Pray Effectively Part I

 PRAISE: The First Step in Effective Prayer

 

Praying consistently will change your life. In fact, many of the blessings God wants you to enjoy will never be realized unless you pray.

I think all Christians know they are supposed to pray, and all Christians want to pray. But many of God’s people, if they are completely frank and transparent about the issue, would have to admit their prayer life is somewhere between mediocre and non-existent.

Over the next few devotionals, I want to share with you four simple points which I have put into an acronym: P-R-A-Y. If you can spell the word pray, hopefully you will be able to remember how to make your prayer life more effective, and you will be inspired to pray more consistently.

Psalm 100 helps us understand the first letter, “P”, in the word P-R-A-Y, which stands for praise. Psalm 100:1-4 states it well,

Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! Serve the LORD with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know that the LORD, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Verse 2 tells us, Come before His presence with singing. And in verse 4 notice the words “enter into.” In other words, praise is how you are to enter God’s presence. It is the best way to begin your prayer.

When you want to come to God, you start with thanksgiving. You start with singing. You start with praise. Or, as The Message says, Enter with the password: “Thank you!”

Today, and every day, make praise the starting point of every conversation with God.

*Psalms 100:1-4

Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.

Finding Rest Part V

Find Your People

 

Community—a body of individuals who unite together in fellowship, sharing attitudes, interests, and goals.

Intimacy with God doesn’t mean shutting yourself off from other people. In fact, sometimes it means making space for them. Rest is the perfect time to celebrate life with people you love. We’re not made to do life alone. We need each other.

Think about the kind of people you want in your life—people who inspire you to be better, to be more like Jesus. You are directly influenced by the people you spend the most time with. Are the people you’ve allowed into your life helping you grow?

Reflect: Reach out today and invite a friend to get together. Meet in person if you can, or at least connect on a video or voice call. Don’t set an agenda. Just show up and enjoy one another’s company. Afterwards, write down anything God showed you during your time together.

*Proverbs 13:20

Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.

*Galatians 6:2

Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

*1 Corinthians 12:25-27

This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

*Hebrews 10:24

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.

Finding Rest Part IV

Meditate on Scripture

 

Listen—to actively engage in hearing, giving thoughtful attention.

All Scripture is inspired by God. When we read or listen to God’s Word—and when we then actively reflect on what it says—over time, we learn to recognize God’s voice. Purposeful time in the Bible requires making it a priority to focus on just being with Jesus.

When you read or listen to Scripture, give it enough time and space to really let the words, the meaning, the tone, and the context wash over you. YouVersion offers hundreds of audio versions of the Bible, so it’s easy to just press Play and listen.

If you have a Google or Amazon voice activated device, you might enjoy listening to Psalms with YouVersion Rest. Simply try one of the following:

“Ok Google, open YouVersion Rest.”

“Alexa, open YouVersion Rest.”

(You can also find our YouVersion Rest Playlist on YouTube, and try our YouVersion Rest Video Collection inside the Bible App.)

Reflect: Set aside 30 minutes today to read or listen to God’s Word. During that time, snooze your calendar and notifications. Take notes and journal your thoughts.

*2 Timothy 3:16-17

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

*John 10:2-5

But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.  The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.  They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

*Romans 10:17

So faith comes from hearing that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.

*Psalms 116:7

Let my soul be at rest again, for the Lord has been good to me.

*Psalms 91:1-2

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.

Finding Rest Part III

Find Your Place to Focus

 

Transformation—a process of profound change in character, condition, or composition.

In Romans 12, Paul urges us to let God transform us, to allow His Spirit to renew our minds. That renewal is an ongoing process, an intentional activity where we remove ourselves from the distractions and influences that surround us every day—just as Jesus modeled for us.

It’s important to find someplace quiet where we can realign our hearts and minds to what God is doing. Where do you focus best? Nestled in a corner of your kitchen with a cup of coffee? Out for a run, listening to worship music? Find somewhere that makes you feel close to God. Then make it a habit to get in that space daily to refocus your mind on Him.

Reflect: Today in your quiet space, take 5-10 minutes to think of things that may be bothering you. Each time you think of one, offer it to Jesus in prayer. (If it helps, write them down.)

*Luke 6:12-13

One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their names.

*Luke 5:16

But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.

*Romans 12:2

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

*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. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Finding Rest Part II

Rest is a Gift

 

Sabbath—a time set aside for rest, typically one day per week.

In the Old Testament, God commanded His people to observe a Sabbath, one day a week when they would rest. In the New Testament, Jesus makes it clear that God intended the Sabbath more as a gift than as a law. It’s important to God that we rest.

Busyness often makes us feel like we’re accomplishing something important, but that feeling can be counterfeit. We often use activity to numb ourselves of our need for intimacy with God, the Giver of every good and perfect gift. We must be intentional to establish healthy boundaries around the different parts of our lives—work, family, rest, etc.—so that no one category becomes an idol in our lives.

Reflect: Do you have a specific time set aside each week when you don’t work? If not, what would it look like to begin to create a space like that in your life?

*Leviticus 23:3

“You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly. It is the Lord’s Sabbath day, and it must be observed wherever you live.

*Mark 2:27

Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.

*James 1:17

Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.

*Ephesians 2:8-9

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Finding Rest Part I

Make Rest Your Friend

Rest—to relax, pause, breathe, and be at ease.

Rest is a gift that we too easily tend to push aside. But life without rest is not sustainable. Rest refreshes our bodies, giving us the energy we need to honor God and to love others. Learning to practice rest is a spiritual discipline that helps you enjoy God’s presence and realign your priorities.

God Himself modeled rest for us from the very beginning. Immediately after He finished creating the universe—and everything in it—he gave Himself a day to look back on the goodness of all the work that He had just completed.

Reflect: When was the last time you slowed down, unplugged, and relaxed? Stop. Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and think back over your last few days.

*Genesis 2:2-3

On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.

*Matthew 11:28-30

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

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