Daily Bread that I feel sum up prayer.
“I blindly ask for what I crave,
With haughty heart and will so stout;
He oft denies me what I seek,
But gives me grace to do without”
With haughty heart and will so stout;
He oft denies me what I seek,
But gives me grace to do without”
And this quote—If God doesn’t give us what we ask for, we can be sure that He has something far better.
Have faith in the Lord for who He is and what He can do or will do for you or anybody. You can be certain it will come about in His time.
God is the Living God, there is no other we can go to have our prayers answered.
# #
This was delivered in 2008. Today, because of age and health, Ivan has since become too ill to attend church. But he is still a faithful prayer warrior.
# #
If not commenting here, for your convenience, please use this link to place comments: SusanEstesRecommends/Facebook
Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment