DEVOTIONAL BY BILLY GRAHAM – HOPE FOR EACH DAY

Jesus’ Prayer Program

Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. – JOHN 16:23

One of the most amazing things in all the Scriptures is how much time Jesus spent in prayer. He had only three years of public ministry, yet He was never too hurried to spend hours in prayer. He prayed before every difficult task confronting Him. He prayed with regularity—not a day began or closed in which He did not unfold His soul before His Father.

How quickly and carelessly, by contrast, we pray. Snatches of memorized verses are hastily spoken in the morning; then we say good-bye to God for the rest of the day, until we rush through a few closing petitions at night.

This is not the prayer program that Jesus outlined. Jesus pleaded long and repeatedly. It is recorded that He spent entire nights in fervent appeal. No one could have been busier—but He was never too busy for prayer.

What keeps you from making prayer a priority in your schedule?

DEVOTIONAL BY CHARLES STANLEY – ON HOLY GROUND

Devoted to Prayer

He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. – Luke 5:16

Even with all of the crowds pressing around Him, with continual requests and a desire just to be with Him, Jesus sought time alone with His Father. Jesus made clear what He believed is the most important part of fellowship with God. In spite of the demands on His energy, He made communing with God His priority.

Is prayer the first thing on your list for the day? The last? Somewhere in between? Read what the apostle Paul said to the believers in the church at Colosse: “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving” (Col. 4:2 NASB).

The word devote here doesn’t convey the complete meaning of the original Greek, which was “giving constant attention to” or “persevering.” We are to make the conscious decision to set aside time to talk to the Father and to listen to Him as He works in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and His Word.

It is tremendously helpful to set a specific time to pray. Make an “appointment” with the Lord, and write it down on your list for the day. If you keep in mind that you are making arrangements for a special encounter with God, you will treat this meeting accordingly.

You can combat the clamor of the day to find victory and joy in prayer, and a vital part of doing so is finding freedom from avoidable distractions.

Ask God to show you how rich your relationship with Him can be.

DEVOTIONAL FROM POSTCARDS FROM HEAVEN – CLAIRE CLONINGER

I Am Closer Than Your Heartbeat

My dearest child,

I am calling you into a place of rest, into a haven of stillness. The world can be a tyrant, pushing and rushing and driving you. You need not yield to its merciless rhythms. I will give to you a peace that the world cannot give or comprehend. I will place my peace within you. I will draw you to me out of the rush and confusion and will teach you to enter my rest.

Though the world swirls around you like a mad whirlpool, my Spirit at the center of your being is a fountain of stillness and pace. There, I am closer than your heartbeat. There, you can be still and know that I am God.

Enter my rest. There you will know me.

I am… God

Matthew 14:13-23

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

¹³ When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

¹⁵ As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

¹⁶ Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

¹⁸ “Bring them here to me,” he said. ¹⁹ And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ²⁰ They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ²¹ The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Water

²² Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone…

Psalm 5:1-3

¹ Listen to my words, Lord,
consider my lament.
² Hear my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.

³ In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly.

DEVOTIONAL BY OSWALD CHAMBERS – MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST

The Unrivaled Power of Prayer

We do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered —Romans 8:26

We realize that we are energized by the Holy Spirit for prayer; and we know what it is to pray in accordance with the Spirit; but we don’t often realize that the Holy Spirit Himself prays prayers in us which we cannot utter ourselves. When we are born again of God and are indwelt by the Spirit of God, He expresses for us the unutterable.

“He,” the Holy Spirit in you, “makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27). And God searches your heart, not to know what your conscious prayers are, but to find out what the prayer of the Holy Spirit is.

The Spirit of God uses the nature of the believer as a temple in which to offer His prayers of intercession. “. . . your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit . . .” (1 Corinthians 6:19). When Jesus Christ cleansed the temple, “. . . He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple” (Mark 11:16). The Spirit of God will not allow you to use your body for your own convenience. Jesus ruthlessly cast out everyone who bought and sold in the temple, and said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer . . . . But you have made it a ’den of thieves’ ” (Mark 11:17).

Have we come to realize that our “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit”? If so, we must be careful to keep it undefiled for Him. We have to remember that our conscious life, even though only a small part of our total person, is to be regarded by us as a “temple of the Holy Spirit.” He will be responsible for the unconscious part which we don’t know, but we must pay careful attention to and guard the conscious part for which we are responsible.