Brown's Daily Word 5-15-09

Good Morning,
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. It is going to be one of the ten best days. Praise the Lord for the way He surrounds us with His mantle of beauty and grace. Praise the Lord for the way He is our protective and defensive shield around us. In Him we have freedom and peace. Our God, who is revealed in Jesus Christ, is full of tender mercy and loving kindness. He hears our prayer. He feels our pain. He shares our sorrows. He answers our prayer. There are times that He gives us grace when we wait in Him for unanswered prayers. Michael Green wrote, “The prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane shows that we can be close to God, live a holy life, and pray with faith, earnestness, and expectancy, and yet not get what we ask for. It is a profound mystery before which we must bow.” We bow before this mystery of unanswered prayer by saying to our loving God “your will be done.” We cannot know the mind of God, his great plans, or how he will work out our present troubles for his glory. All we can say in faith is “your will be done.” Prayer is not about manipulating God to our will – it is opening up to God and trusting that whatever pain we go through in the process, he is there with us. Richard Foster, in his book “Celebration of Discipline” says, “To pray is to change. Prayer in the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we see our need and the more we desire to be conformed to Christ…." …James said, in his epistle, ‘You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions’ (James 4:3). To ask ‘rightly’ involves transformed passions, total renewal. In real prayer, we begin to think God’s thoughts after Him, to desire the things He desires, and to love the things He loves. We are taught, in selfless prayer, to see things from His point of view. Becky Tirabassi, wrote, "After praying for one hour every day, my perspective of prayer changed. I learned that prayer is not a monologue to a deaf God, but a conversation with a God who hears prayer. Prayer is not helping God with an answer; it is asking God to help. It is not telling God what to do; it is telling him my needs. It isn’t so much for the disciplined as for the undisciplined. Prayer is not necessarily meant to be an easy joy ride, but it definitely is a spiritual discipline that produces joy." *Prayer is not just coming to Jesus; it is letting Jesus come into me. *Prayer is not only for the educated seminary scholar; it is for anyone who will practice, persevere, and plan to pray. *Prayer is not a substitute for time in the Word; it will lead to the Word. *Prayer is not for the impatient but for the one who waits. *Prayer is not a place to boast but a place to confess.
*Prayer is not my motivating God, but God motivating me. *Prayer is not a waste of time; it is an appointment with the King of kings.
" Lord listen your children praying".
In Him,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkw3a4raWfg