Intentional Living: Week 5 - let's try this again

ok. i'm gonna try this again. let's see what happens!
i am all prepared for tomorrow's class on being an intentional witness, so i thought i should get week 5 on here before i do week 6!


last week's lesson was on being an intentional pray-er.
this one was honestly hard for me, because i don't feel like i have a handle on it!
i want to. 
but i always feel like i fall short on this one!


i find myself being tempted to start thinking that God was different in the old testament times, and that is why those verses don't apply to me.
until i remembered this one - Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever!
so those promises about calling to God, and him answering us (jeremiah 33:3) MUST be true!

*satan deceives us into thinking that prayer is not that important, because he knows that the power in our prayers destroys all his plans!

1.Focus -
-what does God say about you?
i had the class look up some verses on this one on their own. this is the habit that i want to form, and that i want everyone to form! 
looking to God's Word for every. single. problem!
i love romans 8:38-39 that says "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
my problem starts in the very first sentence of this verse - I AM NOT ALWAYS CONVINCED!
i start doubting God's love for me! 
how could i ever?


when you read 1 corinthians 13, in relation to romans 8:38-39, you will be blown away!
it's hard to imagine anyone having that kind of love.
but God does!
and it's towards Y-O-U!!!


i have enjoyed reading this book by andrew murray.  i read a section out of it in class, that basically talks about trusting the promisER, not just the promise itself!
see...every promise that we take and run with, has at least a little of our own deceitful heart, or selfish desires that taint it! 
therefore, sometimes we even see the promise itself as wrong!
it is God himself, not the promise that we need to be fully trusting in!


2. Failure
i think there are 2 main problems that cause our prayers to fail.
a. we don't confess enough. - Ps. 66:18.
if we have sin in our hearts, God does not hear us!


maybe your prayers really are just hitting the ceiling!!
we should be confessing our sins to God every day!
every hour sometimes!
1 John 1:9 is written to the christian!
it says that if we confess our sins, HE is faithful and just to forgive us our sins...
this verse proves that we do sin, and this verse proves that we need to confess!
b. we don't love people enough!
we are told in isaiah 58 about the way we are supposed to love people.
we are told to share our food with the hungry, provide the poor wanderer with shelter, clothe the naked...then...you will call and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help and he will say here i am!


amazing!

*God's promises to us are in if...then scenario! we must fulfill our part of the equation for the relationship to be in its proper working order! 

why do we expect God to treat us a certain way, if we can even treat people a certain way??


3. Faith
james 5:16 tells us that the prayers of a righteous man:
avails much...which means, it has great power!


i have been talking to the boys about this a lot lately.
they are asking questions about prayer.  about not seeing answers to prayers they are praying, and about why we need to pray since God already knows our thoughts anyways!


sometimes... i can understand and explain things clearly.


and sometimes?


i have to just say

*maybe i will never completely understand it, but this much i know. when i am fearing God, my prayers will have power, because God says so!

end of story!

i absolutely love the story in daniel chapter 9.
it amazes me every time i study it.


Daniel starts out praying by repenting of his sins, and the sins of his people.
it says in verse 23 that the angel tells daniel - as soon as he began to pray, God started answering his prayer!!


in chapter 10 it tells us again that as soon as daniel began praying, God started answering. then it says that satan sent a demon to delay the angels response!


wow!
God starts to answer our prayers from the second we pray them!
this is such a comfort to me, and i hope to you too!


the next time you start praying, realize - that God listens right away, and starts answering!
sometimes, the answer is going to take longer than we want, but it does not mean that God is just waiting this one out!


he is already working!


then remember that satan can delay the answer!

*if satan can get the answer delayed, he can get us discouraged. if he can get us discouraged, he can get us to stop!

it also amazed me to realize that when daniel...just a man like daniel...started to pray - war broke out between the demons and the angels!!

what this means to me is,

*when we pray, it is more than just a conversation. 

It is war!

this has stuck with me all week.

each time i tuck the boys in to bed at night, and start praying for their purity?

i picture satan going buck-wild trying to stop that one!!

when i start praying for this huge request that i have been praying for for a while?

i picture the angel starting to come and give me my request, and a demon trying to hold things up.

it's unreal to picture!

so here are my questions...

-do you know what God thinks of you? or are you stuck in who you are based on your own thoughts? read 1 corinthians 13, and be amazed.

-are you failing in any areas that you can change? are you showing Christ's love to the poor, the lowly? are you confessing regularly?

-do you believe that God will answer you? that he always does what he says he will do? and that your prayers have incredible power?

i hope that you have found this encouraging and challenging.

i must not believe that prayer is as powerful as God says it is!

i must not, because if i did..i would be praying a lot more!

i want to believe.

i want to pray more.

i want to start right now!!

i hope you do too!