Devotionals
Moment of Transformation:
- Pray for the items listed in your Transformational Journal
- Pray for the transformation of the five individuals/families you chose
- Pray to be transformed by Christ’s FORGIVENESS
- Pray for the transformation of your character
OUR PRAYERS WILL BE ANSWERED
For then you will have your delight in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, and you will pay your vows. Job 22:26, 27
In his prayer for His disciples Christ said: “I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word.” In His prayer Christ includes all those who shall hear the words of life and salvation through the messengers whom He sends.
Can we by faith comprehend the fact that we are beloved by the Father even as the Son is beloved? Could we indeed lay hold of this and act up to it, we would indeed have the grace of Christ, the golden oil of heaven, poured into our poor, thirsty, parched souls. Our light would no longer be fitful and flickering, but would shine brightly amid the moral darkness that like a funeral pall is enveloping the world. We should by faith hear the prevailing intercession that Christ continually presents in our behalf, as He says: “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
Our Redeemer encourages us to present continual supplications. He makes to us most decided promises that we shall not plead in vain. He says: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
He then presents the picture of a child asking bread of its father, and shows how much more willing God is to grant our requests than parents are to grant their child’s petition.
Our precious Saviour is ours today. In Him our hopes of eternal life are centered. He is the One who presents our petitions to the Father and communicates to us the blessing for which we asked.
Ellen G. White, To Be Like Jesus, p. 15 – January 8
Quote of the Day “The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, ‘O God, forgive me,’ or ‘Help me.’” Billy Graham
Did You Know?
Prayer was not unique to the Israelites of the early biblical period. Many cultures in the ancient Near East offered liturgical and ceremonial prayers and petitions to their deities.
Going Deeper
We are needy people. When God found us, we were consumed with needs: relational, emotional, financial, moral, psychological, and spiritual needs … It seems quite natural, then, that until our temporal lives begin to straighten out, temporal needs would preoccupy our early prayers. The distinctive of our prayers in this first phase of our spiritual life is that they are prayers of petition … When once we see the faithfulness of God to care for us, we want to learn how to follow Him. We come to that point where we want to surrender the silliness of our own ideas to the way of the Lord. Instead of praying, “Lord, give me,” we start praying, “Lord, make me.” Surrendering to the will of God becomes pre-eminent in our thinking.
Charles F. Stanley, On Holy Ground (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999), 307.
Question…
As “our Redeemer encourages us to present continual supplications”, what do you want to put before Him today?
This Week’s Homework
- Memorize: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6, 7 NKJV
- Contact the five individuals/families that you are praying for, and inform them that you have been praying for them and ask them if they have a special prayer request.
