“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” - Philippians 4:6 (NIV).
There are many people who practice a certain habit. They will never go out to shop without a shopping list. This habit was picked up probably after observing someone who had profited from it or after making some costly mistake. There are instances where one without any advance list ends up spending freely at every slight temptation of a passing good or rushes to enjoy a certain service, only to end up fast broke with other more critical needs left unattended. A shopping list helps to save one from all this.
Just as a shopping list is helpful, another equally good habit for believers is to have a prayer list, that one takes regularly to the Almighty God. There are several advantages here. First, it helps focus one on particular prayer points that can easily escape the mind during a quiet time in the presence of the Almighty. But also, more, the list is a regular reminder of what one needs to take to the Almighty in form of petitions. And because one has a list he is always aware of what to add on, here and then. There are those believers with prayer lists which they keep adding on as they hear the needs of those they happen to meet.
One of the beautiful thing about such a list is to see prayer requests every now and then met. There are instances where a need is met without suspense, but other needs may take their course, as God wills. The list serves as a record of how the Almighty God comes through, sometimes without us even being aware. As one ticks an answered prayer request here and there, sees what God has done, his faith is inspired.
Of course we are here not talking about a command from the Lord, and you may as well have another habit that works for you. But this is also one good one, you may consider and give a shot, if not already doing so!
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I bring to you these lined petitions assured that you will meet each one of them according to your glorious riches in heaven, this I pray in Jesus’s name.
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19/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 All day“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).
Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.
Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!
The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!
A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
