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R.A. Torrey

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

There are two words often overlooked in the lesson about prayer which Paul gives us
in Phil. 4:6,7.

The two important words often overlooked are, “WITH THANKSGIVING.”

In approaching God to ask for new blessings, we should never forget to return thanks for blessings already granted. If any one of us would stop and think how many of the prayers which we have offered to God have been answered, and how seldom we have gone back to God to return thanks for the answers thus given, I am sure we would be overwhelmed with confusion. We should be just as definite in returning thanks as we are in prayer. We come to God with most specific petitions, but when we return thanks to Him, our thanksgiving is indefinite and general.

Doubtless one reason why so many of our prayers lack power is because we have neglected to return thanks for blessings already received. If any one were to constantly come to us asking help from us, and should never say “Thank you” for the help thus given, we would soon tire of helping one so ungrateful. Indeed, regard for the one we were helping would hold us back from encouraging such rank ingratitude. Doubtless our heavenly Father out of a wise regard for our highest welfare oftentimes refuses to answer petitions that we send up to Him in order that we may be brought to a sense of our ingratitude and taught to be thankful.

God is deeply grieved by the thanklessness and ingratitude of which so many of us are guilty. When Jesus healed the ten lepers and only one came back to give Him thanks, in wonderment and pain He exclaimed, “Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? ” (Luke 17:17)

How often must He look down upon us in sadness at our forgetfulness of His repeated blessings, and His frequent answer to our prayers.

Returning thanks for blessings already received increases our faith and enables us to approach God with new boldness and new assurance. Doubtless the reason so many have so little faith when they pray, is because they take so little time to meditate upon and thank God for blessings already received. As one meditates upon the answers to prayers already granted, faith waxes bolder and bolder, and we come to feel in the very depths of our souls that there is nothing too hard for the Lord. As we reflect upon the wondrous goodness of God toward us on the one hand, and upon the other hand upon the little thought and strength and time that we ever put into thanksgiving, we may well humble ourselves before God and confess our sin.

The mighty men of prayer in the Bible, and the mighty men of prayer throughout the ages of the church’s history have been men who were much given to thanksgiving and praise. David was a mighty man of prayer, and how his Psalms abound with thanksgiving and praise. The apostles were mighty men of prayer; of them we read that “they were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.” Paul was a mighty man of prayer, and how often in his epistles he bursts out in definite thanksgiving to God for definite blessings and definite answers to prayers. Jesus is our model in prayer as in everything else. We find in the study of His life that His manner of returning thanks at the simplest meal was so noticeable that two of His disciples recognized Him by this after His resurrection.

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Thanksgiving is one of the inevitable results of being filled with the Holy Spirit and one who does not learn “in everything to give thanks” cannot continue to pray in the Spirit. If we would learn to pray with power we would do well to let these two words sink deep into
our hearts: “WITH THANKSGIVING.”

From HOW TO PRAY, by R. A. Torrey

Prayer | Thankfulness

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Abiding

The Imperative of Private Prayer [podcast]


We must be aware of our prayers we throw up while they have no congruence with our personal life – when they are shot gun prayers void of the foundation of private prayer, private praying, and holy living.

Private prayer with God is an essential to set your life up for success.

“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Matthew 6:6

Private prayer is essential to the disciple. Jesus reveals here that those who seek His face in prayer privately, will be used of Him publicly!

Are you at Christ’s feet? Do you live a life of prayer? Have you ever studied the life of Christ and beheld the many instances of His prayer life?

“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” Mark 1:35

“Solitary” simply means uninhabited.

If we want to assess our true spiritual state with God, we need only look to our prayer life or lack thereof. Show me a man’s prayer life, and I will show you who that man is! When God is truly first in a person’s life, all else will be demoted in importance!

“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” Revelation 2:4-5

Backsliding begins with neglect of our relationship, our prayer life, our life of prayer with our LORD and Savior.

“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41

I will either pray my way into glory, or I will not be there (Matthew 26:41).

“Hebrews 10:22: ‘Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.’ This is how we are to come to God in prayer and fellowship. With a true (honest) heart that has been washed in the pure blood of Jesus, confessing our sins so our conscience is clear, and we are cleansed from the filthiness of the flesh. Then we can come boldly before the throne of grace! Hebrews 4:16.” Karen Cochran

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I return to You now. Please forgive my sin of prayerlessness. Break me LORD. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Moments with Our Master [book] 365 Day Devotional book available at safeguardyoursoul.com/store and amazon. English and Spanish.

See what others are saying about this devotional book.

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Daily Prayer Guide [podcast]

Daily Prayer Guide


PRAYING EVERY DAY FOR:

THE BODY OF CHRIST

Here’s some of the biblical truth I personally pray daily for those disciples of Jesus on my prayer list:

  • That God would take away the stony places in our hearts and grant us hearts of flesh – pliable, humble, teachable, worshipful, obedient (Ezekiel 36:24-26).
  • That the LORD would unite our hearts to fear His holy name (Psalms 86:11).
  • That He would bless us to stand perfect and complete in all the will of God (Colossians 4:12).
  • That the LORD would fill us with His love and cause that love to be demonstrated through our lives daily in our interactions with others (1 Corinthians 13).
  • That He would baptize and fill us with His Holy Spirit and use us powerfully for His eternal glory (Acts 1:8; 2:4, etc.).
  • That God would quicken and give us His wisdom concerning fruitful stewardship of His resources He’s entrusted us with (Matthew 25:14-30, etc.).
  • That we would be blessed to know Him in that oneness and abiding relationship He spoke of and prayed in John 15 and 17 – bearing fruit to His glory.
  • That the LORD would teach us and bring us to be consummate soul winners as His ambassadors (Proverbs 11:30; 2 Corinthians 5:20).
  • The our LORD will multiply His grace, love, and wisdom in our hearts (2 Peter 3:18; Romans 5:5; James 1:5).
  • That God would increase our faith (Luke 17:5).

OUR LEADERS:

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.” 1 Timothy 2:1-3

OUR CITY:

“And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.” Jeremiah 29:7

GOD’S KINGDOM TO COME ON EARTH:

(Both today and the Millennial Kingdom when Jesus Christ reigns on earth for 1,000 years)

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10

GOD TO SEND LABOURERS INTO HIS HARVEST:

“Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38 pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:37-38

THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM:

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.” Psalm 122:6

—— • ——

Also, Jesus gave His disciples a model for daily prayer which is an excellent starting place for each day.

“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” Matthew 6:9-13

Prayer

Support | STORE | PodcastsBecause You Care Page | The Greatest of these is CharityBe Ready in the Morning [podcast]The Sure Mercies of David [podcast]That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be Preached [podcast]At His Feet | Prepared to be Used of God Walking with Jesus on His Stated Terms – the Cross | Fasting and PrayerThe Old Man Must be Put Down [podcast]The 5 Sins That Keep God’s People Out of Their Promised Land [podcast]What Did Paul Mean by “I Keep Under My Body”? [podcast]“Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith” [podcast]A Living Sacrifice unto God [podcast] |

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Abiding

God Watches Over and Answers the Prayers of His Saints in the Earth [podcast]


“For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” 1 Peter 3:12

Eyes – “are over the righteous”

“He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.” Deuteronomy 32:10 

“But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.” Psalm 16:3

Ears – “are open unto their prayers” (John 15:7).

Face – “against them that do evil” (1 John 3).

God is answering the prayers of His saints today in Jesus Christ! (Matthew 7:7; John 14:13-14; 16:23-24)

“The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers.”

God’s people are “the children of the highest” (Luke 6:35). As our heavenly Father, the only perfect parent in existence, He desires to hear and answer all our prayers—with a yes, no, or wait. Let us readily make our needs and desires known to Him in prayer.

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
Philippians 4:6

Abide – God wants us in perpetual vital union with Him. That’s what “abide” means when Jesus says “abide in me” (John 15:1-16).

As we abide in Christ His eyes are over us and His ears are open…..

The psalmist wrote:

“Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. 24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel (Word), and afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. 26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. 27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. 28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.” Psalms 73:23-28 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, teach me to pray, to seek Your face in abiding oneness and communion with You first and foremost. I love You my LORD Jesus and thank You for Your perfect redemption which alone grants full access to the throne of grace in Jesus’ name, amen.

From Moments with Our Master [book] 365 Day Devotional book available at safeguardyoursoul.com/store and amazon. English and Spanish.

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