God will be pleased if you pray like this!

    

Please click this link for the video version of this blog:   https://youtu.be/jqKcNfe4aVs 

Bible in one year by Nicky Gumbel:

https://bibleinoneyear.org/en/

Nicky Gumbel's Bible in one year today:

https://preview.mailerlite.com/b3d9q7j4m7/1967889396287937447/d0j0/

Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile

2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3.   Sing a song to praise God (you are welcome to use "Father, I adore you" which I have been singing every morning for the past 20 years or your own choice to praise God)

          Father, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You.

          Jesus, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You.

          Spirit, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You.

      

Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to shine on you that you are able to discover your sins and be willing to repent:

     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God and having Jesus as my Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sins to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gifts to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

3.  John Stott's daily prayer of Christlikeness (Christopher J.H. Wright, Cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017, 13)

(Please click this link to see how God used John Stott to change my life:https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/

           "Heavenly Father, I pray that this day I may live in your presence and please you more and more.

             Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.

             Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

    

    The link to today's Time with Abba passages:   http://api.pastoralcareschool.org/twa/

    Time with Abba passages: (Psalm 129:1-8, 1 Kings 3:4-4:34; Acts 6:1-15; Proverbs 16:26-27)

    Today's key passage: 

     5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

6 Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

7 “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 

1 Kings 3:5-10

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time to Jesus as you listen to Him. 

   

     My Listening

    The topic I received today from Jesus is: God will be pleased if you pray like this!

    How Solomon prayed and asked God is very important to us as God's children. If we learn that we will surely experience and receive the blessings God gave to Solomon as in today's passage:
    1. To acknowledge to God that you are only  a little child and you need His guidance as your father in order that you know how to carry your duties

    2. Pray and ask for wisdom but not power and money. Actually to have God's wisdom means we have God with us and a sign of the filling of the Holy Spirit

    Well, sadly as we can see in a few days later in 1 Kings, when Solomon got his power and money and everything he sat on God's throne and acted as God! He did not listen to God anymore and we can see the consequence is terrible!

    Do you know how to pray that God will be pleased? 

    Could you live a life each day in God's joyful and pleasing eyes as your father?
    

     Dear Lord Jesus,  

     Help us to acknowledge that we are only little children who need your presence as our father so that we can receive the gift of wisdom from the Holy Spirit. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.

     

    

     Reflect on these questions:

     1. How can you have a humble heart to acknowledge to God that you are only  a little child and you need His guidance in order that you know how to carry your duties?   
  

      2.  What is your next step to make that happen?

      Family Corner:

     Find an opportunity to share with your family the importance of today's message. 

     

     To know, learn and practice the method of Time with Abba, please click this link: https://www.pastoralcareschool.org