Colossians 4:2
Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving

In his interview after the University of Kentucky basketball game last night, coach John Calipari commented that Julius Mays said, “Every time I put that uniform on, I know how privileged I am to have it on. And I am going to enjoy every minute of having that uniform on and that’s why I am playing the way I am.”

 Our uniform is the blood of the Lamb, His righteousness. I feel the same way about my uniform as Julius does about his.

Righteousness
Strong’s G1343 – dikaiosynē (dē-kī-o-sü’-nā)

1. in a broad sense: state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God
   1. the doctrine concerning the way in which man may attain a state approved of God
   2. integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, and acting
2. in a narrower sense, justice or the virtue which gives each his due

Bless God

John

WHO is your God?
Jesus begins His teaching on prayer with the phrase “Our Father in heaven.” This begs the question, Who is Your God?

For Jesus, His God was His Father. Trustable. Faithful. Loving. One who should be obeyed. One who is wise. One who can do all things, provide all things, and protect all things. His closest most intimate relationship.

Who is YOUR God?
Do you know Him? Would you describe Him by what you have read in the Bible or by what you have experienced or both?

This is where Jesus instructs us to enter into prayer. By focusing our hearts and minds on the one we are praying to.

Who is your GOD?
For generations, ancient civilizations believed in greater beings, the gods as many cultures described them. Gods of war, gods of fertility, gods of prosperity, etc. And they believed they were real. They would worship them, pay homage to them, seek their blessings.

In the Greek Olympics athletes would compete with enthusiasm. This word was a compound of 2 greek words, en-theo, which simply meant “in god.” It could also be described as “inspired by a god.” For the Olympians, they sought to be filled or energized by their god before competing. The point here is, they truly believed their god was real and accessible and would bless them.

Jesus stated or implied continually in the Gospels that His God, His Father, was not only accessible, but was present with Him all the time. While His God was someone He read about in the Bible, He was also someone He knew and experienced in every aspect of His life.

This week, as I enter into my time of prayer, I am taking a moment to write out on paper who my God is. The one I have come to know in the scriptures and in my everyday life.

Bless God

John

I have a prayer group that meets at my house on Monday evenings. It is a mix of learning about prayer and practicing prayer.

For the learning part of the evening we are reading through a book titled “Seven Guides to Effective Prayer,” by Colin Whittaker. It is seven short biographies of saints who left behind legacies of walking with God and answered prayer as a normal daily part of their lives. For the time we spend in prayer we have been using the Lord’s prayer as an outline for topical praying. Since this is new to everyone involved, we have not stayed on topic much as we bring our hearts before God.

Last week I asked the group to meditate on the Lord’s prayer from Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4. To meditate on it from the standpoint of it being the instruction from Jesus Himself about how to pray. To meditate on it from the perspective of being a disciplined approach to prayer.

Tonight we will discuss this, practice this, and seek God’s blessing as we do.

Bless God

John

As the story goes, Solomon built a house for God to dwell in. Then he prayed to God reminding Him of His covenant relationship with the children of Israel and His promises. When He finished praying God showed up in a very powerful way.

2 Chronicle 7

1 Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.  2  And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD’S house.  3  And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endures for ever.

Bless God

Having almost made it all the way through January with no New Years resolutions I thought I would escape from the annual ritual. But, that is not to be.

I feel the need to commit to daily posts to this blog, if for no other reason than it will keep me focused on what I consider one of the core disciplines of the Christian faith. The other 2 code disciplines I strive to maintain are fasting and study/meditation of the Bible.

Speaking of meditation on the Bible, the verse that God has laid on my heart the last few weeks is Luke 5:16. “But Jesus would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”

Bless God

John