I really love this short video. It talks about praying for Missionaries and God answering the prayers. It just goes to show how important it is to pray for those on the front lines and how our prayers can make a huge difference.
Many years ago one of my Pastors gave me some great advice. Looking back some thirty years later he could not have been more right.
He told me I had to “dig my own wells”. By this he was talking about I need to do my own work in growing my relationship with God.
He said that many people rely on their Pastor (or Priest) to feed them on a Sunday from the Bible in their sermon or to pray for them after the service. This is important but cannot replace daily Bible reading and prayer.
He then pointed out an elderly lady in our church who had been reading the Bible daily and praying for almost 70 years. Her faith was a strong as anyone I had ever met. She exuded faith and hope.
This advice from my Pastor was one of the main reasons why I have read the Bible and prayed daily for 38+ years.
Some times it has been a short prayer like the Lord’s Prayer and meditating on one Bible verse as I worked. At others it has been praying all night or spending a whole day in the Bible preparing a sermon. Both of these dig wells.
So today I would encourage you with the great words of my Pastor all those years ago, “You have to dig your own wells”.
Suggestions to help you start digging…
1. If you are new to the Bible I would encourage you to download the Bible app. Read the verse of the day and see how many days in a row you can do it. Take some time to reflect on it each day.
2. If you are new to prayer pray the Lord’s prayer several times a day. Maybe when you wake up and when you go to bed? You could also try my morning prayer routine.
PS. Today’s verse of the day is quite fitting.
“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Proverbs 4:23 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/pro.4.23.NLT
Heavenly Father, I thank You for loving me. I thank You for sending Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to the world to save and to set me free. I trust in Your power and grace that sustain and restore me.
Loving Father, touch me now with Your healing hands, for I believe that Your will is for me to be well in mind, body, soul and spirit. Cover me with the Most Precious Blood of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, from the top of my head to the soles of my feet.
Cast out anything that should not be in me. Root out any unhealthy and abnormal cells. Open any blocked arteries or veins and rebuild and replenish any damaged areas. Remove all inflammation and cleanse any infection by the power of Jesus’ Precious Blood.
Let the fire of Your healing love pass through my entire body to heal and make new any diseased areas so that my body will function the way You created it to function.
Touch also my mind and my emotion, even the deepest recesses of my heart. Saturate my entire being with Your presence, love, joy, and peace and draw me ever closer to You every moment of my life.
And Father, fill me with Your Holy Spirit and empower me to do Your works so that my life will bring glory and honor to Your Holy Name. I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I was reading an older devotional recently called Our Daily Walk by FB Meyer. I am not sure how old it is but it had a prayer at the end. I loved the old style words and the flow of it. I had to read it out aloud a few times. Here it is…
O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Captain of Salvation, who discernest the malevolence and working of evil spirits against my soul, deliver me, I entreat Thee, amid the manifold temptations and trials by which I am beset, make a way for me to escape, succour me by Thy mighty power, and cause me to become more than a conqueror. AMEN.
Over the years I have spoken to a number of people who did not understand my trust and faith in God. I tried to explain, but they could not understand I could trust in a God I cannot see.
In time and after some reflection, I realised that I actually asked God to give me faith and for Him to reveal Himself to me.
Back in 1989, I sat on the edge of my bed and prayed the prayer below. It was at a time where I was very depressed and felt hopeless about my future. I prayed…
God, I do not know if You are real or not. But if You are real, please show me. Please reveal Yourself to me as I do not think I can live this life much longer. Amen
God did reveal Himself to me. I felt a peace come in to my room that was not there before. And over the coming weeks more things happened that made me believe God was real.
In essence I asked for faith. I asked God to show me that He was real. People talked to me about God out of the blue. A friend gave me a book that was exactly for the situation I was in, unbeknown to them. They said God prompted them to do it.
I also had a very strong desire to read the Bible which I never had before. And now when I read it I just “knew” it was true. I had a confidence and belief that the words of the Bible were God’s Words.
After a month or so I asked a friend from work if I could go to church with them. A few weeks later I asked how I could know God personally like I had heard someone say in a church service.
In a short time of a few months I had gone from an unbeliever who was not even sure there was a God, to someone who had a strong faith and who was being taught how to follow Jesus.
This all started with a simple prayer asking God to show me if He was real. Looking back some 37 years later I am so glad I did pray and ask God to show Himself to me. It has changed my whole life for the better.
If you are not sure if God is real, I would encourage you to pray the prayer below. I pray God will reveal Himself to you too.
Dear God, I do not know if You are real. Please reveal Yourself to me. Give me a revelation of who You are and what You have done for me. Bring people in to my life that can help me get to know You. Help me to see Your work in creation. Help me to read the Bible and see You. Please reveal Yourself to me and give me faith in You. I ask in Jesus’ name, Amen
In the coming week I would encourage you to visit my Finding Salvation page too. This will help you to understand what God has done for you and how much He loves you. You can find it here.
I would encourage you to visit my Bible readings page too. You can find it here.