Category: Prayer - The Apologetics Blog

Forgive Us Our Debts

7/19/2014

Matthew 6:12 "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."

As I read this passage in preparation for today's devotional, I thought about all the people who have hurt me and asked myself, "Have I forgiven all of them?" If I still held something against anyone who came to mind, I knelt down on my knees and told God that I forgive them. After this, I felt so much better than before I chose to forgive them.

When we come to God to ask for forgiveness for our sins, we need to ask ourselves if we have forgiven those who have wronged us. If we expect God to forgive us for our offences against Him, and if we are supposed to follow the example that God gave us through Jesus, shouldn't we also forgive those who have wronged us in the same way that Jesus asked God to forgive those who nailed Him to the cross? The answer is yes.

Sometimes, people in our life will continue to hurt us. We don't have to sit there and take the hurt, but we do have to forgive those who have hurt us. If someone keeps hurting us, we may need to cut them out of our life. However, we still need to forgive them.

Our Daily Bread

7/18/2014

Matthew 6:11 "Give us today our daily bread."

When was the last time you asked God for something? When was the last time that, after you prayed, you trusted Him to do things? Even if He didn't do things the way you thought they should be done?

While giving the model prayer, Jesus showed the disciples that they should pray for daily bread. The life of Jesus is a testament to His faithfulness in living this principle out and setting this example for His disciples (for one example, see John chapter 6). Jesus not only taught the disciples to pray for their food, but to, in obedience, trust God to provide it.

What if we began to live life this way? What if we were to pray, each and every morning, that God would provide us with what we need? What if we trusted Him to do this? What if we changed our lifestyle to reflect this trust in God?

God's Will Vs. Our Will

7/17/2014

Matthew 6:10 "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

When you wake up each day, what is the first thing that you do? If you don't do this already, what if you were to take a few minutes each morning to spend with God. During this time, inquire about what He wants you to do today.

We want to do things our way because we think that we know best. We want to do things to be accomplished according to our plan by doing things the way that we want. If we would stop long enough to realize that we don't know best, we would be in much better shape.

When Jesus was praying the model prayer, He asked for God's will to be done "on earth as it is in heaven." Did you get that? By showing the disciples to pray this way, Jesus was in essence saying that it is not our will that needs to be done here, but God's will. Not only should we live this, but we should pray for it!

The next time our knees hit the ground, we should make it a priority to pray that God's will be done, not our own. Then, we should resolve to obey Him when He tells us what His will is. In this way, God is able to use us to accomplish His will.

Honoring God's Name In Prayer

7/16/2014

Matthew 6:9b "Our Father in heaven, Your name be honored as holy."

Jesus began His famous "Lord's Prayer" with a request that God's name be regarded as holy. What does this mean for us today? What does it mean to honor God's name as holy? How does this affect us?

The fact that Jesus opened His prayer with these words should have a special meaning to us. Before can go any further in prayer, we must acknowledge God as Father and come to Him in a spirit that honors His name as holy. If we don't, we have missed the entire point of coming to God in prayer.

To honor God's name as holy means to revere Him, His name, and His character. How can we honor God's name as holy if we take His name in vain? We must acknowledge His name as the Name above every name and place Him in His rightful place in our lives. Only then can we humbly come to God in prayer.

Since we are commanded to pray, we must keep these things in mind every time we hit our knees. In our daily walk with God, we must walk in the understanding that God is holy and His name is to be honored. When we walk this way, God is pleased.

An Example In Prayer

7/14/2014

Matthew 6:9a "Therefore, you should pray like this:"

Do you pray? If your answer is yes (and it should be), the next question is this: How do you pray? The simple answer is that we look to the example that has been given to us. That example came through God's Son.

Jesus was teaching His disciples, when He turned to the subject of prayer. After instructing His disciples not to pray like the hypocrites pray, Jesus demonstrated to His disciples how we should pray.

First, Jesus taught us that we should pray to God in secret. We should not seek glory from men when we pray. Prayer is meant to be a time spent with God. Therefore, to use prayer as a means of receiving glory from men makes one a hypocrite.

After instructing His disciples to pray in secret, Jesus shows the disciples how we should pray. These famous words have become known as "The Lord's Prayer" (Matthew 5:9-13). We should use this as a model when we pray. If He has given us the example, shouldn't we follow it?

Pray For Our Leaders

7/12/2014

1 Thessalonians 5:25 "Brothers, pray for us also."

When Paul the apostle wrote his epistle to the Thessalonians, he opened his epistle by informing the Thessalonians that he constantly prayed for them (1 Thessalonians 1:2). As Paul closes his letter, he asks the church in Thessalonica to pray for him.

We all seem to want prayer when we have struggles in our lives. Often times, the first person that we go to is our pastor or another leader in the church. I wonder how many of us stop to pray for the leaders in the church.

I know that our church leaders may not say anything, but they need prayer just as much as the rest of us. In fact, leaders in the church may need prayer more than anyone else. Next time we hit our knees, let's remember those who are leaders in our church.

Pray

7/4/2014

1 Thessalonians 5:17 "Pray constantly."

This morning I woke up late. This being the case, I ran out the door in a hurry, as is my usual routine when this happens. I had a million things going on in my mind, and it seemed that I would not be able to accomplish everything that I would need to. I muttered a small prayer as I ran out the door, asking God to help me with the tasks ahead.

How many of us have ever been in a situation like this? Something comes up, you are running behind, or you simply had too much on your plate; regardless of what the situation is, we should take time to pray.

When Paul was writing to the Thessalonians, he told them that they were to "pray constantly". I imagine that many of the Thessalonians lived busy lives, yet they were still commanded to continuously be praying. How much more do we need to be in constant prayer? We need to pray constantly, as many of the Thessalonians probably did after receiving Paul's letter.

Next time I am running behind, I am going to stop and pray. I am going to set my priorities right. If I don't have enough time to get to prayer, then I don't have enough time to begin my day. If we cannot get through everything if we cut prayer, how can we possibly make it through our days without stopping to pray for God's help?

Seek God Daily

6/10/2014

Isaiah 55:6 "Seek the LORD while He may be found; call to Him while He is near."

Why do we place God at the top of our priority list when we feel that we need Him, but place Him second to something else whenever we feel that everything is alright? Why is it that we try to look at our own solutions before we consult Him? It has always seemed backwards to me, and I think that Isaiah would agree that this is not the way things are supposed to be.

Isaiah made it clear to those to whom he was prophesying that we should not delay in seeking God. It does not take a time of desperation for God's ears to be open to our prayers. It does not take a time of desperation for us to fall on our knees.

We should seek God daily, not when it is convenient for us or when we are in desperate need. Wouldn't it be better if, instead of waiting until a problem exists, we came to God before the problem exists? Wouldn't it be great if all of us lived out our faith daily? Wouldn't it be great if the prayers that God heard from us weren't just prayers to fix our own problems, but rather to help reach those who are in need of His saving grace? How much different would our lives, communities, and churches be if we came to God daily?

There is a catch to this. This scenario would be great, but you and I have to seek God. God has given us the grace to seek Him, we just have to choose to seek Him. If we don't get on our knees to pray each day, how can we tell others that this is the right thing to do? If we don't live out our faith daily, doesn't that make us hypocrites if we claim to be Christians? The choice is on us, not on our pastors, deacons, or elders. This, then, becomes the million dollar question: Are we going to live our lives for Christ, empowered by His Spirit, each and every day for the rest of our lives?

Praying For Our Missionaries

3/17/2014

2 Thessalonians 3:1 "Finally, brothers, pray for us that the Lord's message may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you."

How often do we take time to pray for our missionaries, both those in foreign lands and those here in the US? What if I were to tell you that this is what many of them need?

Paul the apostle was writing to the church in Thessalonica, which was one of the churches that he planted during his missionary journeys. Paul could have asked this church for anything: money, assistants, or a million different things. However, Paul did not ask for this. Rather, he asked that the church pray for him. Specifically, he asked for prayer that the Gospel message would spread and be honored.

Wherever we are at, we should take time to pray for our missionaries. We don't have to be in a church building to do this. We can take a few minutes in the morning, at bedtime, or during the day. Regardless of when or where we pray, we should pray.

We can all pick at least one missionary to pray for. If you don't know of anyone that you could pray for, I have one for you: Pastor Saeed Abedini. He is an American pastor who has been imprisoned in Iran. He has been tortured and beaten for his faith in Christ. I would like to encourage everyone to pray for him, even if you have another person for which you will pray.

Love-Speech

3/3/2014

1 John 2:9 "The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother is in the darkness until now."

The church is called to be the most loving group in the world. Those of us who have come to faith in Christ are commanded to love both God and our neighbor. We have addressed what love looks like in a previous post, but there is more that must be added here.

Loving your enemy means making sure that they have the necessities of life: food, water, and shelter. It also means ensuring that they have the necessities of a spiritual life. This is more important. Without a relationship with Jesus Christ, the best food, purest water, and best house do little to nothing for anyone. This is why we must be persistent in leading even our worst enemies to Christ.

One of the most loving things we could do for our neighbor is to warn them of the penalty of a sinful life, whatever it may be. Those who view us from a worldly perspective often call this hate-speech. It is not! Rather, it is love-speech. I will show you why.

A person who does not know Christ and is living a sinful life will eventually end up eternally tormented if they do not come to know Christ before they die. If a person does not know Jesus, and doesn't know how He can change a life, his or her ultimate end is torment prepared for the devil and his angels. What are we to do about this?

First, we can live holy lives ourselves. Set the example. Those who do not know Christ may want to know Him after seeing how your life is different than theirs.

Second, we can warn others of the consequences of their sinful lives. God condemned homosexuality. God condemns killing the unborn. Period. The only one who can save us from God's wrath is Jesus Christ.

A Christian who does not warn his or her unbelieving neighbor of the dangers of choosing a sinful lifestyle over a relationship with Christ has looked at his or her neighbor and made the judgment that he or she is not important enough to try to rescue from hellfire. That's just hateful.

If there is one thing I want everyone to get out of this, it is this: Every Christian has a responsibility to reach out with the Gospel message to those who do not believe. That is what it truly looks like to love our neighbor. When we do this, we may end up playing a role in bringing our neighbor into the single greatest relationship they will ever be in: A relationship with Jesus Christ.