She Reads Truth - Prayer in the Bible Day 10

Prayer in the Bible Day 10 - Practice Petition

Day 10 Scripture: Matthew 26:36-46 and Philippians 4:6-7

Practice, practice, practice - practice is the only way to become comfortable with prayer. While we will never achieve "perfection" on this earth, God's will for us is for a closer relationship with His perfection. 

Today we will practice how best to approach God with our petitions. Each desire that we have is important to us and in turn important to Him. Part of practicing prayer is so we know that we can go to God for anything, safety, comfort, guidance, wisdom, and in prayers of petition. 

For today's practice exercise I would suggest a journal or you want to simply pray through the list below.

• Thank God for watching over you and always being at your side. Repent if you feel you have hidden anything from God over the past few days.

• Try to find something to ask God for (anything large or small).

• Make sure to be specific when you pray, don't hold anything back.

• Be bold in asking God for what you want - He can even grant what you might think is impossible. 

End your prayers with "Not my will, but yours be done. Amen"

Philippians 4:6-7 "Don't worry about anything, instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace which exceeds anything we can understand. Hid peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."

She Reads Truth - Prayer in the Bible Day 9

Prayer in the Bible Day 9: Prayers of Petition in Scripture

Day 9 Scripture: Psalm 56, Matthew 26:36-46, and Luke 18:1-8

Intimacy is what God wants from us and this intimacy extends all the way down to our asking (petitioning) for the things we want and need. God wants to share an intimate relationship with us a give and take of communication. Us asking and praising him and God answering our prayers and blessing us with an enjoyable life.

But we cannot spend our time in prayer constantly asking for this and that, please God don't let it rain, or please let me get this juice stain out of the carpet. We need to make sure that we are not taking advantage of our privilege to pray. The balance between longing and surrender, boldness and trust this is the way that Jesus prayed to God in Gethsemane (the mount of olives). A great example of how we should be petitioning the Almighty Lord.

From my journal:

Psalm 56:3 "But when I am afraid I will put my trust in you." David was so afraid but he continued to have faith, pray, and trust in God. He prayed for strength and for God to stand beside him. David never once prayed to be freed. That blows me away. Instead of praying "please God let me go, let me escape." His prayer of petition was for God to make him strong and that if it was God's will we would be a sacrifice. 

Matthew 26:39 & 42 "My Father! If it be possible this cup of suffering be taken away from me...If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done."
And Jesus knew that man had betrayed him and his death would shortly follow. Jesus' only prayers of petition was that he would do what God asked, even through his fear of dying, he only wanted to make sure that it was God's will. 

Luke 18:1 "they should always pray and never give up." If we truly need something whether physical or words of guidance we should cry out to God in prayers of petition. Even if we have to cry out day and night until we get an answer. God will not turn a deaf ear to us, he welcomes the intimate interaction and he will always answer us.

"The pleas of an honest heart following hard after God are music to His ears." - She Reads Truth

Happy Mother's Day

To all the wonderful moms out there. I hope your day is filled with kisses and hugs from all your littles and blessed with happy memories.

Happy Mother's Day

♥ Lindsy

~This Mom's Path~

She Reads Truth - Prayer in the Bible Day 8

Prayer in the Bible Day 8: Prayers of Petition

Day 8 Scripture: Luke 11:5-13, Matthew 7:7-11, Luke 22:39-44, James 5:13-18

Prayers of petition are the most common prayers we make. Prayers of petition are those that are more about what we want or need, demands for guidance, prayers for help, or prayers said as a group. God created us to come to Him with our problems and requests for help and he always listens to these types of prayers.

God doesn't always answer are prayers in the way we want. I read a quote somewhere that said "when things are falling apart, the pieces might be falling into place." this is how God answers are prayers of petition sometimes. When we ask God for something we need be open to the idea that you might receive something different that you expect.

From my journal:

"Yet I want your will to be done, not mine." - Luke 22:42

God knows all and has already seen where we will go in life. When we ask for something or want to make a big decision / change in our life we should pray to God with what we want and ask God to share with us what his will is.

"Keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you." - Luke 11:9

If we are suffering, happy, ill or in need we should earnestly pray. Prayers offered in faith will have power. Pray, sing praises and have a close communication and relationship with God. 

She Reads Truth - Prayer In the Bible Day 7

Prayer in the Bible Day 7: Reflection

Today is a day to reflect on you and what we have learned in this study so far. Take some quiet time today to meditate and memorize. Let the truth of God's word grow in our hearts.

"So remember this and keep in firmly in mind: The Lord is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other." - Deuteronomy 4:39

"But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, we live for him." - 1 Corinthians 8:6

"Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path." - Psalm 119:105

She Reads Truth - Prayer in the Bible Day 6

Prayer in the Bible Day 6: Practicing 
Confession and Repentance

Day 6 Scripture: Psalm 51:1-12

Just like an skill that we learn we must practice. Start by reading today's scripture and then write down a couple prayers of confession and repentance. 

Here are some prompts to get you started:

- Who have I injured? What action caused this hurt?

- When have I put myself, others, or other things before God?

- Ask God to show you any un-confessed sins.

- Reflect on your day and go to God with your sins of the day.

Make sure to ask for forgiveness (freedom) from the guilt and for guidance to do better.

"Have mercy on my O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out my sins, wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin for I recognize my sin, it haunts me day and night." - Psalm 51:1-3

She Reads Truth - Prayer in the Bible Day 5

Prayer in the Bible Day 5: Confession & Repentance

Day 5 Scripture: Luke 15:11-32 The Parable of the Lost Son

The thing about sinning, confessing, and repenting is that we first have to be honest with ourselves that we have done something against God and our beliefs. Once we have been honest with ourselves that this is something we didn't mean or want to do and we are not happy with the what we have done we must then go to God and those affected by our sin. We can't go to God with some preconceived thought of how God will respond or with an expectation of what restoration might look like. Confession and Repentance is very simple we have to take our offending sin to God, be honest and genuinely repent and want to do better. 

No matter the sin or how long you turn away from God He will always gladly welcome you Home.

From my journal:
It's such a reassuring thought that God will always celebrate our return home, but the going home can sometimes be so hard. It took me almost 13 years to get back to God, and I struggled a lot in these years with other sins and brokenness. I was face down in my sin and the devil made me feel unworthy of God's forgiveness and love. It took having my second daughter to forgive myself and not think about what God was going to do. I finally stepped out of the dark and turned to God. Nothing really happened at first, but I continued to pray and pray! I started to feel God with me and have the confidence that only He can bring. My life started to fall into place and I felt happy and peaceful. There are still days when nothing goes right, I yell at my kids, or I'm selfish but my life is in such a better place having a relationship with God. 

"He was dead and has come back to life."

"He was lost and now he is found."