In Prayer

Do you want to grow spiritually? 

Of course we do! I do! 

Pastor Greg Laurie goes more into depth of prayer while studying The Lord's Prayer in Luke 11. 

The basic things are the main things we need to focus on. Stating the most important things are the simplest things. Prayer is communicating and listening to God. In Luke 11 the disciples are asking Jesus to teach them how to pray. Jesus then began 'The Lord's Prayer'. 

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Luke 11:2

We must pray according to the will of God. We need to ask God to give us the plan for our life. His will for us will be done on this earth, only if we ask. 

And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. Luke 11:4

We need to confess our sins, even if we don't believe we have done so. Pastor Greg Laurie uses an example pertaining to wearing white pants! He uses very plain and simple examples but it really helps brings out the meaning of the word. He goes into explaining, we seems to spill more when we have white pants on. But how true is that? Maybe we spills the same amount we just notice it more when we have white pants on. I see that example like we don't wear white pants often, we usually wear blue pants more. Therefore, we are so use to not noticing those stains that when our sins are pointed out they are so noticeable! Just like the more we are in the Word the more we notice our wrong doings and sins. 

Holding on to our sins with pride shows we do not know Christ nor are we trying to get to know Him. We know what is wrong, as Christians, we should not hold on to them. Holding on to sin makes our prayers invalid. We must as for forgiveness always. Psalms 139:23 speaks on asking God to reveal our sins to use so we can notice what we are doing wrong and be able to ask for forgiveness. 

Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts. Psalm 139:23

Going further within the verse of Luke 11:4 - for we forgive those who have sinned against us. I know most people hold grudges, stay mad at people or act differently toward people who have been rude to them. But who is that hurting? Those people or you? Easy answer: you! When you harbor anger you're the only one that is getting hurt. 

Forgiven people are forgiving people. In Espesians 4:32 it speaks on how God has forgiven us, we must do the same for others. We didn't deserve to be forgiven but Christ chose to do so because He loved us so much. So we definitely should do that for others. 

I struggled with being so angry at people in my past and looking back at it now it was only hurting me. I chose to forgive them, some I verbally said to them I forgive you for how you treated me and some I just choose to act nicer too. Maybe I should verbally say to those other people 'I forgive you.' 

Are you holding on to anger toward some one? I'm sure if you told them you forgive them or apologize to them it would make you feel so much better. 

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ’ Matthew 6:13

Stay away from temptation! We all know where temptation is! Whether it's a place or around certain people or having a certain 'thing'. Stay away and surround yourself with positive people and a positive environment. 

After learning most of the parts on prayer we must never give up! God doesn't say 'No', He says 'Slow'. He hears you, He wants to see how much you trust in Him to answer your prayers. We must ASK-SEEK-KNOCK. Request for His help and guidance. Seek Him and ask for his guidance. Be firm and keep requesting. That isn't saying nag nag nag but be strong willed in what you are asking for. 

God might throw an obstacle in your way to try and test your trust in Him again. We can either whine through that obstacle or trust in God and ask for His guidance through this new problem. 

Don't give up!

Keep praying!