Responsible Prayer

                                                                                                                    Image 9 Marks

We know that it is everyone's responsibility to pray. But do we realize it is also our responsibility to pray responsibly? Prayer is a serious act: it is talking to the creator Himself- one to one.


In the words of Donal Cantrell,

"True prayer involves people that understand the importance of taking responsibility.
1 -  God hears us when we pray.
2 – He looks at our hearts for sincerity and honesty.
3 – Do we mean what we are saying or are our words useless babbling?
4 – If we are asking God for financial needs do we honor him in our giving?
5 – If we are seeking wisdom do we read his word for guidance?
6 – If we pray for the backslider do we really love them and want to see them restored?
7 – If we pray for our enemies are we trul​y willing to forgive them?
Prayer involves relationship and responsibility."
(Donald Cantrell in his sermon on a model prayer. )


The genuine prayer is born out of genuine desire for the concerned persons well-being. Do not take your promise to pray for someone lightly and forget. Once committed, it is our responsibility to do it.

Prayer needs to be a deliberate and thought-out action - not rhetorical reaction.
Prayer also has a follow through action: when prayers are answered we not only need to thank God, but we need to not forget. It is our responsibility to share it with others so that their faith may also be strengthened.

So next time you sit down to pray, think it through before you start and make it a well thought out, genuine and responsible prayer.

Beyond Your Control

                                              

Psalm 121:7-8. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Do you know how many hours of the day we have no control on our life, and completely in Gods hand? No? Well here is a mathematical equation to help you calculate.

No. of hours or minutes of sleep + hours spent in travel + hours or mins spent in profession + hours or mins spent in entertainment or games + hours or minutes spent in other activities like eating or partying, worrying, etc.

Now if you total it up you will get a pretty good idea of the total time one is in Gods hand. Mine is 1440 minutes when not I but God is in control. What is yours?

The how.

A. When we sleep, we have no consciousness of dangers or potential mishaps - 8 hrs
B. When we eat we really don't know the food quality, contamination, source, effect on our bodies and so on. - 1.5 hrs
C. When we travel, car or bus or air or rail - we are mostly not in the driver's seat and even when we are, we have no control on anyone else who can pose a danger. - 2 hrs.

D. When we breathe, what surety do we have for each breadth? Do we have control on our heart beating?
E. When we do negative things, maybe in hiding, He is still protecting us from the outcomes which can follow.

Like me, I am sure when you do this calculation for each activity or part of your day, you too will total 1440 minutes or one complete day!


This realization makes me thank Him for His hand of protection, of provision and of His plan for me and claim the promise made in the quoted verse. Daily.

Pilgrims or Tourists?

 

*Image - Wikipedia

One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. Psalm 27:4

The following devotional by Rev. Ms. Francis Taylor was published in the KJV Devotional and made so much sense that we just had to share it with our readers. 

"We hope that one day we will dwell in the house of the Lord! This is the promise and this is our goal. We can also consider that the world we live in, the place that God created is also God's house. 

The first place we encounter God is in our own homes with our families, the first church where God can be known and worshiped; the place where faith is learned. The earth with its beauty and strength is also where we encounter God. 

The problem is we don't always recognize him, and until we recognize this as coming from God, we don't praise him. 

I love the image of a pilgrimage. There was once a minister at the church where I worshiped who talked about how we can go through life as a pilgrim or a tourist. He defined a tourist is one who goes through life wanting everything to be just as they want and like it. A pilgrim enters into the circumstances of the life in which one finds himself. 

A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey usually to a holy place. This can be a physical place as to Jerusalem for the Jews, Mecca fothe Muslims and various shrines such as Lourdes or Fatima for Christians. However, it can also be a spiritual journey, a search for holiness. 

The pilgrim is searching for the presence of God in his or her life in order that his presence will overflow into the fullness of his presence in Heaven. The pilgrim looks outward and works to bring the Kingdom present even in this Weeping valley. The tourist is only thinking of his own needs and comfort without any thought to the needs of the people he meets or the world he is supposed to care for. 

The pilgrim finds joy; the tourist sometimes only finds disappointment. 

We have a choice, are we pilgrims or tourists?"