Pray for my enemies.

"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." Matthew 5:44

The first statement Jesus made from the cross was, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34). Maybe we would have understood it more if He had said, "Father, condemn them," or "Father, judge them." But the first thing Jesus said from the cross was a prayer for His enemies: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Jesus was practicing what He preached. Remember, in the Sermon on the Mount He said, "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).

And Jesus also was fulfilling a Messianic prophesy. Isaiah 53, written hundreds of years before Christ died, said that the Messiah would make intercession for the transgressors. And that is exactly what Jesus was doing. He was interceding for all the people who played a role in His death.

Pilate himself knew Jesus was innocent. He said, "I find no fault in this Man" (Luke 23:4). But because he was so concerned about his career and position, he would not pardon Jesus and let Him go. The religious rulers knew that no legitimate charge could be brought against Christ. Even the Roman centurion at the cross said, "Truly this Man was the Son of God!" (Mark 15:39). Judas Iscariot knew he had done wrong, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood" (Matthew 27:4).

So Jesus was essentially saying, "Father, forgive them. They don't realize how bad this is. Forgive them, because they need forgiveness so desperately. Forgive them, for they have committed a sin that is beyond all comprehension. Forgive them, for they have done something that is beyond bad. Father, forgive them."

When was the last time you prayed for your enemies? I'm going to challenge myself this week to Pray for everyone in my life including my enemies.

Will you do the same?

Seeking Gods Face

2 chronicles 7:14 "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land

This challenged me and made me think – when I pray is it more seeking his hand, asking him to do things for me than seeking his face, - what does seeking his face really mean?

What does it mean to worship God? We can learn a lot about worship simply through relationship with God here is a few keys to opening God's heart through praise and worship.

Some of us see God as a giant Santa Claus. Simply submit our wish list and we'll wake up one morning to find that all is well. Sometimes we fail to realize that relationship is everything. It's the one thing God wants more than anything else. And it's when we take the time to seek God's face - which is simply investing in that ongoing relationship with him - that he extends his hand because his heart is open to hear all we have to say. 

So how do we know if our relationship with God is centered around seeking his face instead of simply his hand? What can we do to make sure our motive is pure as we praise and worship God? 

 

• Spend most of our time with God in praise and worship. Letting God know how much we love and appreciate him never gets old to God. In fact, praise and worship is the key that opens God's heart. 
   
• Come to God just as we are with an open heart. Letting God sees all that is in our heart, good or bad, this lets God know that we value our relationship with him enough to let him see it all and do whatever he needs to do in and through us. 
   
• Look for opportunities to offer God praise and worship in things around us. All we need to do is see a beautiful sunset or one of the many other wonders of nature to offer God praise and thanksgiving for that miraculous blessing. God appreciates a grateful heart. 
   
• Don't be afraid to show God how we truly feel as we worship him. There are those who don't feel comfortable raising their hands or showing any emotion during worship services. Yet those same people can be found at sporting events or concerts whooping, clapping, and hollering as if it really mattered. I'm not saying we have to jump up and down or shout. Simply standing with open hands shows God that our heart is open and we want to feel God's presence. 
   
  And most importantly:
  
• Don't judge, look down on, or criticize someone else because they want to show emotions and energy as they worship. Just because an expression of worship is different than our own, doesn't mean it is inappropriate or wrong. We need to concentrate on worshiping God ourselves so our focus remains on building our own relationship with God.
  

Christian praise and worship can be one of the most powerful ways to help us build our relationship with God. There is nothing better than feeling the love, peace, and acceptance of God's presence all around you.

But remember, like a parent, God is looking for that ongoing relationship. When he sees our open heart and our desire to get to know him for who he is, his heart opens to hear all we have to say. 
 
What a concept! Seeking God's face and then feeling the blessings from his hand.

The Right Way to Pray

 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector" 

Luke 18:10–11

God answers all prayer. Sometimes we think that isn't the case. The truth is that sometimes God will say no to our prayer, and we just don't like the answer. God answers all prayer with yes, no, or wait.

So how can we have our prayers answered more often in the affirmative? Is there anything that we can do to cause God to say yes instead of no?

We can start by making sure that we are actually offering our prayers to God. You might be thinking, That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Isn't all prayer offered to God? Actually, no. Haven't you ever prayed and had your mind wander? While you or someone else are praying, you are thinking, Did I turn the iron off when I left the house? I don't know if I did. Oh, I need to call so-and-so. You know, for lunch I think I am going to get a hamburger. . . .

You can be praying with your eyes closed and hands folded, but not be praying at all. By the way, you can pray with your eyes open too. In the Bible, we read of people praying with their eyes open, their eyes closed, and their eyes lifted to heaven. We find them on their knees, laying on their faces, and lifting their hands. Any posture for prayer is acceptable. But the main thing is that our prayer should be to God.

Jesus told the story of the Pharisee who "prayed thus with himself" (Luke 18:11), meaning his prayers basically went no higher than the ceiling, because there was no thought whatsoever of the God he was addressing.

That is why, when the disciples said to Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray," He began His model prayer with the words, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name" (Luke 11:2).

So to be answered more often in the affirmative, our prayers need to be offered to God.

"Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church"

Acts 12:5

Martin Lloyd Jones said, "Of all of the blessings of a Christian's salvation, none is greater than this. We have access to God in prayer."

Think about the daunting challenge the church of the first century faced. They had no political base, no voting block in the Roman Senate, and no emperor of Rome who was sympathetic toward them. The first Christians did not outargue the pagans; they outlived them. Christianity made no attempts to conquer paganism and dead Judaism blow by blow. Instead, the Christians of the first century outfought, outlived, and outprayed the nonbelievers.

That is because they recognized that their weapons were not physical, they were spiritual. We don't read that the Christians armed themselves and led a revolt against Rome. Rome had the most powerful military on the face of the earth at that time. The first-century believers essentially said, "Let's fight fire with fire. Let's recognize this is a spiritual battle, and let's use spiritual weaponry."

In Acts 12, we find the early church facing an incredible difficulty. Herod had James, who was one of Jesus' disciples and the brother of John, executed. Then he decided to throw Peter in prison. So what did the church do? Did they undertake a campaign to have Herod overthrown? No. We read that "constant prayer was offered to God for [Peter] by the church" (verse 5).

What is the spiritual weaponry that God has given us to fight the battle today? It is primarily prayer and the preaching of the gospel.

The problem is that we don't use this weaponry. We use political means or other avenues to try to solve the problems, and we end up like a person trying to put a forest fire out with a squirt gun. Let's use the spiritual weapons that God has given us.

Effective Prayer!

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."

—Luke 11:1

Jesus gave us the model for all prayer in what we call "The Lord's Prayer." And although there is nothing wrong with praying it verbatim, The Lord's Prayer is more of a model, or a template, for prayer.

Jesus began with, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name" (Luke 11:2). Now if we had written this prayer, it would go along the lines of, "Our Father in heaven, give us day by day our daily bread." In other words, Let's just get to this. But Jesus said, "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven . . ." (verse 2). Right off the bat, "our Father" speaks of intimacy. It speaks of relationship. It speaks of closeness.

"Our Father in heaven" (emphasis added) speaks of the majesty and the greatness and the power of God.

"Hallowed be Your name" is effectively saying, "Lord, I glorify You. I worship You. I praise You. I acknowledge Your greatness.

"Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Before we offer a word of personal petition, we acknowledge that we want God's will more than our own.

The objective of prayer is to get our will in alignment with God's will. Prayer is not trying to align God's will with ours; prayer is aligning our will with His. So the thing we need to ask ourselves is, "Is this prayer according to the will of God?" And how would we know that? Through careful study of Scripture.

If we take more time to contemplate the greatness of God, I think it will affect our prayer. On some occasions our prayer might be shorter, and at other times, it might be longer. But certainly it is going to be effective, because we will recognize that we are speaking to God Almighty.

 

Prayer...

Today we have been learning about the importance of Integrity and spending time with God. Its so easy to pretend to be this spiritual person and look as if everything is ok in front of people but what really matters who you are behind closed doors,what is the person who God see's all the time really like?

This made me think, every night I want to spend at least an hour just chatting to God and listening to him too, there is so much I can be thankful everyday but I was use to just assuming God knew I was thankful, started my time of praying and giving thanks for all I learnt today and asking him to show me new things everyday, I have decided to commit to giving God thanks at the end of every day and starting the day with Thanks too, just something simple as thanking him for his love, and asking him to reveal things to me on a daily basis.

I wanted to share a quote that really challenged me about the benefits prayer brings :)

Where was it that Jesus sweat great drops of blood? Not in Pilate's Hall, nor on his way to Golgotha. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane. There He 'offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could cave him from death' (Hebrews 5:7). Had I been there and witnessed that struggle, I would have worried about the future. 'If he is so broken up when all he is doing is praying,' I might have said, 'what will he do when he faces a real crisis? Why can't he approach this ordeal with the calm confidence of his three sleeping friends? Yet, when the test came, Jesus walked to the cross with courage, and his three friends fell apart and fell away.


Haddon Robinson quoted in 'Prayer' by Philip Yancey


Don't fall apart or fall away, be strong and courageous in Jesus :) courageous in serving God and believing he is in complete control if we allow him to be.

Running a Race

In a number of ways, it has been a lot like running a race for me this year, but not running an ordinary race as there have been many hurdles along the way, but Jesus pulled me through it all. so be encouraged "Keep going . . . You can run this race well . . . Hang in there . . . Stay with it."

This year I have run, not walked, through doors of opportunity into territory that I have never been in before. I have taken steps of faith to expand my relationship with the lord and impact the lives of others. 

But it is not enough to just start a race, or just run a portion of the course . . . I want to finish the race and finish it well

As I start my Journey with Pais Project the next couple of weeks it will be 
the beginning of the next stage in the Race i've been running, I know the 
Lord will be with me and provide all that I need because he always has and 
always will. 

One thing I want to say to encourage you is, Stay Strong and believe that he 
will provide for it says in his word

Don't Worry

I've spent an awful lot of time in my life worrying. I've worried about grades in school, job interviews, approaching deadlines and shrinking budgets. I've worried about bills and expenses, insurance costs and endless taxes. I've worried about first impressions, political correctness, identity theft and contagious infections. In spite of all the worrying, I'm still alive and well, and all my bills are paid. THANK YOU LORD!

Over the span of my lifetime, worrying accounts for hours and hours of invaluable time that I'll never get back. So, I have decided that I'd like to spend my time more wisely and more enjoyably. If you're not convinced yet to give up your worrying, here are four biblical reasons not to worry.

Worrying Accomplishes Absolutely Nothing. 

I don't know about you, but I don't have any time to waste these days. And worrying is a waste of very precious time even though it seems like the only thing we can do it won't help you solve a problem or bring about a solution, so why waste your time and energy on it? Hand it over to the Lord!

Matthew 6:27-29 "Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are" 

Worrying is Not Good for You. 

Worrying is destructive to us in many ways. It becomes a mental burden that can even cause us to grow physically sick.  Proverbs 12:25 Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up" 

Worrying is the Opposite of Trusting God. 

The energy that we spend worrying can be put to much better use in prayer. Here's a little formula to remember: Worry replaced by Prayer equals Trust. 


Matthew 6:30 "And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?"

Philippians 4:6-7 "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." 

When we keep our eyes focused on God, we remember his love for us and we realize we truly have nothing to worry about. God has a wonderful plan for our lives, and part of that plan includes taking care of us. Even in the difficult times, when it seems like God doesn't care, we can put our trust in the Lord and focus on his kingdom. God will take care of our every need. 

Matthew 6:25"That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life-whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing?" 

Matthew 6:31-33 "So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need" 


1 Peter 5:7 "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you"