Thursday, August 13, 2009

Today's Devotional Scripture

Today's Verse
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
Thoughts on today's verse...
Beginning in verse 10, this passage talks about 'being strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might, putting on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil' (the enemy).

Then it begins to describe the armor - having girded your loins with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with preparation of the gospel of peace, and finally the shield of faith - to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. Then it comes to verse 17 and we are told to take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Have you ever noticed, there's no covering for the backside! Evidently, we're not to turn our backs to the enemy!)

Then we finally come to today's verse and are admonished about prayer and even the different types of prayer. On a personal note when praying in the Spirit, for me this is praying when I don't know how or what to pray for, the the Spirit will cry out to God on my behalf. Romans 8:26 says, "...for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words..." When I am so deeply distraught over something and just don't know how to pray - that's when the Spirit comes to my aid.
My prayer...
Abba, Father... there are times when I don't know how to pray as I should. I'm lost for words, they just don't come and I am in emotional turmoil over some situation. That is when the Spirit intercedes on my behalf. I so appreciate Your provision for this gift! Thank you, in Jesus Name ~Amen!
Yours, because we're His,
Tamara

4 comments:

  1. Hi Tamara, I have two favorite prayers and I seem to use them quite often. One is only five words, "hide me in your wounds" and the other is just one word, "help" I love my rosary but there have been times when these two little prayers are all that I could focus on. Love your post, love your prayer......:-) Hugs

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  2. Another nice post, Tamara.

    The times I don't know how to pray, they don't bother me, because as you say, the Spirit takes over and intercedes on our behalf. But the one time I couldn't pray was the worst period of my life. I don't know why I couldn't pray, I wasn't angry at God, I wasn't disappointed, I'm not sure what it was, there was NO connection to God, no Saints to intercede, no words, no feelings, there was nothing but indifference. It was a very dark, lonely place to be and I never want my soul in that evil place again. It lasted only one night. It's never happened before that time and it hasn't happened since.
    If it does I'll try to remember Bernie's 'help' prayer.

    All the best,
    Eileen

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  3. I really enjoyed this post today Tamara. It is very important because it can often times be difficult to pray. For me it is hardest to pray when things are really bad. And you would think that that would be the time that I should pray the hardest! But when times get really, really bad I tend to close myself off to everyone. Even our Lord I guess.
    I am getting better at it though. And I find as I get older I am praying all through the day and night! It is a funny thing to me that praying can be a difficult thing for many people. I have often wondered if I am praying correctly. I have had conversations with my Pastor about this as well. It seems that prayer is a very personal thing and can be different for everyone, but I suppose God knows what we are saying regardless.

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  4. Tamara....I took a study course on the the full armor of God...amazing study...and our Lord is an amazing Lord. Thankfully, the Spirit knows our heart and thoughts and longings...and cries out for us. Thank you for blessing me with your site.
    Love,
    Jackie

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