One
of our core values at Grace Church is to be Anchored in Prayer, showing a
humble dependence on God for all things. Tuesday evening, January 17, from 7-9pm,
believers from all around the upstate will be gathering together at the TD Convention Center for a time of prayer and worship, in response to and recognition of the
fact that our hope does not rest in anything but Jesus Christ. These gatherings
are following the path of the presidential primaries, but rather than
being a platform to support a candidate or discuss a political topic, the
goal is solely to to call on Jesus on behalf of America, that He might hear our
cry and that we would see a revolution of righteousness in this country.
For
believers, prayer is an important and necessary aspect to our faith, but when
it comes to the "what, when, where, how and why" of prayer, we often
have different answers to those questions, and therefore view prayer
differently than each other. It is always important to allow the bible to
shape our understanding of anything related to our faith, so I want to share a
few thoughts on prayer from our Core Values study:
- Pray according to God's will. 1 John 5 tells us that God listens to us and gives us what we ask for when we pray in line with His will.
- Seek God's will through scripture. John 15 says, "But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted." Often we pray generally that God's will be done when we know from His word what His will is. In those cases, we should boldly approach the throne of God in request for what we are praying for.
- Come to God with pure motives. James 4 tells us that we are often lacking what we need because we do not ask God for it. Further, when we do ask God for something, if our motives are not to Glorify God and carry out His will, God does not say He will answer our prayers.
- Sin hinders our communication with God. Psalm 66 states that "If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, my Lord would not have listened". It is clear in scripture that God wants our hearts. It is also clear that without repentance through the blood of Jesus, we are separated from God. As you seek God through prayer, always search your heart and humbly repent of sin He exposes.
- God always responds with an eternal perspective. God's plan of redemption, and the work of Jesus Christ, have an eternal focus with implications in the present. Many of the men and women who followed Jesus when he was here assumed that His agenda was to liberate the nation of Israel from physical oppression, when His plan was to liberate man from the an eternal death and separation from God. We have to keep that in mind as we await God's movement in response to our prayers.