Prayer 2021 – April 8 – Praying in the Spirit pt 1
Scripture For Today:
Philippians 1:19
“..for I know that, through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.”
Praying in the Spirit pt 1
Spiritual things are very similar to natural things. Jesus took natural things and used them to explain spiritual things so we could more easily understand how the spirit world works.
Nobody is going to become an expert at some particular thing unless they work at it. And work hard. A professional golfer that is always competing for championships, did not work at 7-11 until the Open Tournament came to town and he decided he was going to skip work and take a shot at winning.
No. A serious competitor in golf has spent years practicing. Often alone with just him, a putter and a bucket of balls on the practice green. Once he has practiced enough in one spot, he moves to another on the green where there are other curves and nuances he has to identify. Practicing, at first, sinking close putts. One foot. Then, backing up. Until finally, he is 10 feet away and sinking putts. Then, he moves again and starts all over.
Next time, he may move to the sand bunker and do the same things. Hours. Hitting different shots from different angles and trying for different distances. Notice I have not even covered going to the driving range. That is where all of the amateurs hang out and practice. What these amateurs do not realize, but the pro’s do, is this. On an entire round of golf, you will only hit your driver, maybe 15 times. On the short par 3’s, you don’t hit a driver. So, if you are shooting “par” or the average score in a round of golf for that course, you may hit 15 out of 72 shots with your driver.
That means you are using other clubs 57 times. Your putter being used on probably 18 of them (at least).
“What does golf have to do with prayer, brother Bob?” I’m so glad you asked!
You have to be like the professional golfer who has spent, probably, thousands of hours hitting various shots in practice, (usually alone or maybe with one other person with him, a coach, parent, etc.). That golfer spent years practicing the same shots, over and over. The same putts, over and over and then, one day, miraculously makes a clutch shot to win a tournament and launch him or her into a successful golf career.
That golfer did not just “get lucky.” That golfer had been practicing that shot for years and probably thousands of times. He or she had that “feel” for how hard to hit the ball. They had numerous hours of practice in reading the green to see how the ball would turn. That did not happen by accident. But when the situation arrived for which they had been preparing, it was a lot easier for them to make that shot because they knew they had made it hundreds of times before.
You need to be the same way in your prayer life. Yes, it gets monotonous spending time in prayer (well, sometimes anyway). You wonder if that time could not be put to better use. But you NEED to spend those hours, hundreds of hours, every single year, in prayer. You need to give yourself that Spiritual booster shot to make it through the day. You need to become familiar with hearing from the Holy Spirit as He may just “show up” sometimes in your prayer life.
Why?
Because on those needful occasions, whenever that may be, you need to be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. He may lead you in a way to avoid some catastrophe or harm. He may lead you to pray in intercession for someone, saving them from some catastrophe or harm. He may lead you into making an investment or business decision that launches you into a new career and you, your family and others are extremely blessed because of ONE financial decision.
But if you are not Spiritually sensitive enough to listen, it will never work out. And that only happens when you give yourself to prayer every single day. Maybe even more than one time per day. Whenever and how often is between you and the Holy Spirit. But you need to do so. Set aside some time today to just talk with a few minutes with the Holy Spirit. You may be shocked at what you find out! Amen!
Let’s Pray!
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