I Refuse. Part 2 – Prayer.

This is a continuation from a post I wrote called, I Refuse. In that post I wrote a few things that I was refusing in life. One of the things I refused was in the area of prayer. I refused to pray another empty prayer. I refused to pray and not expect an answer. The word says God delights in our prayers. He also hears our prayers. But do we believe that? Do we believe God can answer our prayers? I was reading a story in the bible which really highlighted what I was thinking. The story is in Acts 12. Peter has been arrested by Herod and he is going to be executed.
But in verse 5 it reads: So Peter was kept in prison, but fervent prayer for him was persistently made to God by the church (assembly).

The night before his execution an angel from God rescues him and leaves him in the middle of the street. It is only then that Peter realises that he has been delivered by God. The word then says:
When he, at a glance, became aware of this [comprehending all the elements of the case], he went to the house of Mary the mother of Mark, where a large number were assembled together and were praying. Acts 12:12.

The surprising thing is when he goes to the house, the people who are praying for his release do not believe he is the one knocking by the gate!
Look at what Acts 12:14,15 says:
And recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she failed to open the gate, but ran in and told the people that Peter was standing before the porch gate.
They said to her, You are crazy! But she persistently and strongly and confidently affirmed that it was the truth. They said, it is his angel!

How many of us are like that? I do that as well. I pray very cautiously a lot of the time. At times I pray for the sake of saying I prayed but not really believing God to answer. If you are in the same boat please know that God wants us to come to Him in faith. He wants us to know that He will answer our prayers. It is His desire to do that. So don’t hold back when you pray. Dare to ask God for great things. Dare to ask Him to bring to pass the dreams that He has given you that scare you. He is our Father. He delights in our prayers.
We refuse to pray another empty prayer from now on!!!

Rolain.P

The Secret of the Quiet Place.

We live in a very fast moving world. We also live in a world where we are constantly being bombarded by information. If it is not television, its radio. If it’s not radio it is internet and so on and so on. My point is this, it is very hard to be silent. It is extremely difficult to just have uninterupted times of silence! But this is the thing, we need times of silence. They need to be a vital part of our lives.

In those times we meet God. In those times we get to offload all the baggage we have acquired. In those times we get to strip ourselves before God and be open about what we are facing. In those times we cry out to God. In those times we get strengthened to face other greater challenges.
So without those times we are in trouble. How many of us take time to spend with God? We need those times to learn how to hear God. So if we don’t have quiet times how can we survive?

The main reason we need to have a quiet time with God is to meet with Him!
So where are you? Do you have those times when you are silent before God, where you allow Him to deal with your heart and where you allow Him to speak to you and refresh you? If not make a decision to have that time. It will change your life as you do it.
He is waiting for you.

Rolain. P