Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Thought for the day

"No more teaching during prayer.

You need to quit trying to instruct others while communing with God. Prayer, all prayer is direct communication with God. God is not pleased when you try to persuade others or influence others or to put others down when you are supposed to be in pure reverence before God.

Luke 18:9-14 "And He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. V10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. (Of the three sects of prominent societies of Judaism; the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Essenes, the Pharisees were by far the most influential. These were the religious leaders of the time. And a publican was a local tax collector for the Roman government. V11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. V12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. V13 And the publican , standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. V14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

God-thinking requires that you think about what you say when you pray to Almighty God. You should be praying with faith directly to God, not trying to teach others or make others feel like they are of a lessor sort.

Matthew 20:33 "They say unto Him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened."  Is it spiritual to ask for something for our self? Of course it is. And we should do more of it, according to the will of God.

Matthew 20:34 "So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him." Jesus opened their eyes. I don't believe that crying out is some kind of spiritual formula to get what you want from God, but I do believe that there have been many times in your life when you were in the presence of God and did not cry out because there were people around you or because it might embarrass you, and because of it, you missed a brief and intimate encounter with God. And you missed what could have been yours if you had cried out and asked.

God says ask. God wants you and I to reveal our deepest thoughts and express our most precious goals to Him, (not so that God will then know what He doesn't know), but so that we can show your love and trust and dependency in God. Then God can fill your tomorrow's with today's prayer of faith.

Excerpt from The Power of God Thinking by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2010

No comments:

Post a Comment