Day 7: Fessing Up!
“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, …’” (Matthew 6:9-13, NIV) Chapter 6 of Too Busy Not to Pray is entitled: A Pattern for Prayer. In this chapter, Bill Hybels teaches us a simple format to help us begin having a prayer time with God. He uses the acronym “A.C.T.S.” to describe each step we should take in order to have “balance” in our prayer lives. And though he refers to confession as the time in prayer that we admit and confess our sins to God, I have an additional thought. Now notice: I used the word “additional” as opposed to the word “another”. I believe that we should confess our sins. However, I believe that we do not take enough time during our prayer time to confess something else. We need to confess God’s Word. The word “confess” in the Greek means “to assent”. The etymology of the word “assent” means “to agree with”. Confess is actually a compound word which means “to be together with the word.” When we pray to God, yes, we should agree with Him when He exposes the sin and failures in our lives. However, we need to also confess God’s Word back to Him. For example, we need to confess and agree with God in prayer before our day even begins that “This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). We constantly ask people to “agree” with us in prayer. Maybe it’s time that we learned to agree with God in prayer. Confessing His Word brings us into that place of agreement. So fess...
read moreDay 6: A Special Place
But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. (Matthew 6:6, NLT In Chapter 5, Bill Hybels teaches us to “Pray Like Jesus”. During this time of consecration, we think often of “setting ourselves apart” for God. We may even think of our church as a consecrated place. However, I want you to consider the place where you regularly pray as a place that’s consecrated as well. Where the NLT uses the words “go away by yourself”, the King James Bible tells us to enter into our “closet”. This word “closet” is a Greek word that means not only a chamber for privacy, but also a chamber for storage. It is derived from another Greek word that also means “dispenser”. Many of us have been in a restaurant restroom (bathroom) where there are soap “dispensers”. We understand that the soap is available in the container but it will not be dispensed (handed over, distributed, given away) until the person desiring to have soap pushes or puts pressure on the dispenser. I believe our places of prayer are places where God has stored all that we need to be dispensed into our lives for the day. However, He is waiting for us to push, that is, have an honest desire for Him to do what we are asking Him to do. So during this consecration do not only set yourself apart for God to use, but also set the place that you pray aside for God. Take a little oil and anoint that place (if it’s cloth please don’t stain it) and declare: “God I know I’ve prayed in this place so often that it may have become common to me. However, there have been some very special moments with you here for which I am extremely grateful. Therefore, today during this consecration I rededicate this place (chair, car, spot) to You. This is the dedicated holy place where I am to meet you! And I declare this place “special” and not common. In Jesus Name,...
read moreDay 5: Heart-Building Habits
But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. (Matthew 6:6, NLT) “Our spirits, like our bodies, have requirements for health and growth. Some people don’t want to pay the price of developing good spiritual habits.” (Page 46) Today marks the fifth day of our consecration. Just to remind us, the word Consecrate means: To set apart for God’s use. Thus, these are twenty-one days out of three hundred and sixty five that we’ve set apart for the sole purpose of God using these days to do things that He desires to accomplish in our lives. It’s been said that if one does something twenty-one days in a row, it will become a habit. The one thing I want us to keep in mind, from the beginning to the conclusion of this time in our lives that we are setting apart for God, is this: What good (God) habit will I leave March with? What good habit is God asking us to continue as part of our lifestyle once this consecration is completed? What bad habit is God asking us to leave behind and not carry into the month of April? If we are not intentional about this consecration, by the second week in April we could find ourselves asking the question: Now what was all that consecration stuff...
read moreDay 4: The Hurt Locker
The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. 7 Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists. 8 Then the angel told him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Now put on your coat and follow me,” the angel ordered. 9 So Peter left the cell, following the angel. But all the time he thought it was a vision. He didn’t realize it was actually happening. 10 They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by itself. So they passed through…(Acts 12:6-10, NLT Bible) Chapter 3 of the Book Too Busy Not To Pray is entitled God is Able. In it, Bill Hybels shares this particular story of the miraculous freeing of Peter from Herod’s prison. What intrigued me were the three important instructions that the Angel gave him: (1) Get up (that is, wake up)! (2) Get dressed (apparently he was not dressed)! (3) Follow me! It was okay for Peter to be asleep and undressed while locked up in prison, but he needed to be alert and dressed for the place where the angel was going to lead him. And they came to a point where Peter was unchained and free to move, but he was still in prison. Peter did not receive his complete freedom until the Iron Gate was opened by the Spirit of God. This allowed him to walk to his destination, which was the church. God is able to open the iron doors that have “locked” us out of our destinations and therefore have “hurt” God’s desire to fulfill His purpose for our lives. Like Peter, we are free, but in prison. The freedom may look like a great career, wonderful friends and family, and good health. However, what is hurting and hindering us from walking into places God has for us could be the iron gates of fear, bitterness, resentment, low-self esteem, or even pride. If we are going to leave the locked places that hurt our opportunities to do great things for God, we must allow the Holy Spirit to use this consecration to prepare us. It is during this consecration that we will need to remove some old clothing and put on some new garments for the new season (hey, Spring is next week). Let’s start with the one garment that we are all required to wear: The Garment of Praise. (Isaiah...
read moreDay 3: God Is Willing
Too Busy Not To Pray Chapter 2: God is Willing Then the Master said, “Do you hear what that judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won’t he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet…” (Luke 18:6, Message Bible) Yesterday, I received a call from a person whom I had prayed for regarding a new apartment. They were thrilled that God answered the prayer beyond what they could have even imagined. Brand new apartment. Furniture. Heat. Air Conditioning. Cable TV. Walking distance to their church. And, all well under $1,000 per month. It was amazing! As I ponder my conversation on yesterday and this chapter today, I wonder if my amazement has become God’s disappointment. I wonder if God is disappointed that I am so shocked that he would bless in such an incredible manner. I wonder if God would have been more pleased, if I’d have simply responded, “Well of course God did more than He was requested to do! He’s our father and not a reluctant judge.” The next time you make a request in prayer, remember that you are praying to a God who is willing to answer. He’s your...
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