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I don’t want to miss anything that God has for me! I want my eyes wide open. Today we’re going to talk about how important it is for us to be watchful, or to look and see what God is doing. In John 5:19-20,30, Jesus said that He did what He saw His father do. God discloses, or shows Jesus everything that God Himself does. He isn’t hiding from us! He wants us to see, so keep your eyes open. There are clues for you to find, just by having your eyes open.

The Holy Spirit wants to lead and guide us and will lead and guide us to the truth if we are willing to stop, look and listen. (John 16:12-13) God can impress images on your heart – pray those things that He shows you. He can put a word in your heart and give you insight that you wouldn’t know by your natural mind. During a time of prayer today, I was impressed to call a friend of mine who today needed God’s intervention. I wouldn’t have known that other than by the Spirit of God.

It is important that we don’t try to make something happen or try to impress others with how spiritual we are. It’s not about us, it’s about Jesus! Relax and let the Spirit of God do His work in you! The gifts of the spirit and the leading of the Holy Spirit are for us today as it says in I Cor 12. They are given to believers. The Spirit divides them to every person as he wills or desires. Be alert and have a heart of expectation – and be ready with your eyes open! Be a watcher! Every time I hear or sing the song, Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord, I remember the scriptures that God wants to show us great and mighty things. I want my eyes open! Let’s pray effectively and see God do great things on the earth.

One of the best ways to pray is to be Spirit led while praying. Instead of just following a list, or going through a set pattern, it is good to stop, look and listen to the Holy Spirit and let Him direct your prayers. Today we’re going to look at the importance of stopping, taking time and just giving ourselves a moment to be still in God’s presence. When we quiet our heart, we can be prepared to hear effectively. If we want our strength renewed, the Bible says in Is 40:31 for us to wait on God and we won’t be weary and we won’t faint! Is 30:15-18 – says that in quietness and confidence we will find our strength, and there is a blessing for all who earnestly wait for Him. Is 64:4 says that eyes have not seen, and ears have not heard what God has prepared for those who wait on God. Is 49:23 says we will not be ashamed when we wait on God. Busyness and activity can keep us from hearing from God. We can look at Mary and Martha and see a visible example of this. Martha’s timing was off. She was busy when she should have been still. It was time to lay aside busyness and concentrate on what was most important at the moment. Don’t miss your visitation with God because of busyness! A friend of mine say this, busyness isn’t of the devil, it is the devil. Don’t let the enemy or activity steal your time with God. Two final scriptures today are found in Ps 37:7 where it says to rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. And probably one of my favorites when it comes to stopping to listen is found in Ps 46:10 where we are told to be still. God wants us to know that He is God. He sees the big picture, He knows all the details, and we can rest in Him. How encouraging is that!

Have you ever noticed how many different kinds of prayer are listed in the Bible? With this week’s emphasis on prayer, I’m going to give you a quick overview of the top 8 kinds of prayer.

1) Casting Your Cares Prayer: Don’t Worry, be Happy! I Peter 5:7 Don’t worry about your life Matt 6:25-34. Rom 4:21 God is able to keep His Word and do what He promised. It’s not refusing to think about them, it is giving them to God, and then replacing them with faith in God’s Word. They key is cast and leave in God’s care!

2) Consecration – Choosing God’s will over my own – Jesus exemplified this in the Garden, Paul ran with endurance the course before him, choosing God’s will over his own Gal 2:20 .

3) United Prayer – Lifting up your voice to God in one accord – Acts 4:24 Dramatic changes in a church, in people groups, and countries, with the result of an open heaven where there is no opposition in the spirit realm.

4) The Prayer of Praise, Worship and Thanksgiving – Heb 13:15 Power is released as we worship God and God deserves our worship! He is worthy! It is a great way to be plugged into power. Worship is the language of faith- you believe, you pray, you worship, you receive. Paul and Silas sang praises and praised the power down! –Doors are opened, and bands are loosed in worship.

5) The Prayer of Faith – Mark 11:22-24 There is a praying part, and a saying part. Get God’s Word on it (know what you believe), then begin by asking the Father in Jesus Name, speak directly to the Father. Thanksgiving follows, because you believe you receive as you pray.

6) The Prayer of Agreement – Matt 18:19-20 When two or three agree there is a symphony created with our prayers – Every pray-er must be following the same conductor. Ecc 4:9-12 A three fold cord is not easily broken. Power is multiplied

7) The Prayer of Supplication – heartfelt fervency – earnest, sincere, desperation for God to move. Phil 4:6, by prayer and supplication, not a casual request, a great desire. Supplication is asking fervently for what you earnestly desire.

8) The Prayer of Intercession – Ez 22:30 Someone to stand in the gap, loving someone else enough to interecede until they get what they need.

Each prayer has it’s place and it is good for us to know which prayer to pray in each circumstance. How encouraging to know that effectual, fervent prayer produces great results.

This week our nation has set aside one day to pray. The National Day of prayer is on Thursday. Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. I don’t know if there is anything more encouraging than knowing someone is praying for you. I am always so thankful for the people who are praying for me! We’re going to talk about effective prayer this week, and making the most of our time in communication with the Father. The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing, or to always be in an attitude of prayer, so this week especially, I encourage you to take time to pray, and to pray effectively. Don’t forget to pray for our leaders and our nation. We really do move forward, when we are on our knees.

Prayer is our vital connection with the Father. There is nothing better than being connected with the Father. Our life, our source of strength, our everything comes from that connection. Prayers that prevail or accomplish are the kind of prayers that we want to pray. The kind of prayer that works is the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man or woman, because it makes great power available, effective in its working. (James 5:16 AMP) There are prayers we can memorize, or there are times that we read our requests from a list, and pray right down the list. But the best kind of prayer I know of is the one that is needed at the moment, and no one knows what is needed better than the Holy Spirit. Here is how I listen to the Holy Spirit when I pray.

It is really very simple, and like the famous author’s book title, everything I ever wanted to know about…. being spirit led in my prayers…. I learned in kindergarten. It is really three steps…Stop, Look, Listen, just like what we learned in kindergarten about crossing the road.

First step is stop. Push the off button! We are called to enter into the rest of God. Stopping is waiting – take a breather – give God more than just a moment of your time.
Take time to be still, and quiet your heart.

Step two is Look. Look for cues – God gives us spiritual vision. He wants to show us great and mighty things that we know not of. We need to ask Him to “show us” what we need to know, as it says in Jeremiah 33:3.

Step three is Listen! – Be a listener! The voice of God isn’t in the storm, or the wind, but in the still small voice. Jesus said in John 5:30, “Even as I hear, I judge ….. I make a decision based on what I hear.” I make this confession regularly that I am His sheep and know His voice. Stop, look and listen as you pray effectual, fervent prayers that avail much and touch heaven to change things on earth

Have you ever heard this definition of worry? Worry is faith going the opposite direction. Faith is expecting and believing for the best, worry does the opposite! Worry expects and believes for the worst. It would appear that faith comes from God, and worry is from the enemy! Phil 4:6 tells us not to worry, but bring our requests to God, who hears and answers us. If you feel worry trying to grab ahold of your heart, start praying! When we pray in faith, we can expect results! Worry takes us backward, but prayer takes us forward. Here is the hard question you may be asking: In our world that has so much turmoil, how can I keep from worrying, about my future, my family or even the condition of our world? Here is how Phil 4:6 would answer that question, the way we can keep from worrying, is to let our requests be made known unto God and then keep on trusting Him. We don’t have control over the condition of our planet, but we can believe that God will protect and provide for us and our loved ones, because it is what He has promised in His Word. Another reason we don’t have to worry is because Matt 6:33 tells not to worry, and if we are told not worry, then we have the ability not to! And if you look at it another way, if He tells us not to worry, when we do, we are in sin. Let’s be obedient, and cast our cares on the Lord! He cares for us. Instead of worry, let’s pray! Father, in the Name of Jesus, I pray that you would help everyone who hears or sees this to be encouraged to bring their worries and concerns to You, and leave them there. We believe Your Word, and put our trust in You completely. We will live by faith, and not be moved by fear. In Jesus’ Name, AMEN! Don’t worry, be happy!

I love how the Message Bible makes the Bible so conversational and relatable, especially when it comes to talking about prayer. In Eph 6:18, right after talking about the armor of God, prayer is mentioned as essential ingredient in victorious living. The Message Bible says “Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out. I love that! Stay alert, and encourage one another so no one loses hope. We should be praying for our families, our spouses and our children, but also our extended family, our brothers and sisters, our parents, and other relatives, etc. When we pray for each other, we keep each other’s spirit’s up! Through our prayers we can encourage our own family, but also our brothers and sisters in Christ! We don’t want any one in our family to fall behind or drop out, and certainly we don’t want any other of our Christian brothers or sisters to be so discouraged that they give up. Do you realize that your prayers can be so effective? Let’s pray those kind of encouraging prayers. Be vigilant about praying for your family, and the family of God. We can pray without ceasing and bless those we love. Let’s do that today. Father, in the name of Jesus, we lift up our families. We pray for our parents, our siblings, and ask you to bless and guide them today. We lift up our spouses and our children and ask you to bless our home, and keep all those we love from losing hope. We also pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Help us to be a light in the darkness, and win our world to Jesus. In Jesus Name, AMEN.

If you are anything like me sometimes just the thought of taking time to pray for an extended time can stress me out. It adds to the long list of other pressures in our lives that we feel like we have to accomplish before flopping in to bed at night. I want to help relieve some of that pressure. We do need to make it a priority, but prayer can and should be as natural as breathing to us. With God in the center of our life, all we do revolves around Him. He doesn’t want to add burdens to our world, God wants to lift heavy burdens! If we feel a “prayer burden” it is probably the Holy Spirit prompting and directing us to pray specifically for a certain person or situation. And who of us, wouldn’t take time to pray if we knew it could change or even spare someone’s life, or change circumstances.

If we look at prayer from a house perspective, God calls us the temple of the Holy Spirit, so we are a house, and God’s Word tells us in Is 56:7, that His house shall be called a house of prayer. That means your house, your temple, your life, is a house of prayer. Prayer fits ever room in your house….work life, family life, church life, and relationships of every kind. And plus that, we live in our house and as believers, God lives here too! He is with us 24/7! It makes it easier to take the pressure off, and just make prayer a lifestyle, just like living and breathing. It can come naturally in your house. Be encouraged to make your temple/ your body/ your life/ a place of prayer!

Read your Bible, pray everyday, pray everyday, pray everyday, read your Bible, pray everyday if you want to grow. That is a really old kids song from when I was in Sunday School. As old as the song is, it is still a relevant message. If you want to grow up in God, we have to read the Bible, and we have to pray everyday. In simple terms that means taking part of your day to read the letter that God wrote to you. If something comes in the mail for any of me, I can’t wait to read it. We should be as passionate about reading God’s Word. Prayer really isn’t anything different that talking to someone on the phone. You say hello, chat for a while, and then listen for a response. God not only wants you to talk to Him, He loves it when we’ll just be still and listen. Many of us will never hear Him speak out loud, but He can give us direction in our heart. The Bible says that our spirit/heart is His candle. He wants to give us light so we can see clearly. Psalms 119 also tells us that His Word is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path. We all need light. It is a fallen world we live in, where evil wants to prevail and we get to SHINE THE LIGHT and let the whole world see! Thankfully, we know the end of the book. The enemy is eternally banished and we will eternally experience heaven! So don’t forget how important it is to pray, and to read the Word of God, EVERYDAY single day!

“Prayer is the conduit through which the power from heaven is brought to earth.” O. Hallesby once said that. That gives us such a great word picture about the heaven – earth connection. “Prayer is the conduit through which the power from heaven is brought to earth.” Jesus said in the Lord’s Prayer that He desired for God’s kingdom to come and for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. When we pray, we get to be a part of seeing that accomplished! We‘re bringing the power from heaven down to the earth. The Bible tells us to pray all manner of prayer. There are many kinds of prayer we can participate in. Prayer really does change things – and when we pray the prayer of agreement, or binding and loosing, or the prayer of faith, or the prayer of supplication, or intercessory prayer, or united prayer, or the prayer is worship and thanksgiving or the prayer is dedication and consecration, we open the windows of heaven to change situations on earth. I love it when prayer is answered quickly. To pray one day and have the answer the next is awesome. It is awesome when that happens. But there are times that we need to soak a situation in prayer, and believe long term that things are changing. It may not happen overnight, but God is at work and soon the situation will look very different from how it is now. The prayer of consecration and dedication is one that we can continue to do. Daily we can offer our lives to God to be a tool in His hands to be His hands and feet to a hurting world. Daily we can worship and praise as a prayer of thanksgiving and worship thanking God for who He is and what He has done in our lives. Daily we can bring our requests unto God and then thank Him that the answer is on its way. I hope today’s dailyeword has made you more aware of our responsibility to be praying, and revealed the joys that result from our obedience. Let’s get disciplined in our Christian walk to make prayer a priority in our lives. Then our words can be part of the pipeline from heaven to earth, seeing God’s will done right here where we live.

Here’s a quick reminder, of how to pray kindergarten style!. Stop – Push the off button! We need to be still because we are called to enter into the rest of God, and you can’t be resting and rushing at the same time! Stopping is Waiting – take a breather – give God more than just a moment of your time. Choose to spend time in His presence. Look for cues – God gives us spiritual vision. He wants to show us great and mighty things that we know not of, as it says in Jer 33:3. We are His sheep, but if we’re not looking His direction we might miss where He is leading. Listen – Be a listener – Unclog your ears. If you have ears to hear….really hear. You are His sheep, you know the sound of His voice. When you ask Him to lead you, He’ll bring the Word to your remembrance as it says in John 14:26. It is important for us to get the Word on the inside of us as it says in Matt 4:4 because we can’t live on natural food alone, God’s Word is sustenance to us. God isn’t trying to keep us from hearing Him. As it says in John 16:14-15, God will take what is His and reveal it to you! He longs for us to “hear” His voice. If you really are committed to using words from your mouth in prayer to God, we can put these principles into action. Let’s stop, let’s look and then let’s listen. We have the ability to connect up with the power of God and see things change. I am so grateful we don’t have to settle for our own ability, or to settle for how things are when it comes to circumstances we are facing. Things are subject to change, we are subject to change…..and the most exciting thing is that God is not. He never changes, so we can count on Him. What a secure place to rest.