spiritual discipline

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Lifestyle of Prayer: Lifestyle of Worship!

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“A Lifestyle of Prayer”

This week’s prayer focus:  Lifestyle of Worship!

A Lifestyle of Prayer should be just that — a lifestyle, not simply an event.  View prayer as your first priority, not as the last resort.  It is my prayer that these weeks of “topical” prayer guides are training and equipping you in the practice of prayer.

This week we will focus on different aspects of worship from God’s perspective.  It seems nearly everyone has an idea of what worship ought to be, but what does God say about it?  We have a tendency to make worship about what I want, like, or am comfortable with.  Real worship comes when I decide it’s all about God and what He says, wants, and desires and not about me!  Use the suggestions each day but most of all allow God’s Word to soak into your life and direct how you pray and who you pray for.   As you pray, pay attention to any changes and/or actions God would be calling you to make in that area.  Pray for a unity of spirit among believers in general and among your church family in particular.  As you pray, listen for what God would have you to do.

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”
Ephesians 6:18 (NIV) 

Please spend time praying each day for a heart that seeks God in a lifestyle of worship.  Pray this for yourself, your family, your friends, neighbors, and all the other “one anothers” in your life.  Thank you! 

Sunday: Pray for your church, its staff and leadership, and for all of the preaching and teaching that takes place.  Pray for me (Tom Lemler) and the work of Impact Prayer Ministry.

Monday: Exclusive Worship.  Pray that you would reject every temptation to worship anyone, or anything, but God.  “Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”‘”  Matthew 4:10 (NIV)

Tuesday: Heart Involved Worship.  Pray that your worship of God would always come from a heart that seeks God and not just be following the motions of tradition — old or new.  “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.   They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”  Matthew 15:8-9 (NIV)

Wednesday: True Worship.  Pray that your worship of God would be done in both spirit and truth as a lifestyle, not confined to a specific place and time.  “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”  John 4:23 (NIV)

Thursday: Informed Worship.  Pray that your worship of God would draw you into a greater knowledge and intimacy with Him.  “For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.”  Acts 17:23 (NIV)

Friday: Sacrificial Worship.  Pray that your worship of God would be done in such a way as to “cost you something”.  “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.”  Romans 12:1 (NIV)

Saturday:  Acceptable Worship.  Pray that your worship of God never forgets who He is compared to who we are.  “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”  Hebrews 12:28 (NIV)

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Lifestyle of Prayer: Fasting!

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“A Lifestyle of Prayer”

This week’s prayer focus:  Fasting!

“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.’”
Zechariah 8:19 (NIV)

As we continue to grow in A Lifestyle of Prayer, it is important to remember prayer should be a lifestyle, not an event.  While we’re on a string of not so popular topics, this week will focus on Fasting.  The spiritual discipline of fasting can be seen being taught and practiced throughout the Bible.  From Old Testament people of faith to Jesus to the early church, we can find examples of people going without food for a period of time for the purpose of spending time with God.  While fasting is often associated with times of great sorrow, when it is godly sorrow that leads to repentance the fasts that we participate in will become times of joy and gladness.  As you fast and pray, don’t focus on the repentance and change that you think others need to do.  Instead focus on the repentance and change that God desires for you to allow Him to make in your life.  Please prayerfully consider joining together in the practice of prayer and fasting to humbly seek God and turn to Him for all wisdom and direction.

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”
Ephesians 6:18 (NIV) 

Please spend time praying each day, and listening to God, about how He desires to use the practice of fasting in your life. Thank you! 

Sunday: Pray for your church, its staff and leadership, and for all of the preaching and teaching that takes place.  Pray for me (Tom Lemler) and the work of Impact Prayer Ministry. 

Monday: Listen to God Through Fasting.  Pray that you would join with others in listening to God.  “Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.  The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.”  2 Chronicles 20:3-4 (NIV)

Tuesday: Humble Ourselves Through Fasting.  Pray that your seeking of God would be done in humility.  “There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.”  Ezra 8:21 (NIV)

Wednesday: Mourning Through Fasting.  Pray that you would go to God in times of sorrow and heartache.  “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”  Nehemiah 1:4 (NIV)

Thursday: Serve Others Through Fasting.  Pray that you would spend time regularly of “going without” with the purpose of serving others.  “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”  Isaiah 58:6-7 (NIV)

Friday: Cry Out to God Through Fasting.  Pray that you would cry out to God as you participate in a holy fast with the leaders of your church community.  “Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly.  Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.”  Joel 1:14 (NIV)

Saturday:  Worship Through Fasting.  Pray that you would experience fasting as an act of worship.  “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’”  Acts 13:2 (NIV)