Tag: Pray

Hour Watch

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Journal Entry // February 9, 2022

And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?

Matthew 26:40 ESV

Oftentimes I identify with Peter on so many levels. Sometimes I can see myself in his enthusiasm and brashness. Other times I see my own weakness in his failings and mistakes. In this passage Jesus has just told all the disciples that they would all fall away. Peter, leading the way, makes a boisterous commitment to stay by his side, even if that means death. Jesus, in his sorrow, pulls away from the crowd and separates his disciples, taking Peter, James, and John with him to watch and pray.

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Impossible to Possible

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Journal Entry // January 31, 2022

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:26 ESV

“All things are possible.” My little faith struggles with the truth of this statement. I want to believe and trust that all things are possible with God. Actually, I realize I am reading this statement wrong. I read “all things are possible” and my mind translates this to be “God will give you all things”. This is not what Jesus was saying. Can God make the impossible possible? Of course. God is sovereign and reigns over all creation. All things are absolutely possible for God. But not all things will be done as I wish them to be.

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Desolate Prayer

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Journal Entry // March 11, 2021

But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Luke 5:16 ESV

How often have I withdrawn from everything to pray? When I do attempt to withdraw for this purpose, I would say I am often easily distracted and focus my attention on other things and actually neglect prayer. But Jesus is modeling intentional times in his life and ministry where he withdraws from the crowds and the demands upon him to a desolate place with the express purpose of prayer and communion with God.

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Throwing Mountains

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Journal Entry // February 28, 2021

Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

Mark 11:23 ESV

This sounds so simple. Ask for anything in prayer, without doubt, and it will be done for him. This is one of those passages where it is easy to move from being God centered to man centered. Where the gift is more important than the Giver. Yet Jesus tells us directly that the prayer of a believer whose heart is attuned to the Lord, will receive what he asks.

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Aroma of Prayer

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Journal Entry // December 17, 2021

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.

Revelation 5:8 ESV

This picture in Revelation 5 of the throne of God and the description of worship has always fascinated me. I think it’s fascinated me because this picture seems so foreign to my everyday life. The lamb, Jesus, is the only one who can open the scroll. And when he stands to take the scroll, everyone in heaven worships him. They fall down on their face and worship. But what I focused on this morning was the 24 elders. Each holding a harp and a golden bowl full of incense – our prayers, my prayers.

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Turn My Face

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Journal Entry // November 12, 2021

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

Daniel 9:3 ESV

How am I to reach a point in my faith, where I too can be so overcome with emotion and passion for the glory of God in my life that I humble myself before the Lord? Daniel comes away from his Bible study with understanding from the book of Jeremiah that their captivity was to last 70 years. His immediate response is humility and in his anguish he seeks the author and perfector of our faith.

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Ask, Seek, Knock

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Journal Entry // January 14, 2021

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Matthew 7:7 ESV

This seems far too simplistic and easy. We live in a world where we are taught to be skeptical of everything, but especially anything that seems too good to be true. And this definitely would fall into that category except that this promise is made by the one person incapable of lying. This is a promise of Christ spoken about our God heavenly Father.

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Always Without Ceasing

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Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV

Rejoice… Pray… Give Thanks…
Always… Without Ceasing… All Circumstances

Every moment of every day with every single breath of my life, God’s will for me is to rejoice, pray, and give thanks. This has not been the pattern of my life at all. I can see the increasing occurrence of them in my heart as the Spirit continues to move within me, but they have not been with these adjectives.

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