It's The Fear That Hampers Our Victory

 2 Kings Chapter 13:14-20

 Now Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. “My father! My father!” he cried. “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” Elisha said, “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he did so. “Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. “Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.”

Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped.  The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.” Elisha died and was buried...

 

There are many verses in scriptures in the bible that I didn't fully understand, and thank God over the years my understanding has increased. This passage was one of that I did not fully understand. The prophet Elisha instructed the king to shoot arrows into the ground to demonstrate God's promise to the king of complete victory over his enemies. 

After the king shot the arrows, Elisha disapproved of his actions; in fact Elisha became angry and told the king that he would not totally defeat his enemy and would only defeat them three times.

 When the Lord tells you to do something and you do it, it should be because you have faith in Him and in what he wants you to do, but many times even though we do something that we are told to do by the Lord, we don't always have the faith to complete the task we we told to do. We allow our fears and doubts to cloud our judgement. Many times we don't want to believe that God can do what He says He will do.

It's just easier to believe the doctor's report. It is just easier to go along with what everyone else is doing. It makes us feel content to do nothing, when doing something will take us out of our comfort zone, but the Lord never said that we would not have to go through some trials and tribulations. We are transformed by using our spiritual muscles, and you cannot grow as a christian by playing it safe.

In the passage above, the king obeyed with his mind, but he may not have agreed with God's word in his heart. Elisha said if the king had shot more arrows, in other words if he had believed whole heartedly and shot more arrows of victory as he was instructed to do, he would have won completely over his enemies. The reason that the Lord asks us to worship and praise Him in our toughest times, the reason that we must declare the victory before it happens is because we are getting our hearts in tune with God's word and then the victory manifests because we believe it before we see it.

Remember, that just because you see certain people who are christians living the christian lifestyle that does not mean that they truly believe in Jesus Christ. You can talk the talk and walk the walk and still be lost. It is what we believe in our hearts about Jesus that makes the difference, and the way we live our lives reflects our love for Him. If you love Him, you will believe in Him and you will live out your life for Him.

 I suspect that fear and doubt made the king in this scripture to hold back and be hesitant about the true nature of God's power and authority. Please do not let your own fears and doubts prevent you from doing what God is asking you to do, Bring your fears and worries to the Lord and ask Him to help you overcome them and to give you the strength to do what He has asked you to do, and He will answer your prayer.

 

Why We Need His Saving Grace

 Ephesians 2:8   

 
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,,,

If you keep on learning in life, you keep on living - Why do we need the saving grace of Jesus Christ? Because we cannot do for ourselves what He can do for us in our lives...

We are struggling to survive, but the struggle doesn't seem so bad until we get to the point where the struggle becomes very real in our hearts, when we see the real effects of sin and hate in the world, when we can see the effects of sin in our hearts...


I had a realization while trying to improve my health recently. I began taking a new supplement, and I was surprised by how well it worked and how quickly it worked to help my body. Now, if a simple dietary aide can strengthen the functions of my natural body, just think what the awesome, perfect and glorious grace of Jesus Christ will do for your heart, mind, and soul!


what I learned from taking lifewave x39

I realized that before I started taking the supplement, that my body was in need. I didn't realize how much it was in need until then.

I and my body were struggling to live because I did not have everything that I needed to live a productive life. I was in want and in need. I tried to do everything on my own, but I could not get the results that I was looking for.

As the body ages, it doesn't have the capacity to do what it did before. It stops producing all the elements that it needs to be healthy. It ramps down on bodily functions that were keeping it young.

What my body needed was a dietary aide that would assist it to work more efficiently and to help it make the elements that it needed to function properly


That is what the gift of salvation does for your hearts and minds. Jesus's sacrificial gift allows us to heal the sickness of sin in our hearts. Sin is worse than an aging body, for an aging body can be helped, it can age gracefully, but an unrepentant heart cannot be fixed without the saving grace of Jesus's love. That heart will suffer and die and it will never be revived again.

When Jesus comes back for His church, He will revive us all; our bodies, our minds, our spirits will be in sync in a way that it cannot be while we live in this fallen world. They will be perfect and will live eternally in that state with the power and authority of the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ.


Without the Blood of Jesus applied to your heart, you cannot survive in this world. You will always be in need, you will spend the rest of your life hungering and thirsting for something that you will never be able to achieve without His love, mercy and grace. Be at peace all you who have become His own, because you will never be without peace, joy, and fulfillment if you call on His Name every day....

Thank God for His saving grace!


If you would like to dwell in the presence of the Almighty God in peace, joy, and fulfillment, please repeat this prayer of salvation:

Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be. Amen

Hallelujah! you are now a child of God and a citizen of the Kingdom of God!

Forgiveness Is A Decision That You Make To Manifest Jesus In Your Heart

Matthew 6:14-15

For if I forgive people their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], my heavenly Father will also forgive me. But if I do not forgive others their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], neither will my Father forgive me my trespasses. [Forgiveness is a requirement. It is not an emotion or a feeling but a decision. It is not based on their deserving forgiveness any more than I deserved forgiveness. This does not mean I must trust the person. They must earn my trust. I choose to live in instant forgiveness!].

Forgiveness is a decision that we choose to do so that we can let go of our anger, pain, and resentment. We choose to let go so that we can be healed of our soul wounds and bitterness. Once we have chosen to forgive other people, our minds and hearts begin to clear as the Holy Spirit heals us.

We are able to have a close relationship with the Lord, and we are able to have relationships again with the people that have hurt us. We can guard our hearts from further hurt because we have given our hearts to God and His love and mercy brings peace and joy into our lives. We do not have to trust people with our hearts, but we can interact with them with the love of God as we are directed by the wisdom of God.

If they treat us better, then we can love them and interact with them more. If they hurt us again, we have the right to take that pain to God again for healing. We can limit our exposure to that person but still treat them with kindness and respect because we have the love of God in our hearts. We know that we cannot give them full access to our hearts again, but we handled the situation as Jesus Christ would have done, because Jesus loves all people, whether they be good or bad.

Remember to love God always, and to love yourself, for you are precious and valuable in His eyes and in the eyes of our precious Lord Jesus Christ, who gave His life as a living sacrifice to save you for himself. Jesus loves you, and we (the children of God) love you too...

If you wish to live in the love of Jesus Christ and be able to practice the gift of instant forgiveness in your  life, then please repeat this prayer of repentance and salvation:

Lord Jesus, I want to know your love and I want to come into the light of the kingdom of God. I accept you Lord Jesus into my heart and I repent of all of my sins. Help me now to be the person that you always wanted me to be. I forgive everyone who has ever hurt me or who did evil and selfish things against me. Lord show me how to live as a child of God and give me the power to instantly forgive those who transgress against me, and fill my heart right now with the Love of God. Thank you Lord for your mercy and grace, and I will live my life for you forever and ever....In Jesus Name.

Hallelujah! You are Saved!

What Jesus Wants From His Very Heart Is For Us To Stand Up For Life Everywhere

Hebrews Chapter 3:13

You must warn each other every day, while it is still 'today' , so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against god.

Philippians Chapter 4:13

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

What is at the very heart of Christ? 

His capacity to love and to love all of us.

What is the very thing that happens upon planet earth that breaks His heart?

Our capacity to be selfish and that we harden our hearts against the death and destruction that happens in our neighborhoods ever day.

There is a death cult in our world. We take unborn, and sometimes newly born infants, and we allow them to be murdered. We say it is for the mother's sake, for society's sake, for anyone other than the unborn child. We allow them to be taken from the world because it is more convenient to do so. As long as we allow this in our communities, the spirit of death will loom larger and larger in our lives, until there will no consideration at all for any life to exist.

Let me state right now that I understand why some women have abortions; it seems like the only option for them. Women have abortions for many reasons, but the truth is that most of those reasons could be handled if they were taken to Jesus, if they surrendered their lives to Him. Because the Lord hates death, and His heart is wounded by abortion. He is very motivated to help the mother and the child to survive in this world even if the rest of the world is trying very hard to pretend that abortion is the best and only solution available to them.

The Lord is holding back serious judgments in our land and in the world because He is waiting for His people to repent of their sins, their weaknesses, their indifference,  to stand up for God's standards in their communities. We are the only ones that can manifest real changes in the world with our prayers.

We are the ones that He as called for this purpose. The world has changed and will continue to change, and we cannot see it change for the better unless we are willing to surrender to God's will for our lives.

Jesus urges all of us to do our part in the place where He as placed us, to be light in a dark world, and to give our are time, or strength, and our resources to the things that are very close and intimate in the Lord's heart.

Please pray for all the unborn babies in the world, and seek a change of the laws in our land and in the world that has given the spirit of death it's power in the earth.

Thank God For The Prayers of His People, Whose Hearts Are Broken Just Like His Against The Systematic Killing Of His Little Ones, His Children!

Prayer of Repentance:

Dear Jesus,

We ask for your forgiveness for the indifference that we have had in the past for all of the babies that have been murdered in the name of selfishness and convenience. We never spoke out against this cult of death because of our fears and our own weaknesses.

We ask for your delivering power to change our hearts and minds, we ask that you will strengthen our resolve to speak up for you and for your standards of righteous living.

We care about what you care about, and so we pledge to focus our time and efforts to bringing light again to a very dark world, and we ask that you deliver us from the politics and strife of evil men and women who think that they know better than the God in heaven who created them.

Bless those who bless the world with their love, and we will give you all the glory, the honor, and the praise forever and ever

In Jesus Name, 

Amen

The Rapture Of The Church - Don't Get Left Behind

Matthew chapter 25:1-13

The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins

“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them,  but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’  Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.  And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 

But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’  And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.

“Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’  But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

What many people do not understand about the rapture is that we who are the people of God are not destined to go through the tribulation period. There are some people who are consumed by this issue but do not truly understand the principles of end times prophecy.

The parable that Jesus told highlights the end times and the beginning of His millennial reign upon the earth. Those who believe in Jesus Christ now will experience hardships and trials, but those are just the problems that we are going through living in a fallen world that is now very quickly slipping towards the day of judgment.

We do not know the exact date that the rapture will occur, but the signs of the beginning of the end are everywhere in the world. We can no longer ignore the deterioration of civilization and the destructive effects of the devil and his demons in our environment. He is forcing the issue of love vs hate, and he knows that he has very little time left. He wants to take as many unbelievers with him into hell as possible because He knows that His adversary and my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is coming back soon to claim this world for His Father God and for His church.

The parable shows the bridegroom(Jesus) has tarried. The bridesmaids wait for His arrival. Five of the bridesmaids have oil (holy spirit) enough to light their lamps. The other five have no extra oil, so when the bridegroom comes, only the five that have enough oil for their lamps are allowed into the wedding feast. The five maids without the oil are told to go into the marketplace to purchase oil for themselves. 

They go to do so and when they come back to the wedding feast, they find out that they cannot enter because it is too late. That is what many who will be unprepared in the future will face on the day that Jesus comes to collect His bride (the church).

Now, you notice that the unwise bridesmaids were able to find oil somewhere in the middle of the night, yet when they came back to the wedding feast they were not able to enter because the feast had already begun. We all are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb and His bride, buy many will not heed the call to salvation.

Before the Rapture - Now is the time

Jesus Christ is calling out to everyone in this world to repent. His Holy Spirit is going everywhere knocking upon the hearts of men and women with the goal to enter into any heart who will receive the word of God and who will accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. He will not rest until every last child of God is found and brought home into the Kingdom of God.

This is the time of preparation, where we as believers fill our lamps(body) with oil(Holy Spirit) so that we may be counted as citizens in the kingdom of God and be proven on the day of His coming that we are ready to go back with Jesus to participate in the wedding feast of the Lamb and His Bride. When we accepted Jesus Christ into our hearts, we accepted the gift of salvation and the invitation to the wedding feast. By divine law, we have accepted a covenant between Jesus and ourselves, and we are already considered by Him to be His Bride and His beloved. The only thing left in our agenda is to remain loyal and faithful to our   husband(Jesus) and to persevere in the world, showing the love of Christ to others and to give our testimony so that unbelievers may come to know Jesus as well.

People hear the word, accept the word, believe in Jesus Christ, become His disciples and then prepare themselves to live according to God's standards with the help of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, so that they may grow spiritually. They make themselves ready for His second coming.

After the rapture - A time of judgment and the beginning of the end of fallen man's reign upon the earth

This is the time of tribulation for those who are left behind upon the earth: there will be the unbelievers, rebellious and unrepentant against God and His standards of living righteously in His presence . There will be the pretenders, the ones who went to church every Sunday and who believed in religious practices but who never truly believed in Jesus Christ in their hearts, and then there will be those who cannot be converted into the kingdom of God until the deep dark deceptions of life on planet earth are ripped from their eyes, and then they will begin to call on Jesus' name.

Death, dismay, and destruction awaits those who are left behind in this world. The devil and his demons take over the world for a short time and rule it with an iron fist. He crushes anyone who dares to believe in Jesus Christ. War and chaos will result. Disease will take away most of the people who are left. The remainder will live under the dictatorship of the antichrist. But there is some hope for those who find Him even in the worst of circumstances.

In the parable the unwise bridesmaids go out into the marketplace and find oil, and then go back to the wedding feast only to find out that they have missed their chance to be included. They have the oil, but it does not matter because they refused to prepare themselves for the day of the bridegrooms arrival into the feast.

Many will search for the truth, but will be unable to find it. They will believe the antichrist's deception and will take the mark of the beast upon their bodies. This will doom them to everlasting darkness forever. But, there will be some who will reject the authority of the antichrist and who will refuse to take the mark of the beast. Life for them will be terrible and completely unbearable if not for the assistance of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. Many of them will be martyred and many will die from the toxic environment in which they will have to live in, but if they remain faithful in their belief in Jesus Christ, their souls will be spared everlasting torment and judgment in hell.

The times that we live in are perilous and stressful if we continue to focus upon what the devil is doing to those who do not believe in Jesus Christ. Our focus must be upon the word of God and in Jesus Christ. We must strive to believe in Him and to be faithful to the word of God in our hearts. If we don't continue to pray and read the bible and to worship in His presence, then we may find ourselves left behind with few resources except the little word that we allowed to inhabit our hearts.

Don't live your live unprepared. Get into the word, and then get into His presence. You can worship God anywhere. The Church of God is everywhere and the people of God show their love for Him in tiny rooms, along the riverbank, or in big church buildings. We are His children and He will listen to us wherever we are!

This is the time of preparation; heed the promptings of the Holy Spirit and get yourself prepared for His coming, because He will come when we least expect Him to come, and we mush be ready for the wedding feast...

Great Aspirations

Experience is the greatest teacher. we live in a world where everything is fast and digital. People are convinced that they know why we exist, what is the meaning of life, and where humanity will go from here. But this is all informational knowledge. These are things that we were taught when we were children. 

Humanity has great aspirations, but we are not truly prepared to complete them. When the Lord created the earth, humans, and all the living things that exist here, He had a plan. He knew what He wanted for this world, and He knew that He would accomplish His goals. Yes, He knew that there was a risk creating mankind, but the rewards to Him were worth the risk.

He placed adam and eve in the garden of eden, and He blessed them, loved them, and nourished them. He held nothing back from them,  He was completely open with them and had a relationship with them. You see, He was their father, and they were His children, and He  loved His children. There was only one thing that He told them they must not do, and that was to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He knew that they were not prepared to  deal with that type of knowledge without His help. He knew that would destroy them. They say knowledge is power, but some knowledge leads to a destructive dead end.

His children rebelled and listened to the dark silky voice of the devil through the serpent. He was disappointed, but He was not surprised. He knew before the foundation of the earth that this would occur. He laid the foundation of their hearts from His own heart, and He gave them the blessings of life and free will, to choose as they wished, to live for Him or to live for themselves, and they failed the test.

You see, adam and eve had informational knowledge of the concept of good and evil, but they did not really understand what evil was. All the time they spent in the garden was beautiful and perfect. They had a great relationship with God, with all the animals and plants. They had a great relationship with each other. Everything was given to them by God and every need was met. They didn't have to labor in the hot sun for food or water. All they knew was paradise. It never really occurred to them that it would all go away in the blink of an eye.....

Once you know a thing, it is very difficult to forget a thing. The first time someone breaks your heart. The first time you are hurt and humiliated. The first time you feel worthless or unloved. The first time you attempt to do something and you fail. These events get stamped marked into the recesses of your mind, and you feel the results of them in your heart. God never meant for humans to suffer so much or to lose their place in the heavenly realm when adam and eve fell, but He would not stop it from happening because He knew, that he had made a powerful being that could shape the environment of His world to the point of destruction, and the only way to redeem what He had created was to take the burden of sin from  off their backs.

Love so profound that it is difficult, if not impossible, to believe.

 My savior, Jesus Christ, came to earth to set the captives free.

He died on the cross for you and me. 

He settled a long time ago to place His blood on The Lord's altar 

to atone for our sins. What a great, mighty,

and magnificent person He is, my Jesus.

 

....Thank you so much 

sweet Jesus....

Everything that we go through in life, love, pain, heartbreaks, growing, dying, hurting, giving, caring and sharing; every tear that we shed, every laugh that we share, every hurtful barb or injustice, it is all being used to create a human being that knows what life is truly all about, and so that we understand why we need a savior in our life, the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ.

We have the informational knowledge, but informational knowledge is useless without experiential knowledge. We can remember long days in school as a child being taught different things that made no sense at the time and we did not appreciate its significance until we grew up and needed that knowledge to get a job, to correctly interact with others, and to live our lives. My brothers and sisters, God wants us to live full lives in His kingdom forevermore, but He knows that we need informational and experiential knowledge to enjoy everything that He has waiting for us...

Have you prayed to God about a certain issue and didn't receive an answer right away? How does God answer prayers? There are only three answers to our prayers - yes, no, or not yet.  We can receive the answer instantly, or the answer comes slowly through time, or we are made aware that we cannot have what we asked for. It does not matter what we ask for (money, a job, healing, a breakthrough....)  His answer will always be yes, no, or not yet. If we are filled with His Holy Spirit, we will know what the answer is, and we should be prepared to accept His will in that situation because His will is perfect and it will be the best for us and our circumstances.

The Origin of Doubt

James chapter 1 vs 5-8

 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.  

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 

 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  

 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

Why do we doubt?

Everyone has a choice, whether they choose to believe in God's word, or in His promises. Life gets tough sometimes, and the answer to your problem may not be an easy one. You may suffer because of someone else's choices. That is why Jesus lives with you and guides you through the storms of life.

When life gets to be too much of a burden, that is when you must lean closer into Him and into His Word, and declare victory when everyone else has already given up or given in. It takes courage to believe when you don't see a solution to your problem, and that is why The Holy Spirit lives inside our hearts, to give us the strength to survive and to thrive in the tough times.

Doubt can come from:

An Unanswered Prayer 

Our situation becoming worse as we live righteously for God

Criticism and rejection from others who are not believers in Jesus, also unwarranted criticism, rejection, or bad behavior from other believers

Doubts inhibit our walk with Jesus Christ by:

Hindering our fellowship with Him, which causes wavering faith and insecurity - we lose our confidence in ourselves and in God

Hindering our prayer life - we begin to wonder if our prayers will be answered and we lose our trust in Jesus

Hindering our kingdom service  - we will not obey the Holy Spirit or do the tasks that the Lord has commanded us to do. We won't believe that we have the ability to do them or that God will work through us to accomplish them.

Hindering our blessings - doubt leads to unbelief and God cannot move miraculously for our benefit in our lives without faith. It also hinders our relationship with Him.  It brings distance into our relationship but not from the Lord. We tend to drift away from the Lord when we have doubts. When we believe in Him and allow ourselves to be moved by Him, we are very close to Him and joy and peace reigns in our hearts.

How to combat doubt in our hearts:

1.  Identify what is causing us to mistrust God.

2. Let go of stubborn pride or any feeling or attitude that prevents us from seeing our errors and weaknesses.

3. Confess all of our sins, weaknesses, pains and sufferings to Him.

4. Keep reading the word of God on a daily basis, which will change our hearts and minds, and will clear up any misunderstandings about God and His word.

5. Recall a time when God answered our prayers and when He sustained us in a trial (remembering should bring joy and relief into our hearts as we realize again that God is real and that He will not leave us nor forsake us!)

6. Identify a promise or attribute of God and hold onto that promise or character attribute so that we can renew our faith in Him...

If you are having doubts about the world and what the meaning of life really is, consider the word of God, and His Son Jesus Christ. Please give Jesus a chance, to change your life and to give you hope for a everlasting life with Him forevermore  ---  Say this prayer right now:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior.

 AMEN

Never Fear: God Is In Control

Joshua 1:9 

 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

God is in control and His ways are higher than our ways. We cannot see the whole picture no matter how much we wish to see it. Our human condition is limiting, and we don't always understand why God allows certain trails and tribulations to occur in our lives.  But we know that He is with us during all of these sad times of suffering.

He will take us through them and hopefully our character is refined and that spiritual growth takes place. We learn how to trust in God's providence. We strife to live for His will and glory. We chose to go through the learning process to become better people and to become righteous Christians. We are not righteous because our deeds make us so, we are righteous when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord & Savior. We are righteous because we choose to live for God and to live according to His standards.

We are His children, so He will not allow anything in our lives that we cannot handle. Once we go through the trial, we will turn back and see everything we have gone through and everything that we have accomplished despite all of our problems, and then we will praise the Lord of Heaven, for His grace, His Wisdom, and His Providence.

PRAISE BE TO THE LORD OF HOSTS FOR HIS WISDOM IN SENDING HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST INTO THE WORLD, TO LIVE FOR US AND TO DIE FOR US, FOR THE REMISSION OF OUR SINS, AND FOR THE PEACE AND JOY OF LIVING IN HIS PRESENCE FOREVER AND EVER MORE!

What Prayer Should Be Like

Matthew Chapter 6 vs 9-13 

 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.
 And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
 And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one...."

The Anatomy of a prayer to God:

1. Invocation - honoring the Lord and His Kingdom expressing your appreciation for Him and who He is in your heart.

2. Petitions - next are your petitions  and the reason for the prayer and to express your gratitude for His answer

3. Doxology - praise to God and your official thanks for the answer to your prayer

Prayer should be:

Sincere- from the heart

Secret- personal time with the Lord

Simple- not complicated or ritualistic

Serenity- peaceful and full of faith

Sincere - prayer comes from the heart and not from the mind. The mind interprets what you are feeling from your heart. You can tell the state of a person's character and personality from what they believe from their heart. If you pray just with your mind or from an intellectual exercise, your prayer is not sincere and the Lord will not hear it or respond to it. The Lord has nothing to prove to the world, however we as human beings must demonstrate that we are willing to believe in Him and that we are willing to follow Him and His Word.

Secret - we must take time to pray in His presence alone. Corporate public prayer is good and necessary, but our private time with Him is essential if we are to develop spiritually. Quiet times with the Lord strengthens our faith and our resolve to live for Him and to never give up or give in regardless of our circumstances.

Simple - We are talking to the Lord, not lecturing to Him. We don't need big words or ritualistic phrases to get Him to listen to us. We don't have to repeat the same words over and over again. We just need to be honest and open our hearts to Him. He already knows what we need. He is waiting for us to come to Him and to tell Him our petitions while we believe in our hearts that He is listening to us and that He is willing to answer our prayers. He can do anything, so when we ask for anything, we must know that He will give us what we need according to His will.

Serenity - When we pray, let us pray with faith in our hearts. We can ask Him to help us to see Him as He truly is, the one who loves us and who is willing to answer our prayers. When we are suffering and filled with deep emotion, we can come in His presence and pour out all our pain, and He will bring comfort, peace and joy into our hearts. 

There is no one like Jesus, there is no one like our Lord. He reaches from heaven to pour out His love into our hearts. He is waiting to hear from you so that He can be close to you and to give you everything that you need to survive and thrive in this world, so let me encourage you to pray, because if you do not pray, you will never know Who He is until you receive the answer to your prayers!