Sunday, 30 Nov. 2014
PRAYER
AS A WAY OF LIFE
by
Sis. Cristy and Bro. Rolly Custodio
Message: Secret #1 in Prayer “Establish Your Personal Relationship with God”
“IF
YOU ABIDE IN ME, AND MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, you will ask what you desire, and
it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much
fruit; so you will be My disciples.” (John 15:7)
Today’s Devotion:
This, in my opinion, is the #1 secret for being able to get more
of your personal prayers answered by God the Father. This particular secret is
the first step you will need to take before you can expect to have any kind of
major success in your prayer life with God the Father.
Here is the Scripture verse that will give us this first major
prayer secret from the Lord:
“IF
YOU ABIDE IN ME, AND MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, you will ask what you desire, and
it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much
fruit; so you will be My disciples.” (John 15:7)
Look very, very carefully at this verse to see exactly what Jesus
is trying to tell you. He is giving you two powerful pieces of revelation in
which to grasp if you want to be able to get God the Father to answer more of
your specific prayers.
Here are the two main pieces of revelation.
1. Establish a Good, Personal Relationship with the Lord
The first part of the first sentence – “If you abide in
Me” - is telling you that the very first thing that God is wanting
from you in order to be able to properly approach Him for prayer is for you to
establish a very strong personal relationship with Him!
Jesus is using the word “abide.” The word abide
means to “continue in a state or place, to endure.” What Jesus
wants from us is that we be willing to abide in Him, that we be willing to live
in Him. Being willing to abide in Jesus means that we have established a very
good, intimate, personal relationship with Him.
The #1 reason God created the human race was for intimate
fellowship. God has this incredible love for the human race, and He wants
more than anything else that we approach Him and enter into this one-on-one,
intimate, personal relationship with Him.
If you really stop and think about this, what is one of the
greatest joys that a person can have this side of heaven? What is the one thing
that most people long for? What is the one thing that will make you cry when
you see this portrayed at the movie theaters?
It is the longing for a personal, intimate, love relationship with
a person of the opposite sex, the longing for a true soul mate. Why? Because
that one person, more than any other person, is the one person who can really
get to know you. It is the one person who can become your best friend. It is
the one person who you can tell anything and everything to.
It is the most unique of all human relationships. Some have found
this one true love in this life and others have not. Those of you who have
found this one true love know exactly what I am talking about. Those of you who
have not found this one true love at this time know the longing that you have
to find this one special person.
This same longing that we have to meet this one true soulmate is
the same longing that God has for all us. Except with God, this longing for us
is much more intense. The fact that God would send down His one and only Son to
our earth in the flesh to physically die on a cross in order to bring us back
to Himself shows us more than anything else how much He really does love all of
us.
2. The Bible
Now we come to the second part in secret no.1 that is in the above
verse. Note the second part of the first sentence then says, “My words
abide in you.” I believe Jesus is telling us two things in this
sentence.
His “Words” are literally meaning His Words. If
you have established a good, loving, personal relationship with God, then He
will talk to you just like you will talk to Him.
And if He is talking to you, then His words will be abiding in
you! This will be as a direct result of the free flowing dialogue that you will
have with God as a result of having established a close, intimate, personal
relationship with Him.
The other meaning to His words abiding in you is that He is
referring to the Bible. If you really want to enter into a close personal
relationship with God, then you have to be willing to spend some type of
regular quality time reading the Bible. The Bible is the only one true source
that we have down here on this earth where we can really learn all about God
the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
When you first enter into a true, personal, love relationship with
someone, the very first natural desire you will have is that you will want to
get to know everything you can about this person. You will want to know about
all of their likes, their dislikes, where they have come from, and what they
have been through. And the only way that you can find all of this out about
them is by asking a lot of questions.
With God, the #1 way that you will learn all about Him is to read
the Bible, because the Bible will tell you everything that you will need to
know about Him, His Son Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit.
You have to seek after knowledge about the Lord – and the Bible is
the #1 main source that we have on this earth that can teach us about God and
all of His ways.
Application:
To summarize the revelation in the above Scripture verse in one
bottom line statement:
God is looking to establish a close, intimate, personal
relationship with each one of us. This is done in two ways:
1. By
establishing a direct, free-flowing, and spontaneous best friend relationship
with God where you commune and talk with Him on a regular and frequent basis in
the exact same way you would with a best friend.
2. And by
seeking after the knowledge of God – trying to get to know all you can about
Him by studying and meditating on what is written in the Holy Bible.
I guarantee you that if you are willing to enter into both of
these realms with the Lord, your prayer life will never be the same again. This
close, intimate, personal relationship that you can enter into with the Lord
will be the door opener that will change the course of your entire life
forever. The journey is there for all who are willing to step into it!
Prayer for Today:
Heavenly
Father thank you for your Word today. Lord thank you for revealing us the
secret number one in prayer. I realize Lord that the most important that we can
do is to establish and have a personal relationship with you and to read your
Word regularly. So that in all my prayers you will hear and answer it for your
glory, In Jesus name! Amen!
Prayer for Salvation
Lord
I admit I am a sinner I repent of all my sins and I receive you into my heart
as my personal Lord and Savior Amen. If you mean that prayer above from the
bottom of your heart you are now saved. It is God’s Word that He promise in
John 3:16 that if you trust His Son Jesus you will not die but you will have
Eternal Life. Welcome to the family of God. In order to grow in your faith with
God please do these consistently starting today; 1. Pray always 2. Read your
Bible Daily 3. Attend Church Services Regularly 4. Attend Prayer Meeting and
Bible Study and serve God first place in your life, in your talent and in your
finances 5. Witness Jesus to others that they may receive salvation too.
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