Prayer: I Will Ask God (Day 25)
Matthew 7:7 - 8
Today's quest is copied from the card. It's concise and logical in the thinking and I found it difficult to shorten.
Teaching: Prayer involves the whole you--a tongue that asks, eyes that seek, hands that knock. The promise that God will answer you is dependent on your having the urgent, expectant attitude that is described here. God answers the urgent pleas of the desperate not the casual or occasional requests of the self-sufficient. [There must be some emotion involved!]
Today: Test this promise. Write down the thing in your life that most merits God's attention. What are you asking Him to do? Is it in keeping with His will to give what you are asking? What reasons do you have for knocking on His door about this matter? How will you know when He has opened to you? What can you do to seek and find His fulfillment of your request? Having answered those questions, begin a daily campaign of asking, knocking and seeking to find if God's promise is true.
I have a meaningful example of answered prayer. Years ago, when my children were small, I fervently prayed to be a better mother. My inadequacies were so evident. While praying, over a several month period, I read every child-raising book I could put my hands on, from James Dobson to Haim Ginott (if you know those authors, you know their approaches were light years apart). It was several years later when I realized that my prayer had been answered. I was still what I considered flawed, but had so much better a grasp on what it meant to be a "good parent." I took action as well, but there was no doubt God helped guide me through that quite intense research. Sometimes we have to have our eyes opened to prayers answered. An important prayer like mine does not bear fruit overnight. The picture above is my daughter and her children. I am so proud of her and her desire to be a good parent. (She and her husband now have five!)
I know this is a praying group, and I'd be very interested in examples of prayers and prayers answered.
P.S. In case you're wondering why a picture of family instead of someone praying.... I could not find any good pictures of prayer. 90% of them were either glittery or of children, and the rest were too sentimentalized, whereas I wanted an honest picture of prayer. Instead you see my answered prayer.
Today's quest is copied from the card. It's concise and logical in the thinking and I found it difficult to shorten.
Teaching: Prayer involves the whole you--a tongue that asks, eyes that seek, hands that knock. The promise that God will answer you is dependent on your having the urgent, expectant attitude that is described here. God answers the urgent pleas of the desperate not the casual or occasional requests of the self-sufficient. [There must be some emotion involved!]
Today: Test this promise. Write down the thing in your life that most merits God's attention. What are you asking Him to do? Is it in keeping with His will to give what you are asking? What reasons do you have for knocking on His door about this matter? How will you know when He has opened to you? What can you do to seek and find His fulfillment of your request? Having answered those questions, begin a daily campaign of asking, knocking and seeking to find if God's promise is true.
I have a meaningful example of answered prayer. Years ago, when my children were small, I fervently prayed to be a better mother. My inadequacies were so evident. While praying, over a several month period, I read every child-raising book I could put my hands on, from James Dobson to Haim Ginott (if you know those authors, you know their approaches were light years apart). It was several years later when I realized that my prayer had been answered. I was still what I considered flawed, but had so much better a grasp on what it meant to be a "good parent." I took action as well, but there was no doubt God helped guide me through that quite intense research. Sometimes we have to have our eyes opened to prayers answered. An important prayer like mine does not bear fruit overnight. The picture above is my daughter and her children. I am so proud of her and her desire to be a good parent. (She and her husband now have five!)
I know this is a praying group, and I'd be very interested in examples of prayers and prayers answered.
P.S. In case you're wondering why a picture of family instead of someone praying.... I could not find any good pictures of prayer. 90% of them were either glittery or of children, and the rest were too sentimentalized, whereas I wanted an honest picture of prayer. Instead you see my answered prayer.
-
LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture! (they are still that age aren't they?) -
I seem to be doing alot more praying about my children now than when they were little. When they were young I felt (quite mistakenly I now realize) that I was in control of what they did. Of course as adults they are no longer obligated to listen to what I say and I find it hard when they do not take my wonderful, solid, flawless and clearly inspired advice. So I am finally forced to turn away from my own bloated ego and lay it all at God's feet. It's all I can do. -
Wow, it's a pre-Shane picture! He's a really cool little guy. Love this picture... -
Between the two, I'd take James Dobson over Haim Ginott any day! -
Seeing our sons and their precious wives share their faith with their pajama-clad children before putting them down to bed at night, praying that their little ones will always love God, and praying for the families who are raising the children that their own children will one day marry...THOSE sights are our answered prayers.
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