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A Night and Life of Prayer |
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Bible Study -
Devotional
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Contributed by Phil Spadaro
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Monday, 12 March 2007 |
 In Matthew 6:9-14, Jesus provides the outline for a prayer. It covers
various subjects like God's holiness, our (my) needs, forgiveness,
etc... It is a powerful scripture which in my life (and I am sure,
others' lives) has been under appreciated and under utilized. Friday
night sobered me to this inadequacy in my spiritual walk.
This last weekend, the congregation of which I am a part held an evening prayer time. It went from 10 pm on Friday to around 2:30 am on Saturday. About 50 men attended and we followed Matthew 6 as template for our evening. Before each section one of our evangelists or ministers would give a sermonette. We then broke up into smaller groups of 2-6 men and prayed. Fellowship followed. It was inspiring, encouraging, challenging and deepening to pray and to hear others pray.
I have found myself praying alone a lot and missing the benefits of praying with others. Hearing another person's words and listening to their heart exposed to God gives me better understanding of that brother and new ways to address my Lord. My wife is a prayer warrior. Whether by herself or with others, she is often praying early in the morning. The phone may ring at 5:30 am and it is a sister with whom my wife had planned to pray. Between the prayer night and my wife, my heart has been pierced. Where is my motivation to pray, especially with others?
One of the homilies was about desperation and prayer. There is a correlation between my felt (perceived) need for prayer and the genuineness, depth and involvement of others in my prayer life. I am not just talking about desperation about what is bad or wrong. In my life there must be a desperation to share with my Savior the victories as well as the defeats, joy and sadness, confession, supplication, praise and more. Desperation drives many of these. The cross and resurrection should stir the needed desperation.
I am about to pray. It will be a deeper and more honest prayer than before Friday. It will be a time to beg God to open my understanding of how desperate I really am. It will be a time of open communication where I can commune with the Creator, Yahweh, the Lord, my savior. I hope to be a changed man from this experience, and I believe, by the grace of God, I will.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 12 March 2007 )
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Bible Study 
