Here’s a glass window picture of Jesus praying at Gethsemane. Read John 17 (MSG) and be amazed by Jesus’ mighty prayer!!

This weekend God has been teaching me about praying before starting to work. I learned that there is no point to start working before praying hard. There is no point to start working until I’ve prayed until praise flows from my lips. When praise has overtaken my soul, I am ready to do God’s work. Then it is not me who is doing the work but it is God who is overflowing his love and grace to the world through me.

“If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.”(Martin Luther)

“I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it”. (John Wesley)

I had always wondered about these quotes. How come? But now I can see! Oh, yes! Sometimes it does take so long to unload all the worries, concerns and stress to the Lord and receive peace beyond understanding in return. Sometimes it takes so much prayer before praise starts to flow. And then it really is the Spirit who does the work through you. Yes! Yes! Yes!

There’s no point of doing God’s work on your own power, energy or strength. It won’t get done properly. We need to pray, pray and pray until the Holy Spirit fills us with his joy, his peace, his grace, his power, his love. Indeed, it is more important to pray than work.

“You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed.” (A.J. Gordon)

So, from now on, by the grace of God, I approach working through a lot of prayer. Not just a quick prayer to get that off the list. But praying until praise flows. Praying until God’s joy is filling me to the degree that my cup is overflowing. Then it’s not really I who is working. It is God’s Spirit working through me. Then it’s joy to work. That’s what I want. Yes, Lord!

Gracious God,
Thank you for the gift of prayer.
Thank you for teaching us to pray.
Thank you or urging us to pray.
Thank you for filling us with your Spirit.
Thank you for working through us.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Praise to you now and forever!
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: What has God been teaching you lately about prayer?

This blog post is part of the One Word at a Time Blog Carnival: Joy hosted at bridgetchumbley.com. Be sure to check out the other posts, too!

Be blessed as you pray until praise flows!

——————————————————–
Photo provided by www.christianphotos.net. Thank you!