JANUARY 16

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES

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Psalm 139:4

“For there is not a word on my tongue,  but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.”

Isaiah 50:4-5

“The Lord God has given Me  the tongue of the learned,

That I should know how to speak  a word in season to him who is weary.

He awakens Me morning by morning,  He awakens My ear

To hear as the learned.  The Lord God has opened My ear;

And I was not rebellious,  Nor did I turn away.”

Romans 10:17

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

John 15:7

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”

Hebrews 10:19

“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,”

Romans 8:26-27

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

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This month we’re reading  the new devotional   “Becoming New”,  written by  Warren W. Wiersbe and compiled by his grandson.  Pastor Wiersbe was the President of Moody Bible Institute before the current President, Erwin Lutzer.  

PRAYER PLEASES GOD

Read Psalm 66:16-20 and John 15:1-7

Why would God delight in hearing us pray?  After all, He knows our needs far better than we do (Matthew 6:8), and He knows what we will say even before we speak (Psalm 139:4).  So, why pray? 

We pray because prayer is God’s appointed way for us to receive what He wants to give us and because being able to pray effectively means that we are right with God and others.

When Our Lord was serving here on earth, He began early each morning by praying to the Father and receiving His orders for the day.  We should follow His example.

In order to pray effectively, we must have faith, for “it is impossible to please God without faith”(Hebrews 11:6).  In order to have faith, we must be growing in God’s Word, abiding in God’s love, and obeying God’s will. 

“If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”  (Psalm 66:18).  The word “cherished” means “to know that sin is there and to approve of it.”  If we cherish sin, we grieve the Father, who at least a dozen times in the Scriptures says, “You shall be holy.”  We also grieve the Lord Jesus, who shed His blood to open the way into God’s presence so that we might be able to pray, and  we grieve the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us and intercedes for us.

Effective prayer involves praying in the will of God.   In his book, “The Tests of Life”, Robert Law writes,

“Prayer is a mighty instrument, not for getting man’s will done in heaven, but for getting God’s will done in Earth.”  The apostle John agrees in 1 John 5:14-15:

“This is the confidence which we have before Him that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”  Prayer helps us know and do God’s will.

In Matthew 5:21-26, Jesus explains that we are not fit to worship and pray if there is an unresolved conflict in the heart.  That must be settled first, and then we can talk to the Father.  We must leave the sacrifice at the altar and go to the person and resolve the problem, for ”obedience is better than sacrifice.” (1 Samuel 15:22).

Because the psalmist had confessed his sin in Psalm 66:18, he had a testimony to share with others about God’s powerful answer to prayer.  God listens when we pray, and He hears more than just our words. He pays attention and responds as only God can.  Prayer not only meets our needs, but it also measures our spirituality and helps us discover the areas in our lives that need attention. If we ignore this important part of becoming new, we will become careless for prayer is both the thermostat and the thermometer of the Christian life.  If the temperature has dipped, it’s time to get on our knees.

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