PRAYING GOD'S PROMISES

'Let my teachings become part of you.' John 15:7 CEV

According to one count, there are 3,573 promises in the Bible. That's almost ten promises for each day of the year. When you know which of these promises apply to you, and you fulfil the conditions that go with them, you can literally begin to pray God's promises into existence in your life (see John 15:7). Will your prayers be answered overnight? Some will, others won't. 'Be ...followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises' (Hebrews 6:12 KJA). 

The most powerful prayer you can pray is, 'Lord, you promised in your Word that you would...and today I am praying and believing you for it.' Here is how to pray:

1) When you need guidance and direction. 'I will instruct you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye' (Psalm 32:8 NKJV).

2) When you need deliverance from a situation, or to be set free from a habit. 'Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me' (Psalm 50:15 NKJV).

3) When you need the strength to stand. 'Fear not; for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand' (Isaiah 41:10 NKJV). 

4) When you don't have enough to meet your needs. 'My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus' (Philippians 4:19 KJV).

If you meditate in God's word every day, each time a need arises, you will know which of His promises to claim in prayer (see 2 Peter 1:4).

MEDITATE ON GOD'S WORD

'In His law he meditates day and night...and whatever he does shall prosper.' Psalm 1:2-3 NKJV

Thomas A Kempis wrote, 'If you wish to grow in yourself to be caught up in the workings of the world, you must find time alone, away from the noise and confusion, from the allure of power and wealth.' You say, 'Does that mean God doesn't want me setting goals and achieving things in life?' No, quite the opposite! 

The Bible says, 'In His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he does shall prosper' (vv.2-3 NKJV). What's the secret of a tree's fruitfulness? Having deep roots that are connected to life-giving streams of water. And as the demands on your time and energy become greater, you must discipline yourself to spend even more time in Scripture, not less. When your inner life is not in order, your outer life becomes dysfunctional and begins to fall apart. And working harder will only make it happen faster. You will be like the pilot who announced to his passengers, 'Folks, there is bad news and good news. The bad news is, our instrument failed, and we don't know where we're going. The good news is, we're making great time!' 

What's the answer? David says: 'I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts, and contemplate your ways. I will delight myself in your statutes; I will not forget your word' (Psalm 119:14-16 NKJV).

GOD WILL RESCUE YOU

 'We stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God,' 2 Corinthians 1:9 NLT

Are you feeling hopeless about the situation you're in and don't know which way to turn? Maybe you're struggling to find a reason to keep going, but you're so tired and overwhelmed that you just want to give up. 

If that's the case, you're in a vulnerable place. Look out - Satan will try to convince you there must be sin in your life, or that you're out of God's will, or that He is unhappy with you because you have disobeyed Him in some area you're unaware of. Don't buy it! You can be in the centre of God's will doing everything the right way, and still experience adversity. The apostle Paul writes: 'You ought to know...about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely on God, who raises the dead. And He did rescue us from mortal danger, and He will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in Him, and He will continue to rescue us. And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety' (2 Corinthians 1:8-11 NLT).

Two elements are at work in your life today. First, God is teaching you to lean on Him instead of on yourself. Second, people around you are being strengthened and encouraged as they see the grace of God at work in your life.

THE ART OF BEING A SHEEP

'The Lord is my Shepherd; I lack nothing.' Psalm 23:1 NIV

Perhaps you memorised Psalm 23 as a child. The vivid visual images remain with us lifelong. Author Hannah Whitall Smith said, 'What we all need is just to get back into the nursery again, and take up our childish verses once more, and, while reading them with the intelligence of our grown-up years, to believe them with all our old childish faith.' 

As adults we become jaded, losing the simple joy that stress-filled lives require. We need to remember these three things:

1) Who our shepherd is - 'The Lord'. He is the source of everything we will ever need, beginning with salvation. Jesus said: 'I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep' (John 10:11 NKJV).

2) What the shepherd's job is - protector and provider for the sheep. And He knows how to handle wayward, headstrong, vulnerable sheep and care for them. Long before Jesus came as our shepherd, the Father said, 'I will rescue [my flock] and no longer will they be mistreated...I will give you a shepherd from the family of my servant King David...All of you, both strong and weak, will have the same shepherd, and he will take good care of you' (Ezekiel 34:22-23 CEV).

3) What the sheep's job is  - to trust the shepherd completely. Attempting to do His job will exhaust and defeat us. We must believe 'with all our old childish faith' that Jesus is a dependable, committed, and capable shepherd - and then act like we believe it. 

Knowing that His goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives lifts our present worries and dispels all our future concerns.

YOU ARE A WONDER

'I praise you because I am...wonderfully made.' Psalm 139:14 NIV

Despite your aches and pains, you are a living, breathing, walking, talking wonder. The Psalmist said, 'You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made' (vv. 13-14 NIV). 

One author explains: 'Most of us take our eyesight for granted, but even the simplest of processes is divinely complex. The retina, for example, conducts close to ten billion calculations every second, and that is before an image even travels through the optic nerve to the visual cortex. The human nose can detect one-millionth of one milligram of garlic floating in the air and distinguish among ten thousand distinct odours. The hairs blanketing your body magnify the sensation of touch so that you can discern a thousandth of an ounce of pressure on the tip of a half-inch hair.' Amazing, isn't it? Trillions of chemical reactions are taking place in every cell of your body every second. You are inhaling oxygen, metabolising energy, digesting food, maintaining equilibrium, purifying toxins, producing hormones, exhaling carbon dioxide, repairing tissues, and circulating blood. As you read this, millions of electrical impulses are firing across billions of synaptic pathways, and you don't even think about it. 

But you should praise God for the gift of life and the multitude of His blessings you enjoy. And you should do one more all-important thing: discover your life's purpose and dedicate yourself to fulfilling it. It has been said that the two most important days in a person's life are the day they're born, and the day they discover why they were born. Think about it.

BEING FRIENDS WITH GOD

'I know you by name, and you have found favour with me.' Exodus 33:12 NIV

Moses talked with God like a friend, sharing what he felt and thought. And God wanted it that way. Here is how the conversation went: 'Moses said to the Lord, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,'...You have said, 'I know you by name, and you have found favour with me.''' Moses is mirroring back to God what God had previously said to him. Remember saying to your spouse or your best friend, 'You were the one who said...'? That's what Moses is doing here: reminding God of His own words. And God wants you to remember His Word and to speak it back to Him (see Isaiah 43:26). 

Not because He needs to be reminded but because you do! And because His Word is the only Word that He is committed to fulfill (see Mathew 24:35). When you pray using God's Word, you are praying in His will, and you're guaranteed to get a hearing. So, learn and memorise Scriptures that touch on your needs and desires, and when you talk to God, recall them and pray them back to Him. For example, when you pray, 'Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours' (Mark 11:24 NIV), God will acknowledge it!

The more you learn of His will, the more your prayer time will conform to His will and the more you will feel aligned with Him. Keep your Bible handy when you talk to God so that He can direct your thoughts to the words He wants you to pray. 

YOU CAN'T HAVE A TESTIMONY WITHOUT A TEST

'I will...test them as gold is tested.' Zechariah 13:9 NASB

If you're being tested today, you're in good company! Job, the most righteous man on earth, was tested beyond what most of us will ever have to endure. And when he emerged, he told God, 'I heard about you from others; now I have seen you' (Job 42:5 CEV). In the heat of the furnace, you experience God up close and personal. 

Shelia Schuller Coleman says, 'Some tests are intended to teach. We learn our most profound lessons when we're tested...Like what we're capable of...where we need to grow...and that there's still more to learn! When your faith is being tested, the last thing you're thinking about is learning a lesson...you just want to survive. But the lesson we learn from Job is that when we keep our faith in the most testing of times, we'll "come out as gold" (Job 23:10 NASB). Think about it: did you ever hear a testimony that wasn't about someone surviving a test? James says, "Consider it pure joy...whenever you face trials" (James 1:2 NIV). When we suffer, when people say hateful things, when we lose our homes, when we encounter rifts in our family, when the doctor calls with a dire diagnosis - the last thing we feel is joy...if anyone could speak with authority on praising God in trials, it was Paul. He was beaten, thrown into jail, and run out of town. How does your week compare to his? 

When you get through this test, you will have a testimony to God's strength and faithfulness, and be able to say, 'The Lord is my God.'