Jumpstart Reading Your Bible

The Big Idea: Talk to God during your Bible reading. It will bring greater clarity and joy.

Talking to God as You Read

Some days motivation to read the Bible is hard. You know it's good for you. Yet getting into the habit feels like anticipating that root canal. Satan prefers you not  read it either and will offer every excuse not to. The Bible gives peace, wisdom and joy. The enemy of our soul does not want you to find that.

Here are some helpful ideas.

• Pick a consistent time of day
• Find a time that works in your schedule
• Pick a quiet place free of distractions
• Keep a reading log to watch your progress
• Read a chapter (or verse) a day sequentially
• Find an accountability partner

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Just a Little Talk With Jesus

There's an old southern gospel song called "Just a Little Talk with Jesus." It was written in the 1930s by an African American pastor in the deep south. The chorus starts like this:

Now let us have a little talk with Jesus
Let us tell Him all about our troubles
He will hear our faintest cry
And He will answer by and by

I suggest you incorporate a little talk with Jesus as you pick up the Bible and read. It centers us back to our Creator who knows us and loves us tenderly.  The Bible is God's very Word to us. This is all about interacting with God and it’s a two way street.

1. Begin with honest prayer.

Don't feel like reading the Bible right now? Tell Him. Angry or feel distant from Him? Tell Him. You won't offend Him. He knows what you are thinking. Confess what is not right between you and God. Humble yourself. Be honest. In a relationship, honesty and authenticity is highly valued. Start with that.

 

2. Pray for a hunger.

Distant from God? Busy? Too tired? Embarrassed? Ask for a desire for the Word of God. This is a spiritual interaction, not your own wistful efforts. 

Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment. I Peter 2:2

3. Reflect on His amazing love.

Think of His crazy love for you and mull it over. He wants time with you. Get to know Him. In the moments of silence with Him, be still and reflect.

Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Psalm 37:7a

Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting expectantly for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. Jude 1:21 (CSB)

4. Ask God for insight.

God is the Word who has breathed Scripture into being through human authors. He is able by the Holy Spirit to guide and teach you through the Bible. Confused or lost? Ask Him to make the Bible clear and meaningful to you. 

 

5. Pray it matters.

God's Word is living and active. It can make a difference guiding our daily life, giving us strength, comfort and aid when we apply it. Pray for God to reveal the Word to where you live and breathe. To build you up and give you hope in whatever circumstance you are in.

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. … 2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT

As you dialogue with God, may you find that His Word comes alive to you. May it fill your heart with peace and give you a longing to know more about Him and His Word. These seasons of longing for God are amazing. Seek this and rest in this.

Up Next: Practical Starter Guide for Inductive Bible Study

Previous Post: Trust the Bible Because of these Dead Guys

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Reflect:

1. Which of the five suggestions attract you?

2. Have you ever prayed following these guidelines? Do you think it might help you as you read? Why or why not?

3. Write a prayer using these 5 points. Try it out today.

Three Stooges Prayer Lines

 

The Big Idea: Use Bible verses to coach others how to pray.

Using God's Word to Learn to Pray Outloud

As a Christian parent there is a certain responsibility to teach your children how to pray. Praying out loud is a skill that takes practice.

As a rookie Christian worker headed to West Africa learning to speak French, one of the hardest things was learning to pray out loud. It was a bit tricky. You close your eyes but you can't see other people's reactions to what you say if you misstep with an odd word. Additionally it is not reciprocal where you start a conversation and others interact like normal conversation would be. Instead it feels a bit like making a speech.

I recall sweaty palms when I launched into a prayer for the first time at a prayer meeting in France. It was a pretty short prayer. However, praying out loud is not just for God's sake. It is for those around you too. It may be on their behalf asking God for healing or help with a difficult situation. It blesses people. Additionally it allows them to agree with you in prayer before God. Matthew 18:20 says "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Three Stooges Prayer Lines

We have a young adult son who has High-functioning Autism. He talks. He drives. He is, in fact, very smart. However, Autistic folks often have difficulty finding words useful for conversation. These skills need to be honed and coached. Some with Autism find it much easier to talk using lines from a movie or TV shows they like. Our son loves Three Stooges lines.

But Three Stooges lines in prayer only go so far, especially in church. As our son became a young adult about fifteen years ago, it dawned on me that he is not at all comfortable praying out loud. I could let it go, but he has such a tender heart towards God and is involved in the church, it seemed beneficial that he get comfortable praying out loud.

He agreed for me to coach him on this. Over a summer, we decided we would pray together using the Bible. We knelt down at the sofa in the living room daily. I would pre-decide a passage, often in the Psalms designating about six verses, and prop it up on the sofa. One would read a verse out loud then pray using the prompts in the verse as a guide. Then the next one would take a turn doing the same thing. Here is an example from the first couple verses of Psalm 34.

I will extol the Lord at all times;
    his praise will always be on my lips.

 

"Dear Lord, we love you and we praise you because you are amazing. Help us never to give up on prayer but to keep prayer always on our minds."

² I will glory in the Lord;
    let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

 

"God, help us to always give glory to you. Help us to remember to pray for those who are sick, and encourage them, God. Help our friend ____ who is sick right now and heal him quickly."

³ Glorify the Lord with me;
    let us exalt his name together.

 

"God, thank you that the two of us can pray together to you whenever we want to. Help us always praise you."

 

⁴ I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
    he delivered me from all my fears.

 

"Dear Lord, thank you for always hearing our prayers. Remind us to always come to you with our problems.  And thank you for helping us with our fears, God. Please help me today with ____ that worries me a lot."

 

A Prayer Handle

 

So you can see from eavesdropping into our prayer conversation with God how easy it is. The prayers do not need to be long. I love it that God's Word gives us fresh ideas for prayer.

 

It is useful to pray through the Psalms, or the Epistles. These devotional types of writing are more conducive to prayer than narratives such as Genesis or Matthew, or genealogy lists or the Law such as Leviticus.

 

Our son Bob has become very comfortable praying out loud. When we ask him to pray with the family he usually prefaces it with, "What should I pray for today?"

 

It gives him a handle. He then prays simple but beautiful prayers for the need. He attends a prayer group at our church for the Persecuted Church. A couple years ago a man who attends that group told me about his participation. "Your son Bob has the most wonderful prayers. They are so meaningful and sincere. I love to hear him pray. He should teach a class on prayer sometime."

 

When I say our prayers out loud bless those around us, this, to me, is a good example.

 

This method of prayer training is not limited to praying out loud in a group. You can use Bible passages to coach yourself how to pray on your own too. Try it sometime.

Up Next: I'm a winner either way

Previous Post: Walk N Pray

 

Pray for our nation

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 Let’s keep our nation in prayer. Chalk drawing by Pastor Jim Hicks. Used with permission

Walk 'n Pray

The Big Idea: What a prayer walk is and how to try it out. 

Praying with Your Eyes Wide Open

What is the proper position to pray? I think of the head bowed, eyes closed, and hands folded together. It makes a pretty picture. Actually there are a number of places in the Bible, especially observing Jesus' prayer life, where he went to a solitary place, knelt down and prayed. The kneeling is a posture of humility. Closing eyes is often a good idea to keep us from distractions.

The Bible shows several positions of prayer. Included are hands stretched to the heavens (I Kings 8:54), weeping prostate with face down (Ezekiel 10:1), lifting hands in prayer (I Timothy 2:8) and a variety of postures.

Prayer is merely talking with God. Numerous situations lead us to pray; personal concerns, giving thanks, confession, asking for healing, giving a prayer of blessing or dedication, praying on behalf of a crisis, adoring God in worship, and so many more possibilities.

PRAYER WALKS

Let me introduce you to praying as you walk. Pray with your eyes open. You don't want to walk into a shrub or stop sign! Sometimes a visual cue will prompt you with a prayer topic. You won't get bored. You can pray to yourself or pray out loud. You could go alone or pray along with someone.  You could even go with a group of people for a purpose. There are numerous situations where this works.

• Walk for exercise chatting with God along the way as you would with a friend.
• Walk in your neighborhood and pray for your neighbors.
• Walk around your children's school ground and pray for teachers, students, your children…
• If you are a college student, pray for your education, financial needs, your teachers, fellow students as you walk through campus.
• On vacation or for spiritual refreshment walk in God's beauty praising Him in worship.
• Walking through the grocery store say a prayer for those who are hungry and in physical need. God may prompt you in the international food section for a part of the world. A missionary I knew from Costa Rica asked us to pray for her when you see bananas with a sticker from Costa Rica.

 

FRIEND OF GOD

If you are completely new to this, allow yourself to start small. Perhaps the first time you do this you will pray covering two blocks and not know what more to say.  Good for you! Try again on your next walk and get more comfortable with this.

Get creative and try a fresh new idea for conversing with God. James 2:23 calls Abraham a friend of God. Friends spend time together. Learn to be God's friend.

Up Next:  Three Stooges Prayer Lines

Previous Post: An easy hour in prayer

An Easy Hour in Prayer

 

The Big Idea: Break an intended hour of prayer into twelve 5 minute sections. 

Do you start to pray on your own and find a fly in the room is more interesting? If so, you may find a method I learned in college on how to spend an hour in prayer. I used to have a hard time keeping my mind focused for just ten minutes of prayer so I couldn't imagine this could help me. But I wanted to cultivate a prayerful life so I decided to try it. It was revolutionary for me.

WHERE? WHAT TO BRING? HOW?

My favorite thing to do is to find some quiet spot outdoors. I love someplace with a view if possible. A bench works. I have sat on a rock or with my back to a tree and gotten ants crawling on me! I have also wandered paths around a lake, and sat by a rushing brook. I have gone to a quiet room in the house, or spent time in a church tucked away in a corner by myself.

Sometimes I have done this on a monthly basis; sometimes it has a been a year or more between this retreat time. This can be done with another person or a group. It works best for personal prayer. I usually like to journal with the date, location and what I prayed for or the verses or songs I sang at various points. It is interesting to look back at my notes years later.

I try to take a small blanket to sit on, a water bottle, a watch or something to keep time, my Bible and a notebook and pen. Dress for the season if it is a cool fall day or a very sunny hot summer day. Sometimes I bring a hymn book with me because singing is part of this. I have also brought my ipad in more recent years to look up the words to a song, or sing along with a music video of a worship chorus.

TWELVE 5-MINUTE SECTIONS

The concept is fleshed out in a book by Dick Eastman, An Hour That Changes the World. He has divided the hour into twelve parts. You spend five minutes on each section. This is relative. You can certainly have those time periods shorter or longer intervals. Here are the twelve categories to work through.

1. Praise and Worship

2. Waiting on the Lord

3. Confession

4. Pray the Word

5. Watching

6. Intercession

7. Petitions

8. Thanksgiving

9. Song

10. Meditation

11. Listening

12. Praise

It is useful to select a focus before you begin. This may relate to what you are going through and need to affirm. If you are feeling insecure you may want to focus on God's Love. If you feel life is out of control you may want to focus on God's majesty or His power. If I have not start prayer time with a topic, the Lord has led me by His Holy Spirit in a certain direction. It always seems to be just what I need at the time. He, my Creator, is the one who knows me better than I will ever know myself.

A BRIEF LOOK AT EACH STEP

1. Praise and Worship: It is helpful to focus on an attribute of God or a series of attributes.  It may trigger a song about worship or give praise to Him. Though singing is #9 on this list, this is your prayer time. You are allowed to sing and pray if you want to here! But don't get distracted or spend time looking stuff up. Just talk to God and focus on Him and who He is!

2. Waiting on the Lord: This might be hard for you if you are not used to listening for God. Just wait quietly. You can start off focusing on His character but don't spend your time talking to Him. "Be still and know that I am God," it says in Psalm 46:10. Quiet the anxious or bored thoughts in your mind and focus on Him. Quiet your heart before Him.

3. Confession: When we focus on Him and His character we often become aware of where we come up short. If you are not sure what to confess, pray this verse: "Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts". Ps. 139:23

4. Pray the Word: Use a passage of the Bible as a tool to pray. The Psalms work wonderfully. Read a line to guide you then pray it in your own words. Let His Word teach you to pray.  

5. Watching: This is similar to waiting on the Lord but it is a searching time. Ask God to bring to mind the sort of things and the specific people you should pray for today. Ask God to guide your time in prayer for yourself and for others. You can also scan world events in your mind to see if there is something that you should pray for, such as world leaders and situations, international Christians in a difficult part of the world right now, etc.

6. Intercession: Now that you have a direction for prayer, start praying for the people and situations the Holy Spirit has put on your heart.  Pray for them. Pray for Christian workers like pastors and International Workers around the world.

7. Petitions: Petitions are different from intercession for others because you pray for your own needs. We are to pray for our basic needs physically (Give us this day our daily bread), emotionally and spiritually. Are you struggling with something in your life such as work, or a family difficulty, or physical illness? Pray for that now. Pour your heart out to God. He cares for you.

8. Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving is different from Praise. We praise God for who He is. His attributes. We thank God for what He has done for us. For His blessings. Count your blessings here.  

9. Song: Now is the time to have a worship song or hymn to sing or meditate on. If you don't sing or don't want to sing out loud where you are, you can read the words. But learn to use carefully written songs and hymns to guide a few minutes of your prayer time.

10. Meditation: So you have already waited on God and spent some time watching in prayer on what to pray for. Meditation is focusing on and dwelling on a verse or a truth God has brought to your mind in this prayer session. Read a verse over and over focusing on different aspects of it. Think about what it means for you, for your life situation, for those around you. Think about what it teaches you about God.

11. Listening: Another quiet time before God. Ask the Holy Spirit what He wants to tell you. Little Samuel in the tabernacle thought someone was talking to him. The old priest Eli told him (I Samuel 3:9-10) “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.

¹⁰ And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”

And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”

 12. Praise: You are near the end of your prayer time. It is time to close focusing on who God is. Praise Him for what He has done, even in this hour of prayer for you.

I hope this has been helpful to you. It is a helpful tool to me. I always finish refreshed. I pray that this may deepen your prayer life and give you a new, fresh way to spend time with God.

Up Next: Walk n pray

Previous Post: Popcorn Prayers and other on-the-go prayers

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REFLECT:

What might be valuable about quieting your heart and listening to God or meditating on Him?

Are you likely to try this? Why or why not?

Popcorn Prayers and other Prayers On-the-Go

The Big Idea: Quick as-you-go prayers count for praying to God.

Short Prayers Count, Too

Teenagers have a hard time praying out loud in front of their peers. It is apparently a skill that needs to be learned. So when I was in youth group back in the 1970s our youth pastor suggested we try something called "Popcorn Prayers." When we bowed our head and closed our eyes, kids could just call out a short sentence prayer. We were given a subject. "Thank you God for…"

There was the confident type who belted out "Thank you God for sunshine."

The quiet girl who, barely audible, said her first verbal prayer, "Thank you God for your love."

Slowly more and more kids added their line. And then the clown of the class might say something like, "Thank you God for ice cream!"

Followed by giggles, of course. And we were done. And the youth pastor then closed our time in some prayer we were all grateful for because HE was doing the praying now.

It was a great way to learn to pray together. It is an easy way to simply learn to talk to God. Some of us have been coached by our parents since we were little, saying a bedtime prayer or a prayer at the dinner table. My family had a sweet little dinner time prayer but for bedtime we were taught from a young age to just talk to God with the thoughts of our heart.

My little sister developed a rhythmic prayer and she would go on making the list longer and longer. It went like this. "Dear God, help mommy to get the baking done and the cooking done, and her washing done, and the cleaning done and the sewing done… and the cooking done and the washing done and the washing done, oh wait… Oh, I'll start again. Dear God, help mommy to get the cooking done and the…"

My mom told me the year she passed away, "I was always grateful for those prayers of Deanna. They were so practical. I know they helped me get everything done!"

Perhaps you have not had an upbringing with practical Christian parents like mine so praying may be associated with  something that sounds like a nursery rhyme or pastors with long flowing beautiful prayers. Maybe you find it intimidating to prayer out loud.

Is praying challenging for you?

Just talk to God in your head as you go. 

There is a very short verse of two words in I Thessalonians 5:17. "Pray continually." It is like breathing. Just talk to God as you go through your day. Pray as you warm something in the microwave. Pray as you drive. Pray as you lay awake in bed. Pray as you exercise. Make it a habit to just talk to God throughout the day. There is no invoice for this like a phone service would charge. It is as easy as praying as you go as if you are talking to a friend.

I have a friend who is the wife of a pastor. When we are driving and she sees an auto accident, she blurts out (eyes open), "Jesus, be with them right now. Help them Lord Jesus." 

As you go.

Ephesians 6:18 (NLV) puts it well.  "You must pray at all times as the Holy Spirit leads you to pray. Pray for the things that are needed."

Amen!

Up Next: An Easy Hour in Prayer

Previous Post: No light for my way

The Simplest Prayer: HELP

 

You don't need a lot of fancy words to pray.

One word, shared in one sentence. It changed my prayer life.

I have had a lot of prayer partners over the years.  In my early adult life, they were older women I hoped to glean life lessons from. Now I'm the older woman. We should always have someone we're learning from and someone learning from us.

I was feeling distressed. I had no idea what to do and it was wearing me down. My prayer partner was a pastor's widow. This dear old saint told me, "I learned a long time ago that sometimes the only thing we can pray is simply, 'Help!'"

Wow! How easy is that? I mused. I can do that.

I started praying this simple prayer when I was at my wits end. It gave such comfort. When I discovered I had aggressive breast cancer in my first year of marriage (my husband had lost his first wife to breast cancer also), I was at a loss for words to pray. No kidding. But this brought me through. "Help, Lord!" I would cry.

He did. Every day.

HELP FROM GOD'S WORD

Let's look to the Bible for some clues as to how and when the prayer "Help" might, well… help.

My process, which you can do on your own.  As always, pray first when opening God's Word. Then to an electronic Bible search, (explained in a previous blog). I am going to the You Version app. I punch in the words "help" and "pray." I want to know which verses have both words in it. Here is what comes up, and more. In You Version you can choose sort order of relevance or traditional. Traditional usually lists them in order from Old Testament (OT)  to the New Testament (NT).

Scroll through the whole list and read them for clues about the subject of prayer. Write down some notes and insights you see there. I also went to the search for help and God for more insights. I checked out if there were any added insights in looking at the word meanings in the original language. Those are Hebrew for the OT and Greek in the NT. I usually use Bible Hub App or www.biblehub.com. The observation of the words in the original language of the Bible follow true to the English definition.  That is, it depicts responding in a need, especially in a crisis.

As I did this exercise myself, there were some words that stood out. I determined I could place them in a format to help us process them and perhaps remember them. 

When you are HEARTBROKEN.

The normal human experience, even for Christians, is experiencing the tragedies and emotional upheaval of life.  We will have heartbreak, desperation and dismay at times. I love the authenticity of the Bible. The Psalmist wrote over and over to hear his cry and his pleas for mercy. God invites us to be honest with Him in our pain. This is because He wants to be "God with us," Emmanuel," in all circumstances.

Psalm 18:6 But in my distress I cried out to the Lord; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears.

Psalm 28:2 Listen to my prayer for mercy as I cry out to you for help, as I lift my hands toward your holy sanctuary.

You can HUMBLE YOURSELF.

You see in the verse directly above, the Psalmist lifts up his hands toward God. That is a posture of humility. We cannot figure this out on our own. We need Him. God will honor the humble heart. He will lift your spirit and give you strength.

I Peter 5: 6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.

Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

When you are EGOTISTIC.

When you try to tackle life on your own and are too proud to ask God for help, you are implying that you know better than God. Or just stubborn. As a single woman for many years I learned to carry my own suitcases and boxes. But now with back troubles, my husband will offer to carry something for me. I will insist I can do it and the next day be laid out in backache and headache. He really wants to help me, and will remind me that he does not want me to be laid out in pain the next day. Alas, it has taken me a long time to learn to accept his help. It takes even more effort for me to ask for his help. Crazy isn't it? I think God looks at us struggling sometimes and thinks, that's surely going to cause them pain. Why don't they ask me to help? It is such human nature to want to try to do life ourselves. With God, it really comes down to us not trusting that He is the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, all knowing, all powerful One who knows us and loves us.

You can EXAMINE YOURSELF.  

We learn from God's word that God really wants to help us, but he needs a heart that wants Him to help with a humble posture. We are dealing with a Holy God. Being mean spirited and full of defiant sin was the reason verses exist in the Bible that say God would not help them. It sounds so shocking. But think about it. If another adult kept insisting they don't want your help, even if they make things worse, you would respect that. God is a God who respects us. He should command our respect, but even if we don't give it to Him, He respects us. He does not help us much uninvited. He desires a relationship.

Jeremiah 11: 14-15 Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, for I will not listen to them when they cry out to me in distress. What right do my beloved people have to come to my Temple, when they have done so many immoral things? …They actually rejoice in doing evil!

Ps 26:2 Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and my heart.

When you are LIMITED IN OPTIONS.

This makes me think of the original Star Wars movie when Princess Leah had a hologram message sent through R2D2, to Obi-wan Kenobi. "Help me, Obi-wan Kenobi, you're my only hope."

There are times when we are humble before God. But we have run out of options, humanly speaking. It is a very vulnerable place to be. Even seasoned Christians find themselves at some point in their life surprisingly the end of themselves. There was a worship song popular a number of years ago that sang out, "Oh I… I'm desperate for you. Oh I… I'm lost without you." This is the idea. The idea that we cannot do this on our own strength.  

Romans 8:26  And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

You can LEAN ON HIM.

Have you ever tried to pray and you don't even know what to say because you are so hurt, so lost? This is when the "Help" prayer really comes in handy. Did you know prayer can sometimes be silent? Just start out with Help, and then trust the Holy Spirit to present in heaven what you cannot articulate on this earth and flood you with His presence. Focus on Him and your dependence on Him in your silence and let Him bring comfort to your heart.

I have learned to love this verse:

1 Peter 5:7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

You can tell your worries and cares to God. Sometimes it is good to compare different version of a verse in the Bible. What this version, the New Living Translation, does not show adequately is how to do it. At Bible Gateway.com, you find an easy way to compare translations. Under the verse is an option, Other Translations. When you click on that they all open.

 

The photo on the left shows a partial list of those that opened. Many versions say cast your cares.  Others say "throw" as in throw your worries/anxieties on Him. Imagine casting or throwing something to someone. There is intentionality to it that is even forceful. The idea of that verb, in the original Greek language, as you might now guess, is about throwing something, as if to throw it away or throw it off yourself.

So for our HELP solution, we are to intentionally throw off our cares and deposit them in God's arms, as if we are getting rid of those worries. It is a much more active verb than a passive one.  In the French translation there is a sense implied of putting all your weight on Him. That is why I say lean on Him. It is to depend on Him. To intentionally give it to God if it means giving back to Him again when you take it back. Be keeping a continual dialogue with Him, giving it again and again as needed.

When you are PROMISED.

If you look at the verse we just examined, it has a promise. He cares about you. Moving back over our verses you see in Romans 8:2 a promise. The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. Look at Psalm 139:18 which tells you two promises. 1. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted 2. He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

As you read God's Word, such as this exercise recommended regarding the help search, you will find truths of God that are actually promises. Do not squander them or gloss them over as rhetoric.  They are His promises of what He will do for you. You can even throw those back to God in prayer. Here is an example how to pray a promise.

"God you said you are close to the brokenhearted. I am brokenhearted over this situation. Please be close to me. Let me know it, Lord."

You can PERSEVERE. 

Sometimes life seems crushing and we are brokenhearted and desperate. This is the context of Help prayers. But you will find you can go on, as you pray to Him and lean on Him. An excellent passage for this concept is:

Romans 5:3-5  We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. ⁴ And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. ⁵ And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

As we learn to pray HELP for ourselves, we can also learn to pray it for others, too.

I Timothy 2:1   I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.

I leave you with this verse of great comfort that unites prayer with the grace God gives just when we need it.

Hebrews 4:16  So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

 Up Next: Jesus Loved the Old Testament

Previous Post: Beginning with God