8 Essential Ingredients for Daily Prayer (Part 4)
So far we have covered what I believe are the first 6 essential ingredients, now we come to the final two.
The first five ingredients were very personal between you and the Lord, Number 6 we put spotlight on others and their needs, now we come to number 7 The Bible calls it PETITION praying for yourself, we are encouraged to pray for ourselves for without the Lord we can do nothing.
Sadly, for so many Christians, this ingredient, instead of being number 7, is number 1! We can be so selfish – and, of course, if we have sin in our hearts God is not listening anyway. Let me direct you to Matt. 6:33. Jesus says… if we seek first (make it our number one priority) the Kingdom (the Rule) of God, and the Righteousness of God in our lives, everything else will be added to us. I can actually go days and weeks without having to pray for myself – because I seek to “Delight myself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4) and He promises “to give me the desires of my heart”.
Many Christians, when they conclude their praying, are not actually sure that God has heard! Remember? If we haven’t cleared the decks (No.1) of unconfessed sins He wasn’t listening.
Now we come to the last essential ingredient. Prayer is supposed to be a 2 way conversation we must learn to LISTEN. How do we do that? Now that we are believers we must develop our 5 spiritual senses – hearing, seeing, tasting, touching and smelling (we will develop the last four in the future). God speaks to us in many ways, dreams visions, the prophetic word, preaching (when you go to church, do you pray speak to me today through your servant?), there is also the still small voice within our hearts, but especially God speaks to us though His written Word, the Bible.
WE MUST APPROACH THE BIBLE IN THREE DIFFERENT WAYS
- We must READ it systematically. Do you have a Bible reading plan/s? If you don’t, send me your email address and I will forward 2 different exciting plans to you.
- We must STUDY the Word of God
- We must MEDITATE on the Word of God
Meditate means to chew over (like a cow) the Word. With Bible reading we should read a number of chapters a day, but with meditation, just one verse. I even recommend you choose a book in the New Testament, (Romans, for example) and today begin with chapter 1 verse one, (tomorrow verse 2).
Meditate on every word; look at it in different translations; if you can read another language say Bahasa or Mandarin look at the verse, and as you are meditating, be praying “Lord turn the Light on, give me illumination on these words”. Usually within a very short time God will speak to you and He will make the word personal and real to you.
In the Greek language there are two words for that, which are translated “Word” in the New Testament.
“Logos” which is the written Word of God.
“Rhema” which is that Word that the Holy Spirit can make personal and real to you. It actually does something on the inside. Rom 10:17 Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the RHEMA. (Oh that it would be correctly translated in our Bibles!)
Do you want more faith? It is received through the Rhema Word.
Remember, if you believe God has spoken to you personally through the Word, it MUST always agree with the written word. If you are not sure ask your Mentor to help you
Do you remember the day you were born again, either someone witnessed to you, or you heard the Gospel preached, it became a Rhema to you, it put faith in your heart to believe. 1 Peter 1.23 Peter says we were born again because we received the Rhema word (the seed, the divine sperma) and spiritual conception took place in the womb of your heart and you were born again. God’s plan is that we mediate EVERY day and let Him speak to us, it will produce faith in our heart, we will continually move to the next level, falling in love with Jesus and becoming more like Him.
I guarantee you on the authority of God’s Word if you put these ingredients into practice in your life, you will develop an intimate love relationship with the Lord, and every day as you discipline yourself (you will just want too) to get alone with the Lover of your soul.
Remember the NIKE slogan “JUST DO IT”.
Please write to me with your comments and questions, and also send your email address if you would like the copies of the Bible Reading Plans, and please tell your Bahasa & Mandarin speaking friends to subscribe to my blog, they will “grow in grace & in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ” if they also develop their prayer life with these essential Biblical Ingredients.
