By David Brenneman
"Keep watching and þraying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak," Matthew 26:41
Do you realize that when you fail to pray, you cut off the power, wisdom, strength, and blessings you could be enjoying. Perhaps you are noticing the effects of prayerlessness in your life today. Maybe you're experiencing the weight of your sin, or you just can't shake sense of confusion. It's also possible you're feeling unusually discouraged, weak, or depressed. That's what happens when you don't spend time with God.
So why does failing to pray make you feel this way? Understand that the Lord isn't intentionally making you feel bad; rather, this is the natural outcome of being disconnected from Him. This is because prayer is like a powerline that plugs you into the Source. Through it, you're given His wisdom and guidance, His identity and purpose, His strength and peace, His love and acceptance. Prayer is the conduit through which you receive all of it. And that's why when you cut it off, you've got a problem.
So don't quit praying when things don't go your way or according to your time schedule. Stay connected because you need the presence and power of God in your life.
Jesus, help me to keep praying and seeking You in every season. Amen.
-Trusting God with Today, Dr. Charles Stanley.
Drained is sometimes more than just a physical tiredness.
Drained can be emotional as well.
Drained, more importantly than those two, can be spiritual.
We really should put more importance on what time we spend in prayer. I will be the first to admit that I don't spend enough time in prayer.
What Dr. Stanley said in this devotional rings oh so true. Stay unplugged, stay drained.
Right now I ought to be even more in prayer with some of these heavily complicated situations going on in my life.
I am reminding myself that my Savior and my Lord Jesus Christ got us through 10 months of unemployment, quite often by miraculous means, so these things hitting us now shouldn't be rattling me.
It really does come down to prayer.
It's these things that are allowed that are meant to draw us closer to Himself.
It's these things that are meant to grow us in Christ, to show us what needs to change in our lives.
Nothing of a malicious intent is behind such permitted things in our lives.
Satan's minions, I say it that way because I never believe that with all that's going on in the world that I ever will be important enough for Satan himself to come after me, are not pulling a fast one on God and have somehow managed to get at me while He wasn't looking.
Sometimes that's probably how many people feel. That our God wasn't paying attention and the enemy got through. This is never the case.
He wants us to stay plugged into the power of God in Christ Jesus.
He wants us to keep our communication lines open between us and His Throne.
He wants us to rely on Him and not our own understanding.
We can, and often do, get lulled into a false sense of security by the peaceful moments that come in life.
My prayer life directly impacts my physical life. It certainly impacts my mental health. Same goes with everyone.
We cannot live the righteous life that God desires without being spiritually fed. Unlike physical food, we can never over eat spiritual nourishment.
I would ask all of you to pray concerning my needs as I pray for yours.
Just as we can't out-give God, we likewise cannot out-commune with Him.
He never gets tired of hearing from me or you. We can never wear out our welcome. No matter when or where He's always ready for us.
Confessing sin fully opens that door of communication an unconfessed tends to hinder and start to close it. We must forgive if we want to be forgiven.
Think about how different your approach to life would be should you really consider the Biblical truth that you're always walking side-by-side with Jesus.
Pray on, pray over, pray through whatever you're facing. My prayers are for this blog to either draw people to Jesus or show people how to find Him again. My daily morning prayers are for my Wife, my Spiritual Dad and his Wife. For my local Church and its leadership. Safety of workers on site there. For unsaved people I work with now and those whom I used to. For the unsaved in my family. There's always someone you can talk to Jesus about helping either with regards to salvation or health or anything else. I include the guys in the Saturday Morning Group that I attend as well as our Sunday Evening Group. The health of family and friends. Those in authority over me, both at work and the country. These are but examples of what is important to our Savior to hear from us about.
Keep plugged into Him through prayer...you'll always be the better for doing so.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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