Day 48: The Great I AM
What a blessing it is to speak to the Force of the Universe- the One who said “Let there be light” and from nothing came into existence the sun, a force so powerful that we can’t even look at with the naked eye.You know we live in a phy
sical world where we are limited as to what we see, what we know, and even what we understand as to how we exist. For example, the human body is made of billions of cells, each having their own characteristics and all working together, allowing the body to operate and function so that we may live. This magnificent body is put together between every cell by the great “I AM” and we will never know, in this world, how it could have happened.When I try to grasp in my mind who or what God is, or when I try to expand my mind to understand how big, powerful, and intelligent God is...well, words can’t even come close to describe how great He is!
With all that said, the message I am trying to send is that we can speak to the Eternal Existence, and He not only hears, but He sees us and connects with us through our minds.
It would excite me to have a personal conversation with a prominent figure such as a president or a leader of another country and know that they would listen to me. How much more exciting should it be to know we can speak with the Creator, and He cares about what we have to say and even responds!
Stay excited about prayer and know Who you are talking to!
Written by Derek McBroom, a deacon at Mt. Juliet
Day 47: Resolve to Pray
With the new year a
pproaching, it can only mean one thing- resolutions. To some people, it’s a beautiful word with the opportunity to start on a new goal, hobby, or life style. While to others, it means it’s time to face the facts and “commit” to changes we know will only last a few weeks. But what if as Christians we all took the resolution this year to pray that the Lord will make us productive workers in His Kingdom?In the closing verses of Matthew 9, we see Jesus moved with compassion. Then, in a very somber, yet poetic sense, relates the people to the coming harvest. He tells His disciples in Matthew 9:37-38, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Also in John 4:35 He states: “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest?’ Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white with harvest.”
What a beautiful scene of opportunity- knowing that they are souls in the world waiting for us to go and bring them in! What an even more beautiful picture- the sight when those people receive the Word of God, allow it to grow in and change their life, and then ultimately put on the Lord in baptism. Scripture is full of references for us to be the ones to go and plant, water, and care for the seed we plant in each other's lives. This year, let’s not wait a few months before we begin our spiritual resolutions. Rather, start on them today, praying for the Lord to be able to use us as faithful productive workers in His Vineyard.
Written by Matt Brown, a college student at Mt. Juliet
Day 46: When Prayer Works
Last
semester, many of us students started praying the prayer of Jabez in 1 Chronicles. It was our theme for the semester with our social club, and I really wanted to test this confident and aggressive way to pray to God. God started opening so many doors and giving so many opportunities to grow that I lost my faith in Him! I started controlling things on my own that I would have previously trusted God with because I had more things happening than ever before. My world was bigger than ever before because of God, and I forgot Him in the hugeness.Prayer of a seasoned Christian is a conscious realization that you can’t live without God. When my prayers mean little to me is the time that I am living life without God. These are the times when I am taking opportunities on my own shoulders and walking through doors in front of Christ, instead of taking His yoke (Matthew 11:29-30) and following his steps (John 21:19).
The thing about prayer is that it works. The hardest thing for me is when it works and I have to grow my world and my outreach from it.
A couple months ago I realized I had lost real faith in God from distrust, and I have been praying and studying ever since to regain our relationship.
Real prayer takes real faith, because real prayer is God in the process of controlling our life.
May God give faith to those that feel hopeless and trust to those in complete control.
Day 45: Retreat to Pray
Prayer is our direct line of communication with God. Jesus, our ultimate example, prayed very often. In the gospels, we see that He would retreat from everyone around Him for the express purpose of talking to the Father. When was the last time you withdrew from everything else going on in your life to pray?In Matthew 6, we read about people who pray to be seen. Jesus calls these people hypocrites (vs. 5). By no means is praying in public a bad thing, but it is important that we pray for the right reason and that we are sincere. Under the old covenant, they were doing the right thi
ngs, but they were focusing on the action instead of the meaning behind the action. The resounding theme of the New Testament is that the sound doctrine and sincerity of heart is what really matters.
In order to receive our reward, we must be sincere in our Christianity. These hypocrites had already received their reward (vs. 5). God does not reward selfishness or vanity. God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7), and He is looking for people to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
In teaching the believers how to pray, Jesus references how the Gentiles “heap up empty phrases.” (Matthew 6:7) Do we use empty words today? It would be hard to argue that we don’t at least repeat phrases on a regular basis. Sometimes it seems like we hear the same prayers every week. We have grown accustomed to certain structures of prayer. It’s like we have Betty Crocker recipes for different prayers (i.e. opening, communion, offering, closing, mealtime, etc.) There are also usually common threads that pop up in prayers. Phrases like, “nourish our body”, “guide, guard, and direct us”, “give back as we have been prospered”, etc. While these are all great things to petition God about, we have to ask ourselves if we have fallen into monotony.
Our prayers to God must be reverent, but they must also be personal. We are approaching the One who loves us most and knows exactly what we need. He should be our closest friend, and we should talk to Him and pour out our heart to Him just like we would our best friend on earth.
Consider Luke 6:12-16. The passage describes a time where Jesus had a very important decision to make. He was about to choose the twelve men that would be His apostles and closest friends for the rest of His time on earth. He knew they would have to be righteous, trustworthy men that would be steadfast in following His teachings after He left this earth. Before He made this important decision, He did something that we can all learn from. He withdrew from everyone and went to a mountain to pray. Not only did He pray, He continued in prayer all night. This says a lot about His fervor and dedication. Jesus made it a point to separate Himself from all distractions to pray.
Make it a point this week to set aside 10 minutes to separate yourself from all distractions. Go somewhere alone where it will be quiet and you won’t be disturbed or distracted by people, technology and other noise, and just talk to God. He already knows, but talk to Him about the things going on in your life. Ask Him to help you with your struggles and to ease your worries. Thank Him for the things that are going good in your life. Prayer is a powerful tool for Christians, but it cannot serve its purpose if we leave it at the church building between services.
Written by Timothy Thompson II, a college student at Mt. Juliet
Day 44: An Unselfish Prayer
“O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today…” (Nehemiah 1:11).After receiving word about how the walls of Jerusalem had been destroyed, Nehemiah mourned for days and continued fasting and praying. He prays to God, confessing the sins of Israel and of his own sins. He admits that he knows better than to live the way he has been living against the commands that God first gave to Moses. He acknowledges his mistakes and begs for God’s attention to hear his prayer.
What is so encouraging about the story of Nehemiah is that he has a plan for his people back home. He really had the choice of not doing anything about this problem, but decided to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem under God’s guidance in hopes to not only restore the land, but also the spiritual lives of people that desperately needed it.
What an example! An
example of a man who realized what he was capable of doing to fix a seemingly impossible problem. And what an honest commitment we see out of Nehemiah to do something like this. We see that he really felt the pain and distress of these people and decided to do something about it. I love how the scriptures do not lack to show his first method of action- prayer.
So don’t take my word for it- try it yourself! Bring your plans and intentions before God. Let him provide the opportunity if it is not already there. But we cannot do that under his guidance without first being engaged in communication with Him through prayer. Lets take time for a prayer today so we can help someone tomorrow.
Written by Michael Conatser, a college student at Mt. Juliet
Day 43: A 32 Second Prayer
N.B. Hard
eman began a Gospel meeting preaching on the topic of prayer. He stated because of the essentiality of prayer it would be an appropriate way to begin a meeting. It would be just as possible "to live physical life without breathing as it is to live spiritual life without prayer," Hardeman observed. Then he quoted the model prayer of our Lord deliberately slower as if he were praying. This brief prayer lasted 32 seconds, and he quipped, "If I were asked to lead a prayer and prayed only 32 seconds you would say, 'Hardeman ran out of soup!'" The content of prayer is much more important than the length of a prayer.Let us learn from this great preacher as he taught about our Master's prayer in Luke 11:2-4:
Reverence: "Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name."
Loyalty: "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
Dependency: "Give us day by day our daily bread."
Forgiveness: "And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us."
Trust: "And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."
Prayer is communing with God from our heart. Does your heart meditate on God's grandeur? Does your life prove loyal to God? Do you humbly recognize all good gifts are from God? Have you forgiven yourself and others? Do you follow Christ's will even when temptation allures you? If not, are you penitently seeking God's forgiveness? If we can answer "yes" to these we ought to be able to pray the model prayer. If we can't, maybe we need to repent and pray. It's impossible to live wrong and pray right! But it is essential to pray right to have spiritual life!
Written by David Shannon, preacher at Mt. Juliet
Day 42: Kneel
I remember going to church with school friends and seeing padded boards hinged at the bottom of pews. I was told that they were for prayer. It was new to me. Later in high school, I was visiting an older small congregation in the country, and I would see several of the men take a knee when the prayer was starting. In my youth, I thought “that’s kind of neat”. For many years they were just experiences of youth that you file away. Now I find that my prayers are better when I kneel. It started at a time when things in life were a burden I was unable to carry. I was overcome with worry and fatigue. I was beat down enough that I went to my knees.
As I study, I come to find those feelings reflected in scripture. In 1 Peter 4:7, we are to watch unto prayer that the coming end of all things should make us serious and prayerful. In 2 Chronicles 6:13, Solomon kneeled down before the whole assembly of Israel to pray. Daniel, in Daniel 6:10, continued to go into his house and kneel and pray after Darius signed the interdict. In Acts 7:60, Stephen while being stoned kneeled down and asked for forgiveness for those stoning him. In Acts 9:40, Peter kneeled down while healing Tabitha. Jesus, in the garden, kneeled in prayer preparing for His death (Luke 22:41). It appears that kneeling in prayer was a common practice. I know it has become part of my life in worship to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
“O come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our maker.” (Psalms 95:6)
Written by James Whiteaker, an elder at Mt. Juliet
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