Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of Twila Paris and Dennis Jernigan singing the song he wrote, … On My Knees, expressing the need all Christians have to be in prayer daily, if not momentarily.
Highlight Passage: Luke 18:1 [NKJV] …
1 “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, … “
… Jesus taught about the seriousness of persistent prayer
============
Highlight Context – Luke 18: 1-8 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus exhorts in parable for His Disciples to pray … and pray … and pray
============
Reference Passage #1 - Proverbs 3:5-6 [NKJV] …
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him and HE will direct your paths.
… And prayer is the best and primary method to show our trust in a faithful God.
Reference Passage #2 - Mark 14:32-38 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus warned His disciples that the flesh would be an enemy when they needed watch and pray …
Reference Passage #3 - Ephesians 6: 13, …18 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul’s exhortation for Christians to take the high ground of prayer in spiritual warfare …
Reference Passage #4 - Philippians 4:6-7 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Do we worry; or just do what God said, thru Paul, and pray?
Reference Passage #5 - 1st Peter 5: 7 [NKJV] …
7 … casting all your cares on Him because He cares for you.
… Do we not pray because we just don’t believe this?
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, David C McCaslandd, made reference in his ODB teaching to Luke’s passage, quoting Jesus’ parable about the persistent pleas of a widow, illustrating the need for God’s chosen to continually and persistently bring their supplications to God in prayer.
And Jesus warned His disciples when He asked them to watch and pray with Him ... that the flesh would be weak when they were called to pray (see the story in Mark 14 above). And yes, how easy it is, in our continual, daily battles with our spiritual enemies to give up the high ground in warfare by not praying diligently and persistently. But Paul charged that we must stand and take that high ground, praying for ourselves and the Saints in our daily battles [see Eph. 6: 13, 18).
And Paul and Peter preached about using prayer to overcome our anxieties and to cast ALL - not just some, but ALL - our cares on God because HE really does care for us (see Phil. 4:6-7 and 1st Pet. 5: 7 above). Sure, … there may be times when God doesn’t seem to answer or is silent; … or maybe times when He just says “NO” to our prayers.
But if, for no other reason than Jesus’ charge for His disciples [that’s us] to pray, we should pray and pray ... and keep praying. I just can’t get over the image of Jesus coming out of the Garden in Mark 14 and saying to His disciples [paraphrased], "Couldn’t you watch and pray with me for an hour?"
So, I’m duly convicted that I need to do more to take the high ground of prayer in my daily battles; … and do all I can - IN PRAYER - to hold the high ground for my Lord.
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … Help me to pray today, Lord, … and tomorrow … and every day. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
No comments:
Post a Comment