Sunday Inspiration: The Purpose of Prayer
When man works, man works. When man prays, God works!
The LORD is really working in my life to make prayer be a top priority again. There was a season in my life (several years) where I spent hours each day praying, but over time that good habit slipped away.
In my Sunday Inspiration last week titled “Imagination is the road less taken“, I talked about Mark Batterson and his New York Times best-seller “The Circle Maker.” Mark writes, “Dreaming is a form of praying and praying is a form of dreaming. The more you pray, the bigger your dreams will become. ”
In response to that Sunday Inspiration, Frank Meadows wrote “The Circle Maker is one of the best books on prayer that I’ve read in decades. It’s a great inspiration to pray.” That’s coming from the founder of the Meadows Healing Prayer Center and an expert in Theophostic Healing Prayer (emotional healing and mind renewal).
At the Sunday worship service at Mountain View Community Church on Sep 15, Nathan Viar said, “The purpose of prayer is to surrender our will to God, not to impose it.” That jumped out at me and inspired the title of this week’s Sunday Inspiration.
Pastor Mark Jenkins’ sermon on Sep 15 titled “Looking Forward” really resonated with my spirit. He talked about the importance for every Christian to share their faith and give people the chance to respond. Mark talked about Phillip’s God-ordained encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch and how that transformed not only the eunuch, but Phillip too.
Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the Scripture which he read was this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth. In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.” So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. (Acts 8:26-39)
In the lyrics of his song “I Will Follow,” Chris Tomlin writes
Where you go, I will go.
Where you stay, I’ll stay.
When you move, I’ll move.
I will follow You.
That’s certainly how I feel as I passionately pursue the Savior of the world. And I desperately want others to come to know Yeshua this way too.
At the worship service on Sep 15 I heard a new song by David Crowder titled “This I Know“. My heart cry to Yahweh are the lyrics “Take me up to where I was when I never wanted more than You!”
Prayer Power
Thank you Father for stirring up the flame of passion within me for You. You’re all I want and all I need. Rule and reign in my thoughts, words, and actions. Bless the work of my hands that I may exalt You and Your holy name around the world. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen and hallelujah!
Blessings to passionate pursue the Savior of the world!
Joseph
More blessings
On Sep 20, Monty Saunders, Jack Stagman, and I had the privilege to visit with Dr. David Snyder at Verdun Adventure Bound in northern Culpeper County. Dr. Snyder is the most energetic physician I have ever met and Verdun Adventure Bound is an amazing facility.
CLICK HERE to see photos from my visit.
3) I Will Follow with Lyrics by Chris Tomlin
4) Mighty to Save with Lyrics by Hillsong
5) ‘Titanic’s last Hero’ – enacted True Story!
Story of John Harper
6) Real movies for real families by AFA
No profanity, no inappropriate conduct, no gratuitous violence!
REAL families want REAL movies! The ones that actually depict REAL life, REAL places and REAL situations.
7) Killing Cancer… Not People! – book by Bob Wright, Director of the American Anti-Cancer Institute
No comments yet.