As you seek the face of God these days, may the following section from "The Heart of a Great Pastor" by H. B. I London Jr. & Neil B. Wiseman give you food for thought...
"PRAY RISKY and ADVENTURESOME PRAYERS ...
Some prayers seem like tough exams that show us what we do not know, what the professor expects, and what significant issues we have overlooked. Spiritual directors and devotional saints across the centuries have cautioned believers against prayers that request miracles with no effort on their part. Prayers are generally not answered that way.
Far from being magic formulas, prayers are usually answered by receiving an assignment that can be achieved only with divine aid. God answers prayers by empowering us after we have done our best. Human experience offers many examples. You will have your patience tested when you pray for patience. You will be given a peacemaking task when you petition for peace. Pray for generosity and God will ask you to give more than you have ever given. In a similar vein, genuinely great sermons usually grow out of human anguish or even travail before they receive divine anointing.
Here are five risky, adventuresome prayers that will add a supernatural dimension to your ministry, send you into specialized tasks, make you more Christlike and require more than your best efforts. These prayers could change your ministry forever:
1. Search me.
2. Break me.
3. Stretch me.
4. Lead me.
5. Use me.
Seldom does a person pray even one of these petitions without incredible growth happening in his inner relationship with God or in his outer expressions of Kingdom service. These petitions produce authentic achievement in the front lines of ministry."
"Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked."~ 1 Chronicles 4:10
No comments:
Post a Comment