Keep Praying About It
Devotion: Term 4, Week 1
Many of our failures result from our failure to pray. As we examine our mistakes, we discover a forsaken prayer altar and an unopened Bible. James bottom-lines it: ‘… You do not have because you do not ask God’ (James 4:2 NIV).
A Christian leader writes: ‘As a burned-out, frustrated young Christian, I realised one day that living in my own strength was useless. I needed to take my problems to God. In other words, I needed to pray more!’. Found in Matthew 7:7, Jesus tells us, ‘Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you’ (AMPC). Sometimes it’s only when we reach the end of our rope that we turn to God in prayer. And even then, when our prayers are not instantly answered, we give up. Over and over in Scripture, we are told to ‘wait on God’. Why? Because while we’re waiting, God is working. Sometimes He is working on the thing we have asked Him for; other times He is working on us. In such times He may be correcting our desires and attitudes or directing us towards His will.
Don’t just pray; pray persistently. Don’t stress out trying to make things happen on your own. Give it all to God as you pray. Remember, He has promised that when you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him (see Jeremiah 29:13). So, put your heart into your praying, wait quietly in God’s presence, and let Him speak to you. You will be delightfully surprised at how He answers your prayers.
SoulFood: 1 Cor 15-16 Luke 24:36-44 Ps 60 Pro 25:21-22
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright 2024
Other Devotions
Devotion – You Can Change
Self-help books sometimes claim you can change your life in five or ten simple steps. It takes a lot more than that to make substantial and lasting changes in your life. First, change comes by drawing on a power greater than your own—God’s power. Paul writes: ‘I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ (Philippians 4:12-13 NKJV). Second, change comes from steady and determined hard work and effort. ‘And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart’ (Galatians 6:9 NKJV).
Devotion – Keep Praying About It
Many of our failures result from our failure to pray. As we examine our mistakes, we discover a forsaken prayer altar and an unopened Bible. James bottom-lines it: ‘… You do not have because you do not ask God’ (James 4:2 NIV).
Devotion – Choose the Right Attitude
An author writes: ‘Columbia researcher Sheena Iyengar has found that the average person makes about seventy conscious decisions every day. That’s 25,550 decisions a year. Over seventy years, that’s 1,788,500 decisions.