Prayer’s Exclamation Point

All the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (2 Corinthians 1:20)

Prayer is a response to promises, that is, to the assurances of God’s future grace.

Prayer is drawing on the account where God has deposited all his stores of future grace.

Prayer is not hoping in the dark that there might be a God of good intentions out there. Prayer banks on the promise of God, and goes to the bank every day and draws on stores of future grace needed for that day.

Don’t miss the connection between the two halves of this great verse. Notice the “that is why”: “All the promises of God are Yes in Christ. That is why (therefore) we pray Amen through him, to God’s glory.”

To make sure we see it, let’s turn the two halves around: When we pray, we say Amen to God through Christ, because God has said a decisive Amen to all his promises in Christ. Prayer is the confident plea for God to make good on his promises of future grace — for Christ’s sake. Prayer links our faith in future grace with the foundation of it all, Jesus Christ.

Which leads to the final point: “Amen” is a full and precious word in times of prayer. It doesn’t mean primarily, “Yes, I have now said this prayer.” It means primarily, “Yes, God has made all these promises.”

Amen means, “Yes, Lord, you can do it.” It means, “Yes, Lord, you are powerful. Yes, Lord, you are wise. Yes, Lord, you are merciful. Yes, Lord, all future grace comes from you and has been confirmed in Christ.”

“Amen” is an exclamation point of hope and warranted confidence after a prayer for help.

John Piper 

No Prayers Too Big or Too Small

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” MATTHEW 7:7

 

PONDER THIS

Prayer is God’s way of causing us to be dependent upon Him. If God just gave us what we needed without our asking, we would cease to be dependent on Him. Prayer is a way of binding us to Him. Asking God for what we need ought to be just as natural as breathing. Don’t get the idea you can only ask God for spiritual things, and you take care of the secular things. Can you imagine Jesus dividing His life into the secular and the sacred? Everything is important to God. You may say, “Well, this is beyond God,” or “This is too small for God to deal with.” No! Can you think of anything too big or too small for God to notice? Ask Him for any desire of your heart. You may say, “What if I want something that I shouldn’t?” You can still pray about it. You can say, “God, I want something You don’t want. Fix my want-er.” Pray about everything.

How easy or difficult do you find it to pray to God about everything?

What are some obstacles that keep you from praying to God about everything?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of everything that is weighing on your mind this week. Take time to pray about everything on this list, no matter how big or small.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

A Home Built on Prayer

“Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. …Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.” 1 PETER 3:1-2, 7

 

PONDER THIS

My home is solidly built on Jesus Christ. Joyce knows she’s not number one in my life. She knows God is first in my life. I know God is first in her life. I don’t mind that because I know she loves me with a stronger, deeper, purer love by putting God first than she could if she made me first. It is God who makes us together. In our dating life, growing up as high school sweethearts, we would conclude our dates in prayer. The first night of our honeymoon we kneeled beside the bed and gave our home to Jesus Christ. Every day we pray together at breakfast and pray for all our children, grandchildren, and for various other things. Our home is built on prayer. It began with prayer. It continues with prayer. You’ll never have a successful home apart from God.

How have you seen the principle described in today’s devotion play out in daily life?

How are homes and families healthier when they put God first, before anyone else in the family?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider the practices you might put in place to make God number one in your home. Take steps toward implementing these practices today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Who Is Listening to Your Prayer?

“Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.” ACTS 12:5

 

PONDER THIS

I heard about a young lawyer who just got his degree and opened up his brand spanking new law offices. He didn’t have any clients, but he had his sign out front. One day, he heard footsteps in the hallway and thought his first client was coming. So, he picked up the phone like he was busy. He said, “Hello, yes, no, I’m sorry I can’t, perhaps next Thursday. I have a heavy corporation case coming up on Wednesday, but perhaps we can arrange it.” And he put the phone down. By this time, the man he heard coming was standing in front of his desk. The lawyer said, “Yes, sir, what may I do for you?” The man replied, “Well, I’m from the telephone company, and I came to hook up your telephone.” Many times, our prayers are that way—we’re trying to impress somebody else, but we haven’t connected with God. The people in today’s passage weren’t trying to impress anybody else. They were desperate. Their prayer was unto God.

Would you say you more often pray for God to hear or for others to hear?

What might be some characteristics of these two kinds of prayers?

PRACTICE THIS

Spend time today praying to God. Be honest with Him, sharing your heart and praying for Him—and not anyone else—to hear.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Jesus Prays for Us

He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)

It says that Christ is able to save to the uttermost — forever — since he always lives to make intercession for us. In other words, he would not be able to save us forever if he did not go on interceding for us forever.

This means our salvation is as secure as Christ’s priesthood is indestructible. This is why we needed a priest so much greater than any human priest. Christ’s deity and his resurrection from the dead secure his indestructible priesthood for us.

This means we should not talk about our salvation in static terms the way we often do — as if I did something once in an act of decision, and Christ did something once when he died and rose again, and that’s all there is to it. That’s not all there is to it.

This very day I am being saved by the eternal intercession of Jesus in heaven. Jesus is praying for us and that is essential to our salvation.

We are saved eternally by the eternal prayers (Romans 8:34) and advocacy (1 John 2:1) of Jesus in heaven as our High Priest. He prays for us and his prayers are answered because he prays perfectly on the basis of his perfect sacrifice.

John Piper 

Our Good Is His Glory

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)

One common objection to Christian Hedonism is that it puts the interests of man above the glory of God — that it puts my happiness above God’s honor. But Christian Hedonism most emphatically does not do this.

To be sure, we Christian Hedonists endeavor to pursue our interest and our happiness with all our might. We endorse the resolution of the young Jonathan Edwards: “Resolved: To endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.”

But we have learned from the Bible (and from Edwards!) that God’s interest is to magnify the fullness of his glory by spilling over in mercy to us — to us sinners, who desperately need him.

Therefore, the pursuit of our interest and our happiness, even if it costs us our lives, is never above God’s interest and God’s happiness and God’s glory, but always in God’s. One of the most precious truths in the Bible is that God’s greatest interest is to glorify the wealth of his grace by making sinners happy in him — in him!

When we humble ourselves like little children and put on no airs of self-sufficiency, but run happily into the joy of our Father’s embrace, the glory of his grace is magnified and the longing of our soul is satisfied. Our interest and his glory become one.

When Jesus promises in Matthew 6:6, “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you,” this is a reward he wants us to seek. He does not lure us with joy we shouldn’t have! But this reward — this joy — is the overflow of turning away from human praise, and going into our closet to seek God.

Therefore, Christian Hedonists do not put their happiness above God’s glory. They put their happiness in God himself and discover the glorious truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

John Piper 

How to Plead for Unbelievers

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. (Romans 10:1)

Paul prays that God would convert Israel. He prays for her salvation! He does not pray for ineffectual influences, but for effectual influences. And that is how we should pray too.

We should take the new covenant promises of God and plead with God to bring them to pass in our children and our neighbors and on all the mission fields of the world.

God, take out of their flesh the heart of stone and give them a new heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 11:19)

Circumcise their heart so that they love you! (Deuteronomy 30:6)

Father, put your Spirit within them and cause them to walk in your statutes. (Ezekiel 36:27)

Grant them repentance and a knowledge of the truth that they may escape from the snare of the devil. (2 Timothy 2:25–26)

Open their hearts so that they believe the gospel! (Acts 16:14)

When we believe in the sovereignty of God — in the right and power of God to elect and then bring hardened sinners to faith and salvation — then we will be able to pray with no inconsistency, and with the confidence of great biblical promises for the conversion of the lost.

Thus, God has pleasure in this kind of praying because it ascribes to him the right and honor to be the free and sovereign God that he is in election and salvation.

John Piper 

What Kind of Prayer Pleases God?

“This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 66:2)

The first mark of the upright heart is that it trembles at the word of the Lord.

Isaiah 66 deals with the problem of some who worship in a way that pleases God and some who worship in a way that doesn’t. Verse 3 describes the wicked who bring their sacrifices, “He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man.” Their sacrifices are an abomination to God — on a par with murder. Why?

In verse 4 God explains, “When I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen.” Their sacrifices were abominations to God because the people were deaf to his voice. But what about those whose prayers God heard? God says in verse 2, “This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

I conclude from this that the first mark of the upright, whose prayers are a delight to God, is that they tremble at God’s word. These are the people to whom the Lord will look.

So, the prayer of the upright that delights God comes from a heart that at first feels precarious in the presence of God. It trembles at the hearing of God’s word, because it feels so far from God’s ideal and so vulnerable to his judgment and so helpless and so sorry for its failings.

This is just what David said in Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” The first thing that makes a prayer acceptable to God is the brokenness and humility of the one who prays. They tremble at his word.

John Piper 

Prayer Is for Sinners

“Lord, teach us to pray.” (Luke 11:1)

God answers the prayers of sinners, not perfect people. And you can become perfectly paralyzed in your praying if you do not focus on the cross and realize this.

I could show it from numerous Old Testament texts where God hears the cry of his sinful people, whose very sins had gotten them into the trouble from which they are crying for deliverance (for example, Psalm 38:4, 15; 40:12–13; 107:11–13). But let me show it from Luke 11 — in two ways:

In this version of the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:2–4), Jesus says, “When you pray, say . . . ” and then in verse 4 he includes this petition, “and forgive us our sins.” So, if you connect the beginning of the prayer with the middle, what he says is, “Whenever you pray, say . . . forgive us our sins.”

I take this to mean that this should be as much a part of all our praying as, “Hallowed be your name.” Which means that Jesus assumes that we need to seek forgiveness virtually every time we pray.

In other words, we are always sinners. Nothing we do is perfect. As Martin Luther said, on his deathbed, “We are beggars. This is true.” Even if we have achieved some measure of obedience before we pray, we always come to the Lord as sinners — all of us. And God does not turn away the prayers of sinners when they pray like this.

The second place we can see this is in Luke 11:13: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Jesus calls his disciples “evil.” Pretty strong language. And he did not mean that they were out of fellowship with him. He did not mean that their prayers could not be answered.

He meant that as long as this fallen age lasts, even his own disciples will have an evil bent that pollutes everything they do, but doesn’t keep them from doing much good as they rely on his grace and power.

We are simultaneously evil and redeemed. We are gradually overcoming our evil by the power of the Holy Spirit. But our native corruption is not obliterated by conversion.

We are sinners and we are beggars. And if we recognize this sin, renounce it, fight it, and cling to the cross of Christ as our hope, then God will hear us and answer our prayers.

John Piper 

Building a Bridge Over Niagara Falls

For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

2 CORINTHIANS 5:7

 

PONDER THIS

Faith is belief with legs on it. We are to run with endurance. How does an Olympic runner develop his skill? There’s only one way: not by studying books about running, but by running. How are you going to develop your faith? You do this not just by listening to sermons on faith but by believing God. Find something you can believe God for and begin to believe Him. And you’ll see yourself growing in grace.

I was reading a book about how they built the first bridge over the Niagara River at Niagara Falls. It was very interesting: First, to cross the river, they tied a string to a kite and flew it to the far side. Then, to that string, they tied a cord and brought the cord back across to the first side by pulling the string. From that cord, they tied a rope and brought it back across to the far side again. Lastly, to that rope, they tied a chain and brought the chain back across to the first side. They tightened the chain to build a solid line, and as a result they were able to build a mighty bridge. Growing in trusting God can start out like this: Begin by believing God for something. He can build our belief into mighty faith.

Think about a time when you had to believe God? How did this stretch and challenge you?

What are some things you need to trust God with now? What would it loo

PRACTICE THIS

Write down some areas in which you need to practice faith in God. Lift those things up in prayer. Keep up with how you see those prayers answered in the future.

Do you live like you have faith that He hears your prayers?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Prayer’s Exclamation Point

All the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (2 Corinthians 1:20)

Prayer is a response to promises, that is, to the assurances of God’s future grace.

Prayer is drawing on the account where God has deposited all his stores of future grace.

Prayer is not hoping in the dark that there might be a God of good intentions out there. Prayer banks on the promise of God, and goes to the bank every day and draws on stores of future grace needed for that day.

Don’t miss the connection between the two halves of this great verse. Notice the “that is why”: “All the promises of God are Yes in Christ. That is why (therefore) we pray Amen through him, to God’s glory.”

To make sure we see it, let’s turn the two halves around: When we pray, we say Amen to God through Christ, because God has said a decisive Amen to all his promises in Christ. Prayer is the confident plea for God to make good on his promises of future grace — for Christ’s sake. Prayer links our faith in future grace with the foundation of it all, Jesus Christ.

Which leads to the final point: “Amen” is a full and precious word in times of prayer. It doesn’t mean primarily, “Yes, I have now said this prayer.” It means primarily, “Yes, God has made all these promises.”

Amen means, “Yes, Lord, you can do it.” It means, “Yes, Lord, you are powerful. Yes, Lord, you are wise. Yes, Lord, you are merciful. Yes, Lord, all future grace comes from you and has been confirmed in Christ.”

“Amen” is an exclamation point of hope and warranted confidence after a prayer for help.

John Piper 

Collaboration with God

“We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.”

2 CORINTHIANS 6:1

 

PONDER THIS

The effectual prayer is rooted in the purpose of God. The prayer that gets to Heaven starts in Heaven. Prayer is God’s way of getting Heaven’s will done on Earth, not man’s way of getting man’s will done in Heaven. When we pray, we close the circuit.

Why has God allowed us to pray? Prayer is so mysterious. God knows what we have need of before we ask Him so why should I ask God for what He already knows I need? Further, God loves me. Why should I have to persuade a loving God to bless me or give me what I need? Couldn’t God do it without our praying? What is the reason for prayer?

God has given us the privilege of collaborating with Him. God in His administration of the Universe has called us as laborers together with Him. Almighty God says, “Adrian, I want you to help Me run the Universe.” You say, “That’s arrogance.” Well, then blame the Apostle Paul. He said we’re “workers together with Him.” We work together with God as we work with one another, and we work with God in administrating the Universe. God wants to move through His people. We work with Almighty God through prayer.

What is your prayer life like? Do you treat prayer as a privilege?

How does God’s invitation to collaborate with Him make you feel? What are some things in which you hear Him calling you to partner with Him in prayer?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6:9-13, concentrating on your personal eagerness to join Him in His work. Pray also for those God lays on your heart.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

When You Can’t Even Pray

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” ROMANS 8:26-27

 

PONDER THIS

The Holy Spirit comes alongside us in our sorrow. Have you ever hurt so bad you couldn’t even pray? I have. All you can do is groan. But the Holy Spirit says, “I will groan with you; I will pray for you; and I will intercede for you before the Father.” Both the Holy Spirit and Jesus intercede for us before the Father.

There is the guilt we exhibit, and there is the grace we enjoy, but there are still groans that we endure: the groaning of creation, the groaning of the Christian, and thank God, the groaning of the Holy Spirit. His groans remind us we are not alone, but they also comfort us as He takes our needs to the Father even when we don’t know what to say. Because of the Holy Spirit, every hurt can turn into a hallelujah, every tear into a pearl, every midnight into a sunrise, and every Calvary to a resurrection.

When have you been speechless in grief? Where did you turn in that time?

When has the Holy Spirit been a comforter to you? How can you remind yourself to go to God in your grief?

PRACTICE THIS

Share with God the grief you have been carrying. Ask the Holy Spirit to move in your heart and comfort you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Is Anything Too Small for God?

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

MATTHEW 7:7-11

 

PONDER THIS

Often, we are so full of care and worry because we’ve not truly learned how to pray. By prayer and supplication, we are to ask God for everything we need.

Pray about anything. Don’t divide your life up into the secular and the sacred. Don’t believe there are certain things you can pray about and certain things you can’t pray about because God’s not interested in those things. Can you imagine Jesus living that way? To a Christian, all things are sacred. Every day is a holy day.

You may respond, “What about the little things? I just pray about the big things.” Can you imagine anything that’s big to God? Or can you imagine anything too small for God to be interested in? Yes, pray about the big things. Yes, pray when your child is sick, but pray for the small things too. God is a God who is over all. God knows your needs. Even in wrong and shameful things, God already knows you want a wrong thing. Tell Him you want a wrong thing and ask Him to change your heart. Pray about all things.

What things are hardest for you to talk about with God?

What are some things you neglect to bring to God in prayer?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to God and bring Him all the things that are on your mind.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Too Many Words

“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” MATTHEW 6:7

 

PONDER THIS

Too often, we approach prayer wanting to impress God, so we use formal language or try to say the right thing to Him. But it’s not the logic of our prayer, and it’s not the language of our prayer that impresses God. You don’t have to be a poet to pray. Have you ever heard anybody say, “Oh, I can’t pray?” My question back to them is, can you talk? Can you talk to another human being? Can you not talk to God? Do you think you have to be Shakespeare to pray?

When my children were small, suppose I came home and my daughter said to me, “Hail, yon eminent pastor. On thy sojourn home from yon Bellevue Baptist Church, I beseech thee, that thou would grant to thine second daughter Janice monies that I may sojourn to yonder apothecary and procure some cosmetics for my face.” I’d say, “Well, Janice, would you say that again, honey?” And she would say “Daddy, can I have some money? I need to get some makeup.” Wouldn’t that be a lot simpler? Do you think I’m going to be impressed by the fact that she uses this kind of language? Jesus was saying, “You don’t pray to impress God. It’s not the language of your prayer. And it’s not the length of your prayer. You’re not heard because of much speaking.”

How do you typically talk to God in prayer? How often do you talk to Him?

Does your time in prayer feel like a formality or a friendship? What is the gift in our being able to talk to God freely?

PRACTICE THIS

Spend time talking to God, as you would a friend, about what is going on in your life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

More Than a Roadmap

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

PROVERBS 3:5-6

 

PONDER THIS

God’s plan for your life is not a road map; it is a relationship. I’m glad God doesn’t just write out a plan, seal it, hand it to us, and say, “This is what you’re going to do the next fifty years.” How boring, or maybe how frightening, that would be. Every time you come into a new situation, acknowledge God in that situation. Say, “Lord, what do You want me to do here?”

There is a wonderful preacher who was extremely gifted in engineering, so he decided, “I am going to be an engineer, make money, and give it to missions.” That would’ve been fine if that’s what God had called him to do. But God had not called him to do that, and in his heart, he knew he was running from God. He got deathly ill, and his father wrote to him, “Tis but one life, will soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.” God used that to pierce his heart and led him to pray, “Anywhere, anytime, any cost.”

Can you say that? You may be afraid that if you close your eyes and open your mouth, He’ll put something in there you don’t want. If that’s the case, you just really don’t trust Him! As we trust Him, we can be sure He will guide us for good.

Who in your life displays great trust in God?

What are some areas in which you struggle to trust and acknowledge God?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of things you hope for the New Year. Submit these before God in prayer.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Jesus Prays for Us

He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)

It says that Christ is able to save to the uttermost — forever — since he always lives to make intercession for us. In other words, he would not be able to save us forever if he did not go on interceding for us forever.

This means our salvation is as secure as Christ’s priesthood is indestructible. This is why we needed a priest so much greater than any human priest. Christ’s deity and his resurrection from the dead secure his indestructible priesthood for us.

This means we should not talk about our salvation in static terms the way we often do — as if I did something once in an act of decision, and Christ did something once when he died and rose again, and that’s all there is to it. That’s not all there is to it.

This very day I am being saved by the eternal intercession of Jesus in heaven. Jesus is praying for us and that is essential to our salvation.

We are saved eternally by the eternal prayers (Romans 8:34) and advocacy (1 John 2:1) of Jesus in heaven as our High Priest. He prays for us and his prayers are answered because he prays perfectly on the basis of his perfect sacrifice.

John Piper 

Prayer’s First Priority

“Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” (Matthew 6:9)

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches that the first priority in praying is to ask our heavenly Father to cause his name to be hallowed. In us. In the church. In the world. Everywhere.

Notice that this is a petition, a request. It is not a declaration or acclamation. It is not an expression of praise, but petition. For years I misread the Lord’s Prayer as if it began with praise: “Praise God, the Lord’s name is hallowed, revered, honored!” But it is not acclamation. It is supplication. It is a request to God that he would see to it that his own name be hallowed.

It is like another text, Matthew 9:38, where Jesus tells us to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send out laborers into his own harvest. It never ceases to amaze me that we, we laborers, should be instructed to ask the owner of the farm, who knows the harvest better than we do, to add on more farm hands.

But isn’t this the same thing we have here in the Lord’s Prayer — Jesus is telling us to ask God, who is infinitely jealous for the honor of his own name, to see to it that his name be hallowed, which means honored, revered, exalted as supremely precious?

Well it may amaze us, but there it is. And it teaches us two things.

One is that prayer does not move God to do things he is disinclined to do. He has every intention to cause his name to be hallowed. Nothing is higher on God’s priority list. But we should ask anyway.

The other is that prayer is God’s way of bringing our priorities into line with his. God wills to make great things the consequence of our prayers when our prayers are the consequence of his great purposes.

Bring your heart into line with the jealousy of God to hallow his name, and you will pray with great effect. Let your first and all-determining prayer be for the hallowing of God’s name, and your prayers will plug into the power of God’s jealousy for his name.

John Piper 

We Need Worship in Our Prayers

“…saying with a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!’”

REVELATION 5:12

 

PONDER THIS

A woman was once trapped in an apartment building. A brave fireman saw her at the window screaming for help, so he climbed a ladder to rescue her, taking her in his arms and bringing her down that ladder. He saved her life. Later, she went to the firehouse to thank that fireman. They got acquainted, began to date, got married, and I trust, lived happily ever after.

When she was in that window saying, “Help me! Save me!” that’s like praying, “God, I’ve got a need. I need you.” When we call on God for help when we’re in trouble, that is petition. We need to do that, to call on God for what we need. When the woman went to the firehouse to say thank you, that’s like praise and thanksgiving. We need to do that too. We ought to come to God, thank Him, glorify Him, and praise Him for what He has done for us. But we also need to worship Him. When the woman and the fireman fell in love and got married, she didn’t just love him because he had rescued her but for who he was. Out of that love, she gave all of her to all of him. That is like worship.

This is where many of us fall short. Sometimes our prayers are for help and salvation, which is wonderful. Sometimes we’re saying, “Thank you, Lord, for what you’ve done,” and that’s great too. But how many times have we simply come to God and said, “O God, I just pour out my heart in love to you.” That is true worship. And we need to do it more.

When was the last time you truly worshiped God?

How can you worship God on a regular basis?

PRACTICE THIS

Meet up with a friend and worship God together.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are You Thankful or Worried?

“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” 

LAMENTATIONS 3:22-23

 

PONDER THIS

We all need to reflect on the Lord’s provision. If you ask God for more and don’t thank Him for what He’s already done, I doubt your prayers will be answered in the way you hope. Did you know that there’s no higher expression of faith than thanksgiving? And worry is the highest expression of unbelief. It is time to refuse to worry. We can tell God about our worries but thank Him for what He has done and for what He’s already planning to do.

Look at the Apostle Paul. He encouraged a spirit of thanksgiving when he was in a slimy dungeon. Why? Because of the blessing that he had. Sometimes we just have to put things into perspective. We get to feeling sorry for ourselves, and we fail to understand the blessings of God. The word “think” and the word “thank” are related.

Unthankful people are always unhappy people. And some people are grumbly hateful rather than being humbly grateful. I think we’ve all met them. They are filled with bitterness, fear, negativity, selfishness, and self-pity. But we don't take things for granted, we take them with gratitude. If you are in a dungeon, thank Him for your spiritual blessings. If you are in a dungeon, thank Him for the simple blessings. Rejoice in the presence of the Lord; rely on the power of the Lord; and reflect on the provision of the Lord.

What has God provided for you that you often take for granted?

What is an area of life where you struggle to see the blessings of God?

PRACTICE THIS

Lift up to God your gratitude and worries in prayer.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers