Heavenly Father and God of mercy,
we no longer look for Jesus among the dead,
for He is alive and has become the Lord of Life.
From the waters of death,
you raise us with Him and
renew your gift of life within us.
Increase in our minds and hearts
the risen life we share with Christ
and help us to grow as your people
toward the fullness of eternal life with you.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
In my morning devotions I have four sections in my notebook – things I am thankful for, prayers for me, prayers for others, and listen to God.
I have been doing this format on and off since the year 2000. I first heard about it at a youth conference we ran at our church. I found it a simple format and something that fit well with my devotions.
The last section is listen to God. I simply say, “God is there anything You want to say to me?” And I sit quietly and wait. Usually I get an impression on my heart about something or a thought pops in to my mind.
The responses vary from a passage of Scripture, to a word of encouragement for me, or to something I need to do or someone to pray for.
God knows my heart really well and He often speaks a word of encouragement to me. Lately it has started with, “I am with you Dave,…”. This has been really comforting over the last three months.
So how do I know if it is God, or me or something else? Well I sit and wait and I test it. This morning was easy as it was a paraphrase of Psalm 23. Other times I just pray, “Is this You Lord?” And I do not write it down until I have a peace about the word.
For me it took time and practice to know if it was God. It was like tuning in to a radio station, when you tune in to the right frequency it is easy to hear.
I believe as Christians we have the Holy Spirit inside us (Romas 8:11) and Jesus’s words that His sheep know His voice and follow Him (John 10:27-28). So when I ask God to speak, I am confident He will.
If you would to read a post I did about my devotional format, you can find it here.
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Philippians 4:6 NLT
Worry is not a very productive pastime. It is like riding an exercise bike, it gives us something to do, but we don’t go anywhere. God tells us not to worry about anything at all. He asks us to bring our concerns to Him in prayer. As today’s verse says, “Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done”.
Prayer
Lord, when I am faced with issues that would cause me to worry, I pray I will look to You instead. Help me to bring all of my requests to You and trust You for the outcome. Amen
I was reflecting on some Bible verses this morning and my mind went to a place of prayer. I realised I made the verses personal and turned them in to prayers.
Here is an example of what I mean…
Matthew 11:28-30 NLT
[28] Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. [29] 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. [30] For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
If we read through these verses and meditate on them, we can see how they can become a personal prayer to God.
Dear Lord Jesus, Your Word says we can come to You if we are weary and burdened and You will give us rest. I come to You now in my weariness and burdened heart and mind and I ask for Your rest. I take on Your yoke and I want to learn from You. Please guide me and lead me gently and humbly. Please give me Your rest and peace. Amen.
As I type I am reminded that David did this a lot in the Psalms. He would recite Scripture and pray it back to God. He often spoke of God’s greatness and His past deeds in his prayers.
Praying Scriptures and making it personal is a great way to bring our needs to God. Just like King David did, we can do it too.
I just found this prayer online and I thought I would share it…
Lord Jesus, I come before you, just as I am, I am sorry for my sins, I repent of my sins, please forgive me. In your Name, I forgive all others for what they have done against me. I renounce Satan, the evil spirits and all their works. I give you my entire self, Lord Jesus, now and forever. I invite you into my life, Jesus. I accept you as my Lord, God and Savior. Heal me, change me, strengthen me in body, soul, and spirit.
Come Lord Jesus, cover me with your Precious Blood, and fill me with your Holy Spirit. I love you Lord Jesus. I praise you Jesus. I thank you Jesus. I shall follow you every day of my life. Amen.
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