On September 4th, I listed seven prayer secrets. This week, I\u2019m breaking these down and talking in more detail about each one of them.<\/p>\n
1. Let your gaze be on God, your glance on your request.<\/p>\n
2. Let prayer be your first choice, not your last.<\/p>\n
1 Timothy 2:1
\n\u201cI urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone..\u201c<\/p>\n
On more than one occasion, I\u2019ve heard a person who is struggling say, \u201cI guess there is nothing left to do but pray.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of the time, what the person is saying is, \u201cI\u2019ve considered every possibility. I\u2019ve tried everything I know to do. I\u2019ve struggled to find an answer and nothing has helped. I\u2019ve tried to fix it all by myself, but to no avail. So, now I guess it\u2019s time to bring God in on the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, I tried to do this on my own, but now I need God.<\/p>\n
Now, think about this. The Christian life was never meant to be lived without the complete reliance upon the Lord. Prayer must be our first response to any situation because prayer is inviting God to walk alongside us in every situation.<\/p>\n
Look at what Jesus said to His disciples\u2026
\nJohn 14:15\u201317 (ESV)
\n15 \u201cIf you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.<\/p>\n
When Jesus said He would give the disciples \u201canother Helper,\u201d He used two words that are rich with significant meaning. In the Greek, there are two words translated for \u201canother.\u201d One means \u201canother of a different kind.\u201d The other means \u201canother of the same kind.\u201d Here, Jesus uses the latter. Jesus said He would give the disciples \u201canother Helper\u201d of the same kind as He.<\/p>\n
The word \u201cHelper\u201d is a word used for a lawyer or counselor that walks alongside us. So, Jesus is saying to His followers, \u201cJust as while I was with you, I walked alongside you to help you, so the Holy Spirit will be to you what I\u2019ve been to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now if the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, is with us as our Helper, should we not include Him in on all situations in our life? Therefore, we must choose to call on the Lord as our first choice in all matters.<\/p>\n
Many times when I\u2019ve counseled with someone about a struggle, I\u2019ve asked them if they have shared their struggle with Jesus. If they are honest, most of the time, they have not gone to Jesus. They chose to come to me to receive counsel before even seeking the personal counsel of the Lord.
\nNow, that\u2019s just plain backwards. James says, \u201cIf any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.\u201d (James 1:5)<\/p>\n
When you have a struggle, go straight to Jesus. He may tell you to seek counsel from a friend, but don\u2019t be surprised if He doesn\u2019t give you all the help you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On September 4th, I listed seven prayer secrets. This week, I\u2019m breaking these down and talking in more detail about each one of them. 1. Let your gaze be on God, your glance on your request. 2. Let prayer be your first choice, not your last. 1 Timothy 2:1 \u201cI urge, then, first of all, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4174"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4174"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4179,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4174\/revisions\/4179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southsidealive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}