[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Different Ways to Pray (1)

‘He…keeps us present before God.’
Romans 8:27 MSG

The UCB Word for Today - 02 June 2019

Someone who’s better at prayer than you are is already at work on your behalf. ‘God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along.

If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in us and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves…and keeps us present before God’ (vv 26-27 MSG).

Notice, the Holy Spirit ‘keeps us present before God’. Sometimes we’ve a hard time being ‘fully present’ in prayer.

We all know what it’s like to be with another person when their mind is a million miles away. What’s the answer?

Try jotting down what goes on while you’re praying. The two most common hindrances to praying successfully are:

a) your mind gets easily distracted by other thoughts;
b) you get tired.

When author John Ortberg shared these two frustrations with a friend, he suggested that John go outside alone and simply invite Jesus to come along with him. Ortberg writes: ‘The next day I went to the ocean, took off my shoes, started to run and invited Jesus to come along.

I found the strangest thing. When I thought I was supposed to be talking to Him, I found it effortful and difficult.

Now that all I had to do was invite Him, I couldn’t stop thinking about Him. My mind kept reflecting on His being with me.

I found myself wanting to point out the pelicans and the waves to Him. People and concerns would pop into my mind, and I would find myself telling Jesus about them.

Everything changed.’ So, invite Jesus to come along with you today and share each thing you do with Him.

Luke 10:1-24, Psalm 57-59

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Different Ways to Pray (2)

‘Hezekiah received the letter…and spread it out before the LORD.’
Isaiah 37:14 NIV

The UCB Word for Today - 03 June 2019

Hezekiah, King of Israel, received a threatening letter from a much more powerful king – the King of Assyria. The Assyrian potentate demanded unconditional surrender, and told Hezekiah not to trust in God.

The letter was graphic, warning that resistance meant the Israelites would have to ‘eat their own excrement and drink their own urine’ before they died (2 Kings 18:27 NIV 2011 Edition). So Hezekiah went to the temple ‘and spread it out before the LORD’.

Then he prayed: ‘God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see’ (Isaiah 37:16-17 NIV 2011 Edition). Hezekiah literally said, ‘Lord, would you read this, then do something about it!’

And God did. Indeed, what He did was spectacular. ‘Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp.

When the people got up the next morning – there were all the dead bodies!’ (Isaiah 37:36 NIV 2011 Edition). So, what piece of paper would you like to spread out before the Lord?

A financial statement that’s overwhelming? A divorce decree? A medical diagnosis? An angry email? Any piece of paper that causes you stress can be an invitation to prayer, and a candidate to be spread out before the Lord.

If it’s important to you, it’s important to Him. You say, ‘I’ve never done anything like that before.’ Try it.

Give it to God, trust Him, and watch how He works things out for you.

2 Kings 13-14, Acts 10:1-23

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Different Ways to Pray (3)

‘I lay prostrate before the LORD.’
Deuteronomy 9:25 NIV

The UCB Word for Today - 04 June 2019

Find a prayer style that works for you. In Scripture people pray as they stand, kneel, lie on the ground, sit, stretch out their hands, lift their faces toward the sky, or bow them toward the earth.

Just find the method that works best for you, and use it. Some people pray better when they are moving.

If you’re one of them, take a walk, go for a drive, or run. You are free to use your body and posture to help you turn your mind and heart towards God.

When you’re acknowledging your sins, you may find it helpful to have your head bowed and to kneel; it’ll help you to remember and experience the humility of the moment. In worship, you may want to turn your face towards the sky.

In asking for guidance, you may find it helpful to turn your palms upwards as a way of expressing with your body: ‘Lord, whatever You want.’ When praying for someone, say at a restaurant, you may want to look that person right in the eye while talking to God and say, ‘Father, I’m so grateful for this person.

You know what they need. Give them what is required by their heart.’

When you’re praising God, put on a worship CD and sing along. The point is you should approach God with the joy, excitement and simplicity with which a child runs into the arms of a loving parent.

Just as you don’t have anyone else’s fingerprints, you don’t have anyone else’s temperament. So just approach God in a way that’s natural, spontaneous and comfortable for you.

2 Kings 15-16, Acts 10:24-48

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Different Ways to Pray (4)

‘He will call on me, and I will answer him’
Psalm 91:15 NIV

The UCB Word for Today - 05 June 2019

When we try to spend an extended period of time in prayer, our minds tend to wander. When that happens, is God upset with us?

No, when your mind wanders – God’s Spirit is still with you. Sometimes your wandering thoughts can actually guide you into prayer.

One author writes: ‘I begin praying, and then I imagine myself being wildly successful at something. Or I replay a conversation with a person I’m upset with.

Or I try to figure out how to solve a problem I’m worried about. I used to think of those kinds of thoughts as obstacles to prayer, but I’ve come to think of them as prayers waiting to be offered.

Maybe the reason they pop into my mind isn’t simply my short attention span, but rather what my mind is really concerned about. So instead of trying to suppress these thoughts, it’s better to begin to talk to God about them.

And just like that, I’m back in the flow of prayer. Indeed, we are free to pray in ways that will best help us live in the joyful awareness of God’s presence.’

Obviously, things like getting your hair done or your car fixed are distractions. When these arise, just write them down and say, ‘I’ll get to that later,’ then get back to prayer.

Developing a rich and rewarding prayer life isn’t something you accomplish overnight; you have to work at it. But the rewards are more than worth the effort.

You’re not unique; everybody battles distractions in prayer. Those who succeed are those who learn to deal with the distractions.

2 Kings 17-18, Acts 11

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

A prayer for your children

‘Children are a heritage from the LORD.’
Psalm 127:3 NKJV

The UCB Word for Today - 06 June 2019

When someone loves you enough to leave you an inheritance, you should treasure it and treat it in a way that honours them. The Bible says that your children are a ‘heritage’ from the Lord.

So here’s a prayer for them: ‘Lord, I cannot begin to tell You how blessed and grateful I am for my children. I recognise each of them as a beautiful gift from You.

You have given them to me to love and care for, to enjoy and celebrate, to delight in and raise so that they may come to know You as the greatest heritage of all. Thank You that no one, not even me, can ever be as good to them as You are.

Because You have given me the privilege and responsibility of bringing them to You, teach me the importance of lifting them up before You each day in prayer. Keep them in the centre of Your love and designed purpose.

Bless them with the knowledge of who You are. Help them to put their trust in You and stay on the path of life You have for them.

Enable them to recognise the gifts and the calling that You have put in them, and to follow Your leading as You develop them and use them for Your glory. Make Your face shine upon them, Your grace be with them, and Your love abound in them. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.’

Are your children serving the Lord? If not, stand on this Bible promise: ‘“There is hope in your future,” says the Lord, “that your children shall come back to their own border [the principles they were taught]”’ (Jeremiah 31:17 NKJV).

2 Kings 19-21, Acts 12

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

The Ultimate Purpose of Prayer

‘To be conformed to the likeness of his Son.’
Romans 8:29 NIV

The UCB Word for Today - 07 June 2019

The Bible says, ‘Those God foreknew he … predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.’ When you read the preceding verses in the chapter you discover God does this through prayer.

This should encourage you to pray. Many times we don’t pray because we don’t think anything’s happening.

But with God, something’s always happening! We wonder, ‘When is He going to work?’

What we fail to understand is – He’s always working. When it comes to prayer He’s either answering the way you hoped, or changing your heart through the Spirit’s intercession to bring your prayer into harmony with His will.

You say, ‘But I don’t see anything happening.’ When you plant a seed, you don’t come back the next day expecting green shoots and leaves.

Does that mean nothing’s happening? No, a host of necessary processes are taking place below the ground where you can’t see them.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking because you don’t see the evidence that nothing’s happening. It’s just not harvest time yet.

One way in which God is making us more like Jesus is by helping us to pray the way Jesus prayed, ‘Not my will, but thine, be done’ (Luke 22:42 KJV). That means when your prayer lines up with His will, He’s already working on it even though you can’t see it.

And if your prayer isn’t in accordance with His will, He’s working to change your request by changing you. Unanswered prayer can be as big a blessing as answered prayer, when it keeps us from violating God’s will.

And what is God’s will? To make you more like Jesus!

2 Kings 22-23, Acts 13:1-25

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Today share your faith with someone

‘A woman of Samaria came to draw water.’
John 4:7 NKJV

The UCB Word for Today - 08 June 2019

One day Jesus met a woman who’d come to draw water from a well. After five failed marriages, her trust in men was zero – and her self-esteem was minus zero!

But after her encounter with Christ, she left the well radically changed. When it comes to sharing our faith, we learn three important lessons from her story:

1) Jesus sees the best in everybody. ‘The Pharisees…complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners”’ (Luke 15:2 NKJV).

And when it came to the woman at the well, they were right. She’d been through five divorces and was the talk of the town because she was living with another man.

Yet she was the first person to whom Jesus introduced Himself as the Messiah. Why didn’t He do that when He called His disciples?

Or performed His first miracle? Or interviewed Nicodemus? Because Jesus doesn’t measure you by your past or your pedigree – but by your potential.

2) Jesus changes you, then He uses you to change others. This woman was the first person to share the gospel in Samaria, and ‘many…Samaritans…believed in Him because of the word of the woman’ (John 4:39 NKJV).

Out of your brokenness, God can use you to make others whole.

3) Jesus doesn’t need you to explain Him, just to introduce Him. He speaks for Himself.

The Bible says: ‘Many more believed because of His own word…They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ”’ (vv. 41-42 NKJV).

Today share your faith with someone.

2 Kings 24-25, Acts 13:26-52

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

Pray that God will open their heart

‘As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart.’
Acts 16:14 NLT

The UCB Word for Today - 09 June 2019

Some of us think that successful people are difficult to win to Christ because they don’t have the same needs as others. But they do.

Everyone has an emptiness within them that only God can fill, and He wants to use you to fill it. Consider the story of Lydia.

‘One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth…As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying. She and her household were baptised, and she asked us to be her guests.

“If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we agreed’ (vv. 14-15 NLT).

Not only did Lydia respond to the gospel, she opened her home so that others could come and hear it too. In many cases it’s easier to reach successful people with the gospel.

Why? Because they know that to be successful you must be open to new ideas and concepts.

And they understand that in order to enjoy continued success, you must stay open to change. Don’t let the fact that someone is not your social peer keep you from telling them about Jesus.

Note the words, ‘As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart.’ It’s your job to tell them, and it’s God’s job to open their heart!

So sow the seed of His Word into their life when you have an opportunity, and believe that the ‘Lord of the harvest’ will do the rest.

Luke 10:25-42, Psalm 60-62

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

You’ll get through this storm

‘When…the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.’
Acts 27:20 NIV

The UCB Word for Today - 10 June 2019

There are times in life when God seems distant. We pray but feel abandoned, at the mercy of our circumstances, afraid and hopeless.

Paul was no different. He’d longed for an opportunity to preach in Rome and was on his way there when a hurricane struck his ship, plunging everyone into despair.

Paul had not only foreseen the loss of the vessel, its crew and cargo, but his ‘own [life] also’ (v. 10 NIV 2011 Edition). And his warning was disregarded by the captain, the pilot, and the centurion in charge of him.

Consequently Paul and 276 fellow passengers were placed in a life-threatening crisis, and there was nothing he could do about it. Terrified, he and his companions declared, ‘We finally gave up all hope of being saved!’

After fourteen days at sea without sun or stars to guide them, and just when the hurricane was fiercest, God sent an angel to Paul. ‘Do not be afraid, Paul.

You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you’ (v. 24 NIV 2011 Edition). They were cold, soaked, and hungry when their ship finally ran aground on an island south of Italy.

Every circumstance pointed to tragedy and the demise of Paul’s dream of preaching in Rome. However, when the sun rose on the island of Malta next morning, it became clear that God had piloted them through the storm to the exact destination He had planned for them.

And Paul ended up declaring God’s Word before Caesar in Rome. So take courage – you’ll get through this storm!

1 Chronicles 1-3, Acts 14

[Gracemohau]

TODAY'S WORD FOR TODAY

‘Your Father’s got you!’

‘They are protected from the Destroyer.’
John 10:28 MSG

The UCB Word for Today - 11 June 2019

On a hot Florida afternoon, a little boy swimming in the lake behind his house didn’t see the alligator that was following him. His father, who was gardening, saw it and yelled to his son to turn back.

Too late! Just as the boy reached his dad, the alligator reached the boy.

In an incredible tug-of-war the father grabbed his son’s arms while the alligator snatched his legs. The alligator was determined, but the father was too passionate to let go.

A farmer driving by heard the screaming, leaped from his truck, and shot the reptile. Remarkably, the boy survived, and after weeks in the hospital he was interviewed by the local paper.

He showed the reporter the terrible scars on his legs, then with obvious pride he added, ‘I’ve got great scars on my arms too because my dad held me and wouldn’t let go!’ Jesus said, ‘[You] are protected from the Destroyer…No one can steal [you]…out of my hand.’

It’s not that the enemy won’t try. He’ll make you think you’re so far from God that there’s no way home.

He’ll send others to attack you with discouragement and guilt. He’ll tempt you to walk away from God.

You may even make poor choices that leave you spiritually and emotionally scarred, but when you belong to God no one can have you! No circumstances can take you away from His love (see Romans 8:38).

No consequence can steal you from the hand of your Father. ‘Your Father’s got you!’

Let those powerful words of assurance give you peace today.

1 Chronicles 4-6, Acts 15:1-21