'Christian devotional' Tagged Posts (Page 5)

Luke 22:39 “And He came out and went, as was His habit, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples also followed Him. “ We have been looking at the characteristics of Jesus’ prayer life and especially His determination to seek the Father’s heart and will. Some of the other characteristics of His prayer life make us want to understand and apply these same things in our prayer life. We have already talked about how Jesus was in the habit of…

 We are convinced that revival in our nation is waiting in on God’s people coming to Him, personally and collectively, in prayer that is marked by this kind of reverent submission and fear of God. Our society and our culture is at a point where we believe that Christians need to let the prayer life of Jesus penetrate us until we are in on God’s agenda when we pray. Then what happened when Jesus prayed will happen for us. Heaven…

“In the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and His children shall always have a place of refuge. Reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may avoid the snares of death. Anyone that spends much time in prayer with God will come to know the heart of God like Jesus did. Knowing the heart of God is to know the will of God, and to know the will of God, is to…

Luke 9: 23 “And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself (disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself) and take up his cross daily and follow Me (cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also).”    What is God talking to you about when you pray? Not what are you talking to Him about, but…

The father continues to have specific purposes for each of our lives that He wants to accomplish as part of His eternal purposes for all of creation. There are many scriptures that highlight this truth for us. Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” These thoughts God has for us represents His agenda for us, His…

When you are praying alone or with others and God is speaking to you, do not bring up your own agenda. Let your heart receive His agenda. The importance of this is seen by the response of the disciples at a critical moment in His earthly ministry. In Matthew 17:1-2 we read that Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him “and He led them on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.” While the physical…

Jesus taught us to seek God’s will in this way in the prayer that He gave His disciples. He told us to pray, “Your kingdom come” (Luke 11:2). Jesus’ greatest desire was for God’s sovereign rule to be done in all things in and through His life. We must also have this same desire, and express it in our prayers. God must have the same unhindered access to our lives for His kingdom purposes. Jesus also told us to pray…

The climax of Jesus’s reverent submission to the Father in prayer came in Gethsemane, with these words in Matthew 26:29 “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” This is the ultimate, transparent moment of reverent submission in godly fear in Jesus’ life of prayer. This is also the moment that first comes to mind when we read the summary of Jesus’ prayer life in Hebrews 5:7-9, when we see Jesus offering “vehement cries and tears to Him who…

 In Mark 1:35 we read this about Jesus: “Now in the morning, having risen a long time before daylight, He went out an departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.” In its context, this a remarkable thing that Jesus did. In the verses just before this, we read that Jesus had just put in an extremely full day and evening of ministry in Capernaum, teaching, preaching, healing, and casting out demons. It would be an exhausting schedule for…

 Prayer is not for the purpose of getting God to help us, the purpose of prayer is to get us in line with what God is about to do. Prayer is God’s invitation to enter His throne room so He can spread His agenda over our hearts. To see this in action, there is nothing better than to observe the prayer life of Jesus. At the center of Jesus’s prayer life was the fact that He sought the Father’s purposes, activities,…

 In Luke 11 the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray and He gave them a brief model or pattern for prayer. We call this the Lord’s Prayer. It is not some magical formula that we can repeat and expect miracles. It is a concise portrayal of the foundational truths that should be in our hearts and minds as we pray individually, as we pray as families, and as we pray as a church. Every phrase is this prayer…