SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/15/2017 7:17 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
It Was a Praying Church
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 2:42e
Message of the
verse: “to prayer.”
This is the last SD on this important 42nd
verse in Acts chapter two, and I believe that this is the most Spiritual
Diaries that I have even done for one verse.
By doing it this way it has given me more time to work on other things
that I need to be working on especially working on preparation for my Sunday
school class.
Prayer is one of the most important things that a
believer can do in both private devotions and also in the church. I have spent the last six plus months
studying the 17th chapter of the gospel of John something we looked
at from my Spiritual Diaries back beginning in February and then in April
beginning with our Sunday School class.
It is probably the most important prayer found in the entire Bible
seeing who the One was doing the praying.
This Sunday the subject for our Sunday School class comes from the first
eight verses in the gospel of Luke, and the subject once again is prayer. God desires us to communicate with Him
through prayer and that should also be our desire too.
John MacArthur writes that “Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscles of
omnipotence. Understanding the
sense of loss His disciples were feeling as they anticipated His leaving, the
Lord Jesus Christ had promised in John 14:13-14 that ‘whatever you ask in My
name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do
it.’ The early church took that promise
as the source of God’s provision for all their needs, and they relentlessly
pursued divine help. The ‘prayer’ in
view here is not only that of individual believers but of the church
corporately (cf. 1:14, 24; 4:24-31).”
I have heard it stated that the invisible church meets on
Wednesday evening for prayer and as we look around our country many Bible
believing churches have omitted the Wednesday even prayer meetings. One of the reasons that I left the church
that I attended for 32 years was that they almost stopped the Wednesday evening
prayer meeting. The Pastor stopped
leading that important ministry and left it to one of the deacons. The church I now attend has the Wednesday
evening prayer meeting beginning with a devotion from our Pastor and that
breaking up into groups to pray for things that are important to our church
family among other things. I have heard the statement that seven days without
prayer makes one weak! Sadly that is the condition of the church in
our country.
John MacArthur concludes:
“The first fellowship knew the critical importance of pursuing spiritual
duties. They knew the church must be
made up of saved individuals, devoted to studying the Word, fellowship,
breaking of bread, and prayer. Those
elements are the unique expression of the life of the church. They are the means of grace by which the
church becomes what God wants it to be.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I have to say
that prayer is very hard work, but the benefits of prayer are out of this
world. My prayer life has been changing
a bit as I have different things to pray about on different days of the week,
but I believe that the Lord is leading me in this direction.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To keep a good season of prayer each day.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Isaiah” (Luke 4:17).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said, ‘"And how has
it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me?’”
Answer in our next SD.
8/15/2017 7:43 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment