oswald chambers

Day 28 – The Prayer Cafe “31 Day Challenge”

November 3, 2015

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Day 28

 

You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. – James 4:2-3

 

“If you ask for things from life instead of from God, “you ask amiss”; that is, you ask out of your desire for self-fulfillment. The more you fulfill yourself the less you will seek God. “…seek, and you will find….” Get to work— narrow your focus and interests to this one thing. Have you ever sought God with your whole heart, or have you simply given Him a feeble cry after some emotionally painful experience? “…seek, [focus,] and you will find….”” – Oswald Chambers

 

Let us pray:

Lord I am struck at the phrase “The more you fulfill yourself the less you will seek God.” Have I done that? Am I blindly doing things for my fulfillment, which keeps me from a prayerful life? Am I seeking you wholeheartedly?

 

Help me with understanding and clarity. I want to live a life that is pleasing in your sight. Help me to learn the things I cannot even see about my character and way of being. Help me to grow in you.

 

This is my prayer.

 

#Seek #Find #Understanding #Growth

 

Day 26 – The Prayer Cafe “31 Day Challenge”

November 1, 2015

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Day 26

  

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! – Matthew 7:11

 

“Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct in this passage for those people who have His Spirit. He urges us to keep our minds filled with the concept of God’s control over everything, which means that a disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek.” – Oswald Chambers

 

Let us pray:

Father, help us to trust You in all areas of our life. It is scary sometimes to walk without knowing the exact plan or direction You have for us.

Lead us in the path of peace, today and forevermore. Amen.

 

#Ask #Seek #Trust

Day 13 – The Prayer Cafe “31 Day Challenge”

October 19, 2015

Secret-place

Day 13

 

When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. – Matthew 6:6

 

“Jesus did not say, “Dream about your Father who is in the secret place,” but He said, “…pray to your Father who is in the secret place….” Prayer is an effort of the will. After we have entered our secret place and shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is to pray. We cannot seem to get our minds into good working order, and the first thing we have to fight is wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is overcoming this problem of our idle and wandering thinking. We have to learn to discipline our minds and concentrate on willful, deliberate prayer. It is impossible to carry on your life as a disciple without definite times of secret prayer.” – Oswald Chambers

 

Let us pray:

Find that secret prayer today.

 

#Honesty #Separation #MakeTime #SecretPlace

 

Day 12 – The Prayer Cafe “31 Day Challenge”

October 18, 2015

Prayer-Closet

Day 12

 

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. – Hebrews 4:16

 

“The little estimate we put on prayer is evident from the little time we give to it. The time given to prayer by the average preacher scarcely counts in the sum of the daily aggregate. Not infrequently the preacher’s only praying is by his bedside in his nightdress, ready for bed and soon in it, with, perchance the addition of a few hasty snatches of prayer ere he is dressed in the morning. How feeble, vain, and little is such praying compared with the time and energy devoted to praying by holy men in and out of the Bible! How poor and mean our petty, childish praying is beside the habits of the true men of God in all ages! To men who think praying their main business and devote time to it according to this high estimate of its importance does God commit the keys of his kingdom, and by them does he work his spiritual wonders in this world. Great praying is the sign and seal of God’s great leaders and the earnest of the conquering forces with which God will crown their labors.” – Oswald Chambers

 

Let us pray:

Father forgive me. I am guilty as charged. Help me establish prayer as my main business.

 

#Wonderful #Grace #DeepCallingDeep #Embrace

 

Day 9 – The Prayer Cafe “31 Day Challenge”

October 15, 2015

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Day 9

 

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. – Matthew 6:7

 

“The real sermon is made in the closet. The man — God’s man — is made in the closet. His life and his profoundest convictions were born in his secret communion with God. The burdened and tearful agony of his spirit, his weightiest and sweetest messages were got when alone with God. Prayer makes the man; prayer makes the preacher; prayer makes the pastor.” – Oswald Chambers

 

Let us pray:

What has prayer made you?

 

#Honesty #Communion #Closet

Day 2 – The Prayer Cafe “31 Day Challenge”

October 8, 2015

Change

Day 2

 

…one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray…” – Luke 11:1

 

“Prayer is not a normal part of the life of the natural man. We hear it said that a person’s life will suffer if he doesn’t pray, but I question that. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer. When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life. Prayer is the way that the life of God in us is nourished. Our common ideas regarding prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.

To say that “prayer changes things” is not as close to the truth as saying, “Prayer changes me and then I change things.” God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person’s inner nature.” – Oswald Chambers

 

Let us pray:

How true is this for you? Is prayer changing you? Talk to God right now about how He has changed you and what things you still see that need changing. Open up your heart to Him and be as candid as possible. He can handle it. He’s waiting to meet with you right now.

 

#Candidness #Change #Intimacy #NewEyes