Praying for the Saints

I was reading Ephesians chapter 1 tonight…it starts out with a whole bunch of things we have in Christ (adoption, redemption, forgiveness, an inheritance, a hope, the holy spirit…) And then…”For this reason”… What we have in Christ should cause something in us: giving thanks and praying for the saints.

Pray for them that God will give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Pray that the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened, that they may know the hope of His calling and the riches of glory of his inheritance, the surpassing greatness of his power toward those who believe… Eph 1:15-19a

Why We Should Give Thanks & Pray for Others

I was reading Ephesians chapter 1 tonight…it starts out with a whole bunch of things we have in Christ (adoption, redemption, forgiveness, an inheritance, a hope, the holy spirit…) And then…”For this reason”… What we have in Christ should cause something in us: giving thanks and praying for the saints.

Pray for them that God will give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Pray that the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened, that they may know the hope of His calling and the riches of glory of his inheritance, the surpassing greatness of his power toward those who believe… Eph 1:15-19a

Prayer group updates

So at this week’s prayer meeting Mwela (who you may remember is from the Congo) had a big praise report on the specific items we’ve been praying for him. He had his interview with the immigration department last week and they didn’t have any problems with his asylum application, so he will be getting finalized immigration papers next week on the 5th, so he’ll be able to start working legally and not just taking English classes. And its hard to say which is bigger praise report, but he ALSO had a praise report that his family (that he hasn’t talked to in two years) including wife and kids were finally located, safe and sound, at a refugee camp in Zambia. He hopes to bring them here by around November, so we still some big prayer requests to keep praying for.

As for Shamim, she also had praises again. Last week it was that her son’s grades were up in school and he has been more applying himself since we prayed for that. This week it was that one of her friends from Africa (I think from the refugee camp in Kenya?) is scheduled to come to San Diego on the next flight of refugees next month.

Other than that, we’ve been having a lot of people showing up who are either signed up for the BWO trip to Africa or who are strongly considering putting in an application. We had a record 21 people this week, beating our first week in La Mesa which had our previous record of 17, so God’s doing something crazy I’m sure. But its cool that that many people are going out of their way to spend time praying during the week. Maybe Pastor Benjamin’s vision of their house being filled with people praying will yet happen ;-).

Claiming the Victory in Prayer

I am reading a book called “the complete green letters” for school right now. Last night I read chapter 16 entitled “Help” and it had some revolutionary thoughts about prayer. Are you (the supposedly “mature” christian) praying “asking” (or worse, begging) God for help?

Its kind of a “spiritually immature” way to pray. It’s Satan’s technique to try and convince us that we need to ask God for things he’s already done or promised… (convicting, kind of reminded me of when Miles would share that you shouldn’t pray for salvation EVERY week that you should be thanking God that he’s already given you salvation each week). The thing is, if you’re resorting to begging God for help, you’re not trusting in the fact that he’s already promised you help, and you aren’t believing that he WILL help you.

So stop doing that, and instead pray for God to get you out of the way and for him to step in; claim (on the grounds of the blood of Jesus) the victory Jesus has already promised. Ask, yes (“ask and ye shall receive”), but beg not. Claim victory instead.

Its better off this way

“All your relationships would go smoother if you would just pray more about them.” -Purpose Driven Life

Well, umm, duhhh, speak of the obvious…but umm, yeah, doesn’t mean I don’t need a reminder 🙂

“Many people experience deep hurt when they open themselves up emotionally and physically only to be abandoned by someone who proclaims he’s not ready for a ‘serious commitment'” –I kissed dating goodbye

as Jennifer Knapp puts it quite nicely “its better off this way” and I know it. Sometimes the biggest blessings are not getting what we want 😉

And….Inspiring bible quote of the day from today’s reading…

4 Sing praises to the Lord, you who belong to him; praise his holy name. 5 His anger lasts only a moment, but his kindness lasts for a lifetime. Crying may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
11 You [, Lord,] changed my sorrow into dancing. You took away my clothes of sadness, and clothed me in happiness. 12 I will sing to you and not be silent. Lord, my God, I will praise you forever.
–Psalm 30