Thursday, May 04, 2006

Thoughts and questions on prayer -- taken from my pastor's Wednesday evening devotion--

What do we ask from the Lord when we go to him in prayer? Are we concerned with His glory, His holiness? Or are we merely focused on setting our needs before Him? Yes, we are supposed to ask that we may receive, but should all our focus be on ourselves, or is prayer more than that?

In Matthew 6, we find the Lord's model prayer. Notice that Jesus himself begins with petitioning the Father for the holiness of His name--"Hallowed be thy name." Is our heart's desire the holiness, the sanctifying of God's name?

As my pastor shared with us last night, we can only pray our heart's desires. This requires us to train our hearts and minds to seek, not just our needs and the needs of our brethren, but the holiness of God! "Seek ye first the kingdom of God."

Do our lives, our prayers, our actions reveal our desire to see God's name glorified and preeminent?

Do our lives, the way we live, the things we do, the choices we make express the desires we bring before God in prayer? Are we hypocrites that pray one thing in our closets, but live a life completely opposite of all that we've just asked from God?

We must live our lives in such a way to sanctify the name of God and honor Him above all! From Pastor Scott's message last night, "We can only make a difference when we ARE different!" This difference begins, not with our hearts, but with God's word! Desire it, live it, give an account of it!

"Our Father, who art in heaven, sanctify thy name!"

2 comments:

Jamie Butts said...

Great post! There's a new Friday prompt waiting for you...

Anonymous said...

That's a wonderful lesson, isn't it, Rebekah? Your pastor is a blessing and he's so encouraging to hear:) See you tonight?
sarah