Daydream believer...
READ Proverbs 20:1-30
SITUATION Solomon wrote more proverbs. If readers follow these words of wisdom, Solomon promised that God would approve of their lives.
OBSERVATION Sin takes many forms: gossip, laziness, drunkenness, and dishonesty.
INSPIRATION My spiritual battleground is not over a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of port. It's not in a disco or a movie theatre. My spiritual battle is not a back yard fence over which I gossip to my neighbor, nor is it a fast car I race past the speed limit. My paralysis prevents me from reaching for the common temptations. That's why my spiritual battle-ground is on the field of my thoughts.
I posses a very unlovely trait: I waste precious time in idle daydreams. I hate it because wasteful fantasies distract me from the real concerns of life, causing me to feel restless and dissatisfied with the way things are.
. . . The very fact that I am ashamed of myself drives me to God. I lie in the dust of my self-despair at His feet and find safety and acceptance. My lazy thoughts make me contrite and repentant, and I am humbled that I have to come so often to God for cleansing.
If we are to have power with the Lord, to be dear to Him, if our prayers are to prevail and if we are to be more useful to Him, we must jerk right-side up those wrong and unloving traits in our lives.
Amy Carmichael has said, "No word can declare with what longings Divine Love waits until the heart, all weary and sick of itself, turns to the Lord and says, "Take full possession" (From Diamonds in the Dust by Joni Eareckson Tada).
APPLICATION What sin do you wrestle with? How long has it been a problem? Seek God for victory. Ask him to help you throw that habit out of your life today.
EXPLORATION Victory over Sin and Temptation --Proverbs 1:10; Daniel 1:8; Romans 6:13; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 1 John 5:3-5
The Devotional Bible - Experiencing the Heart of Jesus; Max Lucado General Editor, Thomas Nelson Publishers, New Century Version.
Norman Rockwell
The Prayer of Agreement
with Bayless Conley
In the last two devotionals, we have learned about the prayer of dedication and the prayer of faith. Today I want to help you understand the prayer of agreement.
This prayer is found in Matthew 18:19, where Jesus says,
"Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven."
When I pray with other people, nine times out of ten this is the prayer that I pray with them. And most of the time I will quote this verse to them.
I remember working for a ministry years ago and praying with the folks who called on the phone. When I prayed with someone, I would walk them through this verse before we prayed.
The steps I pointed out were simple:
There needs to be at least two of us praying.
We need to agree.
We need to be on earth (I usually got a laugh out of this one).
What we are asking God for needs to come under the category of "anything" (which their request always did).
God will do it.
The only part people ever got hung up on was the agreement. "What does it mean to agree?" they would ask. I would say, "Simple, to agree means to agree." Don't over-spiritualize it. If we decide to get lunch together at a certain time at a certain place, and you say, "Ok, see you there," we have just agreed.
To agree in prayer is no different.
Read this verse again. Look at it step by step, and follow it—in all its simplicity. If we do our part, God will do His.
Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God.
In the last two devotionals, we have learned about the prayer of dedication and the prayer of faith. Today I want to help you understand the prayer of agreement.
This prayer is found in Matthew 18:19, where Jesus says,
"Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven."
When I pray with other people, nine times out of ten this is the prayer that I pray with them. And most of the time I will quote this verse to them.
I remember working for a ministry years ago and praying with the folks who called on the phone. When I prayed with someone, I would walk them through this verse before we prayed.
The steps I pointed out were simple:
There needs to be at least two of us praying.
We need to agree.
We need to be on earth (I usually got a laugh out of this one).
What we are asking God for needs to come under the category of "anything" (which their request always did).
God will do it.
The only part people ever got hung up on was the agreement. "What does it mean to agree?" they would ask. I would say, "Simple, to agree means to agree." Don't over-spiritualize it. If we decide to get lunch together at a certain time at a certain place, and you say, "Ok, see you there," we have just agreed.
To agree in prayer is no different.
Read this verse again. Look at it step by step, and follow it—in all its simplicity. If we do our part, God will do His.
Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God.
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