Pray, "Our Father!"

Jesus said: “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name...'" -- Matthew 6:9 (KJV)

If we pray as a child to his/her Father, we should remember two comforting truths:
(1) As children it is our right to ask help of our Father, and...
(2) As a Father it is His responsibility to hear and answer His children.

By Faith! In Faith! (Hebrews 11)
Grateful

More Than We Dare Ask or Imagine.

Let's be encouraged today by God's Word:

(19) I want you to know all about Christ's love, although it is too wonderful to be measured. Then your lives will be filled with all that God is. (20-21) I pray that Christ Jesus and the church will forever bring praise to God. His power at work in us can do far more than we dare ask or imagine. Amen.
-- Ephesians 3:19-21 (CEV)

Love Never Fails and Hope Always Prevails!
Grateful

God's Word on a Grave Marker in Cairo

Through the night there has been chaos in the streets of Cairo, Egypt. Dangerous political demonstrations are underway in Tahrir Square. Still, there's peace in my heart about it all and the reason for my peace may seem like an unusual reason to some. You see, Rev. Oswald Chambers, author or My Utmost for His Highest, died in Cairo, Egypt while serving as a chaplain to the British troops who were stationed there in World War I. Brother Oswald was buried in The Old Cairo Cemetery and his grave was (and still is to this day) simply marked with a white cross-engraved headstone. Luke 11:13 from God's Holy Word is also profoundly inscribed at the foot of that grave marker:

If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him! (NIV)

You too can rest in unusual peace, Cairo. Only come to the Prince of Peace. Indeed, the Son of God will give you rest for your unrest (Matthew 11:28-30). Also, God the Father will give you The Holy Spirit if you only ask (Luke 11:13). There's an early 1900's grave marker, yes an old white cross-engraved headstone in your old city's burying grounds that declares this message to be true.

By Faith! In Faith! (Hebrews 11)
Grateful

P.S. The Biography of Oswald Chambers is titled "Abandoned to God". A great life story of one fully devoted disciple of our Lord Jesus.

Beware of Leanness in Your Soul

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
-- Words of Jesus in John 15:7 (NKJV)

When we learn to pray in the Holy Spirit, we find there are things for which we cannot pray, there is a sense of restraint. Never push and say, "I know it is God's will and I am going to stick to it." Beware, remember what is recorded of the children of Israel in Psalm 106:15 (NKJV): "And He gave them their request, But sent leanness (a lack of richness) into their soul." Let the Holy Spirit teach you what He is driving at and learn not to grieve Him. If we are abiding in Jesus Christ, we shall ask what He wants us to ask, whether we are conscious of doing so or not.
-- Oswald Chambers

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God...
Ephesians 4:30a (NKJV)

Lord as I think on Psalm 37:4, this is my prayer:
I want to delight in You, not demand of You!

This old hymn sung by CeCe Winans is on my heart:
Click > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IAz9artoBw

I Surrender All.
Grateful

Do You Really Expect God to Answer?

Two verses in the New Testament Book of James really challenged my faith recently:

(6) But when you ask Him, be sure that you really expect Him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. (7) People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
--James 1:6-7 (NLT)

In the wake of these two verses, I can only cry out with the father who came to Jesus on behalf of his demon-possessed boy. Yes with him I echo...

"I do believe, but help me not to doubt!"
-- Mark 9:24 (NLT)

Perhaps this "Third Day" classic song will encourage:
Click > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeGNgBwPTMA

Lord, add to my feeble faith an abundance of anticipation, yes an enhanced expectation that believes when I cry out? You will answer! In Jesus' Name. Amen.

By Faith! In Faith! (Hebrews 11)
Grateful

A.S.K.

Matthew 7:7-8 (NIV) -- (7) Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (8) For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

A. = Ask Specifically
S. = Seek Diligently
K. = Knock Boldly

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

"Help My Unbelief!"

It was just before midnight. Because of snowy roads, I was driving my 22-year-old son to his night shift at the local radio station in my four-wheel-drive. We had a sacred and soul-searching talk about the Lord as we rode. Just before I dropped him off, and in light of our conversation about faith, my son asked: Dad, why do we tend to struggle trusting God concerning the future when He's always been so faithful in the past?

Mark 9:24 (NKJV) -- Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"

This is my prayer and desire for me and my family, Lord:

For Your present and future favor, we ask!
In Your past and present faithfulness, we bask!

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

"Baaask" in the Good Shepherd's Presence!

Have you saturated in the 23rd Psalm lately? I invite you to join me there today, yes, to "Baaask" in the blessed presence of the Good Shepherd. "Baaask... Baaask..."

ALL JOY!
Grateful

Holiness...

Holiness is not about what we put on, but about Who God puts in us -- the Spirit of Truth.

John 14:16-17 (NIV) -- (Jesus speaking...) (16) And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—(17) the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know him, for He lives with you and will be in you.

Lord, we do not want a humanly manufactured self-righteousness of our own. We do want a holy manifested Holiness that is Yours.

ALL JOY!
Grateful