(devotional from OurPrayer.org)

The Bible is filled with verses that promise you God’s help in times of trouble. But it’s up to you to activate these promises. Here’s how:

1.    Don’t be afraid to ask. It’s what God wants you to do! “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you” (Psalm 50:15). “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (John 15:7). Like Jesus himself, pray (always!) for God’s will: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14).

2.    Do what God leads you to do. Prayer and faith must never be substitutes for action. The Savior who spent so much time praying also devoted himself to teaching and ministering to people’s needs. James 2:17 reminds us: “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

3.    Remember: You cannot harvest unless you first plant seeds. The Message translates Galatians 6:7-8 to read: “Don’t be mislead. No one makes a fool of God. The person who plants foolishness, ignoring the needs of other—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds…But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.” What seeds of goodness can you plant today?

4.    Speak God’s promises and blessings into life. Human words have immense power. “The tongue has the power of life and death” (Proverbs 18:21). Our words can bless or destroy. Claim God’s promises as your own (even inserting your name!) and speak them aloud. Here are a few to get you started:

•    “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
•    “God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
•    It is God who “forgives all your sin and heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:3).

(devotional from OurPrayer.org)

Ever try to make a fruit salad without fruit? Or chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips? That would be silly, right? Even the most basic recipes have ingredients crucial to their success.

Prayer, too, has certain “ingredients” that help ensure its effectiveness and success.

Love is a crucial ingredient of powerful prayer. Love is the defining characteristic of God—and those who follow him. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus emphasized the importance of a loving, forgiving spirit (Matthew 6:14-15).

Belief and positive expectation are essential. Research has shown that patients with faith and hope heal more quickly and completely. Through prayer, God wants us to be “sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). Always pray hopefully, confident that the Lord will bring about the best possible results.

The language of prayer must be simple and sincere. Jesus warns against empty and wordy prayers. “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). Bring your requests to your loving Father whenever they come to mind, but do not feel “many words” will make him hear you better. Just speak to God sincerely and confidently.

It is vital to pray, “Your will be done.” 1 John 5:14 assures us, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” You will pray with more and more confidence and power as you live close to the Lord, seek his will, and follow his guidance.

Pray with others. If you have the opportunity, take part in a prayer circle or join your church’s “prayer chain.” Agree with a few close friends to pray for each other’s children, health, relationships. And don’t forget that you can pray with other Christians anytime at OurPrayer.org!  Jesus promises “where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).

(written by Max Lucado – UpWords Ministry from MaxLucado.com)

When a believing person prays, great things happen. (James 5:16 – NCV)

Imagine yourself in a dark room. Windows closed. Curtains drawn. Shutters shut. In the darkness it’s hard to believe there’s daylight beyond the drapes. So you grope and try to feel your way across the floor. You take a step, disoriented and unsure where you’re headed. Progress is slow and the journey painful. Stubbed toes, bruised shins, broken vases. It’s hard to walk in a dark place.

Harder still to walk in a dark world. But many try. And, as a result, many are wounded in the effort: tripping over problems, bumping into one another in the shadows, ramming into walls.

But occasionally one of us makes a discovery. Reaching through the blackness, a hand finds curtains and a window latch. “Hey, everybody! The walls have windows!” The drapes are pulled back and the window opened. The sun floods into the room. What was dark is now bright. What was opaque is now clear. What was stale is now fresh. With the light comes a peace, a power, a desire to move closer to the light, and a confidence to step forward. Our timid steps are replaced by a certainty to our walk. A certainty to move through the corridors of life, opening one window after another to illuminate. What a difference! And all it took was one small gesture of opening curtains and raising the window.

Prayer does the same thing for us. Prayer is the window that God has placed in the walls of our world. Leave it shut and the world is a cold, dark house. But throw back the curtains and see His light. Open the window and hear His voice. Open the window of prayer and invoke the presence of God in your world.

Chapter One – The God Who Listens to You

You’re at your best friend’s wedding reception. The two of you have talked about this day since you were kids, and now it’s here. The ceremony was great; the wedding was beautiful. The minister was flawless and the vows were honest. What a day!

“I’ll take care of the reception,” you volunteered. You planned the best party possible. You hired the band, rented the hall, catered the meal, decorated the room, and asked your Aunt Bertha to bake the cake.

Now the band is playing and the guests are milling, but Aunt Bertha is nowhere to be seen. Everything is here but the cake. You sneak over to the pay phone and dial her number. She’s been taking a nap. She thought the wedding was next week. Oh boy! Now what do you do? Talk about a problem! Everything is here but the cake…

Sound familiar?

It might. It’s exactly the dilemma Jesus’ mother, Mary, was facing. The wedding was moving. The guests were celebrating…but the wine was gone. Back then, wine was to a wedding what cake is to a wedding today. Can you imagine a wedding without cake? They couldn’t imagine a wedding without wine. To offer wine was to show respect to your guests. Not to offer wine at a wedding was an insult.

What Mary faced was a social problem. A foul-up. A snafu. A calamity on the common scale. No need to call 911, but no way to sweep the embarrassment under the rug, either.

When you think about it, most of the problems we face are of the same caliber. Seldom do we have to deal with dilemmas of national scale or world conflict. Seldom do our crises rock the Richter scale. Usually, the waves we ride are made by pebbles, not boulders. We’re late for a meeting. We leave something at the office. A coworker forgets a report. Mail gets lost. Traffic gets snarled. The waves rocking our lives are not life threatening yet. But they can be. A poor response to a simple problem can light a fuse. What begins as a snowflake can snowball into an avalanche unless proper care is taken.

For that reason you might want to note how Mary reacted. Her solution poses a practical plan for untangling life’s knots. “They have no more wine,” she told Jesus (John 2:3). That’s it. That’s all she said. She didn’t go ballistic. She simply assessed the problem and gave it to Christ.

“A problem well stated is a problem half solved,” John Dewey said. Mary would have liked that, for that’s what she did. She defined the problem.

She could have exploded: “Why didn’t you plan better? There’s not enough wine! Whose fault is this anyway? You guys never do anything right. If anything is to be done right around here I have to do it myself!”

Or she could have imploded: “This is my fault, I failed. I’m to blame. I deserve it. If only I’d majored in culinary art. I’m a failure in life. Go ahead; do the world a favor. Tie me up and march me to the gallows. I deserve it.”

It’s so easy to focus on everything but the solution. Mary didn’t do that. She simply looked at the knot, assessed it, and took it to the right person. “I’ve got one here I can’t untie, Jesus.”

“When all the wine was gone Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine’” (John 2:3).

Please note, she took the problem to Jesus before she took it to anyone else. A friend told me about a tense deacons’ meeting he attended. Apparently there was more agitation than agreement, and after a lengthy discussion, someone suggested, “Why don’t we pray about it?” to which another questioned, “Has it come to that?”

What causes us to think of prayer as the last option rather than the first? I can think of two reasons: feelings of independence and feelings of insignificance.

Sometimes we’re independent. We begin to think we are big enough to solve our own problems.

At our house we have had a banner year. Our third daughter has learned how to swim. That means that three can walk. Three can swim. And two out of the three have the training wheels off their bikes. With each achievement they have delightedly pointed out, “Look, Dad, I can do it on my own.” Denalyn and I have applauded and celebrated each accomplishment our daughters have made. Their maturity and mobility is good and necessary, but I hope they never get to the point where they are too grown up to call their daddy.

God feels the same way about us.

Other times we don’t feel independent; we feel insignificant. We think, “Sure, Mary can take her problems to Jesus. She’s his mother. He doesn’t want to hear my problems. Besides, he’s got famine and the Mafia to deal with. I don’t want to trouble him with my messes.”

If that is your thought, may I share with you a favorite verse of mine? I like it so much I wrote it on the first page of my Bible.

“Because he delights in me, he saved me” (Psalm 18:19).

And you thought he saved you because of your decency. You thought he saved you because of your good works or good attitude or good looks. Sorry. If that were the case, your salvation would be lost when your voice went south or your works got weak. There are many reasons God saves you: to bring glory to himself, to appease his justice, to demonstrate his sovereignty. But one of the sweetest reasons God saved you is because he is fond of you. He likes having you around. He thinks you are the best thing to come down the pike in quite awhile. “As a man rejoices over his new wife, so your God will rejoice over you.” (Isaiah 62:5).

If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If he had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, he’ll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and he chose your heart. And the Christmas gift he sent you in Bethlehem? Face it, friend. He’s crazy about you.

The last thing you should worry about is being a nuisance to God. All you need to concentrate on is doing what he tells you to do. Note the sequence of events in the next verse: “Jesus said to the servants, ‘fill the jars with water.’ So they filled the jars to the top. The he said to them, ‘Now take some out and give it to the master of the feast.’ So they took the water to the master. When he tasted it, the water had become wine” (John 2:7-9).

Did you see the sequence? First the jars were filled with water. Then Jesus instructed the servants to take the water (not the wine) to the master.

Now, if I’m a servant, I don’t want to do that. How is that going to solve the problem? And what is the master going to say when I give him a cup of water? But these servants either had enough naivete or trust to do what or trust to do what Jesus said, and so the problem was solved. Note, the water became wine after they had obeyed, not before.

What if the servants had refused? What if they had said, “No way”? Or, to bring the pint closer to home, what if you refuse? What if you identify the problem, take it to Jesus, and then refuse to do what he says?

That’s possible. After all, God is asking you to take some pretty gutsy steps. Money is tight, but he still asks you to give. You’ve been offended, but he asks you to forgive your offender. Someone else blew the assignment, but he still asks you to be patient. You can’t see God’s face, but he still asks you to pray.

Not commands for the faint of faith. But then again, he wouldn’t ask you to do it if he thought you couldn’t. So go ahead. Next time you face a common calamity, follow the example of Mary at the wineless wedding:

Identify the problem. (You’ll half-solve it.)

Present it to Jesus. (He’s happy to help.)

Do what he says. (No matter how crazy.)

And buy your Aunt Bertha a new calendar.

(continued in the next post!)

This copy of Prayer: A Heavenly Invitation is brought to you by UpWords, the ministry of Max Lucado. UpWords is a non-profit ministry that exists because of the generosity of people like you. It is our prayer that this ministry will continue to encourage the lives of those who seek a deeper relationship with the Lord. If this material has been beneficial to your spiritual life, please prayerfully consider contributing to our ministry with prayer and financial support.

For information about UpWords’ radio, online, and tape ministries featuring Max Lucado, or to contribute to UpWords, write:
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“The chief aim of UpWords is to create an arena in which the listener will have a personal encounter with the personality, teachings and claims of the Son of God.”

“Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no longer.”
Job 8:22

“For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; in the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.”
Psalm 27:5-6

“So that we confidently say, ‘THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?’”
Hebrews 13:6

“The LORD helps them and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in Him.”
Psalm 37:40

“The LORD shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways.”
Deuteronomy 28:7

“For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”
Deuteronomy 20:4

“In famine He will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword.”
Job 5:20

“‘No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,’ declares the LORD.”
Isaiah 54:17

“The LORD is for me among those who help me; therefore I will look with satisfaction on those who hate me.”
Psalm 118:7

“To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear.”
Luke 1:74

“For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land of the righteous, so that the righteous will not put forth their hands to do wrong.”
Psalm 125:3

“When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”
Proverbs 16:7

“His heart is upheld, he will not fear, until he looks with satisfaction on his adversaries.”
Psalm 112:8

“Now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?”
Luke 18:7

“If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me. Whoever assails you will fall because of you.”
Isaiah 54:15

“Hate evil, you who love the LORD, who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.”
Psalm 97:10

“‘But I will deliver you on that day,’ declares the LORD, and you will not be given into the hand of the men whom you dread. ‘For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own life as booty, because you have trusted in Me,’ declares the LORD.”
Jeremiah 39:17-18

“But the LORD your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”
2 Kings 17:39

“So he answered, ‘Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’”
2 Kings 6:16

“Do not be afraid of sudden fear nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes; for the LORD will be your confidence And will keep your foot from being caught.
Proverbs 3:25-26

“Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored; those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish. You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them, those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.”
Isaiah 41:11-12

“Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us.”
Luke 1:71

Do some personal assessment by asking yourself this question: When I decide I want to spend time with the God of the Universe, do I come to Him with absolute certainty and confidence that the specific things I ask for will be given?

Some of you don’t know if you can pray that way. Others might think this is a trick question, but it’s not. God wants you to have absolute confidence before Him, to pray specific things in such a way that you know He will answer.

Look at 1 John 5:13-15. “I write these things to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of Him.”

The first thing to notice is the context. Verses 11-12 tell us that “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” The message here is to God’s children, to those who believe in the Name of the Son of God. The phrase “So that you may know that you have eternal life,” lets us know this letter is written to give assurance to people who are really in God’s family.

A second issue we need to address concerns how to pray in order to know God hears our prayers. The short phrase in verse fourteen gives a condition: “if we pray according to the will of God.” If you or I pray anything according to His will, meaning that it’s God’s desire and intention, then He plans to fulfill it.

Stemming logically from the idea of praying according to God’s will, the third issue this passage addresses is “How do we know God’s will?” At this point I hope you’re thinking, “Hmm, I pray a lot of vague prayers.” I think sometimes that instead of praying in faith we usually pray in hope. For example, I’ll pray, “Oh, God, I hope this happens. Oh, God, this is a good desire. Oh, God, it would be nice if You did that.” But that’s not the way Jesus told us to pray. He said when you come asking in faith, “believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).

One thing I’ve learned as I’ve studied prayer is that the great men and great women of God have an open Bible before them as they pray. They don’t go before God thinking, “Let’s see, I need to read three chapters today to keep up with my program.” No, as they read they pray, “God show me Your will for me; show me Your will for my family; show me Your will for the future.” They ask God specifically according to His promises, and God comes through for them.

A few examples of how to pray according to the will of God and according to His promises will help us out here. First, by the promises. Suppose someone has a significant decision to make or a big problem to solve. It may be a situation in your marriage that you need to address with your spouse. You’re concerned your spouse will be offended or hurt, maybe even angry when you try to address this issue. “Would You give me wisdom about how and what to say in this situation, God?”

Perhaps it’s a situation involving one of your children. Emotionally you feel yourself backing off, when in reality you need to move into the situation and speak the truth. You know there may be fireworks, so you need God to give you wisdom about how to approach your child.

Or there may be a job situation. It could be with your supervisor or, if you’re the employer, it could be with someone who works for you. You need wisdom about how to intervene in this delicate situation and also to know God’s will so that He can work.

In situations like these we either need to know what to do, or we need to know how to do it. Basically it boils down to the fact that we need wisdom from God. The Biblical definition of wisdom is the ability and the skill to understand God’s design for life and then find our part in it so it works. The good news is that if you need wisdom, God has promised to give it.

The Holy Spirit wants to teach you to pray specifically. He wants to give you the hope and certainty to pray with confidence. Start with yourself. Is there a promise God wants you to claim? Is there an area in which you need wisdom and direction for change? Whatever you really need from God, come and take His yoke.

Excerpted from the booklet, How to Pray with Confidence Before God, by Chip Ingram. Copyright 2004, by Chip Ingram. All rights reserved.

Chip Ingram is Teaching Pastor of Living on the Edge, a national radio ministry.

(devotional by Chip Ingram from Christianity.com)