SALVATION & PRAYER

SALVATION & PRAYER,  “WORTH CONSIDERING”   3/11/20     From Ken<><
     
Today’s Scripture
“…You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures…”  (James 4:2–3, NKJV)

Weak Prayers
When James says “you ask amiss,” the word amiss means “sick, weak, miserable.” When we ask to just get by and endure, that’s a weak prayer. That’s asking amiss. God is saying, “I created the whole universe. Don’t come to Me with a weak prayer, asking Me to help you live in mediocrity. Ask big, knowing that I’m the God of more than enough. Ask Me to show out in your life, to heal you from that disease, to accelerate your goals.”   When you ask big, God calls that a healthy prayer. That’s when He says to the angels, “Go to work. Release My favor. Open new doors.” Ask to be the difference maker. Ask to set a new standard. When you say, “God, I don’t have the funds for this project, but I want to thank You that blessings are chasing me down,” that’s your faith being released. That’s what allows God to do great things.

A Prayer for Today
“Father, thank You that You want to do great things in my life so that You will be glorified as the God who is more than enough. Help me to pray healthy prayers that release Your favor and open new doors. I declare that am taking the limits off You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

Ken’s Thoughts:
The disciples of Christ, asked Jesus to teach them how to pray.  He gave them a simple form to follow Matt 6:9-15.  “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” And then later John 17 was recorded as an example of prayer.   Personally I feel like faith as like anything in the Kingdom of God, we have been invited into a learning process.   And like most things even with spiritual growth, there is a spiritual learning process like learning to walk or talk or use of the bathroom.  At least that was my experience with my kids.   After a child falls for the 3 time no parent says OK,  you can crawl for the rest of your life.    So also with prayer, there is a faith learning process that we can even forget and have to learn again and again like me with spelling words.  Could write one 500 times and miss it the next test.  And of course there is two types of prayer,   Head prayer and Heart prayer.  When it is Head prayer it is more of a hope so.  But with Heart prayer it is more of a know so.  Romans 10:9-10 is an example of this.   Do you really know you are a child of God, or do you just think you are a child of God?  Basically the 10 Commandments were given to show that we needed a savior.  That we could not even keep the 1st of the 10 commandments.  Exodus 20:3-4 So it is very important to have heart faith concerning your salvation.  Head faith is fickled and changes with the wind.  Changes on a dime.  So our Creator gave us a list of don’ts which we mostly ignore, especially that one about coveting.    
“You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol. “You shall not recognize other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.”
“You shall not take the name of God in vain.
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7) (Saying God said it when HE didn’t.)
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant, your animal or your stranger within your gates.” (Exodus 20:8–10)
“Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” (Exodus 20:12)
“You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13)
“You shall not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:13)
“You shall not steal.” (Exodus 20:13)
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:13)
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:14) Obviously we can’t keep the 1st commandment 24/7 for a life time…..  So we all need to make Christ Jesus LORD to receive the gift of eternal life to have any future at all.  So as we get into the Holy Scriptures written by the Prophets of God, our faith grows until we come to have heart faith.  It is heart faith that changes us from hoping to knowing.  It is heart faith that also changes us and heals us and sets us free in Christ Jesus.  It is Heart faith in the precious promises that changes our Adamic nature into the nature like that of Christ Jesus.

So if you have broken any of these commandments at any time, the Bible teaches, “The soul that sins shall die.” (Be separated from GOD.)   Exek 18:4-20     BUT!!  The gift of eternal life is through Christ Jesus our LORD!” Rom. 6:23.   And the prospect of receiving Eternal Life of being born from above,  John 3, into the Family of God just gets us started in learning how to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God.  You don’t get the Kingdom car keys until you pay your dues, are trustworthy and learn the rules of the road and secure some mechanical skills. it is a matter of maturity.   Even then, I have still managed to wreck, not a few, Kingdom Kars…  So with the example the LORD gave his disciples, go through it.  Do you really know, really... that GOD is your Heavenly Father?   Most have no real secure knowledge whether that is true or not.  After I made the decision to make Christ Jesus Lord while reading 1 Cor.3:11-15 it still took about 6 month to get my heart to believe it, for sure.  I am still building on that decision back in 1955.  That is why I write to you.  When I share HIS truth it also helps me to be more secure. And your as well, I hope.  But then you might, by now, be just hitting the delete key on your computer.

Yours, in HIS great love and wonderful Grace & Mercy,   Ken<><   www.Trinity-Aloha.org