Monday, June 11, 2012

Teach Us to Pray

I've started a community on Facebook for other Christian bloggers, Blogging for God, the 40 day Experiment.  I'm keeping it open until Thursday.  It's about prioritizing all areas of life so that our blogs can bring honor and glory to God.  To give you some idea of what we're doing this is our first Devotional.  I hope you'll come over and join us.

Luke 11:1-13
King James Version (KJV)
11 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Daily Prayer
“Lord give me the wisdom so that my blog will expand your Kingdom. Begin giving me a clear vision for how you want me to use this blog and what its place is in my life.”

Devotion
If you were sitting at the feet of Jesus right now what would you ask Him. Would you ask Him how to serve Him better? Would you ask Him, what His calling is in your life? Would you ask Him a parenting or a marriage question?

Out of any question you could pose, what would you choose? The disciples of course had this opportunity every day they walked with Jesus, and yet there is no record of the disciples asking Jesus how to preach, how to serve, or how to raise their families. The one thing we do have record of however is the disciples asking Jesus how to pray.

They had an opportunity to ask Jesus anything and they chose prayer. That’s poignant, it’s worth thinking on.
It doesn’t matter if you have the best parenting skills, writing skills, speaking skills, or social media skills. Our efforts without the power of prayer behind them are quite frankly pointless.  They may not be fruitless, but I would much rather Christ drive every area of my life then try to muddle through on my own strength.

The first step in this journey is prayer. We’ll be talking a lot about priorities; in the coming days but if you only have time to do one thing each day, pray.

How in the world can we expect our blogs to be blessed if we don’t ask God to bless them. My efforts will only take me so far. My vision and plans are not necessarily God’s.
With that in mind it is also important to remember we’re not truly blogging for the glory of God if we neglect our other ministries. As women this means the home. We can’t expect to know the balance God wishes us to pursue unless we ask Him.

To-do
 Spend Time Reading the Bible and in Prayer
 Do something to show love to your husband
 Do something to show love to your children
 Create a List of 5 Household Priorities, make sure they get done
 Write out 5 blog ideas for the week
 Get ahead on the weeks posting if you have time



Will you learn along with me? Let's encourage one another.
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2 comments:

  1. Joining the group!! Sounds like a great opportunity!!
    Kristen @ Trial & Error Homemaking

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very cool! And the Lord definitely needs to lead our blogging and use us to bless others, otherwise our blogs are pointless. Thanks for sharing over at Workin' It Mondays.

    ReplyDelete

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