Friday 19 Jul 2013

Friday Reading: Ephesians 3:20-21

Key Verse: Ephesians 3:20
20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

Devotion:
I really enjoy the way that the apostles would lift up their praise to our Lord at all times; in times of need, in times of distress, in times of joy and when trying to encourage others. When Jesus taught them how to pray through teaching them the Lord’s Prayer, they took that on fully and everything they did was aimed at giving God the glory and praising Him through everything. We definitely need to take note of this and to make sure that we put ourselves and the world aside and lift up God instead!

The power of God should never be put into question by us. We have all the proof that we need right in front of our eyes. This world, the universe, the people, the miracles He performed, the miraculous things like blood cells; everything around us screams to the glory of our Awesome God! And yet so many people do not lift up their praise to Him but rather praise others and themselves for the things that God can do with them. This is not about glorifying us but about glorifying God as He works with us and in us.

When we ask things of God we can expect answers from Him. When those answers come we need to tell the world about those answers to remind everyone that He is still in the business of answering our prayers. How encouraging is it to know that things like that still work? In our little worlds we tend to throw things away or discard things when they don’t work anymore. That is exactly how we can behave with our relationship with God if we are not careful!

We live in a throw-away society and if we see that our prayers are not answered in our own time-frames we tend to get discouraged and stop praying. Instead of doing that we need to pray all the harder to make sure that we remember that our prayers are going up to God! It is only our lack of faith and our lack of patience that counts against answered prayers. We need to ask in belief. We need to ask in honesty. We need to expect an answer. We need to trust in that answer. Trust in God because He has never stopped keeping this world going!

Points to Ponder:
Do you grow weary when prayers are not answered?

Are you trusting God for an answer?