Day 1 WHEN WE PRAY

Matthew 13:31-32 (ESV)

31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

Show me a praying person, and I’ll show you a person full of faith!

Before we talk about prayer, we must first address faith. In fact, the prayers we pray say a lot about the faith we possess. It takes faith to pray. Faith is the foundation on which we build our knowledge of the reality of God. Faith is the currency of heaven, and prayer is the means by which we exchange sorrow for joy, ashes for beauty, and spiritual deadness for supernatural power.

When we attempt to fulfill ourselves by placing our faith in anything other than God, we always come up empty. Instead of praying and receiving the joy of the Lord as an outflow of our relationship with Jesus, we try to purchase joy and peace by other means. Life becomes one social escapade after another—buying as much stuff as our credit card limit will allow, hanging out with friend after friend after friend, filling our lives with shallow relationships and meaningless things—and all the while, true joy and real peace and genuine companionship and lasting satisfaction are waiting to be found in an intimate relationship with Jesus, a relationship which is initiated and sustained by faith.

Jesus speaks of faith as a “grain of mustard seed.” In this parable about the mustard seed, Jesus is sharing an important idea with us: faith begins in seed form. Faith in God is planted in the soil of our hearts and cultivated by the Spirit of God, and over time, it produces joy, peace, humility, fulfillment, power, and every other rich quality of the character of God. Faith is the source of these blessings, and prayer is the way that the source gets into the soil.

Some people do not feel inclined to pray because often times, prayer just looks like a seed. Nothing too thrilling about a seed, right? But through the eyes of faith, we don’t just see our prayers for what they are when we’re praying them; we see the potential of what they can become when God answers them! Great prayer reveals great faith, and great faith releases great prayers. Great faith isn’t measured in magnitude but in our resoluteness to believe God against all odds.

Jesus tells the disciples to have faith in God and to speak to mountains without any doubt in their hearts. Perhaps instead of seeds of faith, you’ve had seeds of doubt and fear planted in your heart. Pray for the Spirit of God to uproot those things today and activate your faith through prayer.

Dear Lord, we thank You that we can come to You anytime trough prayer. Help us to get rid of the seeds of doubt and fear that are planted in our heart. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Does God answer prayers?

John 14:1 (ESV)

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

Does God answers prayers? Will God provide for all of our needs? George Muller, a real man of faith from the 19th century, certainly believed that!  But believing is one thing. Did God REALLY come through for him? Let's take a look at some of his experiences, and then you can draw your OWN conclusions!

During his lifetime, George Muller founded several orphanages, often supporting and running as many as three at any one time. But running three orphanages that provided homes for more than 2000 orphans isn't an easy task to accomplish when there aren't any regular funds! After serving dinner at one of his orphanages one evening, George realized that there was no food for the next day's breakfast and no money to buy any. This didn't shake him, however. When he retired for the night, he conveyed his needs to his Heavenly Father, and then he went to sleep. He knew God would provide on time. Early the next morning, a gentleman knocked on the door and offered a donation that supplied for all of their needs.

Another time when there was no breakfast for the children, George went for an early morning walk to talk it over with God. He was so caught up in discussing his needs with the One who can help that he didn't notice when he took a wrong turn. Soon he met an old acquaintance on the street. Though George never once hinted that he had financial needs, the friend offered him five pounds-enough money to provide adequate food for the orphanage for the next few days.

One day a lady offered George a small donation: 2 pennies. She was unaware that the orphanage was lacking a penny to buy bread. Later, when facing the dilemma of paying for milk, the money arrived just minutes before the milkman!

Here is George's own description of another time when there was no food for the children: "Our bread was hardly enough for the day. After dinner, when I returned thanks, I asked Him to give us our daily bread, meaning literally that He would send us bread for the evening. While I was praying there was a knock at the door of the room. After I had concluded a poor sister came in and brought us some of her dinner, and from another poor sister five shillings. In the afternoon she also brought us a large loaf. Thus the Lord not only gave us bread but also money."

On another occasion when he was praying about not having enough money, George reported: "The instant that I got up from my knees, a brother gave me one pound which had been taken out of the chapel box."

A coincidence? If it had only happened once, it might could be considered one; but this type of thing happened over and over again. George Muller noticed that as the numbers of orphans he was taking care of increased, the Lord's provisions also increased. One kept pace with the other. God always answered George's prayers with just the right amount of food or money, never too much, never too little. And, no meal fed to the orphans was ever more than 30 minutes late. In fact, during his lifetime, George received 7½ million U.S. dollars in answer to his prayers!

There are some who would say that God's provisions are only reserved for some special kind of faith-filled religious people. Here is George Mueller's reply to this kind of remark: "Let not Satan deceive you in making you think you could not have the same faith, but that it is only for persons situated as I am. When I lose such a thing as a key, I ask the Lord to direct me to it, and I look for an answer to my prayer; when a person with whom I have an appointment does not come, I ask the Lord to be pleased to hasten him to me, and I look for an answer. Thus in all my temporal and spiritual concerns, I pray to the Lord and expect an answer to my requests; and may you do the same?"

Friend, no matter what the need is that you are facing, God WILL provide. Depending on God is an awesome adventure! No one who does so has ever been disappointed. George Muller could rightfully conclude: "Now the truth is whilst we have not had even as much as a single penny left, or so as to have the last bread on the table, and not as much money as was needed to buy another loaf, yet never have we had to sit down to a meal without our good Lord having provided nourishing food for us. I am bound to state this, and I do it with pleasure. If I had to choose this day again as to the way of living, the Lord giving me grace, I would not choose differently."

Do you trust in the faithfulness of God? Why not try doing so today?

Dear Lord, we want to thank You today for Your faithfulness. Help our trust be in completely in You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

God Answers Prayers

Matthew 21:21 (New International Version)

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.

On December 14, 2005, fire broke out in Tracinda Foxe's kitchen in New York City. The thirty-year old mother began to panic as flames raced through her third story apartment. She soon realized that she was cut off and she could not escape.

Smoke filled her apartment within minutes. Her three week old son Eric soon was overcome by the smoke and stopped breathing.

"God, please save my son,"' Foxe screamed. She explained afterwards: "I prayed that someone would catch him and save his life."

Tracinda ran to the window, but the smoke prevented her from seeing below. In a desperate act, she screamed "Save my son! Save my son!" And then she released her grip on her precious son. Eric plunged thirty feet.

Instinctively, Felix Vasquez, a housing authority supervisor who happens to play on the baseball team at a nearby Bronx housing project, reached out and caught little Eric. Vasquez, who learned mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as a teenaged lifeguard, began mouth-to-mouth and was able to revive little Eric.

Moments after Felix's life-saving catch, two firefighters broke into the burning apartment and rescued Tracinda.

Dear Lord we praise you that everything is possible for those who believe and trust in Christ. Thank You Lord for loving and caring for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Don't just PRAY take time to LISTEN to God answer

I got this in an email today and thought it was really good especially when you take a look around the world and see the many people and families that are suffering in one way or another. Lets always remember to not only pray but to listen also to what God is saying to us.

There once was a man who had nothing for his family to eat. He had an old rifle and three bullets. So, he decided that he would go out hunting and kill some wild game for dinner. As he went down the road, he saw a rabbit. He shot at the rabbit and missed it.

The rabbit ran away. Then he saw a squirrel and fired a shot at the squirrel and missed it.

The squirrel disappeared into a hole in a cottonwood tree..

As he went further, he saw a large wild 'Tom' turkey in the tree, but he had only one bullet remaining.

A voice spoke to him and said, 'Pray first, aim high and stay focused. However, at the same time, he saw a deer which was a better kill. He brought the gun down and aimed at the deer. But, then he saw a rattlesnake between his legs about to bite him, so he naturally brought the gun down further to shoot the rattlesnake. Still, the voice said again to him, 'I said 'Pray, Aim high and Stay focused.'

So, the man decided to listen to God's voice.

He prayed, then aimed the gun high up in the tree and shot the wild turkey. The bullet bounced off the turkey and killed the deer. The handle fell off the gun and hit the snake in the head and killed it. And, when the gun had gone off, it knocked him into a pond. When he stood up to look around, he had fish in all his pockets, a dead deer and a turkey to eat for his family.

The snake (Satan) was dead simply because the man listened to God.

Moral of the story:

Pray first before you do anything, aim and shoot high in your goals, and stay focused on God. Never let others discourage you concerning your past. The past is exactly that, 'the past.' Live every day one day at a time and remember that only God knows our future and that he will not put you through any more than you can bear.

Do not look to man for your blessings, but look to the doors that only He has prepared in advance for you in your favor.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
-Philippians 4:6

Dear Lord as we pray help our ears be open to what you are saying to us. We pray that we would have the faith to foloow what you tell to do. In Jesus name, Amen.

Answer to your Prayers

We know God paid a high price to redeem and forgive us in Jesus. If he has gone to such great lengths to purchase our pardon, what will he refuse us that is good, right and holy? So if God answers our prayers "No!", then it is for our good and the eternal well being of those for whom we've prayed. His intent is to bless, not wound. His desire is to redeem. His commitment is to work things out for our ultimate good (Rom. 8:28) as he is transforming us to be more like his beloved Son (Rom. 8:29).

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
— Romans 8:31-32

Dear Lord, I confess that I am sometimes impatient and disappointed when my prayers do not seem to get the response I want. Please calm and quiet my doubting heart. Please remind my spirit of your rich grace. Bring your comfort and assurance through the ministry of your Holy Spirit to me. I do believe that you want to bring me your blessing and grace, so while I may not always understand the bad things that happen in my life, I do trust that you are at work to make them all turn for my good and your glory. In Jesus' name. Amen.