Guided Prayer

Here are some notes from Sunday - 1/10/2016 theme at Living Faith on Guided Prayer. We often come to God with our own agenda and our own ideas of what to pray about. But maybe God not only wants us to pray but wants to lead us and guide us into what we should pray for and about. Jesus said these words:

Matthew 7:7-12

7 “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. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.

Abiding prayer are only answered when we ask - don’t ask - God can’t answer your prayer - KEEP on Asking!

Abiding prayers are only answered when we seek - God loves to be pursued - not because it is good for God, but because the God who created you and knows you and loves you, knows it is good for us to pursue Him.  Everything that comes too easy is not usually valued - Teen in Texas who was arrested in Mexico - killed four people in DUI wreck and got parole because he was wealthy… given too much and too easy and he didn’t value anything he had.  God knows if prayer was just a simple - say a pray and pop - immediate answer just as we ordered, prayer would be taken for granted, it would not be something we sought to know God it would be simply used for our own enjoyment - why did the healing miracles of the New Testament seem to diminish over the years… lack of faith could be part, but Christianity was taking over the world and flourishing.  Maybe part of it is that not many people can handle the honor or the power of healing hands.   

Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you - when something is hidden behind a barrier like a door and you want to get to the other side - knock - keep on knocking until the door is open to you.

Are you a good parent or a good person?

• good parents don’t give their kids rocks instead of bread
• kid rock (what type of parents let their kids listen to Kid Rock- a joke that totally flopped - but I still think it is funny!)
• good parent don’t give their kids snakes instead of fish

Parent questions tell us we need to be guided in prayer

• we are children in the spiritual world and have no idea what we really need
• we have a God who knows exactly what we need
• we children must trust the Father that he will answer prayer appropriately
• we as parents know not to give our kids rocks and snakes - how much better does God know what we need in answered prayers.

Allow God’s Spirit to guide us in prayer and He will lead us into rich areas of involvement -

• God will guide us to pray for movements of His Spirit - God is moving and we need to seek those ways and pray that the power of God would continue to move and work in those movements
• God will guide us from prayer to involvement - if we are praying about a movements - God will lead us to be involved in that movement and we will be a part of God transforming the world
• Mentoring - Dale -I have been praying about a movement of God in mentoring the fatherless of our culture - Donald Miller has started a mentoring program in Portland and OK City. 80-85% of men in prisons today did not have a father in the home -
• What movement of God are you passionate about? Are you praying? How will God want you to be involved?