There are multiple ways to be led by the Spirit of God. Here are some truths you might ponder in this area of being hearing God and allowing Him to lead you in your everyday life. Some of these lessons may help accelerate your learning curve and make your life more effective and fulfilling. Consider the following.
[Tweet “Being Spirit led must be your focal point because you only maximize what you emphasize.”]
Someone once said these words concerning prayer. “Prayer should be the breath of our breathing. The thought of our thinking. The soul of our feeling. The life of our living. The sound of our hearing. The growth of our growing. Prayer in its magnitude is length without end. Width without bounds. Height without top. Depth without bottom. It is unlimited in its breadth. Exhaust-less in height. Fathomless in depths and infinite in extension.” How can we pray practically for those who are over us politically? We’ll take a look at the subject of prayer and praying and how it applies to our walk with God.
[Tweet “Few and feeble prayers are always a sign of a low spiritual condition.”]
Praying for your President, or the leader of your nation is the obligation of every child of God. In the area of prayer, there are many good Bible principles to learn and incorporate like Matthew 5:44. One of these principles is praying for people as opposed to praying against them. What we often do is they bring our sense of what we think is right, politically, into the Throne Room. Our sense, at times, is incorrect. We are not the standard of right. Jesus is. Unless we have scripture for what we say we believe, then all we have is opinion. Be careful in these areas. How do you know that God holds your viewpoint? You just assumed that God is Republican. He’s not. You assumed God is Democrat. He’s not. He’s nineteen thousand billion miles above all of that. So, when praying for your president learn to pray the Plan not your Passions. We are workers together with God. Find out from Him what you should pray for. That’s where the hearing part comes in. God wants to hear His word in your mouth.
[Tweet “We have incorrectly thought if we pray ‘for a wicked ruler’ we are condoning their behavior.”]
In 1787, prayer helped determine the future of our country in a significant way. The Constitutional Convention was on the verge of total failure over the issue of whether small states should have the same representation as large states. In this hopeless situation, 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin offered a suggestion. He was convinced Scripture is right when it states, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it” (Psalm 127:1), so he said: “Gentlemen, I have lived a long time and am convinced that God governs in the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? I move that prayer imploring the assistance of Heaven to be held every morning before we proceed to business.” p 1046 The motion carried. From then on prayer was offered each morning. The change after prayer was introduced was so dramatic that in a short while a compromise was reached which is still in effect today. 1 Successfully praying for the President and our nation’s leaders have several key elements. We begin to examine these elements in today’s Light on Life podcast.
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Romans 8:26-27 is a mountain of Bible truth and comfort on the subject of prayer. J. Oswald Sanders in his book, Cultivation of Christian Character says these words. “It is worthy of note that the Spirit’s assistance in prayer is more frequently mentioned than any of His other offices. All true praying springs from His activity in the heart. Both Paul and Jude teach that effective prayer is ‘praying in the Holy Spirit,’ which has been defined as praying ‘along the same lines, about the same things, in the same Name as the Holy Spirit.'” 1 In today’s post, we take a glimpse at this all important aspect of the Spirit’s work in the life of a believer.
[Tweet “The truth is we don’t know how to pray as we should but, the Spirit comes to help us.”]
Gardner Taylor said that words are vehicles by which to transfer ideas from one mind to another. However, he went on to say, some ideas are so heavy that the words break down in the effort. What a blessed assurance it is to know that when words break down in our effort to transmit the deepest longings of our hearts, we have the Divine Helper through whom these yearnings find their way to the mind of our Heavenly Father. According to Romans 8:26–27 the Holy Spirit takes our inarticulate groanings and verbalizes them to the Father. Through the Holy Spirit of God who indwells you, a groan in your soul can be the most eloquent prayer you ever prayed. 1 In today’s post, we take a look at the role of the Holy Spirit in the prayer life of a believer.
[Tweet “The way to access the Spirit’s help in the prayer arena is to look to Him for it.”]
Heaven is filled with a room that will surprise all of us when we see it. The room has within it large boxes neatly packaged with a lovely ribbon on top with your name on it, “Never delivered to Earth because never requested from Earth.” Prayer is not a substitute for work, thinking, watching, suffering, or giving; prayer is a support for all other efforts. So says George Buttrick, quoted in Lloyd Cory, Quote Unquote. 1 There are some steps we can take to insure heavens packages are delivered to earth. Effectiveness is the goal but how do we get there?
Have you noticed that many times in the life of your prayer our conversations with God are more us talking at God than speaking to Him? You know if you walk up to a person and have a conversation with them and all you do is talk, talk, talk and the manner of that conversation is that way all that time, what do you think about that?” Would that annoy and disinterest you rather quickly? Prayer is a conversation between two beings that love each other. It’s a conversation not a monologue. Prayer is speaking and listening, that is what conversation is. You can become more effective in this essential Christian discipline by incorporating some practical steps into your everyday life.
D.L. Moody said these words on the subject of understanding. “It makes all the difference in the world how we look upon God. Some people fear God, but when they understand that He is their Father, that fear is gone.” 1. How we are to look upon God and God’s Word is laid out for us in the pages of the Bible. You can become a man of understanding.
In the book of Ephesians, Paul prays for the Ephesian believers. He writes in detail the exact words that he utters to God the Father for them. You can find these words starting in Ephesians 1:15-23 and in Ephesians 3:14-19. If Paul thought that these prayers were important to pray for the Ephesian church, do you think that you can pray the same prayers for yourself? Thank God, the answer to that is a resounding yes. God wants you to have a revelation of His power. I have prayed these prayers hundreds and hundreds of times over the course of my life. It has enriched my life and it will absolutely elevate yours. Let’s take a particular look at the prayer in chapter one.
Psalm 91 is famous for the comfort it brings to the children of God. Verse one is a declaration about God’s Presence. “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I don’t know about you, but I sure like the sound of abiding under God’s shadow or presence. But there is even more good news. The Psalmist also declares that in God’s presence there is fulness of joy (Psalm 16:11). Joy, peace, and protection, what more can you ask for? And it all comes from His Presence. This week we are going to continue the podcast we began last week on “How to Cultivate God’s Presence in Your Life.”
Psalm 91 is famous for the comfort it brings to the children of God. Verse one is a declaration about God’s Presence. “He who dwells in the secret pace of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I don’t know about you, but I sure like the sound of abiding under God’s shadow or presence. But there is even more good news. The Psalmist also declares that in God’s presence there is fulness of joy (Psalm 16:11). Joy, peace and protection, what more can you ask for? And it all comes from His Presence. This week we are going to continue the post we began last week on “How to Cultivate God’s Presence in Your Life.”