Skip to main content

Plan for Prayer

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. . . . These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:7–8, 11) 



Prayer pursues joy in fruitful fellowship with Jesus, knowing that God is glorified when we bear fruit in answer to prayer. Why do God’s children so often fail to have consistent habits of happy, fruitful prayer?

Unless I’m badly mistaken, one of the reasons is not so much that we don’t want to, but that we don’t plan to.

If you want to take a four-week vacation, you don’t just get up one summer morning and say, “Hey, let’s go today!” You won’t have anything ready. You won’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned.

But that is how many of us treat prayer. We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be a part of our life, but nothing is ready.

We don’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure. And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer. The opposite of planning is the same old rut.

If you don’t plan a vacation, you will probably stay home and watch TV. The natural, unplanned flow of spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality. There is a race to be run and a fight to be fought. If you want renewal in your life of prayer, you must plan to see it.

Therefore, my simple exhortation is this: Let us take time this very day to rethink our priorities and how prayer fits in. Make some new resolve. Try some new venture with God. Set a time. Set a place. Choose a portion of Scripture to guide you.

Don’t be tyrannized by the press of busy days. We all need midcourse corrections. Make this a day of turning to prayer — for the glory of God and for the fullness of your joy.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Exposing Jezebel's Influence" James W. Goll, Franklin, TN

James W. Goll, Franklin, TN We are in a last days battle for the true and pure prophetic to come forth. It is a battle between the demonic powers of Jezebel's influence and the promised restoration of the spirit of Elijah. In the natural, Biblical setting, Queen Jezebel manipulated King Ahab and pressured the prophets into hiding. Elijah came forth with an authentic prophetic mantle to dismantle the ruling false power. As it was in this historical context, there are parallel lessons for us to learn and apply in our day. It is time to expose Jezebel's influence and for the authority and anointing of the true prophetic to disarm this fierce, dark force! Let's look at Queen Jezebel's background and the tactics she demonstrated. Background on Queen Jezebel and Her Tactics A Look at 1 Kings 16:31, "It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal...
Post a Comment
Read more

Building Boldness from the Verse "God Has Not Given Us a Spirit of Fear"

When you look in the dictionary the word fear has two main definitions: A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, threat or evil whether the threat is real or imagined; and a reverential awe, as in the fear of the Lord.  With this in mind, what does the verse “God has not given us a spirit of fear” mean? Let’s start by looking at the whole verse which is found in 2 Timothy 1:7: “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” The New King James says it this way – “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Based on the definition of the word, it can’t mean reverential awe because that wouldn’t make sense. Clearly fear means something else so let’s dig deeper to understand what it means. Let’s also consider the proper response we should have to fear. Photo credit: Unsplash/Aziz Acharki ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Know if You're under Spiritual Attack

As Christians, we wish that once we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, everything would immediately go well in our lives. However, if you’ve walked with Christ for more than 24 hours, you probably already know that is simply not the case. We can experience true peace, joy, and hope with Christ; however, living on this side of eternity doesn’t necessarily become easier. In fact, there is one thing that may intensify when we choose to follow Christ, and that’s spiritual attack. Spiritual attack is opposition from the enemy in your life to prevent you from living out your faith in Christ. Once you are saved the enemy can’t separate you from God but he’ll do his very best to discourage you from living out the abundant life Christ promises to believers ( John 10:10 ) and being a witness to the goodness of Christ to others.  We know this to be true because we see spiritual attack throughout the  Bible .  Examples of Spiritual Attack in the Bible In t...
Post a Comment
Read more