The Lord's Prayer - Pray

Discovering God's Will - George Mueller

About George Mueller.
George Mueller
Probably no better brief statement on how to discover the will of God has ever been written than that by which George Mueller, one of the outstanding Christian leaders of the last century, guided his own life for Christ.

1. "I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has not will of its own in regard to given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people is just here. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is."

2. "Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impression. If I do so, I make myself liable to great delusions."

3. "I see the will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word I lay myself open to great delusions also. If the Holy Spirit guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them."

4. "Next I take into account providential circumstances. These often plainly indicate God's will in connection with His Word and Spirit."

5. "I ask God in prayer to reveal His will to me aright."

6. "Thus, through prayer to God, the study of the Word, and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge; and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly. In trivial matters, and in transactions involving most important issues, I have found this method always effective."    S. Maxwell Coder, God's Will For Your LIfe

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,

enjoying one moment at a time

accepting hardship as a pathway to peace

taking as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is,

not as I would have it;

trusting that You will make all things right

if I surrender to your will

so that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Reinhold Niebuhr

Get Your Own Dirt

One day a group of scientists got together and decided that humankind had come a long way and no longer needed God. So they chose one scientist to go and tell God that they were done with Him. The scientist walked up to God and said, "God, we've decided that we no longer need you. "We're to the point where we can clone people and do many miraculous things, so why don't you just go on and mind your own business?"

God listened very patiently to the man. After the scientist was done talking, God said, "very well how about this? Let's say we have a people-making contest, "to which the scientist replied, "Okay, we can handle that!"

"But, "God added, we're going to do this just like I did back in the old days with Adam."

The scientist said, ''Sure, no problem," and bent down and grabbed himself a handful of dirt.

God looked at him and said, ''No, no, no. you go get your own dirt!"

Trust

I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.I believe in love even when I am alone.
I believe in God even when He is silent.

Trust in God until the light returns.  A.W. Tozer

Matthew 6:9-13 The Message

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what's best— as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You're in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You're ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.

Unique

In the life of faith each person discovers all the elements of a unique and original adventure. We are prevented from following in one anothers footsteps and called to an incomparale association with Christ. - Eugene Peterson

The Lord's Prayer

Christianity's Symbol

Speak

Speak kind words and you will hear kind echos.

A Great Prayer For Offering

Lord Jesus,
all that we have is yours,
and all that we are is yours.
In offering these tokens of our lives,
may all that we do
serve you to the glory of God.Amen.

The Lord's Prayer

When The Early Church Prayed Together

Let's go to the book of Acts and just walk through it together and see for ourselves.
Acts 1:14
After Jesus had ascended to heaven the 11 apostles gathered to pray: "All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers." There were about 120 in all and they prayed for about ten days.

The result of this season of praying together was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost described in 2:1–4.

Acts 2:42
After Peter's sermon at Pentecost, and the conversion of 3,000 people, Luke describes their life together like this: "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."

The following verse describes the result of this life together: "And fear came upon every soul; and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles."

Acts 4:24–30
Peter and John were arrested for teaching in the temple about Jesus. They kept them over night, threatened them, and then let them go. They went to their friends who were praying together. Acts 4:24–30 records the prayer that went up from the group—a prayer that magnifies the sovereignty of God and glories in his power.

Then verse 31 records what happened because of this praying together: "And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness."

Acts 6:6
When the first deacons were chosen in the early church, it says in Acts 6:6, "These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them."

Verse 7 describes what happened next: "And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith."

Acts 12:5, 12
Herod was holding Peter in prison after killing James the Lord's brother. The response of the church was to get together to pray: "So Peter was kept in prison; but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church."

The result was that an angel of the Lord released Peter. And right there in the middle of the night Peter goes to the house of Mary the mother of John Mark because this must have been the prayer house. Verse 12: "He went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying." So the prayer of the gathered church was powerful to rescue Peter from prison and keep the gospel advancing.

Acts 13:2–3
In Antioch some teachers and prophets were together worshiping and fasting, and the Lord spoke to them that Barnabas and Saul should be set aside as frontier missionaries. So they prayed and fasted some more and then laid hands on them and sent them off.

Acts 14:23
In all the churches that Paul and Barnabas established they prayed together as they appointed leaders for the churches.

Acts 16:25
Paul and Silas are in prison in Philippi. It is midnight and they are singing hymns and praying. The result: an earthquake, an open jail, the conversion of the jailer, and a new church.

Acts 20:36
At his final departure from Asia, Paul met the elders of the Ephesian church on the beach at Miletus and spoke to them one last time. Then verse 36 describes their final act together: "And when he had spoken thus, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they wept and embraced Paul and kissed him."

Jesus taught us to pray, "OUR Father," not just my Father; and so he led the church toward the powerful experience of praying together and not just alone. We as followers of Jesus Christ must have personal time of prayer as our Lord did, but we must also pray together and realize that as we pray others are praying.

This information was taken from a message by John Piper.

Thoughts About Growth and Goals

"One of the great discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do."  Henry Ford
"Man is a goal seeking animal. His life has meaning only if he is reaching out and striving for his goals." Aristotle

"People with clear written goals accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine."  Brian Tracey

"Only those who will risk going to far can possibly find out how far one can go."  T.S. Elliot

"Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit."  Conrad Hilton

These quotes were taken from Achieving Goals, Kathleen Schienle, published by Collins Best Practices