Sunday, December 14, 2008

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

9 comments:

much2ponder said...

Agreeing with you in prayer today for your daughter. My daughter is 25 and has a much different life now, but when she was young... there were times when my heart was torn up by her refusal to listen to the right voices. She and her now husband were the cause of many sleepless nights. God is good and faithful though. He loved and cared for her in ways I could not.

Lord, we thank you for creating this life. We know you have plans for her and that she is more loved by you than anyone. Our only hope of bringing this child to a place of freedom from the lies of this world rests in the assurance that you have her in the palm of your hand. Have your way with her Lord, touching her and drawing her to yourself as only you can. In Jesus mighty name, Amen.

Amy said...

I will say a prayer for your daughter now, Pamela.

As for me, I am having another MRI and series of xrays today for that new injury to my back. (The one that I have been wearing the sexy back brace for.);)

Anyway, I know God is in control, but I am scared. I do not want to go through another surgery. So, my prayer is that it will just be a problem that time and rest will fix, and that I won't need another surgery.

Your prayers are much appreciated.

I will also pray for you and your family.

Thanks so much!
God Bless,
Amy:)

Yolanda said...

Please pray for me concerning my own health issues.

And I would appreciate your prayers for my husband and his siblings as they are being forced to make decisions concering the care of their aging Mother and her failing health.

THANK YOU!

Laura said...

Sounds like an awesome book. Prayer is something that I can always use new materials on. I find that I have to change things around once in a while or I get very legalistic about my prayer life.

I will pray for your daughter, but I must have missed that post. Our children are our biggest source of joy and sorrow, I think. Have had a rough week with one of my little guys too.

Will you please pray for my cousin, who is in her early thirties with two young children and has been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. Thank you, Pam.

YOu are in my prayers too.

The Dementia Nurse said...

Hi Pam! I wondered over from Elaine's place and stopped in my tracks when I saw "The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue to know the word that sustains the weary." It isn't a verse you see often, but it is the ministry verse God gave me for my life. Then I saw you are a nurse, and I KNEW God sent me over here. Thank you so much for sharing from what you are reading - it has encouraged me this very night!

LisaShaw said...

Pamela, as a mother of an adult daughter whom the world tried to devoure for many years and the strain of the relationship during those times, etc. BUT GOD STEPPED IN....and so I stand with you because I know to some degree your pain, and so I will stand with you in prayer.

If I can support you on a personal level please feel free to reach out. Trust the Lord for your daughter as I know you already do and know that His watchful eye is upon her and His hand of mercy and protection is around her even as it may seem that she's running from Him. At the end of it all she'll find herself right in His loving arms and in yours.

Love you.

elaine @ peace for the journey said...

I've always felt that prayer was our privilege as Christians. I've not always lived by this truth, but I've come along way. It means everything to me. Thanks for sharing these thoughts.

peace~elaine

Van said...

Loved your reminders. Very simple and doable. God doens't ask a whole lot.

Unknown said...

You know I am bending the knee with you! Love you dear friend.