Prayer Journal
Friday, October 6, 2000
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Mat 5:6
Godly desires are a gift from God. Those, having received the Holy Spirit at conversion, are given a healthy appetite for righteousness through a love for God's word and holy living. But, natural man (without the Spirit) does not have such a desire to be holy or to pray.
One might think a love for holiness would be a good litmus test for determining whether a person's profession of faith is genuine. With many church members seldom picking up their Bible and failing to attend church on a regular basis, one has to wonder about the validity of that test. But, then again maybe it's not such a bad test after all.
Prayer can be defined as spending time in God's presence. Love for prayer is not a natural response. In fact, seldom is a new Christian instructed how or when to pray. On the contrary, most Christians are not discipled to pray or in living a holy life. God's word speaks plainly about the danger of such a mistake:
"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." 1 Peter 3:12
One can conclude from this scripture that God only hears the prayer of the righteous and turns deaf to those who are not. Even worse, God is against those who are not righteous. The next time you pray, you might want to see if he is paying attention before you start to speak. Just Thinkin'.. WebServant
(1) Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society
(2) The images used herein were obtained from the Learning Company's ClickArt Christian Graphics Deluxe product, (c)1999 The Learning Company, Inc and its subsidiaries, 88 Roland Way, Novato, CA 94945 USA. All Rights Reserved.
