“All you need to do to learn to pray is to pray.” -Wesley Duewel (Mighty Prevailing Prayer)
“When I am praying the most eloquently, I am getting the least accomplished in my prayer life. But when I stop getting eloquent and give God less theology and shut up and just gaze upward and wait for God to speak to my heart He speaks with such power that I have to grab a pencil and a notebook and take notes on what God is saying to me.”
Driving under the influence or (DUI) is at all time high in our community. People who drink and get into a car lose the ability to make good decisions. I find we have a considerable amount of folks who are functioning under the influence of others. They have allowed others to steer them the wrong way. It doesn’t just affect the common man but those in affluent positions are often under the influence of others. Solomon was a great king who was influenced by his wives. “For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father” (1 Kings 11:4 in the King James Version of the Holy Bible). Who is influencing you?
Prayer: Lord, give me a clean heart. Let me always serve You and You only! Keep me from being distracted and affected by the influence of others to the point that I turn from following You. Amen.
Devotion by: Kaye Singleton
“But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him” (1 Kings 12:8 in the King James Version of the Holy Bible). Peer pressure is prevalent at any age. We do care what our peers have to say. Rehoboam was a new king under pressure. He wanted to know how to handle his constituents. First he went to the elders and asked them what to do. Next he went to the young men who he had grown up with. What was the end result? He was pressured by those peers to do the wrong thing which ended in disaster.
Prayer: I am facing a decision and, Lord, I want to make the right one. Help me not to give into my peers because of what they think. Thank You for those elders who have already crossed a similar path. Give me wisdom to hear Your voice in the matter.
Devotion by: Kaye Singleton
“Prayer pulls the rope down below and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly; others give only an occasional jerk at the rope. But he who communicates with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously with all his might.” -Charles Spurgeon
“As we lift up our soul in prayer to the living God, we gain the beauty of holiness as surely as a flower becomes beautiful by living in the sunlight.” -The Kneeling Christian
“You will never be able to pray everywhere all the time, until you have learned to pray somewhere, some of the time.” -Mark Water (“Prayer Made Easy”)
We cannot all argue, but we can all pray; we cannot all be leaders, but we can all be pleaders; we cannot all be mighty in rhetoric, but we can all be prevalent in prayer. I would sooner see you eloquent with God than with men. Prayer links us with the eternal, the Omnipotent, the Infinite, and hence it is our chief resort…Be sure that you are with God, and then you may be sure that God is with you.” -Charles Spurgeon
“God wills that men should pray everywhere, but the place of His glory is in the solitudes, where He hides us in the cleft of the rock, and talks with man face to face as a man talks with his friend.”