God's plan was for man to desire what he desired, for man's will to line up with his will. When this happens your prayers will be asking God to accomplish his will on earth as it is in heaven. Then goodness and truth will reign on earth instead of darkness and evil. When we are born, we are born in sin. We are born conforming to the world and its systems. Thus we are born following satan whether we choose to or not. The only way to change that is to be reborn by dying to sin and raised in righteousness through Christ. This is what baptism does. This is not a quick fix pill though, the transformation is an ongoing process. In this blog I'm going to list some principles that are essential to having effective and powerful prayers that God honors.
1. Deal with your sin- We must first deal with our sin when we prepare to pray. We must evaluate our day and actions to see if we have done anything God would be displeased with. Then ask for forgiveness of those sins. We can even ask God to forgive us for sins we don't know about because what's right to man is wicked to God. This means sometimes our decisions are not in alignment with God unknowingly. Psalms 19:12 David asks God to forgive him for his hidden faults, meaning sins he's unaware of. 1John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us. This is very important not to skip repentance because sin causes God to separate from us and not hear our prayers.
2. Put on Righteousness- This means being right with God through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Your life should be reflecting his light and moral code. Remember we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, there will be areas you slip in, this is your opportunity to ask God to help you in those areas. We can do nothing by our self but through God all things are possible.
3.Be Honest with God- Remember God knows everything 😉 we sometimes forget this and try to tell " little white lies" or " extract information" in our prayers. This will get you no where with God because that is sin. Remember the Bible says we must worship him in spirit and truth. God doesn't judge us like man. He loves us unconditionally. You can go to him with your darkest secret, in fact that gets you closer because you're laying it all at his feet and this is what he desires.
4. Read your Word (Bible)- The word of God cleanses us. This is why God tells us to meditate on his word day and night. This just means keep God's word on your mind. The word of God is for reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness so that we may be perfect, thoroughly furnished for all good works( 2Tim. 3:16-17) Without God's word we can't truly know him. The only way we can truly live in righteousness as God desires is by living according to his word (Psalms 119:9-11). When we read the word it also trains our senses to discern between good and evil (Hebrews 5:14). Lastly, we can remind him of his word. Because he values his word above himself he will honor it always.
5. Separate Yourself- When you prepare to pray you must separate yourself from outside interference. You can't have a powerful and effective prayer while watching television or listening to the radio (unless you have certain worship music to set the atmosphere). Your total attention need to be on your time with God. Adam and Eve didn't have interference remember but we do. We have work, school, kids, worries, Fbook, instagram, etc. We have to shut all that out for alone time just to bask in his presence. This allows your spirit to become one with his and he will speak to you and through you in prayer (this may not happen every time). The more you build your relationship with God, the stronger your prayer life will be.
6. Have Faith- We must have Faith in God's promises when we pray. Remember, you can only know his promises if you read the Holy Bible for yourself. The Bible says without Faith it is impossible to please God. One reason is because you have to first believe that he is and that he sent his son to die for the sins of world. When you pray, you must believe that it is done. This means you live as if it is a reality for you that just has to manifest. Many pray and get off their knees and speak death to the very thing they just prayed for. The Bible says in James 4, that is like a man that look in the mirror and turns around and immediately forget what he looks like. This is another reason his word is so important because it builds your faith in him. Go into your prayer knowing that God hears you and will answer you.
7. Give God glory & remain in Righteousness- Take some time to just praise and worship him for who he is to you. Your prayer shouldn't be all about petitions only. Praise God for his mercy, grace, and atonement for your sins. This is just examples, but just as you like praise God does too and he totally deserves that and more. Often people try to live righteous just to get something from God, once it's done they regress to worldly living. How do you feel when you've been used? I never want to grieve God. He's done to much for me. Romans 12:1 say to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, because this is our reasonable service unto him. This is my daily goal.
I don't profess to know it all. I'm learning daily as you are. I'm a fellow believer trying to grow in Christ and sharing with others what I've learned on this walk. My goal is to strengthen my prayer life to take it to a higher level. I want my will, purpose and pleasure to line up with his so we can do amazing miracles in the earth just as Jesus did. In fact we are instructed to do greater works than Jesus. This means if God said that, I can trust that I will be able to accomplish it because he honors his word over himself. When we position ourselves by making our vessel (body) available to him we will be awesome change agents in this earth and the earth to come. Please post in the comments about your prayer life or any questions or advice you may have for me or others. Be Blessed.
Christian Yoga sounds like an oxymoron to me. How can bitter and sweet flow from the same fountain? What does light have to do with darkness? The Bible tells us in Romans 12 not to conform to the ways of the world. Therefore it's not necessarily Godly just because everyone says it's O.K.. In fact it usually means the opposite for believers. God doesn't think like man, the book of Isaiah says that his thoughts are as high as the heavens are from the earth from our thoughts. We often see the world doing things and want to join in but we know that we can't do it exactly like them because God won't be pleased so we think of other ways to make it o.k.. Instead we put the name Christian on it and hand it to God and expect him to take it. Putting the name Christian on sin doesn't make it right, it just makes us look like hypocrites in the world eyes. This makes God disgusted. It's amazing to me that the world knows more about how we should be living than we do. Think of the story of Cain and Abel. They both gave sacrifices unto God but Cain sacrifice wasn't good. God told him that he knew the right thing to do and chose to do otherwise. He wanted to give God what he wanted instead of what God required. This is what Christian Yoga is, Trunk or Treat on Hallelujah Night instead of calling it Halloween, Easter and Christmas. The list goes on and on and God is not pleased with us conforming to the world. We continue to give God what we want instead of what he requires. Practicing Yoga opens the door for demonic possession because you're not on guard when you open your soul up to the spirit realm through the higher consciousness that Yoga promotes. Yoga is also Hinduism. Yoga isn't separate from Hinduism, it is Hinduism. Why would a Christian participate in a Hindu practice?
According to Hindu Philosophy lord Shiva is the source of Yoga. Shiva is one of the gods in the Hindu triumvirate. The word Yoga means to "Yoke" or "bind" and is often translated as to "unite". With Yoga, you are taught to do poses or postures in the form of stretching while controlling your breathing to center your mind. These poses are usually named after gods, goddesses and animals. Yoga is connected to the Kundalini Spirit that can be awakened by a Guru. This spirit is nothing to play with. People have gone to the hospital because of vomiting, mental anguish, stomach pains, etc. The spirit world is real and Christians shouldn't be no where near this. The Kundalini Spirit is believed by the Hindu to be wrapped around your spine. Through meditation and breathing techniques you can awaken it and cause it to move until it reaches your pineal gland (third eye). Once you transcend you are able to leave your body, read minds, talk with spirit guides, etc. You may say this is just stretching. I haven't experienced this. This doesn't happen all at once. It takes a lot of meditation. Once you are centered you're able to commune with ungodly spirits that masquerade as angels of light. This is deception 101.
In today's society there are few true relationships. In the home children are sat in front of the television while parents do chores. We give charge to the television to teach our children their foundations in learning. They are expected to pay attention to the television and learn their colors, letters, numbers and moral codes from programs like Sesame Street and PBS kids. All the while there is no social interaction between the parent and child except "Good Job" when you here them mumble out a letter. Then we have cellphones and tablets. From the time they're able to use their fingers they have a cellphone put in their hand. They can see all kinds of advertisement sexual, vain conversation, etc. but we don't pay attention. The motto is as long as they are occupied, not bothering me or crying. Our children are screaming for attention because they barely get it. Children don't have to look up words in the dictionary because they speak to the phone. Therefore they don't know how to use a dictionary properly. They don't know to look for the root word because the suffix of "ing, ed" is usually not attached to the word. They don't know how to write complete sentences because they are always texting and making statues on social media in short hand. Their role models are ex-strippers with barely any clothing on who are now rappers in music videos for girls. The boys have rappers talking about sex, demons, drugs and death. In addition to that you have video games that they sit in front of for hours shooting and killing to get to a certain level. Where is the critical thinking process being used? ITS NOT!
Children have to be taught to think critically. Take a look at the above picture. Critical thinking Intel five concepts and they all work together. How can they discover and explore sitting in the corner with a cell phone all day? How they inform and describe when they are not spoken to on an intellectual level? I see it all the time, a family out to eat and every one has their cellphone and no one is talking to each other. Therefore our children vocabulary is very low which makes it hard for them to describe and inform. Everything is so quick that when anything presents a challenge they give up. The challenge is the critical thinking process. God tells us in the Bible how important it is to get an understanding. We must know to ask the: Where, When, How, Why and Who. It is our job as parents to teach our children and not leave it up to Social Media, Television and Schools. Yes I said school and I am a teacher. Teachers are there as an aid to help instill in your child, just like a pastor is there to help you learn what you should already be studying which is the Bible. Learning starts at home. It's our job as parents to teach our children how to read, count, morals, values, the Word, etc. Teachers build on the foundation that parents lay. When a teacher has nothing to start with it makes their job very hard because now they are doing your job and theirs. High priced gym shoes are nice, the most expensive IPhone is cool but God says an understanding should be chosen over Silver and Wisdom is better than Gold. This means if our children don't know how to use their brain to make important decisions in life they are doomed and those gym shoes won't help.
In this picture it shows the difference between the right and left brain. As parents we want to nurture both. In order to do this we must pay attention to our children more and talk with them. We must see what they like, what are their strengths. This is the right brain. You will be surprised how many parents don't know their children strengths and weaknesses. Have your child read for 20 minutes each night and ask them to give you a summary of what they read. That is the left brain. Instead of investing in material things invest in their mind. If you child likes drawing find a drawing class for them or go buy an easel with paint and drawing pencils. If they like to sing find singing classes or a karaoke machine. If you have a boy that likes to fight put him in boxing, karate, etc. where he can learn the art of fighting. Yes there is an art to fighting :) Look up science projects and try them out at home. Write what you think will happen and see what really happens. Sensor what your child listens to such as music, YouTube videos, television, etc. Explain to them why certain music isn't good for them. If you are a parent that listens to that music also (no judgment) you may have to stop and find better music. Your child is at stake. I had to do it when my children were coming up. We watched family movies and shows all the time together. I didn't know what adult T.V. was for a long time 😂😂
