To Live By Prayer

Now that the semester is coming to and end, I am having more free time. This is finals week and I am done with lectures! YEA! I will not be back to the campus until the end of January. So what are my plans when I am not working at the hospital? I will be buried deep in books...books on prayers. I have started a new book titled "Praying with Purpose" by Stephen and Michele Henderson and I am already being blessed towards building a stronger prayer life. In my reading this evening, I came across this familiar piece of scripture and the relevance of prayer....

Philippians 2:5-11 (New International Version)
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Pastor Henderson has pulled out four key commands we can do in our prayer life from this set of scripture which I would like to share with you. I will place his key commands within this scripture:

Philippians 2:5-11 (New International Version)
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

• Ask God to help you develop the kind of attitude Jesus had

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

• Praise God for giving His Son, Jesus Christ

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!

• Commit to obey whatever God commands in His Word

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

• Thank God for the honor of coming before Him in prayer

Four easy steps in the life of prayer that we can plan to integrate this week. I say easy...who knows what we might be challenged with but I am up for it!

"Within His body, Jesus has all the power and authority of God, yet He prayed. His prayer life sets a perfect example of how a person should live in communion with God. But His prayers were not offered just for the sake of providing an example. His prayers were real. He lived by prayer." (pp.17)

What a fabulous thought...to live by prayer.

And so this journey begins for me. Will you join me?

If you have a prayer request, will you post it and I vow to lift it up daily as I learn to discipline myself in my prayer life...to live by prayer. And if you are in this journey with me, please pray for my oldest daughter, that Christ will capture her heart, not the world, which seems to have it. Pray for our relationship as it is strained. Thank you friend.

Prayerfully~Pamela