I do read the scripture and some mornings I write the verses down after reading and I just stare. I stare waiting for something to hit me. I repeat it over and over. Today I got out that, "He is our God & King." He will "Pay attention" to us. He will "listen" to us. He will also answer our prayers so that His glory can be seen. His answers may not be exactly what we prayed for but He knows best. Yesterday our pastor talked about us trying to convince God to save us. "I know better than you God, I have to do THIS THING for you to save me." We don't have to do anything other than claim our Savior. But it also just broke it down to me that He will answer us in His way because He knows best.
My pastor touched briefly on prayer today. He quoted Luke 11:13 "How much more shall your heavenly Father give you the Holy Spirit to those who ASK Him?" Then he questioned why we don't ask. Is it because we are to proud? To broken? To impatient?
I am loving this devotion on prayer. It has truly changed the way I pray and I am slowly being humbled in prayer and effectively communicating with God.
I'm loving all of Psalm 5…. It really strikes a chord for me as I wait for the arrival of our first child. I can see this being a great thing to mediate on as we wait patiently and as we go through labor.
I really enjoy the Message translation of Psalm 5:3:
"Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your alter and watch for fire to descend."
It made me think about the refining fire and how laying the "pieces of my life" before Him in prayer will allow Him to deal not only with my requests and desires, but my inner man…making me look more like Him bit by bit as He burns away the things that shouldn't be there in the first place. More and more exposure to His grace and mercy and character (His refining fire) will result in mine being more and more similar.
…also the idea of laying out the pieces of our lives on His alter makes me think about complete surrender and sacrifice of my own will and "control" to His will for the things I am praying about.
I do read the scripture and some mornings I write the verses down after reading and I just stare. I stare waiting for something to hit me. I repeat it over and over. Today I got out that, "He is our God & King." He will "Pay attention" to us. He will "listen" to us. He will also answer our prayers so that His glory can be seen. His answers may not be exactly what we prayed for but He knows best. Yesterday our pastor talked about us trying to convince God to save us. "I know better than you God, I have to do THIS THING for you to save me." We don't have to do anything other than claim our Savior. But it also just broke it down to me that He will answer us in His way because He knows best.
My pastor touched briefly on prayer today. He quoted Luke 11:13 "How much more shall your heavenly Father give you the Holy Spirit to those who ASK Him?" Then he questioned why we don't ask. Is it because we are to proud? To broken? To impatient?
I am loving this devotion on prayer. It has truly changed the way I pray and I am slowly being humbled in prayer and effectively communicating with God.
I'm loving all of Psalm 5…. It really strikes a chord for me as I wait for the arrival of our first child. I can see this being a great thing to mediate on as we wait patiently and as we go through labor.
I really enjoy the Message translation of Psalm 5:3:
"Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your alter and watch for fire to descend."
It made me think about the refining fire and how laying the "pieces of my life" before Him in prayer will allow Him to deal not only with my requests and desires, but my inner man…making me look more like Him bit by bit as He burns away the things that shouldn't be there in the first place. More and more exposure to His grace and mercy and character (His refining fire) will result in mine being more and more similar.
…also the idea of laying out the pieces of our lives on His alter makes me think about complete surrender and sacrifice of my own will and "control" to His will for the things I am praying about.