14 This is the [remarkable degree of] confidence
which we [as believers are entitled to] have before Him: that [1]if we ask anything according to His will, [that
is, consistent with His plan and purpose] He hears us. 15 And
if we know [for a fact, as indeed we do] that He hears and listens to us in whatever we
ask, we [also] know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted
to us] the requests which we have asked from Him. – I John 5:14-15
We have prayed this scripture
in our prayers so many times through the years. We share the footnote from this
scripture. 1 John 5:14 Confident,
abiding faith combined with God’s power can produce amazing results, if the
request is in harmony with God’s will. God is fully capable of doing that which
man regards as impossible (Mark 14:36; James 4:3)
Many years ago, I read this quote:
“You cannot take people where you have
never been”. So, in this vein of
thinking, we want to share with you our journey “Growing in Prayer. This study covers a period of many years
finally committed to paper and we took every painful and exhilarating step of
this journey.
Through our prayer studies, we
found amid the above quoted scripture and, as God often does, it was given to us at the point of understanding.
It doesn’t matter the words we say, how we say them, the place, the
time, etc., it is, and this is important:
Do we pray in God’s Will? The only way to know God's Will is through His Word.
Even though we prayed most all our
lives, and even though we should have been teachers, we felt like “Babes” in the
power prayer. What
makes prayer?? Jesus set prayer at the
heart of Christian living. But
something was missing in our prayers.
What was missing?
We have called ourselves Christians
all our life. We grew up in Christian
homes, followed that example with our children, taught them and tried to live
prayerfully in God’s Will. To be
perfectly truthful many times, we failed to walk the path God purposed for
us. We made our own choices instead of
seeking HIS will. It is when we
realized, allowed our perceptions to see reality, and truth tugged at our
hearts; we began to see our failures, choices, decisions and “busyness”. We had
reached the point in our life that we wanted more in our relationship with God.
We wanted a closer, more intimate relationship with HIM. Because we were seeking, God opened our ears;
and we could hear His call to a deeper and higher spiritual relationship with
Him through prayer.
We had prayed for years and God heard
our prayers; He heard the voice of His sheep.
He answered prayers, said wait with some and said no to others. In this moment of time we felt God was
revealing to us there is greater power in prayer. We began to seek new depths and greater
heights as Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:18. We felt the love of God mightily and
His presence through the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49), teaching us patiently as we
began to take the knowledge of his Word and it became understanding in our
hearts.
Can we be more effective in our
prayer life so that we can see truth as Christ promised in John 16:13? Larry Lea in a
study article says, “When the pulse is steady and the body
exercised in this practice (prayer), every other facet of life flow with health
as the individual is fed by God’s Word. Yet prayer is a puzzle to some who
think it too mystical and a problem for others who find the habit hard to
establish.”[2]
Join
us with our continuing Blog as we share this journey with each of you. Prayer is essential to our daily life. We believe God hears our “cookie cutter”
prayers, but we also believe that God’s power is released through prayer, Holy
Spirit power beyond what we could generate.
Questions and comments are
appreciated.
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