Living for Christ: Prayer

Living for Christ.... through prayer?

That sounds kind of confusing... but Acts 1:14 says, "All these were continually united in prayer."

And later in chapter one of Acts then they pray about who should be the twelfth disciple.

In the book of Acts then the word pray or prayer is mentioned 32 times (at least in the HCSB version). That emphasizes it.

A few points it makes about prayer...

• The early believers were united in prayer (Acts 1:14)
• They prayed about all decisions and asked for guidance (Acts 1:24)
• They prayed constantly (Acts 2:42)
• They devoted themselves to prayer (Acts 6:4)
• They prayed earnestly (Acts 12:5)
• They prayed anywhere and in any circumstances (Acts 16:25)
• They prayed for boldness (Acts 4:29)

The theme of prayer in Acts is key. 

One thing I love about verse 1:14 is that they were continually united in prayer. Continually. That means it wasn't a one time thing, not one prayer meeting or praying for someone once. 

We who are brothers and sisters in Christ are united through prayer. I pray daily for my brothers and sisters, those where I live and those I don't even know. We have in common at least one thing: Jesus. 

Acts 2:42, "And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers."

So how do we put in action to live for Christ through prayer? Well it's simple... pray! Recently I've spent more time talking to Jesus and I've felt closer to Him because of it. I pray for other people, myself, thank Him, and really just talk to Him. 

We also can look at the early believers example and see how much they prayed and how important it is.

Psalm 66:19-20, "However, God has listened; He has paid attention to the sound of my prayer. May God be praised! He has not turned away my prayer or turned His faithful love from me."

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What are some other examples of prayers the early believers gave? What can we learn from it? How often do you pray? What are some things you pray about? 

Living for Christ: what does it look like to you?

Recently I've been wondering what God has in store for my blog... what He wants me to do next. He's laid on my heart to do a series called Living for Christ. I'm going to do a in depth study in God's Word about living for Christ. I'm going to take a look at believers in the Bible and try to figure out what it really means to live for Christ... and how to live it out daily.

John 3:21, "But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God."

When we've believed on Jesus  we are called to be set apart. We're to be in the world but not of the world.

Ephesians 5:8-11, "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light—  for the fruit of the light results in all goodness, righteousness, and truth— discerning what is pleasing to the Lord. Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them."

We can't have Jesus in our hearts and still try to satisfy the flesh.

 Galatians 5:17, "For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want."

When we're in the Spirit - in Jesus - then we desire what is against the flesh, it desires things of the Spirit. But if we're still in the flesh we have worldly desires. It's in our human nature to want to sin and to sin, but that's not an excuse. We can't be perfect, but we can try not to satisfy the flesh.

When we've accepted God into our hearts we've accepted Him as our heavenly Father and we've been adopted into His family.

1 John 3:1, "Look at how great a love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children."

I have a question, when you love your dad do you try to please him? That's how it is with God, since we love Him we try to please Him. We fail and mess up but He still loves us. And because He loves us He has certain things He doesn't want us to do because He knows it can hurt us.
Like as a kid have your parents ever told you not to run into the middle of the road? They said that because you could get run over. When you were little did they tell you to always wash your hands before a meal? They told you that because they know germs can hurt you. It's the same way with God. He doesn't want us to dwell in the world's garbage because He knows what is best. We just have to trust Him.


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What about you? What does living for Christ look like to you? Have you been living that way? What are some things that have helped you live for Christ?

Trusting in God

In Genesis 12:1-9 we met Abram. God calls out to him and tells Abram to leave his land, relatives, and everything familiar to go to a land He will show him. God says to Abram that He will bless him and make him into a great nation, that the nations would be blessed through him, that those who curse him will be cursed and those who bless him will be blessed.

Can you imagine? What could be going through Abram’s mind? What would you do if you heard God speaking to you, telling you to leave everything you know to go where He leads, and that all the world will be blessed through you? God was literally asking Abram to leave everything. He wasn’t moving down the road, he was leaving and would never see his family again. He was called to leave his house, wealth, relatives, and everything comfortable. God was telling Abram to trust Him. Abram would have to trust Him because he didn’t know where he was going, God was leading him. He would be completely reliant on God. He would have to trust God. What would you do?

Abram chose to obey God and left all he knew. He chose to trust God. Look at your life, how can you learn to completely trust God? Why trust God? God is the Maker of the universe, He knows our thoughts and understands them. He forgives us despite the fact we fail Him daily. How could we not want to trust Him?

Psalms 139:1-3, “Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; You understand my thoughts from far away.”

 Psalm 22:4, “Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You rescued them.”

Psalm 31:14, “But I trust in You, Lord; I say, “You are my God.””

Psalm 37:5, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust Him and He will act,”

Relying on God is hard because we want to rely on ourselves. We aren’t willing to step down from the throne of our hearts. We want to be in control. But when we try to then we fail. We mess up. Sometimes it’s hard to trust God in hard times, but sometimes bad things are allowed so we can learn, other times simply because of our wicked world. We need to trust in God.

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Discussion....

How can we, like Abram, trust fully in God?
What do you think you would have done in his situation? This is before they had phones or anything like that so he couldn't call his family or make any contact with old friends.
How do we rely fully on God?
How much do you trust God?

Paid in Full

He was beaten, tortured, scorned.

They put on Him a purple robe and crown of thorns.

He was hung on a cross to die,

As if He was the bad guy.

But that wasn’t the reason.

He didn’t commit treason.

He looked down on me, down on you,

and knew.

He knew our short comings and sins.

He knew we’d deny Him.

But when it was said we deserved to die,

He took it upon Himself to be crucified.

He did it because of His love,

because of His Father above.

He forgave us of our sins,

And with His own blood He cleansed.

He saw us and for us took the fall.

Jesus paid it all.

Joy

Joy. Joy is something we strive for. We want happiness. We want to have joy.

But how can we be happy or have joy?

Well I think a lot of people get confused on the meanings on those words. Happiness depends on your circumstances. With joy it doesn't matter your circumstances. But in this world we crave happiness. And we do have it... but only for a brief time before it passes away. How can we stay happy?

Easy answer: we can't. Happiness is only temporary. People search for it in relationships, money, jobs, fun, etc.. I think we all have before too, I know I have. But we can't strive for happiness because it doesn't last.
Then what does last?

Joy. Joy is something you can have inside of you if you let it. Joy is eternal. Joy can only be found in Jesus.

A quote I read recently says this, "In His presence is the fullness of joy."
That's right. In Him and in Him alone can we find the fullness of joy. No matter what happens in this world then we can cling onto our joy which we find in Him. Joy is found in knowing God.

That's what this world is missing. In each of us is a gap only God can fill. We look for happiness but that's temporary.

Let's strive for something more. Let's strive for the joy that comes from Jesus.

John 15:11, "I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete."