What Paul Said About Prayer

Disclaimer: Please note this is not a review of the Hagin Ministry Series. This post was made to share with you the journey I am going on while reading this book and studying Gods word. It is here posetd in my own words, while sharing some quotes of the book and for encouragement purposes only!

Brief Recap:

Bible Texts: John 14:10-14; 16:7-14, 23-24

Thought To Ponder: Whatever our need may be, it is our privilege in Christ to demand that this need be met 

• To Demand As Our Right
• Greater Works
• Praying In The Name of Jesus

Now to move on with this next lesson below:

Bible Texts: John 14:10-14; 16:7-14, 23-24

Thought To Ponder: Whatever our need may be, it is our privilege in Christ to demand that this need be met.

1 Thessalonians 5:16 -18 Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

When Paul wrote to the Early Church, He had much to say to the New Christian about prayer. A point Mr. Hagin notes on is, in the KJV this scripture can be misleading. Some have gotten the idea that Paul was telling us here to pray all the time. Other translations of this verse read, "Never give up in prayer," or "Be unceasing in prayer."  In other words, dont't give up your paryer life. Maintain a prayer life. It doesn't mean that we are to pray with every breath. That is impossible.

The exhortation    never to give up in prayer    is sandwhiched between the exhortations to "rejoice" and "give thanks." That is a good "sandwhich," isn't it? Paul says, "Always be joyful." We are to be full of rejoicing. In verse 18, He says, "Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus."

Some will say, "I just can't thank God in everything!" Paul says, You can. He said, This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (vs 18) We all want to be in the will of God. And we can when we have things in their proper perspective.

When we know and act upon the Word of God, we can truly thank Him in everything.

Memory Text: Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.     1 Thessalonians 5:18

In my words: I know we all can relate to the "hard time in Thanking God for all the good and even the rotten bad things we meet." But the truth is, I have learned over the years and continue to learn that we must give thanks with a thankful heart, not because we are asked to. We can not truly show thankful acts if we truly are not thankful.

 Listen     I have gone through a lot of good, but a lot of bad things in my life. If I shared all the details, some of your jaws would probably drop a dozen times with each detail and it would take to long. None the less, With each hard time, How could I thank a God that allowed such terrible things on one person. This so called, Loving God. Well, thats very hard to do and I promise you in much of my lowest moments, I swore, Yes, swore, I would not be thankful nor would I serve this so called loving God. I learned the hard way also. But over the years, I was led to know Jesus and with a lot of devotion to the word of God and prayer as well as spiritual growth and help from leaders the Lord placed in my path, even to this very day, I am still learning and have learned to be Thankful and content. Not easy, but once we get there it becomes easier each time.

Some say, I lost a loved one, How can I thank Him for my losing my loved one? Ah Ha, easy, I had to do the very thing when I lost my only sibling 3 mos before his 21st birthday on Christmas Eve. Listen, the truth is, we can toss out any excuse we want, but they are just excuses and our way of saying, Lord, I know we are asked to be thankful, but I can not give you my thanks -- honestly because we are so consumed with the situation rather then being so consumed and lost in the Word of God.

So something to think about... I encourage you to ask the Lord to teach you How to be Thankful even in the hardest of times. I promise you, He will do just that...

To get a copy of this book please visit:
http://www.rhema.org/store/the-will-of-god-in-prayer-book.html

To read post number 2 and lesson 2 please click the link below:
http://hissevencones.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-jesus-said-about-prayer-part-4.html