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"Guidelines for the Quiet Time"
by Osella Clabaugh
ITGM RADIO
Scripture Text: "My
voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the
morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will
look up." Psalm 5:3 (KJV)
One of the very first things that Jesus would do
every morning was to pray. In fact there are verses
that say He would spend entire night-times praying
on the mountainside with the Father. (Ref., Luke
6:12)
Many of us have seen the Passion of the Christ and
we have watched in horror at the depiction of the
unbelievable treatment our Lord faced. Yet He didn't
strike out at them, nor did He quit! The Bible Says,
"When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he
said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and
gave up the ghost." John 19:30 (KJV)
What was finished? The end of His ministry? The end
of His life? What was finished? He had finished the
work that He came here to do - to be the Lamb of God
that takes away the sins of the world.
How could he do it? How could he go through such
agony and suffering and "continue" not on behalf of
the Father (although He was the God-man that was the
Word and the Word was with God and Was God), but He
"continued" and finished the work for you and for
me. The "how" has a simple answer but not an easy
illustration - easily followed by many of us. HE
PRAYED! When his enemies were filled with madness
against him, and were contriving what to do to him,
he went out to pray.
Jesus went on to say there in the 17th chapter of
Matthew speaking of the young man who would
continuously throw himself into the fire and on the
ground writhing in fits of rage and seizures...
"Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and
fasting."
There is a time, Jesus is saying, when great acts of
devotion alone will not cut it. There is a time when
the adversaries we wrestle, (principalities and
powers of darkness - ref., Ephesians 6), and their
powers are not easily broken. This is something I
have experienced first hand here lately and the one
thing we must resolve is that we cannot become
discouraged in our faith, but allow this time to
"quicken" us to a greater intensity and earnestness
in prayer.
Along those lines we know that it is through prayer,
that abuses; portals of flesh that can be easily
penetrated, must first be purged out and that the
plants that are not of God's planting be plucked up,
before that which is right can be re-established.
Note:
These flesh peddlers (referring to all
stimulants of the flesh) even though driven out of
the temple, will return and nestle there again, if
there isn't a continual care and oversight to
prevent it. It is a continual "DAILY" walk with the
Lord.
Matthew 21:22 says:
"And all things, whatsoever ye
shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."
Let me try to break this down a bit more for you if I
can. We know that "faith" has to do with the soul,
and prayer, while tied to faith, is something we must
do with the body. Both together, make a "complete
man" for service in the Kingdom of God.
But listen friend; Faith, if it is in
"right-standing" before the Lord, will
"excite
prayer". By the same token, prayer will not be right
if it doesn't spring from faith. Can I say that
again? I so want you to get that this morning.
Faith, if it is in "right-standing" before the Lord,
will "excite prayer". By the same token, prayer will
not be right if it doesn't spring from faith. That's
why the great Teacher (Jesus) tells us that the
condition of our "receiving" must be in the
"spirit"
or "attitude" of our asking in prayer. In other
words do we come in prayer - BELIEVING? That's a
whole other lesson and I am going to teach on that
later this month, but for now let's put our words
into action by going to prayer together.
Father: We need your power to move us into a place
of prayer today. So many of us are stuck in a rut of
feeling nothing at all - or even worse, having no
time to even know if we CAN feel anything. We have
become so independent and have fallen so far from
the actual experience of worship, that many of us
have dealt with the temptations of the flesh that
cause us to sin against our bodies through excessive
appetites and loss of that "abundant" life. So may
are feeling as though everything they do turns to
failure so why even try. I have felt that way lately
Lord - yet, I know that you have laid this ministry
on my heart and if I preach to only one, it is what
you have called me to do. I bless Your Name today, O
God, because you have brought me through the Tsunamis
of life, and that You have taught me that YOU are in
every storm - not that You cause the storm, but that
You are there to guide and to protect and to even
give us wind for our sails when we are in draught
(draft)
and seemingly going nowhere. This year O Lord,
remind me to pray. Speak to me through your Holy
Spirit and remind me every morning that while I
might pass up the toast and coffee, Time with You is the ONE
SUSTENANCE this ol' boy can't do without. I'll give
you the glory, in Jesus' Name, Amen.
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