Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images from Jaci Velasquez, singing Dennis Jernigan’s song … On My Knees … longingly and lovingly singing of the power invoked when we get on our knees in surrender to King Jesus.
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Highlight Verse: 1st Kings 18:37 [NKJV] …
37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”
… Elijah’s prayer to God for Him to show Himself …
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Highlight Passage [context]: 1st Kings 18:36-46 … USE THIS LINK …
… Elijah prays for God to reveal Himself to the Godless Ahab and his court; and rain came forth after years of drought.
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Reference Passage #1 [NKJV] : ... John 15:7 …
7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
… Jesus on the effectiveness of prayer from an abiding and surrendered servant.
Reference Passage #2 [NKJV] : ... James 5:16-18 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… James makes reference to the mighty and wondrous power in prayer by citing Elijah’s prayer.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, James Banks, makes reference to the miraculous story of Elijah praying and God bringing rain after years of drought to illustrate how God often works. He writes: God often chooses to move through our prayers to accomplish His work. We see this when God told the prophet Elijah, “I will send rain on the land,” promising to end a drought in Israel that had lasted three and a half years (James 5:17). … Elijah understood that God wants us to join in His work through humble, persistent prayer. Regardless of our human limitations, God may choose to move through our praying in amazing ways. That’s why the letter of James tells us that “the earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results,” all the while reminding us that “Elijah was as human as we are” (James 5:16–17 nlt).
If it is truth and God will often reveal Himself when we pray, why then don’t we do all we can to follow what Jesus said about prayer to His disciples (see John 15:7)? Should we not be trying to abide in Christ more diligently and bring our adoration, confession, thankfulness, and supplications (that’s the “ACTS” of prayer) to our Lord as righteously and intently and as often as we can?
The Apostle Paul taught fellow Christians that prayer, offered to God with a humble/thankful heart, was God’s prescription of peace for our anxieties (look up Phil. 4:6-7); so, are you as convicted about our puny prayer practices as I am?
My fellow Christian, it’s easy to see why Satan will do all he can to keep us diverted from our prayer life. So, let’s do more - even today - to prioritize the time/effort we spend in prayer, knowing that this will be time well invested for God’s glory.
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … Lord, this is my time with/for You. And I’m here to follow You with my prayers. ... 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.
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