Christian: Hearing and Doing God's Word

But, like many people, I didn't take God's Word to heart. I heard it and I didn't hear it. I knew it and I didn't know it. Know what I mean? Then, I started watching Christian television. Yeah, I know there is a lot of criticism about "tel-evangelists," but I learned from them, that I must check out whether what they say is true by looking into the scriptures for myself. Wow, what a concept! I would open my Bible and start looking up the scriptures for myself. Then, it happened. The thing that really changed my prayer life forever. The thing that has renewed my faith and made me into practicing Christian; a Jesus advocate. I heard a message about people who pray "amiss." 

Praying amiss means to pray in error; with the wrong motives or intentions. The wrong motives are selfish motives. James 4:3 says, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." Asking amiss means you are asking as though God were Santa Claus. Gimme, gimme, gimme! It's the battle cry of the prayer warrior that prays amiss. People want something that makes them feel better. "The heck with other people, I have my own needs." What I found out is that God will meet your needs whether you ask Him or not. Yet, when you stop being so self-centered, He will begin to answer your prayers in ways you could have never imagined. --Be Blessed and Prosperous!

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Christian: Learning to Pray

The sum total of my prayer life for more than 40 years were two prayers I learned by rote. No wonder my life was so stagnant. In all of those 40 years, I never remember one time that I believed God answered my prayers. I used to add a couple of special requests at the end, just to see if they would be more effective. But, I never saw a sign or a wonder. Do I believe God hated me? "No." I just felt like I was a Christian and that God would give me whatever He thought was best, and that should be "good enough" for me. After all, I wasn't anybody special. I wasn't anointed. I wasn't a preacher or an evangelist. I was not really one of the chosen or called ones.

Then suddenly, one day, (don't know exactly when it happened) just one day, I remember listening to Christian radio. I actually didn't mind hearing it. It was a positive message. I began to listen more and more often. All I heard were encouraging messages that told me to pay attention to what I was doing. Pay attention to what I was saying. Pay attention to what I allowed into my life. Duh! You would think that after 32 years of being a Christian, I would already know that. I learned that 85% of everything that comes into your brain comes from sight. The other 15% comes from your other senses. I found out that one of the big differences between us average folks and those who seem to hear from God is that they pay attention to and limit everything that goes into their eye and ear gates. Total Life Prosperity 14 Practical Steps To Receiving God's Full Blessing is a book that explains this whole concept. The author, Creflo Dollar, states that we have very low expectations from God because we have not matured in faith and are not biblically informed; so when times are tough we assume God has let us down or wants us to struggle. --And Be Blessed and Prosperous!

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Christian: The Lord's Prayer Magnified

Growing older, I learned the " Lord's Prayer." Boy, what a load off my mind. I was no longer praying to die. I was now praying for "hollowood names," a kingdom coming, daily bread (of, course as a child, my thoughts were a slice of bread), dets, (don't know what that is), delivered from evil (that's the one I liked), and forever. Though not convinced that this prayer had a basis in my reality, I prayed it because it was the only one I knew except for the dying one.  For many, many years, I prayed that prayer; never even thinking about what it meant or whether it was relevant. When I would be in a group and someone would ask, "who would like to pray?" I would never say, "me," because I know the Lord's Prayer is not what they expected. 

I now know the power of the Lord's Prayer; as a model prayer. Pastor Greg Laurie penned an eye opening book called, Wrestling with God: Prayer That Never Gives Up. This book illustrates how prayer works in different people's lives. --And Be Blessed and Prosperous!

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First Prayers for Children

When I was a young girl, I learned two prayers: The first one was, "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake. I pray the Lord my soul to take." I remember, at one point, after having said it for years, I began to reflect on the words: "if I should die." Die? I didn't want to die. Am I praying to die? I don't want to pray to die. My solution was, I would just not say "that part" of the prayer when I prayed. My not saying that part of the prayer did not help. I began to have nightmares about dying in my sleep. 

Can you imagine a young child being tortured by the concept of death? I thought, this can't be what Christianity is all about. Afraid to tell anyone that I didn't want to say "that part," I just kept silent. I have since learned that this part of the prayer is actually the best part.  


"We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." (2 Corinthians 5:8)

--And Be Blessed and Prosperous!

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