Word for the day "The Gift of Prayer"

I Kings 19:12 (NKJV) And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire a still small voice.

Prayer consists of two equally important parts, talking and listening to the Lord.

Our communing with God consists of two equally important parts: prayer and meditation. Prayer is our talking to God.

Most of us have this aspect understood; Meditation is our listening to God. And here most of us need to put in the work.

There is a time to talk to the Lord and another time where we need to listen to the Lord. What part of praying to God gives you the most challenge?

Have you ever been in a relationship where the other person does all the talking? There’s an upside to this: you become a good listener, and the other person feels great comfort and ease sharing personal issues with you.

But there’s a downside too: as you are called upon to always listen and never talk, you can begin feeling insignificant, perhaps a little unloved, and sometimes, even used.

It’s a good time to evaluate how you are growing in your prayer relationship with the Lord.

Now, think about how this scenario might apply to your relationship with God. Are you doing all the talking, without ever taking the time to listen?

If you are sharing with the Lord from the depths of your heart and seeking guidance and wisdom, that’s fantastic! By all means, keep it up.

Just make sure, that as you do this, you are also taking the time and training your ear gate and heart gate to listen to God as well.

Mother Teresa is quoted as once saying, “Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at his disposition, and listening to his voice in the depths of our hearts.”

And Mahatma Gandhi is quoted as having said, “Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness.

It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”

An earthly father at times may find himself “overwhelmed” to hear his child’s humble requests.

One of the blessings of having a personal communion with our Heavenly Father is that He is never too busy to listen to us or to speak to us. However, when God does speak, we need to have our hearts and minds attuned to His message.

The message of love, care, and of hope all we will ever face in our journey through life.

Point to ponder

Remember, God tends to speak with a still, small voice; The Lord we can observe in today’s scripture very rarely shouts at His children. That’s why meditation is such an important aspect of prayer. It teaches you to develop a quiet, patient heart and an open attentive ear. Let’s begin now to practice prayer in a new way in this Lent season!

• How are you doing with your prayer life?
• Do you have prayer partners in your life?
• What are your main take-a-ways from today's message?
• Do you struggle with prayer?
• Do you have Books about prayer?
• This is the time to make prayer a priority in your life.

Special Thanks!

Our Leadership team is especially thankful for those of you who provided financial donations and support in the month of February 2019 by partnering with us in efforts to advance the kingdom of God in this 21st century season: Special thanks to Ms. Annette Straker, Mr. David Straker, Mr. Kenneth Washington, Mrs. Barbara Mason, Mrs. Lola Moore, Ms. Cynthia Waiters-Artis, Mother Betty Denson, Ms. Darlene Simmons, Mrs. Denise Johnson, and Ms. Gertrude Scott.

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