Do I Have A Prayer Filled Heart

Have you ever heard someone pray and thought ‘I wish I could pray like that’? I think everyone in their Believer’s walk has had that thought run through their mind.

In the Bible there are GREAT examples of prayers that those who believed God - prayed! They are there so that we will have example of how to pray to God.

Those who walked close to God in the Bible had an INTENSE PRAYER LIFE in the Lord! They were the type of believers that had a chance to enrich their life by praying to a God that they believed in and depended on.

Do we pray that way today? Do we invest our time in prayer in our quiet time? Are we seeking to walk with God in such a way that our prayer life envelops our relationship in Christ?

Prayer is the wrapping paper on the gift of God! Everything that we believe in is wrapped up and surrounded by a relationship with God and that begins by talking to Him on a regular basis! It is the feeling of the LOVE that God has for us in that moment when we need Him most and we KNOW that He is listening to us!

For us to have a ‘Prayer Filled Heart’ we have to be PERSONAL with God! We have to pour our heart out to Him. We must ask Him for forgiveness for our sin so that He can hear our prayer; tell Him what we don’t understand so He can give us wisdom; talk to Him about what is bothering us so that He can give us peace; ask Him to reveal His heart to us so that we can know which direction to take.

Being PERSONAL with God is born out of our need to hold on to God because we KNOW He does not change and will always be there.

Exodus 33: 18 – “Then Moses said, ‘Now show me your glory.” ~ Moses had a relationship with God in such a way that God walked and talked with Him continually. Moses loved God and it SHOWED! He followed God even though he felt totally inadequate in serving Him. This kind of question comes from a love relationship with the Father. Moses was not demanding God show him anything; he was asking out of love for God to reveal more of Himself to him. God did just that.

Psalm 27:11-14 – “Teach me your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence. I am confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." David asked God to teach him His ways. He knew that God was the answer when He needed Him. He turned to the Lord when people and this life oppressed him. Prayer is a way to communicate to God that we need to be taught how to live! If our relationship is where it should be we can ask God to ‘teach us how’ in any situation we are in!

Philippians 3:10 – “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Paul had a deep desire to KNOW CHRIST more and have the power that Jesus had for this life. Do we have a deep desire to KNOW Christ? To have such a deep relationship with God is a beautiful thing! There is POWER there for those who desire to know God like this. Paul had the power of Christ. It was evident because he suffered for God and yet wrote some of the most beautiful books of the Bible WHILE HE SUFFERED. I want to know Christ like this!

John 17:3 – “Now this is eternal life; that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Jesus ASKED GOD TO HELP US KNOW HIM! Jesus was teaching the disciples how to pray by example. We should come to the Father and ask Him to help us know Him more. Jesus desired that we know God more. When was the last time that we prayed to know God more? It is part of the relationship process. When we love; we want to know more!

Having a PRAYER FILLED HEART requires us to pour our heart out to God in such a way that we BELIEVE that God is hearing us. When we pray do we believe that God is listening? When we pray like we believe that it changes us.

When our relationship with Christ is born out of love and need, we grow closer to God and can pray Matthew 6:5-13 with a whole new perspective! Our relationship with God and His Word will show us so much!

A prayer filled heart is a heart that is turned toward the Lord and seeks Him in everything. Pray Matthew 6:9-13 often. Read it to the Lord until you memorize it. God loves to hear us read His Word back to Him. Believe that God is at work in your prayers. He hears you and loves you. Oh that we would believe in Him more!

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

There is ALWAYS God

Psalm 23: 1-6  “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

 One of the common threads in the Bible is that God is ALWAYS there for us. He never leaves us! Those who truly believe that God never leaves us has a comfort that cannot be known to others.

In the world and time we live in, that could be the MOST IMPORTANT thing we ever know! Everything is unsure around us. Life is so very fragile. There HAS to be something deep within us that we are holding on to and that something is GOD. God built us that way. He provides a place in each human that needs to be filled by the Holy Spirit. God desires to dwell within us.

At any given time something is going to go wrong in our lives and if we are not prepared we fall apart! God desires that we are prepared for that!

Here are some things that go wrong in our lives:

©      Family issues ~ People make decisions every day that are not based on the Lord and this almost always causes family issues. Problems between people will cause bitterness and division and before we know it we are wondering where God went; when all the while He has not left – it is  our own heart that turned away from Him. The beautiful thing about God is that when He is guiding our life; we have a harmony in our soul that changes us! Psalm 23:1

©      Decision issues ~ So often we make decisions that are not based on the Lord or His guidance and usually it causes strife and hardship in families; in the work place; on the ball field, etc. Decisions should be guided by wisdom that God gives the Believer! When wisdom is present there is often peace in the decision. God has a way of leading us where we need to be and is always there doing that when we are allowing it in our soul! It is when we turn away from the Lord and make decisions that often causes chaos. Psalm 23:2-3

©      Fear of the unknown issues ~ People would rather stay in the rut they are in; living in sin – instead of following God into the unknown! God never leaves us and if we are not willing to let go of the bad even when we don’t know where we are going – then we miss the blessing of life God has for us. Believers should follow the Lord by obedience and love. Somehow in the culture we live in; there is a need to be in control and this is in conflict with living in God instead of fear. Humanity controls fear. We have the ability to turn fear on and off. This often causes us confusion in life. Fear is a tool of satan to make us refuse to believe God’s Promise that He is ALWAYS there for us! We live with fear of death, fear of losing, fear of no money, fear of no friends, fear of not being good enough, fear of insecurity and every promise in the Bible is the exact opposite of fear! There will come a time in our lives when we will walk through the valley of the shadow of death and we MUST KNOW AHEAD OF TIME where we are in God! God’s instruction and help are ALWAYS with us! Psalm 23:4

©      Identity Issues ~ Who am I? If you are a believer in the Lord and follow after Him; you plainly know who you are in Christ! For those who do not know that they KNOW who they are; there is a conflict in the soul as to who they are. Satan WANTS us to be confused about who we are! It is a way that he keeps us from KNOWING God! The opposite is true about the believer! We know who we are in Christ and with God we are prepared to meet any enemy there is with the STRENGTH and POWER of the Lord! Psalm 23:5

©      Core belief Issues ~ There are those that are only surface believers and when adversity in this life comes; there is no promise in our hearts with God and failure is sure to happen. God desires that every man believe Him and stand on the Promises that Christ died for! When the worst thing in the world is happening to us -  as a Christian we should be able to say without a doubt that ‘goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life’ and BECAUSE of that ‘I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever’. When God is not at our core in our soul; this cannot be said of us. Psalm 23:6

The key to knowing God’s comfort is practicing God’s Presence! In order to live out Psalm 23; we must be active in our Faith and following close after God for everything in our lives!

Following God is three layers deep in humanity. ALL of us means these three parts working together to follow after God’s Promise.

©      Physically – When we are believing the Lord ‘physically’ in our lives; the ‘temple’ that we live in naturally gravitates to places where others are that love the Lord! Our ‘physical’ state is better off because we are not continually abusing the physical body with the world’s offerings of sin.

©      Emotionally – The ‘roller coaster’ of life is not ruling the person who is ‘emotionally stable’ in the Lord. This part of us demands to be filled with something. If we are following God our emotions will be fed by the Word of God and work in conjunction with our ‘physical state’ to be more stable; not always up and down.

©      Spiritually – Our soul longs for the things of God and when we are filling our ‘physical’ and ‘emotional’ with God; then our soul, where the Holy Spirit dwells, is full of God! “All things work together for good to those who love God”…This is what the Bible says…ALL of us has to work together in order to be where we need to be for the Lord and this happens when we are believing the Promises of the Lord.

THERE IS ALWAYS GOD! He does not leave us. I hope we can see from this lesson that God is not in the business of leaving us. We must be turned toward Him to see Him and BELIEVE Him!

The Word of God is filled with the Promises of God to us! They are there for encouragement and hope in this world! Take advantage of those promises today and do some rearranging in order that we might know that God is ALWAYS with us!

Activating Jesus In Your Life - Sharing Your Faith

If we claim to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength then it should not be a problem to ‘SHARE OUR FAITH’ and yet we find that really that is the most difficult thing to do in today’s culture!

There is POWER in the believer who really gives over their life to God! God will put inside that person a burning desire to SHARE Him with others! It is our instruction in the Bible!

Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

God’s Hope and Promise is that we go out and TEACH others to be disciples with us and that He WILL NEVER LEAVE US while we are doing it!

The activation of Jesus in our lives means that we are going to put into ACTION what we know to be true! Sharing the Gospel with others is the end result of that ACTION!

When was the last time we shared Jesus with someone? Can we remember or has it been that long!

Our hearts should long to go out and do just exactly what that Scripture verse tells us to do!

We have nothing to fear but the fear itself! Jesus says very plainly in the verse above that He is with us always. He is not leaving us for a second; it is our fear that makes us not believe! It is our own fear that keeps us from sharing the Gift of Jesus with others.

Here are some ways to help us know where we are at in the value of ‘Sharing Jesus’ with others:

†       Wisdom ~ Why would we lead others to Christ? When we are following Jesus and have activated Him in our lives, He gives us the wisdom to see that we SHOULD win others to Him! Proverbs 11:30

†       Weakness ~ Do we let our weaknesses rule our faith? A ‘weakness’ is whatever is keeping us from believing in the POWER of Christ. Jesus can OVERCOME any weakness we may have. It is that very weakness that we can go and talk to others about! Jesus will give us POWER to go and share with others what He has done for us and how He helped us overcome it! 2 Corinthians 12:9

†       Wrestling ~ Do we use our armor to protect us or to SEND us? Wrestling is the battlefield of sharing faith with others! Every time you share your faith with others you are going into battle and you need to be clothed with the armor of God! When God has clothed us with His armor He is standing right beside us in the battle! Ephesians 6:11-20

†       Watch ~ Are we a lookout asleep on the wall or are we ALWAYS on our watch ready to share our faith? God commands that we share our faith and that if we don’t we will be accountable for it! Ezekiel 33:6

†       Willing ~ Are we willing to allow others to go to Hell? Being a ‘willing vessel’ is our attitude in sharing our faith. We should ALWAYS be willing to share because we never know who might need to hear! God is patient with us and because His desire is that none perish without Him; He will give us a willing heart to share! 2 Peter 3:9

†       Works ~ Works is the fruit of our love to the Lord! If we have fully activated Jesus in our lives then the fruit of that will show! James 2:16-17

†       Witness ~ Is our life as a Christian worth sharing with others? Our witness IS our lifestyle and others will see it if we are living and sharing it. Once we are filled with God’s Power we are activated to begin sharing Him. It is a command of God. ALL people will know Him and we are a part of that GREAT COMMAND! Acts 1:8

When Jesus is ACTIVATED in our lives – we can’t help but be who He called us to be! It should be evident to all that the LOVE of CHRIST lives inside of us! Do you desire to share Him with all people? It is our duty as believers to share Jesus with others. Live out His promise to others; I KNOW that it will change us!

Activating Jesus In Our Lives - By Generosity

Matthew 10:8 – “…Freely you have received, freely give.”

The ‘generosity’ we have shows the character, nature and spirit of Jesus Christ. Jesus says that His GIFT is ours free! Inside of that gift of GENEROSITY we find forgiveness, mercy, grace, blessings, hope, eternal life and much, much more!

God says we are made in His image. That simply means we are made to be like Jesus. God put a generosity ‘gene’ in us and to be fully devoted believers we MUST activate that ‘gene’ and become absorbed in His spirit of GENEROSITY!

In this life there are so many different avenues to being ‘generous’. God calls us to be ‘generous’ in our spirits and give out of that love that is growing there. A generous spirit goes above and beyond the call – gives more than is expected. A generous person who knows who holds their life gives open-handedly because they know that everything they have belongs to God anyway!

The believer that is living in generosity lives life outside the four walls of the church. This person is ALWAYS looking for a way to give and looks for creative ways to bless people. They give their TIME to other people and KNOW that God will bless the effort and give them back plenty of ‘time’ to do what needs to be done.

Proverbs 11: 25  says “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”

God promises that those who are generous will be refreshed. Giving in generosity will ALWAYS be rewarded by God. He made us to give to others!

Generosity has everything to do with our ATTITUDE about being generous. When we truly recognize that God has given us everything; we have no problem sharing it with others no matter what it might be.

This includes money, time, resources, food, clothing, the Bible, conversation, etc. In other words those who are generous in their spirit have no problem sharing ANYTHING that they have because they know that God deserves that they share with others.

If you are generous you are likely to be hurt by others. This will happen. Not all people understand generosity and because of that will label it as something else.  We should ALWAYS remember that whatever gift we give is as unto the Lord and it should not matter what others think! Pray for those who can’t understand generosity that God will enlighten their spirit and they can help others too.

Don’t be put off by people who try to hurt you or crush your spirit of giving. Continue to give and share and love God and God Himself will deal with those who hurt you!

Is God at work in your soul to be generous? Has the Holy Spirit given you a way to help others? If we are listening to the call of God in our hearts, we can hear Him calling out to us to help others!

Here are some ways to measure the value of generosity in our lives:

 Responsibility ~ How is your life generous? Are we giving when we see need? Responsibility is the call to generosity! 1 Peter 4:10

 Release ~ Are we planting seeds or holding on to them? Once we are made believers in Christ the activation of generosity is ‘release’! It should be EASY to give because the alternative to giving is not giving and the Bible has something to say about that. Galatians 6:7-8

 Reap ~ Where have we sown seeds of harvest? Have we seen what becomes of the seeds of generosity? Reaping is the REWARD of generosity! It is encouragement to our soul and can ONLY come from God! Luke 6:38

 Reverse ~ Are we on the path of growth or greed? REVERSE is the path of generosity for those who turn from greed. There is ALWAYS a point to turn toward generosity. God desires that our hearts are soft with generosity; not hardened by greed. We must repent of being greedy and ask God to give us a heart of generosity! Matthew 3:8

 Recover ~ Generosity can RESTORE so much to our lives! God is in the business of RESTORATION in us to a spirit of love and giving! Let God activate in us a spirit of generosity! God can work wonders in us if we let Him! Joel 2:21-26

 Revealed ~ God will reveal to us how to be generous. We just have to be listening to Him! Generosity from the Lord is a gift revealed to us alone! Everyone does not always need to know you are being generous. Sometimes it is between us and God alone! Matthew 6:3-4

 Remember ~ What in this life will we be remembered for? God has given us a legacy and unless we activate it and use it; no one may ever know just HOW MUCH God has done for us. Generosity is a legacy that will live on long after we have gone home to Jesus! Being generous to others will be remembered by others forever! Out of love for Christ our desire should be to give generously to anyone in need! 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Activate Jesus in the gift of generosity today! He came and gave to us the most generous gift known to mankind and our humble offering to others shows that gift! Believe Him today!

Activating Jesus In Our Lives - By Serving Him

Romans 6:22 says “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

Everyone in this life is a slave to something. God says that if we have become His by Salvation; then we are slaves to Him! Have we ever thought of our Salvation experience like that?

What does being a slave mean? It means a ‘person who is the property of and wholly subject to another’. In other words; it is one who is in ‘service’ to another because you belong to a master.

Our Master is Jesus Christ because He bought and paid the price for us! People in the Bible were aware of this and taught this to others and even today are still teaching it through the Word of God.

Romans 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1, James 1:1 and Ephesians 6:6 are some examples of servitude to the Lord.

If our life belongs to God then we should have no problem giving our life over to Him once we are saved. We would be humble in the Lord and recognize what a GREAT and WONDERFUL thing He has done for us. This is hard because as humans we want to ‘control’ our lives ourselves and yet the Bible says that if we give God control of our lives; He will NEVER leave us or forsake us!

The giving of our service to God should not be confused with God’s Will for our lives. We have discovered through study that God’s Will for our lives is that we would serve Him in obedience and love all the days of our lives.

Service is using our gifts, talents, love, money and any other resource we may have for God’s Glory! He desires that we serve Him so that others may KNOW Him!

How are we serving today? Are we giving 100% of ourselves to the Lord or are we holding back some in reserve in case we need it for a rainy day? God says to give all of ourselves to Him and He will direct our paths and take care of our families and lead us where we need to be.

To find the complete POWER of God we are asked by God to GIVE everything! Is this easy to do in this life?

Serving God is our reasonable service so that we may give back to the ONE that has given EVERYTHING for us.

Jesus poured out His life for us and it is out of our obedience to Him that we would follow His example and pour ourselves out for others. ‘Others’ are our families, our children, our spouses, our church and others.

Here are some ways to measure the value of ‘Servanthood’ in your life:

†       Surrender – Are we surrendered to do God’s work or are we surrendered to our work in God’s name? Surrendering to God and saying ‘Here is my life Lord, do with it what you will and use me in any way that is needed’.  Has there been a point in time when we have done this? James 4:17

†       Submitted – Do we HAVE to do God’s Will or are we WANTING to do God’s Will by serving Him? Submission to God with the life He has given us tells us where we are in our walk. Are we ALL in or do we give God just a little? These are hard questions that touch the soul. One of the keys to successful life in Christ is submission to Him. Satan CANNOT stand it when we are submitting ourselves to God! James 4:7

†       Sacrifice – What are we willing to give up to serve God? Sacrifice is the price we pay to serve God! We HAVE to give up ourselves in order to be fully in the Lord. The beautiful part of sacrifice is that when we WILLINGLY give to the Lord; He gives back more than we could ever ask. Serving God comes at great personal cost – but it is the most beautiful cost we could ask for. Are we sacrificing ANYTHING today to love God? Mark 10:29-30

†       Sharing – What do we have that someone else needs? It is just stuff. Sharing with others the goodness that we may have is beautiful in God’s eyes. Some things that just sit around our houses and gather dust could be the very thing that someone else has GREAT need of. Do we have something like that today? Can we willingly share it? What about our time, can we share it with others? Philippians 2:4

†       Skills – Just like we have to develop ‘skills’ to do work in this life; we must develop ‘skills’ to be a servant. It does not just COME to us to be a servant. WE GOT SKILL! God says so and we just have to have belief in those SKILLS through His POWER! 2 Peter 1:3-4

†       Secret – When was the last time that you served God by serving others in secret and no one knew it but you and God? Having a secret like that with God shows the MATURITY of servanthood in Christ! It is always good to to something for someone else that only you and God know about! Matthew 6:3-4

†       Stand – The day will come when we will have to KNOW what to do because it is IN US! Being a servant of the Lord teaches us how to STAND and someday it will be what we have to do – simply STAND. Are we ready to do that? Learning how to be strong in the Lord takes great personal sacrifice and ‘standing’ is what we should be doing. Servants stand up for their Master. Are we doing that today? Ephesians 6:13

Be strong in the LORD and the POWER of His might! God is the answer to whatever is going on in your life. Believing Him and living that out will be the GREATEST thing you will ever do!