2He said to them, "When you pray, say: Luke 11:1-4 then LM said we can follow the structure of the Lord's prayer. 5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9"This, then, is how you should pray: Matthew 6: 5-15 so just from this experience, i know that God answers prayer, and God speaks to us through His word, and through people in the church, and circumstance. http://breakthroughprayer.com/howto/ACTS.html it had the ACTS thing. i havent read it yet though...
have you ever wondered if God answers prayer? Or if you do believe that He does, you're not exactly sure when it was that He did?
Well, i guess i know of many people who can say that God answered their prayers, and i think that it's really amazing, and i thank Him for that.
The reason why i'm writing about this today was because i realised that God had answered a prayer that i had forgotten i had prayed about.
during sky today, we broke up into groups to discuss some questions, they were like reflections. we were learning about God as creator, and i guess we also learnt about our role as God's creation. well, LM suddenly talked about how we should pray. i say suddenly because my initial thought was wondering how it was linked to the question, then i realised that we had finished answering it...anyway she asked if we know 'ACTS'. it was like steps to prayer...
A-doration (like praising God..(okay..so it's linked to what we learnt))
C-onfession
T-hanksgiving
S-upplication (like requesting stuff according to His will)
when she was at A, i was thinking..oh yea i do that ..then C..'hmmm..that too' then T..'woah this is sounding familiar.' then before she got to S i already knew what it was going to be. then i felt truly puzzled. i was wondering how i could pray in a similar format without hearing it before. (although sometimes i do not follow this structure) then i remembered that a while back, i prayed to ask God to teach me how to pray.
1One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
" 'Father,a]"[a]
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.[b]
3Give us each day our daily bread.
4Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c]
And lead us not into temptation.[d]' "
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.[a]' 14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
3 Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. 6 When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. 8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. 9 May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband." 11 But Naomi said, "Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons- 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD's hand has gone out against me!" 14 At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her. 15 "Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her." 16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. 19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?" 20 "Don't call me Naomi, b]">[b] " she told them. "Call me Mara, c]">[c] because the Almighty d]">[d] has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted e]">[e] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me." 22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. After reading some commentaries on Ruth 1, there were some things that were significant to me. Firstly, in Ruth 1:8-9, ruth tells her daughter-in-laws to go back to their homes while she leaves to go back to where she came from. In the commentaries i read, they both asked a question, did she not want to 'save them from the idolatry of Moab, and bring them to the faith and worship of the God of Israel'? Well, the answer is that she probably wanted to do so, but would have rather they followed her on their own account. The commentary goes on to say 'Those that take upon them a profession of religion only to oblige their friends, or for the sake of company, will be converts of small value.' I guess it's not uncommon to pull people along to church activities giving friendship as the reason, but i guess what is achieved is of little value? hmm...stuff to think about? Another thing was like a comparison between Orpah and Ruth. In Ruth1:10, they both said that they will go back Naomi. This shows that they both loved her very much. But in verse 14, orpah left naomi, while ruth clung on to her. This shows that though orpah loved naomi, she did not love her enough to go back with her. the commentary says 'Thus, many have a value and affection for Christ, yet come short of salvation by him, because they will not forsake other things for him. They love him, yet leave him, because they do not love him enough, but love other things better.' so if we love other things better, then who are we serving? mmm. time for reflection and prayer.
Ruth 1
1 In the days when the judges ruled, [a] there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
Then she kissed them and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, "We will go back with you to your people."
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Matthew 6:24