In His Light

   Prayer foremost should be about praise.  God knows what we need.  Praise God for all that He has given you.  Let Him know that you do appreciate all that He has done for you.  Let Him know that He is number 1 in your life.  Thank Him for the strength that you are given!  You don't need to pray for strength.  God gave us that strength when He gave us the Holy Spirit to guide, direct, and comfort us.  We just need to acknowledge it.  Claim what God has given you.  We need to pray for the ability to acknowledge and accept what God has given us.  It is free to us, Jesus paid the price, we just need to stop by and pick it up.  So many times we see these ads that say FREE, but there is always some gimmick.  You have to sign up for this, or do this or that.  What God has given us is Free!!  Humble yourself, discipline yourself to accept it.

Pray for direction and the humbleness to accept the direction that God sends us.  Not my will, but Thy will.  Accept God as your best friend and talk with Him daily.  Keep the friendship fresh.

God has said pray unceasingly.  What better way than to make God your best friend.  When you feel like gossipping about that co-worker, neighbor, brother or sister, tell God your feelings instead.  Not in a "do you know what they did" kind of thing, but in a gentle way, a prayerful way.  Like "God I really have a problem with so and so not doing there share of the work, could you help me get over this feeling?".  Talk to God, get those feelings out, but in a productive way, one that will help you.  Thank God for helping to keep your tongue still when you might have said hurtful things to or about someone.  An old saying says " a bruise will go away, but hurtful words will be remembered for a long time". 

We are not judges!!!  God has not put us in that authoritive position.  One Judge, that is God.  Pray for others, for their souls, for something you know they are doing that is not right with God, for their health, for whatever.  But DO NOT judge them.  For judgement is Mine sayeth the Lord. 

One of the hardest things I have ever done is pray for someone that I really don't care too much for.  But God has told us to love our neighbors.  If you pray for those you don't care to much for you will not believe how much better you will feel.

Sometimes the best way to pray is to BE STILL.  Please Lord direct me.  Please Lord show me.  Please Lord talk to me.  Please Lord guide me.  Then we keep right on talking, or doing.  STOP STOP STOP  Sometimes we just need to stop and listen.  Listen to what God wants to tell you.  Wait to see the map that God has drawn for you.

Find the time.  Time with God is one of the most important things in your daily walk.  I feel that God doesn't expect us to say " at 2:00 p.m. everyday I am going to have time with God".  But He does expect us to make time.  Feel like there isn't enough time in the day?  Do away with something else, or get up a little earlier, go to bed a little later.  MAKE TIME. 

There are several things that I have found that help me though.  I say a prayer when I get up for direction and guidance through the day,I thank Him for the rest that rejuvenates me, and I ask God to help me to do what is right by Him.  Start your day with God and hopefully you will have a God filled day.  At night I always make sure to thank God for the day.  For only through God do we have a day.  Wether we want to acknowledge that or not, He is the reason for us being.

Read the words of God.  For strength, for knowledge, and yes for power.  You would not go to a gun fight with a knife.  So if you are better "armed" you will be able to fight the battle better.  And we all know that life in these times is a battle.  From the t.v. show that you are watching to talking to the unbeliever, life is a battle, and God has given us the armor to win.

Worship with God.  Wether it be by reading His words, praying, reading things written by others, or by your acts. 

I have read the Bible from start to finish.  Does that mean I am a better Christian?? NO. It just means that I have read the Bible.  Athiest do that to see what they can use against us, theologist do that to see what they can misprove.  You can read the Bible a million times, but unless you read it for worship or knowledge in the battle, you are just reading a book.

I have just recently found something that I really enjoy.  Books on cd or cassette.  You don't have to purchase these, your local library will loan them to you for free.  I mainly listen to them on my way to work.  And yes they even have the Bible on cd or cassette.  I have a sister-in-law whose eyes are really bad from desease and she has the Bible on cd.  Now isn't that an amazing concept.   But if you want to listen or read books about God, make sure you know who or what you are "reading".  God has told us that many will come that try to stear us in the wrong direction in His name.  Make sure of what you are "reading".

Do not try to negotiate with God.  If you will only do this I will do this.  That doesn't work.  It is not an option.  Remember Thy will be done, not mine.  Instead ask that you acknowledge the strength that God has given you to see your trial through.  I am not going to say that I have never tried, that would be a lie.  When my brother Tony died I kept praying in my mind, "come on God you did it for Lazarus, think of what people would say, how glorified Your Name would be".  I wanted my brother to rise up out of the casket, I wanted him back, I didn't want him to be dead, I wanted one more hug, I wanted one more phone call, I wanted one more kiss goodbye.  See the noun in those sentences?  I I I I I   I was definitely not thinking Thy will be done.  But negotiation does not work.  God has His plan.  I suppose if we had created the heavens and the earth, if we had gave our son to go through what Jesus had gone through, then maybe we could have our will be done.  Everything has a place and a time.  Maybe not suited to us, (or we don't think so at the time), but it is in the right place at the right time.  Mine is not to question WHY?.