from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager
Happy Canada Day to the Canadian Sisters
today and Independence Day on July 4 to the US Sisters. Thanking Him for our
countries and greater still, our shared heavenly citizenship!
One of greatest ways we can love one
another as sisters in Christ is by praying for each other. You do that so
beautifully! Thank you for it. Let’s think together how prayer specifically
intersects with our theme, Who’s the
Greatest?
When You Pray
He said to them, “When you
pray.”
Luke 11:2a
For God to be the greatest in our lives,
we’re going to need some help. Divine help. Because the natural inclination of
our hearts is to be self-centered rather than God-centered, it’s critical that
we humble ourselves in prayer.
When
you pray, start with God.
Jesus taught His disciples to begin their prayers by saying, “Father, hallowed be your name” (Luke
11:2). Start your prayers by telling God how great He is! Declare who He is and
all He’s done. Delight in His names, nature, promises, and character. Beginning
with God puts our prayers in perspective. We sense our powerlessness and His
omnipotence.
When
you pray, humble yourself before God. In
the parable of the two men who prayed, the Pharisee prayed about himself. The
tax collector beat his breast and begged for God’s mercy. It’s interesting to
note that Jesus’ parable is more about the attitude of pride than the how-to of
prayer. His intended audience was those
who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else.
His parable point was that those who
exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be
exalted (Luke 18:9, 14b).
When
you pray, don’t put on a show. Within
the Sermon on the Mount Jesus instructs us to get alone with the Father. This
is tender time between the Father and His child, not stage performance for
those listening in. As far as word count, use less. There are no bonus points
for babblers for our Father already knows what we need (Matthew 6:5-8).
When
you pray, focus on God’s glory. God
expects His glory to be the primary petition of our prayers. Jesus’ prayers for
Himself, His disciples, and future believers were passionate and preoccupied
with the Father’s glory (John 17). Phil Moore writes, “Jesus wants to teach us
that His prayers are always Father-centered, not self-centered or us-centered,
so that we learn to keep our own prayers focused on the glory of the Living
God.”
When
you pray, pray for humility. Pray
that God would become greater and you would become less. Pray that He would
clothe you with the attitude of Christ so people would see more of Him and less
of you.
He>i:
For God to become
greater and bigger in your life, what change is needed in your prayers?
PRAYER: Father, we confess that we are naturally self-centered and
self-exalting. Any humility we have is the gift of your Holy Spirit. Please,
please touch us now with a humble heart, and break our pride and
self-dependence. Amen.
C. John Miller
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