40 Days of Prayer - Monday, July 1 - Devotion 31 - The Sweet Fragrance of Prayer

The Sweet Fragrance of Prayer

Revelation 5:8 - And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

Psalm 141:2 - Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!

We have learned why we pray, what hinders our prayers, and how to pray over the past 40 days.  My prayer is that you have heard His Voice and sought to understand and know His ways regarding prayer.  In knowing Him, we will pray well and our prayers will be a sweet offering unto the Lord. 

Exodus 30 tells us of the requirements of the law for the altar of incense.  The altar was to sit in front of the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat where the Lord met with His people.  Every morning and every evening Aaron was to burn incense.  Revelation tells us that the incense is a representation of the prayers of the saints.

We have tremendous responsibility and power in prayer.  It is an opportunity to commune with our Lord; an opportunity for us to hear from Him, for Him to see us, and for Him to respond from the Mercy Seat.  May we be careful to only pray for good things that are in accordance with His will and to not doubt that He hears us.  We are privileged to be able to kneel in confidence through the blood of Jesus before our Creator.  May we come before Him reverently, in wonder, with hearts bent with yearning for His whisper.  May our time before His throne be without ceasing and a pleasing, sweet fragrance for His glory.

40 Days of Prayer - Saturday, June 29 - Scripture reading

How To Pray

Jude 1:17-22 ¹⁷ But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” ¹⁹ It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. ²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. ²² And have mercy on those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

Ephesians 6:16- 20  ¹⁶ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; ¹⁷ and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, ¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, ¹⁹ and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

James 5:17 ¹⁷ Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.

Philippians 4:4-7 ⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. ⁵ Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; ⁶ do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Jeremiah 10:23-24 ²³ I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. ²⁴ Correct me, O Lord, but in justice; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

40 Days of Prayer - Friday, June 28 - Devotion 30 - Praying in Truth

Praying in Truth

Psalm 145:18 (ESV) 18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

As we begin to wrap up our "40 Days of Prayer," I trust God has been faithful to all who have sought Him, to all who have sought Him in truth.  We must be continually reminded that our God is able! He is able to do exceedingly above all that we ask or think, according to that power at work within us (Ephesians 3:20). His arm is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear (Isaiah 59:1). What profound truths and promises! 

If there is one thing that I hope sticks deep within our souls as we have spent time focusing on prayer, it is that we must pray in truth, for God promises to be near to those who so call upon Him in this manner. So at this point we must ask, "What does it meant to pray in truth?" 

There are three things for us to know on this matter.

First, Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me."  The only reason and way we can come before God is through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the way! Not on our own ability, not in our own righteousness, but in His ability and His righteousness. We are not praying in truth if Jesus is not Lord and Savior of our lives. 

Second, Jesus taught His disciples how to pray in Matthew 6:9-13. He said, "⁹ Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
¹⁰ Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread,
¹² and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
The truth is God is our Father if we are heirs with the Son.
The truth is God's name is to be hallowed and no other.
The truth is God's will is to be done and we must be in line with His will instead of trying to align Him to our will.
The truth is all we have is from God. From our daily bread to our very breath, Acts 17:24-25 says, "²⁴ The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, ²⁵ nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything."
The truth is God alone can forgive and God alone can keep us from temptations and deliver us from evil. When we pray in truth we are praying in acknowledgment of all the glory of God! We are not praying in truth if we are praying in direct contradiction to God's word.

Third, Matthew 15:8 says, ⁸ “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me..."
To pray in truth is to pray with a heart that is in line with God's desires, not just words that are empty.
For instance when we pray that God's kingdom come and His will be done, is this truly our desire or are these mere empty words, lies? When we pray for God's deliverance, do we really just want God to fix a problem and not change us? When we pray for God to be glorified, are we truly desiring to reflect His glory in our own lives?  We do not pray in truth if we are not honest with ourselves and God. 

God knows our heart before our mouths ever open.  Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully....Oh that the gates would be lifted up that the King of Glory may come in (Psalm 24).

Spend time this day reflecting on all that God has taught you in truth about prayer.  If it is your heart's desire, call upon Him, not with empty words, but in truth! If you cannot pray in truth, then honestly wrestle with God and express your fears and concerns to Him, for He already knows, as did Jacob until God blessed Him and changed him forever (Genesis 32:24-30). 

In Christ, Bryan

40 Days of Prayer - Thursday, June 27 - Devotion 29 - Prayer Brings Us in Relationship with God - Michael White

Prayer Brings Us in Relationship with God

How many times has it been said about relationships: Communication is the key. So why would our relationship with God be any different?  I wonder if we really understand the commune that we have with the Creator.  The union that Jesus Himself prayed for in John 17:20-24.  “I do not ask for these only, (the disciples), but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in you, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.  The glory that You have given Me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are one, I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me. “

Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I have clearly wrapped my mind around the Trinity: God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  Three persons in one, and now Jesus has invited us, asking God, into this same relationship.  Absolute intimacy.

So how would I get from a casual hello on the street to an intimate relationship?  Spending time with that person.  Listening, talking, and getting to know their character, likes, and dislikes.  I challenge you to tap into the relationship with God that’s available to you through Jesus Christ.  Read your Bible and Pray

40 Days of Prayer - Wednesday, June 26 - Devotion 28 - The Responsibility of Answered prayer - Scott Gardner

Luke 12:48 (ESV)

“Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”

We pray because we want God to answer our prayers. We ask Him for help and to "give us our daily bread," as well as to heal our illness and to comfort us in difficulty. We may also ask Him to save our families or change our communities for His glory. These are all things worthy of our prayer, but do we realize they come at a cost?

Jesus tells us that great responsibility comes with great blessing. The more we receive from God, the more He expects from us. We cannot ask God to meet our needs and then just walk away.

Answered prayer teaches us, as Hebrews 11 says, that "God is and that He is a rewarder of those that seek Him." When God responds to our prayers it means that He is real, that He is aware of what we are doing, and that He is able to act. That knowledge should change the way we live.

If God is real, then we can no longer play games with our faith. We have to take seriously everything that Jesus said. We can no longer live, think, and act the way way we did before. We are called to be a new creation and to be conformed to the image of God’s own Son (Romans 8:29), and that is exactly how we must live.

Answered prayer should also change the way we pray.

If we know that prayer works, we should “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

When we see God answer prayers, we should pray more and more (I Thessalonians 5:17; Colossians 4:2). When we see that prayer changes people, we should pray earnestly for God’s truth to be proclaimed (Ephesians 6:19-20;  Romans 10:1). When we see God provide in response to our prayers, we should “cast all our anxieties on Him” (I Peter 1:8). When we see God answering our prayers to help us walk in love, light, and wisdom, we should ask Him to do even greater things in us (Luke 11:13).

Once we see God answer our prayers, we can never be the same.