What is Prayer?

Have you ever wondered what prayer really is or even  if when we pray anyone hears us even if we are praying just in our heart and not out loud, it never crossed my mind to wonder about that because I was raised in a Semi-Christian home and never questioned prayer, but since becoming an adult, I think I might have thought about it once or twice.  How about you?  I have some answers for you and it also is blessing me because even though I never questioned prayer, I have had questions about prayer and the whys and where-fores.  Such as 'if He hears me, why no answers?'  And yet I know He hears because I have had so many answers that definitely proves He has heard.  I may share one or two with you now and then.

What is prayer?  A favorite author of mine has said that 'prayer is the opening of the heart to God.'  The Bible says in Psalms 62:8  "Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us."

Will God hear when we pray?    Psalms 3:4  "I cried to the Lord with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill."
Psalms 34:4,6  "I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.  This poor man cried out and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles."  When I read these verses, it was like a healing balm to me.  I am so afraid of being left living alone again and I know now that He won't let be get into that circumstances again.  I don't want to live with anyone, I just want them near so I can have someone to talk to if I need to or to get help when I need it.  It seems right now that my troubles are many but He has promised to save me from all my troubles.  That is a great relief to me.  No more troubles to worry about.

What is the first step in offering an acceptable prayer?  Hebrews 11:6  "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."  I believe with all my heart that He is God and does exist, how about you?  I hope you do there are so many reasons for believing.  So this is the first step in coming to God in prayer, believing that He is and always has.

What is the basis of true prayer?  John 15:7  "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you."

What should be our state of mind in regard to all things asked for?  Luke 22:42  first part, "Father if it is Your will."  We should ask and let God do His will in answering.  That is a hard thing to do to succumb to God's will over ours.  But from experience I know that His will is best and always turns out better that what I willed to be done.  So trust His will for you, you won't be sorry.

Is it possible to ask for wrong things?  James 4:3  "You ask and  do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures."  I believe that God wants us to ask for things that will be for our spiritual benefit and others too and then I think He answers those kinds of prayers.

I think this is enough for us to think about today, tomorrow I will continue on the Prayer Study, hope it helps you like it has helped me, this has really opened my eyes to some reasons why our prayers are not answered and tomorrow there is another one, don't miss out because prayer is the key that unlocks heaven's storehouse and we want His storehouse of blessings poured out on us, don't we?  Grandma Joan

The Mind Cure

A true story of a young man named Bill--Bill fried his brains on drugs.  When he woke up in the hospital, he had to be told his name repeatedly because he couldn't remember it.  A Christian lady who worked at the hospital took him to her home to recover.  She and her husband led Bill to Christ.  He decided that he needed to know some of the Word of God in order to be an effective Christian.  He began to memorize Scripture, he started with the book of Romans and it would take two weeks and sometimes three to remember one verse but he kept at it.  He memorized the  book of Romans, James and was working on Hebrews.  Bill claims it was the healing, restorative power of the Word that gave him back his mind.

I believe that there is power in the Word, lot's of power, if we would only put it to memory, or just read it to start with and then find promises to memorize, I know it takes effort and lots of it to start with but it becomes easier as we go along.  I have done quite a bit of memory work but not near enough, I remember one time I memorized the first seven chapters of Revelation and wish so often that I had kept it up, one of memory lanes memories that I wish I had done better at.  Here are some encouraging verses to help you know the importance of memorization.

Psalms 119:10,11  "With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!  Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against You."

Verse 16,  "I will delight myself in Your statutes;  I will not forget Your word."

Verse 97,  "Oh, how I love Your law!  It is my meditation all the day"

Proverbs 4:4  "He also taught me, and said to me; Let your heart retain my words, Keep my commands, and live."
Proverbs 4:20-23  "My son, give attention to my words;  Incline your ear to my sayings,  Do not let them depart from your eyes;  Keep them in the midst of your heart;  For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.  Keep your heart with all diligence."

Colossians 3:16  "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."

1 Timothy 4:15  "Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all."

Hebrews 2:1-3  "Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.  For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him."

There are a lot more verses on memorizing the scriptures, but I don't want to burden you with too many, so this is enough to let you know how important filling our minds with His word is.  I am working on Isaiah 58 right now and only have the first one down pat and the second verse partly down.  I repeat psalms 103: 1-5 when I go to bed at night, it is such a good text to memorize, there is so much in this text that I needed, I just committed it to memory so I could say it whenever I needed it.

I know that memorizing texts helps heal our minds and of course satan does not like it when we store these up in our minds, so he gives us all kinds of excuses why we can't.  It's too hard, I don't have the mind to do it, I've never been good at memorizing, I don't have time and many others. What's your excuse, mine was I think I am getting too old, but of course that was another lie of the devils.  So let's get our minds on the road to healing and it will also be healing to body, soul and spirit.  Grandma Joan

Let's take a walk down memory lane.

I am a very nostalgic person and I love to look at pictures that bring back memories of the past, good memories.  I love to talk about the good old days and recall the good times and try to forget the bad times. It's like you are back there again, having a good time again with friends and family.  Yesterday I was sorting through some things, keeping some and discarding some and I ran across a picture of an old, old farm house when we first moved to Oregon, I was around eleven or twelve and the house was so old that snakes could crawl up the vine on the porch and sneak in to our upstairs bedroom.  I am scared of snakes and the memory of that still lingers.  My mother did our laundry on a washboard, it was primitive living to say the least but it was good living even then.  We learned to work and I ended up being a workaholic if there is such a thing, but it has always been good for me.  I never hated work.

I was thinking about my walk down memories lane with Jesus, how up and down it has been and feel so bad that it couldn't have been up all the time, I would be so much closer to Him now then I am and would know His will for me better than I do now.  How much I have lost through the years by my up and down travels with Jesus.  Some of it has been very good and other times I have sunk into a pit, when things didn't go as I though they should, sounds selfish doesn't it and I suppose it was.  No excuses for it.

How has your walk down memories lane been?  Smooth, up and down or just plain down?  I know the feeling of it all and it doesn't bring back good memories sometimes and other times it is real good memories.

In Hebrews 13:5  He said in the last part, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee."  Now that is the reason I am where I am today, He has never left me nor forsaken me and He never will, I can be very sure of that.
So that is the part of memories lane I like to remember, the part where He has never left me not forsaken me.  That is why I love Him so much, He has always been there for me and heard and answered my prayers even in my down times.  I can't wait to see Jesus and hug His feet and thank Him for walking with me all the way to the kingdom.  They are all good memories when you think of it this way, don't you think?
Grandma Joan

Nearness to God

Is there a void in your life?  An empty hole that you can't seem to fill?  I have been there and sometimes yet I feel a void, or an emptiness that nothing fills and each time I have to turn to God for filling.  Right now, I feel empty and undone and I know that this study is going to fill up that hole.  Drawing near to God fills that void, I know because I have been there, just as empty as you are if that is your situation, and when we turn to God and draw near to Him, He does fill that void.

Psalms 16:8  "I have set the Lord alway before me;  because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved."
It's our responsibility to set the Lord always before us, putting Him first in everything and because of this He makes us steadfast so that we can't be removed from Him.

Psalms 34:18  "The Lord is nigh unto them of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."
Even when our heart is broken He is there for us and saves us when we have a repentant spirit.

Psalms 145:18  "The Lord is nigh unto them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth."  We can call upon God at anytime or anywhere, He is close to us when we call upon Him in truth.  When we are abiding in His word and we know that His word is truth then we can trust Him to be near to us.

Acts 17:27  last part.  "He is not far from each one of us."  What a consolation to know that He is as close to us as or even closer than a brother or sister or even a parent.  I always feel better when I do one of these studies, it helps me a lot when I lose heart or get a little blue, which is satan's method of getting us down, so I need to resist him and draw near to God and He will draw near to me.  James 4:8.

There is an answer to every problem in the scriptures, we just need to search for them.  We always draw near to Him when we open His word and start reading it, the blues just seem to fly away and the void gets filled to overflowing.  I so much want to overflow with God's love and knowledge.  How about you?
Grandma Joan

Forever and Ever!

The word Forever is mind boggling at least to me, it is so hard for me to fathom 'forever'.  I know it is true but in this world we have never seen anything that even resembles 'forever'.  The flowers fade and die, the trees lose their leaves when the leaves die, trees die, animals die and people die.  So where does 'forever' come in?

I am going to go to the book of revelation and just capture a few thoughts to stimulate your mind in to studying this subject on your own, it is a fruitful study and so beautiful, you just can't miss the promises of eternal life for all who really want it.

Revelation 22:1  "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb."  Have you ever seen a river of water like that?  I am sure that you can drink of this river because it says it is a pure river of water of life.  I want to taste that water some day.
No poisons in it to purify it so we can drink it.  A wonderful treat.

Verse 2, "In the middle of the street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit each month.  The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."  Have you ever seen a tree that bore a different kind of fruit each month.  And I am very sure that the fruit on this tree will be nothing like what we have here on this earth.

Verse 3  "And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.  There will be no dying there, trees, flowers, animals, people.  No more working by the sweat of our brow, which to us here is a blessing but it was brought upon us through sin and so no need for it in heaven.

Verse 4  "They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads."  We shall see Him face to face and He will give us a new name, see Revelation 14:1.

Verse 5  "There shall be no night there;  They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light.  And they shall reign forever and ever."  There will never be night there, no need for lamps or street lights, everything will be bright and beautiful. For the Lord God gives them light.

Verse 5 last line.   "And they shall reign forever and ever." There it is, we shall reign with Him forever and ever.  There are other texts that say this too.

I hope I have wet your appetite for the book of revelation, it is a wonderful book and a lot of people don't read it because they have been told it is a sealed book and we can't understand it but that's not true, you can see that it is pretty clear, so finish reading chapter 22 and then go back and read chapter 21 to see what the description is of the Holy City that will be here on the New Earth when it is recreated.  Revelation is full of beautiful thoughts and prophecies to be understood by us for the days we are living in. I hope you have enjoyed just a glimpse of eternity, it was just a little glimpse, but revelation is full of promises to us who are looking to live with Jesus our Savior forever.  So get busy and read some of it, it will enthrall your senses.
If you want a thorough study on the book of Revelation, click on the button 'Amazing Facts' and they will have a great study on it, and many other interesting topics.  So until tomorrow,  Grandma Joan

The Faith of Others.

Sometimes when we review what others have done or said, it helps us to follow their example if it is a good example.  I know one person that has had faith that to me is unbelievable and by his faith, things follow through for him but he is not working for himself, he is working for God and perhaps that is the secret to his prosperity in his ministry, I am sure that it is.  I am also sure that those working under him have formed more faith in their lives.

In Hebrews it tells about the faith of a lot of Bible characters and I am going to recount some of them and see if that helps our faith.  I am going to tell you what verse I am reading from but am going to just give you a glimpse of it in my words, you can read them later and see if I am right or not.

Hebrews verse 4, Abel offered to God the sacrifice that God required and Cain his brother did not and it was counted to him as righteousness and his brother killed him because Abel's offering was accepted and Cain's was not and so Cain killed his brother and even though Abel is dead is faith still speaks to us today.

Verse 5,  Enoch was translated because he had this testimony, 'that he pleased God.'
Verse 7,  By faith Noah being divinely warned of God of things he hadn't seen, yet he moved with godly fear and built an ark for the saving of his household and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Verses 8 - 12  By faith Abraham obeyed the Lord and went to a land that he would receive as an inheritance and he didn't even know where he was going.  And by faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive and had a son they called Isaac and she was way past age of bearing and God promised Abraham that his
seed would be as the stars of the sky in multitude and as the sands of the sea and he kept his promise.
Verse 17, By faith Abraham when he was tested, offered up Isaac and God honored his faith and provided a ram for his offering and thus Isaac was spared.
In Verse 20, Isaac's faith is mentioned.
In Verse 21, Jacob's faith is mentioned.
In Verse 23 Moses faith is mentioned how he chose to suffer affliction with God's people rather then enjoy the pleasures of sin in Egypt for a season.
In Verse 29, Moses led them through the red sea on dry ground by faith at God's command.
And in Verse 30 the walls of Jericho fell down by their faith in the command of God to circle the city once
each day for seven days.
Verse 31, Rahab the harlot received the spies and protected them and she was saved and her household when the walls of Jericho fell down.
Verses 32-34  There was Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.  All this was done by faith in God whom they served.

Chapter 12:1,2  God admonishes us "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

We are not asked to endure some of the horrible things that those who went before us endured and they still had faith to endure, so why can't we endure our simple trials and, I say simple because mine are simple compared to those I've just mentioned above.  I know some of you from other countries have to endure harder trials that we have to here in the US and I pray that you will be faithful through them and I also pray that we here in the US will be faithful in our little trials because they are preparing us for greater difficulties as time draws to a close, which I don't believe is very far away.  God help us to have the faith to endure and keep in His presence always.  I hope that we have seen what faith can do and that our faith will increase so we can meet things as they come with a faith that will not let us down.  Grandma Joan

Faith, really what is it?

Faith is something that boggles some people's mind and I am ashamed to say it but I have been one of them at times.  It has been a struggle for me to build my faith on something or someone that I cannot see and yet I do have quite a bit of faith at times depending on what I am doing or what is happening around me.

Hebrews 1:1 says, "Now faith is the substance hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  I couldn't tell you how many times I have read that and seem to understand it and then when a severe trial looms up in my life faith flies out the window for a little while and I grovel in my lack of faith.  How can it be?

I have faith that God created the world, I have faith to believe that Christ died for my sins and to save me, I have faith to believe the stories in the Bible and I believe that God loves me, so what is wrong with my faith when trials come my way?  I was reading the 'forward' in my New King James Bible this morning and I think I should share it with you to see if it will help us in our 'Faith Walk'.  This is the forward to the book of James.

"Faith endures trials.  Trials come and go, but a strong faith will face them headon and develop endurance.
Faith understands temptation. it will not allow us to consent to our lust and slide into sin.  Faith obeys the Word.  It will not merely hear and not do.  Faith produces doers.  Faith harbors no prejudice.  Faith is more than mere words; it is more than knowledge; it is demonstrated by obedience; and it overtly responds to the promises of God.  Faith controls the tongue.  The small but immensely powerful part of the body must be held in check. Faith can do it.  Faith acts wisely.  It gives us the ability to choose wisdom that is heavenly and to shun wisdom that is earthly.  Faith produces separation from the world and submission to God.  It provides us with the ability to resist the devil and humbly draw near to God.  Finally faith waits patiently for the coming of the Lord.  Through troubles and trials, faith stifles complaining."  Do we have faith?

Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God."

Romans 12:3 (last part)  "....God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."

Each one of us have a measure of faith that God has given us, according to the verse in Ephesians it is a gift that He has given us and according to Romans, everyone has received a measure of faith, so why is it that faith is so hard to come by.  We have faith in a lot of things, we cross a bridge believing it will hold us up, we get in our car believing it will take us where we are going, we trust that no one will hit us as we are driving on the roads to our destination, so we do have faith but when it comes to having faith in God we falter.  The Bible says in several places that 'the just shall live by faith'.  You can look those up, I think there are four places that say that.

Hebrews 11:6  "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God, must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder  of those who diligently seek Him."

First, we must believe that God is real and He rewards us when we diligently seek Him or persevere in seeking Him, in other words we can't be lazy in our spiritual walk, we must persevere in our seeking His presence and I believe that the more we do this the more that our faith will grow, because He has already given us a measure of faith, so being in His presence will help us build on what He has given us as a gift.

I really believe that most of us who lack faith, lack perseverance or diligence in seeking Him.  Are you guilty of this, I know that I am and I am doing my best to remedy the situation.  This was a great lesson for me, how about you?  Will you join me in being more diligent in seeking God's presence in your life and thus building up your faith to where you can walk by faith?  More on faith tomorrow.  Grandma Joan