Day 3 - Wednesday, October 14th
LIFE Journal
This Week's Memory Verse
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23
Devotional
What if I told you that your prayer life is a direct reflection of your faith in God? Would you be offended or would you agree? The Bible teaches us time and time again that prayer is an expression of how much we truly trust, rely, and depend on the Lord. Our culture teaches us that dependence on anything other than ourselves is undesirable and a sign of weakness. God says in his upside down Kingdom ways, weak and needy is right where He wants us to be.
Prayer isn’t so that God knows what we need in our lives, He is God. He knows everything! No, prayer is a way to show Him we get it, that we understand how fully, completely dependent upon Him we are. This can make us squirm a bit as we buck our cultural leanings and humble ourselves to the fact that we can’t do ANYTHING on our own. But once we start to admit that our daily life requires a powerful, loving, all-knowing force to help us navigate the many challenges and successes we face, change starts to happen.
Jesus said we should take notes on how children are in the presence of a father who loves them. Kids will ask dad for food when they get hungry and they know their daddy is going to provide for them. Children don’t feel that they have to hide their most basic needs from their father in an effort to project a fake pretense that they have it all together. Kids expose their weakness as if it won’t be used against them because they rely and trust.
Perhaps your struggle in living a life of prayer begins with a lack of faith. Maybe your idea of a father is skewed by a bad example given to you by your own earthly dad. Maybe you just don’t know God well enough to know the extent of who He is. Maybe you’re just too scared to give up {a false sense of} control on calling the shots on your own life. Whatever it is that is keeping you from recognizing God’s power, love, kindness and wisdom, take the time to bring it to the Lord and ask Him to replace your distrust with faith expressed through an unceasing prayer life.
Think On This Verse:
Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.” Matthew 21:21-22 NLT
Ask and Answer:
What does your prayer life say about your faith? If someone could see all the prayers you pray throughout each and every day, would they see a person who truly believes that God is in charge of all things? Does your prayer life reveal your total dependence and reliance on God or does your lack of prayer reveal a belief that you can handle it yourself? What doubts are you struggling with right now? Have you shared them with the Lord?
Prayer isn’t so that God knows what we need in our lives, He is God. He knows everything! No, prayer is a way to show Him we get it, that we understand how fully, completely dependent upon Him we are. This can make us squirm a bit as we buck our cultural leanings and humble ourselves to the fact that we can’t do ANYTHING on our own. But once we start to admit that our daily life requires a powerful, loving, all-knowing force to help us navigate the many challenges and successes we face, change starts to happen.
Jesus said we should take notes on how children are in the presence of a father who loves them. Kids will ask dad for food when they get hungry and they know their daddy is going to provide for them. Children don’t feel that they have to hide their most basic needs from their father in an effort to project a fake pretense that they have it all together. Kids expose their weakness as if it won’t be used against them because they rely and trust.
Perhaps your struggle in living a life of prayer begins with a lack of faith. Maybe your idea of a father is skewed by a bad example given to you by your own earthly dad. Maybe you just don’t know God well enough to know the extent of who He is. Maybe you’re just too scared to give up {a false sense of} control on calling the shots on your own life. Whatever it is that is keeping you from recognizing God’s power, love, kindness and wisdom, take the time to bring it to the Lord and ask Him to replace your distrust with faith expressed through an unceasing prayer life.
Think On This Verse:
Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.” Matthew 21:21-22 NLT
Ask and Answer:
What does your prayer life say about your faith? If someone could see all the prayers you pray throughout each and every day, would they see a person who truly believes that God is in charge of all things? Does your prayer life reveal your total dependence and reliance on God or does your lack of prayer reveal a belief that you can handle it yourself? What doubts are you struggling with right now? Have you shared them with the Lord?
Prayer
God, help me to believe what I know to be true: you are a good and loving Father who is worthy of my trust. Show me the ways in which my current prayer life is revealing my doubts about you, your power, or your love for me. Give me a faith that expresses itself through constant communication with you through prayer. Amen.