Praying

Praying is how we talk to God. It is our eternal, wireless telephone line. No matter where we are or what we are doing, we always have reception, there arent any ‘dropped calls’, and He is always there for us. Its our essential, unlimited, free access to our Father, in Heaven.

Prayer is our strongest means of having a relationship with Christ. He loves us unconditionally and that is what he wants from us – to love Him unconditionally, and to have a true relationship with us. He wants us to be blessed. He wants us to be healthy and of good cheer. And yes, He does want us to prosper – as we read in Jeremiah 29:11, Jesus says “…for I know the plans I have for you, to promote you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” He wants to be our un-failing life line… our source of support, comfort, peace, rest, strength, and joy. He does not want us to have to suffer, but knowing that we will, He strongly urges us to rely on Him for all things.

Jesus tells us, many times, through scripture about prayer. He tells us how to pray (Matthew 6: 9-13, Psalms 66:17, 1Corinthians 4:15, and James 1:6). He tells us when to pray (Ephesians 6:18 and 1 Thessalonians 5:17). Then we are told who to pray for (1 Timothy 2:1, James 5:13-14, and Romans 15:30). And He even tells us what to pray for, in multiple passages in the book of Psalms (50:14-15, 118:25, and 122:6). To put it bluntly, if the instructions have been read, theres just no way to ‘not know how’ to do it. Otherwise, no fancy words are needed. No formal training is required. All we have to do is (Psalms 34:7) cry out to Jesus, from our hearts, for each other and our selves. We are told to do it without ceasing, boldly, in faith, with thanks given. Even when we are really in need, we also are told how to pray then; as by our combined efforts strengthening our quest before the Lord, Matthew 18:19 says when two or more gather together, in agreement, that which is asked for will be given, for the glory of God.

The most important thing we can do for each other is to pray. It builds our faith, and the faith of those we are praying for. It gives encouragement and blessing, and its a way to manifest our love for each other, as brothers and sisters in Christ. And by doing this, we are following one of Gods’ highest laws… To love one another, as Christ loves us.

In closing… I leave you with this:

Every week, requests are being accepted, replied to, and prayed for at:
soulblindministry

I would like to encourage each and every person reading this to go to the link above. Bookmark it, and visit it often. And please take a minute to add your own prayer requests there, as well as to join in our mission of praying for each prayer request that gets posted there. Also, please feel welcome to share the link with anyone else you may know. ~ Thank you!

May God bless each of you, and give you the peace, comfort, and rest that only He can give.

Pt. 6 ~ Faith

WHY BOTHER?

[In retrospect, I should had back-tracked a bit and posted this first. However, it is what it is and so I will continue from where I am.]

We all need faith. It can come in many forms, and for many reasons. For instance, some have faith in their marriage, believing that their spouse is their true partner for life and that person was divinely appointed to be with them. Others have faith in their children, believing that they are honest and caring individuals, who – if taught right, will mature into intelligent, productive adults. And then, theres the kind of faith that is in relation to this blog; the faith which people have in regards to the after-life, be it whatever basis of religion that they hold dear… and as such, is the type of faith that I”ll be writing about.

The key to any and every kind of faith is this: BELIEF! The importance of that is because faith of any nature is literally based upon what one believes or is believing in. As an older, then-popular country song goes, “…if you dont stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” Without belief, we will go through life with no specific direction or purpose in life. Regardless to what kind of faith you have, the Bible gives us a very good definition of what faith means; (Hebrews 11:1) “For faith is the substance of things hoped for and the assurance of what we do not see.” Again, that tells us that faith is what we believe in, even though we have not seen the results come to pass – we believe it will happen. We fully trust in our hearts that if we believe it – we can receive it! -OR- Another way of looking at it is to ‘know’ in our hearts that if we want it bad enough, a way will be made to make it happen.

Faith is one of the most powerful inner-sources that we have. It gives us the will-power to cope with difficult times as well as the motivation to move towards something better. It gives us a purpose. It gives us hope. It gives us reassurance that “things will get better” and that, some how – some way, our dreams and desires will come true. It gives us the courage to carry on, and the ability to strive towards the goal having a better life and being a better person.

In God’s opinion, which is repeatedly explained throughout the Bible, He tells us “…without faith, it is impossible to please him” (Heb 11:6) and as Christians, within our instructions of how to become (as our desire is to be) more Christ-like, He says “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.” (Matt 21:21). Now think about that verse for a minute… if you have no doubt, and you say to a mountain to be cast into the sea, and it then it happens (which it will – if you have NO doubt & command it to be so in the name of Jesus)… doesn’t that alone tell us that if we want it bad enough, if we *truly* 101% believe it will happen, then it will happen! How powerful is that?!! Oh! OK… I get it… you do not believe it to be possible, for a mountain to fall into the sea simply because you, by the name of Jesus, command it to do so? Hhmmm… ok! Lets look at another popular scripture then. In this story, we are told that the disciples are in a boat with Jesus. As they get further out into the water, Jesus falls asleep and a bad storm comes in. Waves are crashing over the sides of the boat – which also lets you know that the boat had to have been rocking and reeling back and forth because of all this commotion. Now, if you have ever been out on a boat and such a storm rolls in, you will have a very clear picture of what surely was going through the minds of these men. “Et-Oh!” only mildly sums it up. But wait… Jesus is on board with them! Jesus – the One who can move mountains, heal the sick, give sight to the blind, cast out demons, and raise the dead! Well… Glory be to God! (literally) – help is on the way!… and so, in such a panic stricken state of mind, as the story goes on to say, one of these men yell out to Him; “Lord! Save us! We are going down!”. So, what does Jesus do? He probably, very calmly rolls over, opens his eyes to see what is going on, and -without any anxious excitement in his voice at all (more than likely there was only a tone of peace, and maybe disappointment and tiredness in his voice) – and he replies, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked (to speak against or command) the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. (Matt 8:26)

As Jesus ‘had to’ ask His disciples repeatedly during the time He lived, taught, and walked with them on earth, the same question still rings true today. “Why do you have so little faith?” The answer to this question is also the same today as what it was over 2,000 years ago. Mark 9:23 explains it very clearly: “IF YOU CAN ONLY BELIEVE, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO HIM THAT BELIEVES!”