Sabbath: The Holy Spirit, the Word and Prayer
Read for This Week’s Study: John 15:7; Matt. 7:7; Ps. 66:18; James 1:6-8; 1 John 5:14-15; Acts 2:38.
Memory Text: “The Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27, NKJV).
Image © Lars Justinen Goodsalt.com
True spirituality and prayer go together. There is no real spiritual life without vigorous prayer. After the need for repentance, perhaps one of the greatest and most urgent needs is a revival of our prayer life. The good news is that even in our prayers we are not left without the help of the Holy Spirit. Prayer draws us closer to God; it lifts us up into His presence. The prayer of faith enables us to live in response to the abundance of God’s promises. Our lives are transformed when we claim the blessings God has promised in His Word. God is more than able to supply all of our needs according to His riches (Phil. 4:19). True prayer and authentic spirituality always have God at the center of our attention, and both are rooted in His Written Word.
We should not be basing our spiritual life on our unsteady experience and subjective feelings, nor focusing our prayers on suspect contemplative and meditative practices. Rather, our spirituality has to be guided by the Bible and to follow God’s will as revealed in His Word. It is the Holy Spirit who awakens in us a desire to seek God’s presence in prayer and to lift up one another in our supplications.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 11.
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Jesus was clear that if we truly loved Him we would follow His commandments. He summarized the 10 commandments in two. Love God with all your heart mind and soul and love others as you would have them do to you. The way we show God love goes back to following His 10 commandments and His precepts. The way we love others is through service. Doctrine reflects the way God wants us to demonstrate true love to Him and humans. The Word clearly states the how and why. Throughout history we have seen what happens when we do our own "doctrine". That is why there is such a division within the Christian Church.
Prayer is the only key to unlock the spiritual riches God has for us in His stores. Its only through prayer that we present our petition before God and bring forth our strong reasons to Him who is ready to hear us and act as He wishes.The case of Hezekiah when confronted with a death case presents a wonderful yet a startling picture about the prayer. He turns facing the wall while presenting his petition before God to add him some bonus on living. This makes me a little curious on how God responds to our prayers. Was Hezekiah's prayer an afterthought in God's diary of answering prayers? Can our prayers armtwist God into doing our will/ request in the context of Hezekiah's saga? Can God's itinerary on answering prayers be interrupted just by a petition or is His mind flexible?
i will help by a testimony iused to drink alcohol n smoked tobbaco but my family prayed deligently, fasted and gave praise to the Lord and He answered amazingly love the Lord He will show us the way to eternity.
Simeon, I don't think God changed His mind with Hezikiah. I think Hezikiah needed a wake-up call at that time in his life and God allowed this to happen to him to help him to realize what was happening to him and that he needed to see things in his life differently and act accordingly. Kings can easily be lead into selfish motivation because of their perceived power. He needed to be brought to an awareness of his true position with God.
Yes prayer helps me feel better
Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.
3 John 1:2
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3
When you’re sick in hospital you have so many people surrounding you. Then I got home and all of a sudden it was just me again.
The road to recovery was not easy for me who developed a severe case of graft versus host disease.
I know that long term steroid use isn’t great for the body but I would rather a better quality of life day to day.
The psychological effects of my diagnosis was one of the hardest things for me to deal with but making friends with other patients made a huge difference.
When I talk to any of them and they ask how I am, I know that they genuinely want to know. They’re the ones who actually understand what I’m going through and I think it’s so important to have those kind of people to talk to.
As well as sharing my experiences with other patients, I used on fb to keep my family and friends updated on my progress.
I had already started journaling and decided to put my thoughts online after so many people seemed interested in my journey.
I wanted to show the in-depth side of treatment to hopefully teach others about the process and possibly help someone else prepare who might be going through something similar” sad to know of my nephew's wife so early to gave up her life.
It took me a while to settle back into my work part time but I just had to ‘find my groove’ and it now feels like I never left.
People say you need to find a ‘new normal’ when you get back into your old life but I think it’s a whole new me because my life will never really be ‘normal’ again in many adjustable way.
My journey hasn’t been an easy one but if I was given the chance to take it all back, I wouldn’t if it meant giving up the relationships I has formed and the experience I has gained. God knows what best for everyone, let trust Him
On my bad days I ask myself if it was worth it but then on my good days I’m so proud of myself for making it through.
A large part of accepting my disease and trying my best to live well has been the support I had received throughout my journey.
“I’ve been so blessed to be surrounded by anamazing support network,”
“It is a very depressing time for me and I withdrew from a lot of things in my life.
“But to you, my family and friends never gave up on me. It was your love and support that made me know I shouldn’t ever give up on myself either.
Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you.
Exodus 23:25
“Before I was diagnosed I was just doing life, now I feel like I am really living life!”
Amen
Let us never forget, God loves us. He is more on our side then we are. He is more determined to save us then our wanting to be saved. He really isn't that hard to get along with. When you set out to pray, please reflect upon who you are talking to and reflect on how serious his focus is on you and yours. ?
Never doubt the power of prayers. Even in our prayers, God through His Spirit helps us to communicate effectively with God in the groanings of our hearts.
Life nowadays drives everyone to struggle and strive; but I am always thankful that MY GOD is a LIVING GOD that knows; hears and answers my prayers according to His will and grace.
Let us all pray for one another so that we can be more like Jesus.
When we remember John 3:16 then we will truly learn to depend solely on our Heavenly Father and be our brother's keeper in ever true sense of the phrase. Could you imagine giving up you only child..and see him going through what Jesus went through?!! Unbelievable.. but note that God never left his side. Let's be more loving..genuinely and humble towards each other.
". . . be our brother's keeper in every true sense of the phrase. Let's be more loving . . . genuinely and humble towards each other."
Cheri, this is well said and deserves a BIG AMEN!!!
Let's all remember the number 12! It's the 12th chapter of Romans and 12th chapter of 1 Cor.
Rom 12:9-13 (NIV) "Love must be sincere . . . Be devoted to one another in brotherly love . . . Honour one another above yourselves . . . Be faithful in prayer . . . Practice hospitality."
When Ezekiel faced he asked God my question through his prayers, in our daily life we also face many challenges is it good to ask God question when we are praying??
Actually I'm sorry my question was from Job 3:1-22 when read the whole of that vers we Job complain to God because of the problems He passing through, now my question is it good to complain to God in the problems that we facing in our daily life through prayers
Since prayer is talking to God as to a friend, it seems it would be natural to bring our worries, our joys and, yes, even our complaints to God. I suggest reading through the Psalms to see the many different things we may bring to God in prayer.
God loves us and isn't willing that any of us should perish but all repent of our sins & go to Heaven to live with Him. He won't compell you to go, you must be willing.
It is extremely important as followers of Christ to always understand that our prayer life has to be brought into conformity to the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. This is a matter of life and death. Without leading such a life, we will fall prey to satan's temptations. We need to spend time meditating on the Word, memorizing portions of Scripture that will always come handy when faced with challenges of life. We need to be saturated by the Holy Ghost in our prayer life.
Yes, there is power in prayer.Just this week my family received a heart breaking news. My brother who was sponsoring my son's university studies changed his mind and told me that we would from the next semester starting this March be cost sharing (50-50) which I cannot manage. As a family although we stay in different localities joined hands and faithfully prayed ernestly. The next day at 9am I received a message that what he suggested was not practical and that he will fully be responsible for my son's fees till graduation.
We went again on our knees thanking God. What a faithful God we serve.