Week 23 “Pray Constantly” Day 5
Pray:
Ask God to reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
1 Thess. 5:16-18 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Col. 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
Reflect:
Prayer is communication. The number one problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred. In human-to-human communication the message that is intended to be sent is often not the message that is received. It could be practical reasons like one person is a poor communicator or the other is distracted. It could also be personal reasons like one has an “anger filter” in place while the other has a “distrust filter.” But in prayer God has no filters. All communication breakdowns are on our side of the conversation. There are some implications here for our hearing from God, but let’s focus now on our speaking to God. Since God “hears” everything with perfect clarity, including our hearts and not just our words, it seems our hearts and not our words should get most of our attention. This is why you can pray another person’s prayer, like the Psalms, and they can still be “your” prayer.
When their words match what is in your heart, it becomes your prayer. It’s also why Jesus warned against using “many words” to try and get God’s attention. He is paying attention to our hearts, not just our lips. Of course, often the words are the authentic cries of our hearts, but not always. Sometimes the prayers of the lips don’t match the condition of the heart. In this case, God is not “hearing” the words, he is only hearing the “heart.” What does this mean practically for prayer? It means it is worth the time to be still and reflect on what is really in your own heart. God always knows, but we often don’t. Reflect and then pour out your true heart to God. Confusion, disappointment, anger, doubt, joy, anticipation, passivity – all of these heart issues are known by God, but as we pray with “heart-honest” words we are in a heart-conversation with God. This kind of praying positions us to be changed by God. God can increase your joy if you are honest with him about your current lack of joy. Speak to him honestly from your heart, then listen to him speak honestly from his. To hear his heart will change your heart.
Pray:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today.