1Ki 8:22 And Solomon stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven;
1Ki 8:23 and he said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keepest covenant and lovingkindness with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their heart;
1Ki 8:24 who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou didst promise him: yea, thou spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day. (ASV)
I cannot speak to the Church of the past in this area but I feel the urging of the Holy Spirit to address it often today. A good deal of lip service is paid to the Christian Life Style today but there is little attention to living that life. During the, nearly, twenty-one year just passed my life has changed from a very self-centered, very minor, Country and Western singer to a Devoted Bond-servant of the Most High God. For me, the single most important factor of my life is hearing from God!
I love my wife dearly and often thank God for the enduring spirit He has given to her, it's not easy to live with a battle hardened veteran and yet, that is exactly what she has chosen to endure. But I tell you the truth when I say that she could not put up with me if she were to be separated from God. And when I returned to civilian life my strongest urge was to kill the civilian idiots that spit on me and falsely labeled the kids that served with me as Butchers and Baby-Killers. Were it not for the hand of God on my life I should have been on Death Row fifty years ago.
Just as Kings David and Solomon knew, there is not a single part of my life that God has left to Human Wisdom. In the first three chapters of Genesis we see that God visited with Adam, His most cherished creation, in the cool of the evenings. And if we will just put the T.V. Controller down and read the rest of the Bible, the same way we read any novel, we find that God loves Mankind so much that He sent His Son, the God of the Old Testament, to pay the debt we all owe Him.
Many "Christians” have relegated prayer to one to three meals a day and for our children at bed-time. But if we will just pick up a, very inexpensive, copy of the soft-bound or the hard-bound Nave's Topical Bible and look up Prayer we will find that Brother Nave has given us a valuable scripture study to follow on prayer. If we will just spend a few minutes a day for a week or so doing the study we will learn that there is no portion of our lives we should not pray over.
And we need, every one of us, to realize that our prayers are not just a list of wants, needs and desires. Actually, I cannot keep track of the times a day I just say thanks to God! Occasionally for something I asked for but much more often for something I had not uttered a word about... and yet, God did it for me. Now, I am guilty of this, far to often and none of us should be. Do not promise to pray for somebody and put it off until you are alone or you forget it altogether. Pray with them right then!
If you will begin to pray, like you mean it, your entire life will be changed. One of the largest changes in my life was the result of my praying for the good of a sworn enemy of mine. I had not sworn to be his adversary but every time he came near I had to pull his knife out of my back. And when God poured out His Wrath on the man, after two years f daily prayer, I'm not at all sure that the pain in my heart was not greater than the pain felt by him.
My plea is for you o pray, it is important.
1Ki 8:23 and he said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keepest covenant and lovingkindness with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their heart;
1Ki 8:24 who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou didst promise him: yea, thou spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day. (ASV)
I cannot speak to the Church of the past in this area but I feel the urging of the Holy Spirit to address it often today. A good deal of lip service is paid to the Christian Life Style today but there is little attention to living that life. During the, nearly, twenty-one year just passed my life has changed from a very self-centered, very minor, Country and Western singer to a Devoted Bond-servant of the Most High God. For me, the single most important factor of my life is hearing from God!
I love my wife dearly and often thank God for the enduring spirit He has given to her, it's not easy to live with a battle hardened veteran and yet, that is exactly what she has chosen to endure. But I tell you the truth when I say that she could not put up with me if she were to be separated from God. And when I returned to civilian life my strongest urge was to kill the civilian idiots that spit on me and falsely labeled the kids that served with me as Butchers and Baby-Killers. Were it not for the hand of God on my life I should have been on Death Row fifty years ago.
Just as Kings David and Solomon knew, there is not a single part of my life that God has left to Human Wisdom. In the first three chapters of Genesis we see that God visited with Adam, His most cherished creation, in the cool of the evenings. And if we will just put the T.V. Controller down and read the rest of the Bible, the same way we read any novel, we find that God loves Mankind so much that He sent His Son, the God of the Old Testament, to pay the debt we all owe Him.
Many "Christians” have relegated prayer to one to three meals a day and for our children at bed-time. But if we will just pick up a, very inexpensive, copy of the soft-bound or the hard-bound Nave's Topical Bible and look up Prayer we will find that Brother Nave has given us a valuable scripture study to follow on prayer. If we will just spend a few minutes a day for a week or so doing the study we will learn that there is no portion of our lives we should not pray over.
And we need, every one of us, to realize that our prayers are not just a list of wants, needs and desires. Actually, I cannot keep track of the times a day I just say thanks to God! Occasionally for something I asked for but much more often for something I had not uttered a word about... and yet, God did it for me. Now, I am guilty of this, far to often and none of us should be. Do not promise to pray for somebody and put it off until you are alone or you forget it altogether. Pray with them right then!
If you will begin to pray, like you mean it, your entire life will be changed. One of the largest changes in my life was the result of my praying for the good of a sworn enemy of mine. I had not sworn to be his adversary but every time he came near I had to pull his knife out of my back. And when God poured out His Wrath on the man, after two years f daily prayer, I'm not at all sure that the pain in my heart was not greater than the pain felt by him.
My plea is for you o pray, it is important.
