WOOHOO that's an incredible quote! GOD is holy, mighty, and sovereign, and He will give so much more than we can ever give when we pray!!
also, i saw this written on pearl aka kristen snow's hand yesterday, plus someone wrote it on a birthday card i got like last week, it's an awesome verse (Ephesians 3:16-19): “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
we serve the one and only all-knowing GOD, and if we pray together according to God's will, anything is possible!!!
you might have heard of this before, but for those who haven't, i tend to pray in the ACTS style:
Adoration: appreciating God for who He is apart from what He has done for us. (His holiness, omnipresence, power, grace, etc.)
Confession: ackonwledging to God our specific sin and seeking his pardon.
Thanksgiving: appreciating God for His benefit to us.
Supplication: interceding for ourselves or others according to God's will.
from the end notes, i especially liked #9: John 15:4-5 - "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
you can tell someone's a Christian by their fruits! and we can only bear fruit by praying to Jesus and trusting and believing in Him and His ultimate plan!!
i also have a "words to live by" list that i started my freshman year in college - right now it's 43 pages long, and it's full of quotes, sermon notes, and scripture; i did a command-F (find) search for "pray" and this is what i picked out from that:
It seems that sometimes the only reason we pray is when we have no other alternative -- things appear to be completely hopeless and beyond our personal control. How hopeless does a situation have to be to get you on your knees in prayer? My prayer for you and me is that we learn to pray regularly and don't need a horrible problem to teach us how to pray. On the top of your daily "To Do List" enter one word: PRAY. Begin today. Right now. Pray about whatever is occupying your mind!
“A prayerless Christian is like a bus driver trying to push his bus out of a rut by himself because he doesn’t know that Clark Kent is on board.” - John Piper
"I have so much to do today that I must set apart more time than usual to pray." –Martin Luther
“A day without prayer is a day we foolishly believe we have under control.” - Lecrae
When in doubt, pray it out!
If your life ended today, how would your life look to God? Praiseworthy or a series of missed opportunities? Doing the best job possible given your circumstances, or squandering God's blessings? What needs to change? How about the way we begin our day today? Pray with me: "Lord how might I serve you today? Show me your will and your ways. Open my eyes and my heart. Let me see people in love the way that you do. Take away my selfishness and let me join You in Your work."
shoot, this is so long!!! i'm sorry for making you read all of this - i hope it helps!!
btw, this weekend was amazing!!! i'm really glad to have met you all and i hope and pray you all have a great week!!! i'm excited to see your other posts, and don't feel pressured to write as much as i did, i'm crazy!! i definitely don't think i'm gonna write as much next time!!
blessings!!!
- brian alan lin
Brian! So encouraging! I love the superman/Clark Kent quote! Its so true though, I can also get into a rut of praying & forgetting the power that is in Gods hands. At times i do forget to pray and attempt to do things on my own, how silly when my Father is capable of all things & loves me! Awesome stuff! Thanks for pouring yourself into the blog!
ReplyDeleteyou're welcome, stef!! thank you for reading!!
ReplyDeletei need to remember to pray a lot too! i'm glad you liked the superman quote haha! God is always in control, and He definitely loves you as well! i love that He loves us all so much!
2 Timothy 2:13 - "if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself."
may God fill us so much that we always remember to pray to Him!
Thank you. I was convicted by your question "how hopeless does a situation have to be to get me on my knees in prayer?" We are called to be in communion with Jesus in the good times as well as the bad. I was very encouraged by this!
ReplyDeleteLove it Brian,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your encouragement! "when in doubt pray it out"
It reminded me of a pastor at Vineyard church in Redding, he says often ,
"Pray and obey it's the only way!"- Pastor Jason Verduzco
Thanks man!
Thanks Brian for sharing. Thanks to everyone for praying.
ReplyDeleteI love that you wrote so much! I think prayer is something I'm guilty of looking over, so reading your post was a good reminder that there is so much God still has for me to learn about and through prayer. So thank you for all you had to share:)
ReplyDeleteyou're welcome everyone! i definitely agree with you jackie, i love your quote andy, i will try to pray more steve, and yes sydnie, there's always room for us to grow in our walks with the Lord!
ReplyDelete1 Corinthians 3:7 - "So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow."
i am so glad to be on a journey where God is leading every step of the way!