Hear, Then Pray

Colossians 1:9 NKJV

Lord, plz put a desire in my heart to pray without ceasing specifically for the needs of others from the moment I hear about them, instead of putting them off for later.

Power of Praying Church

[S] Acts 12:5 --
So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.

[O] I see the power of a praying church right here because as they fervently prayed, Peter was taken out of the prison miraculously.  God takes joy when the church clings on to Him desperately like this.

[A] Not that we need to add more programs at what is already a busy schedule, integrating this type of praying community is a must in order to experience God's miraculous power and a church leadership must intentionally integrate place, time, and method fit for their congregation to come together in prayer.

[P] Dear Father, wherever I go, may I be a catalyst to promote such a fervently praying community to move God-sized tasks.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Desperate Determination

[S] Matthew 15:25 --
But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, "Lord, help me!" 

[O] The Syrophoenician woman's attitude of seeking after Jesus' help was not only with desperation but also with determination.  She believed Jesus can heal her daughter so even though she ran into a dead-end street she did not give up but continued to seek favor from Jesus -- even just the "crumb" of his favor was sufficient for her so she continued to "bow down" and asked for Jesus' help.

[A] May be I have it too easy and I take the favor of Jesus on my life for granted but as I reflect on my own desperation of hanging on to the power of Jesus in my life, I am way short of this woman's attitude and determination.  I need to bow down before Him and simply ask "Lord, help me!"

[P] Dear Jesus, as time dashes by in the midst of whirlwind of events, I have not come before you on my knees to ask for Your awesome help in my life.  Please forgive me for trying to "do it" on my own instead of seeking the touch of your miraculous power.  Please help me, Lord, so I may lean on You 100% in 100% of my life.  In Your name I ask.  Amen.

Humbly Practice Hearing God

[S] Jeremiah 42:4,7 --
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, "I have heard you. Behold, I am going to pray to the LORD your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole message which the LORD will answer you. I will not keep back a word from you."
7 Now at the end of ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.

[O] When the people approached Jeremiah to inquire God about what they should do, he responded to them with confidence that he "will tell them the whole message."  This implies that he is very much used to inquiring God and hearing from Him the answers and that is something attained over time and intimate relationship with God.  Even then, as seen in verse 7, the process requires a significant amount of time.  As with any good things, seeking God's will is an involved process that requires perseverance.

[A] I need to increase my prayer time with God to "practice" more of hearing His voice.  In my excuse of being busy, I want instant prayer results and I need to repent from having such an arrogant attitude of demanding God to meet my needs under the umbrella of prayer.

[P] Dear Father, please grant me humble heart before You especially when I approach You with my circumstantial needs.  I want to keep practicing my ability to hear Your word and to obey them with humble heart.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Watchful Prayer Life

[S]  Colossians 4:2 (NIV) --
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

[O] Prayer is a very familiar concept but being grouped together with watchful and thankful was a fresh concept for me as I read this passage because I have a tendency of just praying with a hoping-for-the-best attitude instead of having a clear trust and vision of expecting God's response to my prayer -- already being grateful for what He is about to do.

[A] As I face my family's crisis and lifting up my prayers to God, I need to change my attitude to be watchful of God's working in my family's life.

[P] Dear God, please reshape my heart so that my prayer life is not an end but a means to experiencing You tangibly in my life.  Grant me a watchful heart looking for Your wondrous works right in my day-to-day living.  I thank yon in advance as I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Prayer of Anticipation

[S] 2 Chronicles 7:1-2 --
1 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.2 The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it.

[O] What a scene this must have been.  I was impressed by Solomon's prayer and how he praised God sincerely and as soon as he finished his prayer, God's glory filled the temple.  This overwhelming presence of God prohibited the priests from entering the temple.  Most likely it was clear for everyone there that God was present.

[A] When I pray, I should expect the "fire" from heaven come down to consume my prayer offering and the glory of God fill my surroundings like a thick fog welling up.  When I worship on Sundays I should expect God's glory to pack into our sanctuary so everyone will know that God is there with us.

[P] Dear Father, may my prayer lifted up to You be not just mere words but an anticipation of Your presence being clearly displayed in our midst.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Praying Out of Anguish and Grief

[S] 1 Samuel 1:15-17 --
15 But Hannah replied, "No, my lord, I am a woman oppressed in spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD.16 Do not consider your maidservant as a worthless woman, for I have spoken until now out of my great concern and provocation."17 Then Eli answered and said, "Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him."

[O] Hannah's prayer to God (in prior verses) and her plea to Eli speaks volumes about her heart and commitment to God -- she has spoken out of her great concern and provocation (anguish and grief).  Then Eli blessed her for God may grant her petition and she gives birth to Samuel who became the righteous prophet God used mightily in those days.

[A] Although in different circumstances, I can relate to Hannah's "anguish and grief" as she pours out her heart before the Lord.  Without second guessing why she ended up in such a rut, she clung on to God so He would appear in her circumstance in a supernatural way.  I am encouraged to take the same stance as Hannah re: a family situation I'm facing now which seems to have hit a dead-end street.  God also encouraged through Eli's blessings that He will indeed grant my family's petition.

[P] Dear God, we are clinging on to You just like Hannah did so we may enter into the amazing throne of God where all troubles I can and will encounter will no significance whatsoever.  May You grant our petitions we are lifting up to You.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

When to Pray Desperately

[S] Judges 3:9 --
9 When the sons of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

[O] God hears our cries.  Well, He hears even our whispers but the point is that He hears with empathy when I cry out to Him which is a wonderful fact to treasure in my heart.  Even when the Israelites found themselves in deep trouble due to their own sinfulness of rejecting God, God's love for them overpowers everything to raise up a deliverer for  them.  God's power working in the midst of us are not with respect to how good a person I am but how desperately I lean on Him and His power.

[A] Whether my situation is desperate or not, I need to lean on God with total desperation because anything less than that means I am relying on my own strengths.

[P] Dear Father, what a relief and power this passage infuses in my heart because I am realizing more and more I cannot do a whole lot on my own especially with the family crisis at hand which even the best doctors have more unknowns than assurances of the situation in front of us.  I desperately ask Your intervention out of Your great mercy and grace in our family so that we may reflect the wonders of Your mighty power.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Ordering My Prayer to God

[S] Psalm 5:3 --
3 In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice;
In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.

[O] Why in the morning?  Because it is the beginning of the whole day.  And that's when this author is committing to talk with God and life up his prayer to Him and then eagerly watches for God to answer him (or at least work in his life throughout the day).

[A] A very simple application here -- get up earlier in the morning to spend that time of "ordering" my prayer to God and then eagerly watch how He will unfold His plans throughout the day.

[P] Dear Father, I would just love to eagerly watch what You will do in and through my life only after I have lifted up my prayers to You before I dart out to face the world.  Please come and fill my life with Your wonderful plans.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Whom the Lord Commends

[S] 2 Corinthians 10:18 --
18 For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.

[O] Just like in Olympics, no matter how much the athletes themselves may feel like they deserve the gold medal, it is the judges' scores which will determine the winners.  Likewise, it is the Lord who will commend those He deems worthy according to His "scores" and there is no exception.  Many times, I feel like I deserve a bit more recognition for how much I served in His Kingdom, but my feelings do not matter at all.  In the end I must submit to His leadership and the commendations which come from Him alone.

[A] Stay humble in my services in His ministry, especially when things seem to go well.  Let the Lord commend.

[P] Dear Lord, please be the Lord of my services for Your Kingdom.  May it flourish because You are in the center of it all; but let it not go to my head but instead bring me to my knees in prayer more and more.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Often Slip Away

[S] Luke 5:16 --
16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

[O] When people were overwhelming crowding Him in, Jesus would "often" slip away alone to pray.  I have to conclude that: 1) He needed some time alone to Himself; 2) He chose the wilderness an environment suited for being alone; 3) He recharged Himself through prayer.

[A] I feel I am being pulled from so many directions these days I also need to follow His example of slipping away alone to pray.

[P] Dear Jesus, I want to follow Your model to recharge my spiritual life and ministerial energy to serve others better.  Please give me insight to take this time away into the wilderness to spend the time with You. In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Paying Attention to His Voice

[S] 2 Chronicles 33:10 --
10  The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.

[O] It seems to me, God speaks to us all the time but we just don't pay attention to listen to what He says to us.  Many times I think that God isn't speaking to me (and I'm sure there may be times when He is silent) but for the most part I miss by not pay attention to His voice because it is drowned out in the midst of all other "voices" that I am so busy trying to listen to.

[A] My life's real busy lately with so much going on.  I cannot let this be an excuse not to pay attention to what God is saying to me.  Throughout the day I must keenly pay attention by having a heart of prayer and also meditation of His word whenever there is a break in the midst of my tasks.

[P] Dear Father, thank You for speaking to me all the time.  May my heart be attentive to Your loving voice throughout the day.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

What Comes Before Now

[S] Isaiah 37:20 --
20  "Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God."

[O] The word "Now" transitions Hezekiah's prayer from acknowledging who God is and what He is made of in verse 16 -- O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.  We tend to think of prayer as a way to make requests (thus we call it prayer requests) to God but before requests must come the recognition of who He is and why we need to make requests to Him.  If He is not better than we are, then why waste time making requests to Him.  It is only when I acknowledge that God is much bigger than what I can do my requests carry some weight and value.

[A] Before jumping into a list of my "requests" for God to do for me, I should worship and praise Him for who He is and what He is able to do in and around my life.  Then and only then my prayers like Hezekiah's prayer portrayed here will display His power and my requests answered in His ways and timing.

[P] Dear Father, I humbly fall before You today to fully acknowledge how BIG You are in my life and how You sit above all of this world in Heaven to lead us and to guide us to love us into Your bosom.  I cannot wish anything more than just that, to be right in Your presence because You hold and uphold me.  May this life of 1/6.5 billionth of this world give You joy because I will praise You and worship You despite my circumstances as I pray all this in Your amazing name.  Amen.

Proclamation Against My Enemy

[S] Micah 7:8 --
8 Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy.
Though I fall I will rise;
Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.

[O] What a bold statement to claim here to the enemy.  The claim is not about not falling but will rise on every fall.  It's not about just being in the light all the time, but about how even though darkness may overcome, God who rests in the heart of the believe is the light despite the circumstances.

[A] Can I make such a bold claim based on my own relationship with Jesus?  I need to use this passage as my daily prayer to claim to my enemy that it isn't going to come easy for him to take me down because my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is what's going to sustain me regardless of how he tries to distract me or to bog me down.  I will claim this as my daily proclamation against all of my enemies.

[P] Dear Father, You are my God and my mighty strong tower.  You are my shepherd who will not let me go.  I claim that I will rise again and again and to keep you as the unquenchable fire in me to light my path.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Ticket to Seeing God's Face

[S] Hosea 5:15 --
15 I will go away and return to My place
Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.

[O] God awaits our confession of our status and seek Him earnestly as if a drowning person grasping for the lifeline.  Until that happens we have no choice but to wander and fall away from His presence, not because we actively choose to but because we fall into the whirlwind of the world void of God's presence which will sweep us far away from God.  During this time, we may feel like God is hiding away from us but as stated in this passage, He will return to His place and wait until we recognize of our guilt and begin to seek His face earnestly.

[A] I can get so used to living out a Christian life, I can easily fall into the mode of thinking I'm doing good enough.  I need to not excuse myself from seeking His face earnestly every day and that involves taking a breaking during the busyness of the workplace to lift up a prayer to God to seek His face.

[P] Dear Father, thank You for giving me the ticket to meeting You face to face -- my earnest prayer.  May I not take this for granted but use it often throughout the day?  Please let Your Spirit remind me and may my heart respond to the reminders.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Means of Sanctification

[S] 1 Timothy 4:4-5 --
4  For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude;5  for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.

[O] Just like how water is the base for mixing various elements together, gratitude is the base formula for seeing and receiving all that God created as He intended as good.  Based on this, all things are created for good but it is my tainted mind that limits me to selfish perspectives causing me to see many things God created less than their face values.  Verse 5 teaches me about the power and influence of God's word and my prayer because my integrating these two tightly into my life, I will be able to see all things as good as God intended and that includes my own life to be sanctified more and more towards the image God had intended for my life.

[A] Continue on devotion, and integrate more prayer there as well as during other times of my daily routine.

[P] Dear Father, thank You for revealing the secret of Your word and my prayer as the foundation of my faith and how it will set my perspectives straight as You had intended.  May my life be aligned more with Your design as I integrate more prayer into my daily routine.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Mountain-Top Prayers for Followers

[S] Mark 6:46 --
After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.

[O] Praying for those I care for came to mind as I read this passage about how Jesus after sending His discipleships away He went to the mountain to pray.  When He was with them He would teach them His ways directly and when He's away from them He leads them by covering them through prayer.  And when I think about it some more His prayers are not like mine where it is filled with doubts and unbelief, not to mention sinfulness in my life; His prayers are on target every requests He makes.  However, His perfect prayers did not make His disciples perfect but did allow them to live out for God's purpose (except for Judas Iscariot).

[A] This "perfect" picture of prayer support of those Jesus cared for is what I need to practice more.  There are times to plan for the training and showing them what to do, but as critical as those are my prayer covering for these people -- my family members and those I care for in ministry.  I also need to remember that these people I care for are still imperfect human beings as I am so I must practice my faith in God and not in these people.  God will move their hearts to walk with Him.

[P] Dear Father, please continue to uplift those I care for in this worldas I commit to pray for them more diligently with a time set aside.  I want to follow Jesus' model of caring for His followers as I ask in His name.  Amen.

Some Times Fast, Some Times Slow

[S] Acts 13:3,19 --
 ³Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. 
 ¹⁹"When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance--all of which took about four hundred and fifty years. 

[O] These two verses highlighted two contrasting views: 1) When I have God's conviction, I should not delay moving forward right away after fasting and praying; 2) Development of God's ministry from ground up requires time to mature.  Both are participating in God's will and yet depending on the situation I need to discern to either do a 100m dash, or run a marathon.

[A] Some times I'm too cautious about moving forward with God's convictions.  I do too much of a the Gideon's testing by looking from various angles to make sure.  But seeing how the leaders from Acts I need to learn to fast, pray, bless (lay hands), and start (send) down the path of God's conviction with confidence.  On the other hand, when the development of the ministry seems to take too long, remember that God let the Israelites 450 years to settle into the Promised Land which He had already allocated for His people to take over.

[P] Dear Father, please allow me wisdom to discern how I should act in my current ministry roles.  At times I feel like I should move quickly with conviction; and yet at times I cannot see how we can cover so much in such a short duration.  I need Your wisdom daily so I don't get stressed out too much so I ask for Your peaceful understanding of my circumstances better.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

One Mind Will Go a Long Way

[S] Acts 1:14 --
 ¹⁴These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

[O] Praying together corporately powerful but what precedes that is everyone having one mind.  Without having this hearts of unity, devoting in prayer together has no meaning other than the outward appearance.  One of the cliche we often throw around is "let's pray together" as if it's some sort of a spell we memorize and a genie will come out to do some magical thing for us.  But I realize praying together is really more for us to tune our own hearts in one accord in order to bring our body of believers in unity before God and this scene must be something that will put smile on God's face.  In the culture when women were not even counted (remember the 5,000 fed by Jesus recorded in John 6 counted only the men) the women (probably led by Mary the mother of Jesus) joined with men to pray continually.  Likewise, the foundation of any vibrant ministry is to have one mind.

[A] Promoting one mind within our church requires wisdom and disciplined way of leading the congregation such as effective communication.  Prayer and studying word is the default requirement we must hold on to but the practical aspects of embracing people's mind is a pre-requisite ground work that must go on continually.  This year, I need to work in this area for our small group ministry such that not only we refine the "program and structure" but to gather more people's hearts in one mindedness.

[P] Dear Father, please gather our church congregation's hearts into one mind just like how you did in this passage so out of such a culture people will naturally pray together in various groups for our ministry and for one another.  Please make our community a praying community.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Be Fit For the Kingdom of God

[S] Luke 9:62 --
 ⁶²But Jesus said to him, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

[O] The kingdom of God is forward moving and it does not dwell on the past.  If you look at our body, it's also designed to move forward and my spiritual life also is designed to go forward.  Once I become the son of God, the past is history and I must pave the new paths and create newness in my own life.  Paving the path forward requires complete attention and energy such that I really won't have any time to look back as it will jeopardize my forward moving tasks.

[A] Keep my eyes on the Cross and hold my bearing straight through more passionate and constant prayer with God.

[P] Dear Father, I want to keep looking forward and not go zigzag in my spiritual walk with You.  I want to keep this by praying constantly with You by making my whole day a continued prayer with You in between all the activities.  Please let Your Spirit reign in my life.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.