2018 Christian Random Thoughts ... Forsaking Compromise

Chromia

Well-Known Member
Just wanted to share this video about prayer and how to pray. I hope this helps someone.

In the first part, the pastor talks about how we can pray silently or out loud, and prayer can take the form of a song that we're singing.

He talks about prayer being continual communication whenever and wherever you are.

He gives an example of someone having fun at a birthday party and sending up a prayer that they're grateful for friends & family.

He talks about 3 keys to pray more effectively:

22:56 Surrender. You might need to surrender your thoughts, your plans, your time, or your feelings & emotions.
He gives an example of someone praying for a better relationship with a family member, but the person who is praying might have bitterness and anger that they have to surrender first.

26:42 Pray the scriptures. (Dephne Madyara and DailyEffectivePrayer on YouTube are great for help with this.)

29:33 Listen. Someone who has received an answer might not know it because they're not listening.

He gives an example of an alcoholic praying to be delivered from alcohol, but they're not listening to being told to stop going out on Friday nights, or to get the alcohol out of their home.

He also says that if you're praying to change a behavior, you might have to change something inside first.

 

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
I think procrastination has a lot to do with it.. "when I get my degree" "just a few more years before my clock starts ticking" "let me get my traveling out the way" "gotta get my career on lock", etc., almost as if fixated on waiting for the perfect time, and it keeps them "single-minded"... not realizing men pick up on this and won't approach or try to date. If you look around, even on this very board, you see lots of threads on marriage and just as many, if not more, on being single... but I think procrastination (which is of the devil, IMHO) is a major factor.

Now, on something completely different: we often hear that (Black) women nowadays are not very marriage minded. But what does this really mean? Those of you who agree, care to give some examples of this?
 

Maracujá

November 2020 --> 14 years natural!!!
I think procrastination has a lot to do with it.. "when I get my degree" "just a few more years before my clock starts ticking" "let me get my traveling out the way" "gotta get my career on lock", etc., almost as if fixated on waiting for the perfect time, and it keeps them "single-minded"... not realizing men pick up on this and won't approach or try to date. If you look around, even on this very board, you see lots of threads on marriage and just as many, if not more, on being single... but I think procrastination (which is of the devil, IMHO) is a major factor.

Thanks for sharing your view on this. Care to elaborate on the point of procrastination? Because these are all things that women who are in a relationship/married actually do as well and it has not hindered them for some reason.
 

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
Hi @Maracujá - I'm hoping others can chime in.. but by procrastinating, I'm leaning more on mentally putting of marriage specifically and not waiting on God... waiting on God isn't procrastinating lol.. I don't want to be misunderstood.. A marriage-minded woman can be "busy" living life, but I believe men can tell when someone is not open to marriage and will seek out someone who is.
 

Maracujá

November 2020 --> 14 years natural!!!
Hi @Maracujá - I'm hoping others can chime in.. but by procrastinating, I'm leaning more on mentally putting of marriage specifically and not waiting on God... waiting on God isn't procrastinating lol.. I don't want to be misunderstood.. A marriage-minded woman can be "busy" living life, but I believe men can tell when someone is not open to marriage and will seek out someone who is.

Thank you again for your input. Will chew on this for the remainder of the week:yep:.
 

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
 

Sharpened

A fleck on His Sword
It is not enough to teach children about Our Father; they have to be shown Him as much as possible. They need to see His supernatural works, demonstrate His will in us, and to point out His work in them. Find an event that they have observed and show it in Scripture. Present them with the hard questions before someone else does and answer them. Challenge their view of the world and point out why this or that doesn't work with what Father Yah has ordered. Even go as far as telling them when the Lord has corrected you.

Just a small example of this: no matter what, my mother prayed, regardless of whatever sin she was in. She let her children know constantly she was praying for them. Even when we stopped going to church, she prayed. She still talked about God, the Bible, and various concepts we kids didn't have a clue about until adulthood. Decades later, the script got flipped and we children ended up giving her answers about Our Father she had wanted to know. All of her children are on different paths and levels of maturity, but we all believe.

OTOH, DH's mother was somewhat neglectful and rarely prayed or discussed belief. My DH was the family member who made sure everyone went to church in his youth. The difference between my DH and me is striking. Life beat both of us up, but I fared miles better than he did.

Prayer for children and demonstrating your trust in Him is paramount for their spiritual success.
 

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
Keeping all in prayer who are being affected by storms and hurricanes...God is not sleeping.
There are 4 storms (2 hurricanes) in the Atlantic now.. my heart and prayers are with those living off the Carolinas and Virginia coastlines and in the Caribbean! Amein...

 

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
So, we all know that Jesus and John the Baptist are cousins. I was a bit amused when the thought of black folks, how we love to call each other cousin .. 'my play cuz' / wassup cuz? came to mind while reading Matthew.
WHERE did come from, anyone knows? It's so intriguing that only black folks call each other cuz...and ties into my belief that Jesus in the flesh was black.... lol
 

newgrowth15

Well-Known Member
A thought came to my mind today about how I believe God can change things but I don't really act like I believe that God can change ME.

I'm working on building my hope. I don't ever recall having hope.
I can totally relate to what you are saying. It's difficult to explain, but I get it. I recently learned the difference between hope and faith. Hope is more akin to wishing or dreaming, whereas faith requires action.
 

Lucia

Well-Known Member
"There is nothing the devil fears so much, or so much tries to hinder, as prayer."
— St. Philip Neri
 

Lucia

Well-Known Member
It is not enough to teach children about Our Father; they have to be shown Him as much as possible. They need to see His supernatural works, demonstrate His will in us, and to point out His work in them. Find an event that they have observed and show it in Scripture. Present them with the hard questions before someone else does and answer them. Challenge their view of the world and point out why this or that doesn't work with what Father Yah has ordered. Even go as far as telling them when the Lord has corrected you.

Just a small example of this: no matter what, my mother prayed, regardless of whatever sin she was in. She let her children know constantly she was praying for them. Even when we stopped going to church, she prayed. She still talked about God, the Bible, and various concepts we kids didn't have a clue about until adulthood. Decades later, the script got flipped and we children ended up giving her answers about Our Father she had wanted to know. All of her children are on different paths and levels of maturity, but we all believe.

OTOH, DH's mother was somewhat neglectful and rarely prayed or discussed belief. My DH was the family member who made sure everyone went to church in his youth. The difference between my DH and me is striking. Life beat both of us up, but I fared miles better than he did.

Prayer for children and demonstrating your trust in Him is paramount for their spiritual success.

Good point but I’d go even further my mom always says if a a child can talk then they can pray a little prayer for themselves mommy and daddy too and start to learn how to speak to their Almoghtly Father. Don’t wait until their 8-10 We shouldn’t sleep on this.
 

Sharpened

A fleck on His Sword
Good point but I’d go even further my mom always says if a a child can talk then they can pray a little prayer for themselves mommy and daddy too and start to learn how to speak to their Almoghtly Father. Don’t wait until their 8-10 We shouldn’t sleep on this.
I agree, but people tend to turn prayer into a routine. We need to go beyond the routine and the typical to really grab a child's heart and mind.
 

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
Question: what is the undeniable connection between the Old and New Testaments?
 

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
Yes you got both right... :yep:

"Without the benefit of the knowledge presented to us in the Old Testament, we would be totally unable to understand the Jewish customs that are mentioned only in passing in the pages of the New Testament."
... and Jesus was the connector. I know certain denominations only rely on either, but now charismatic and nondenominational preachers are saying OT is not needed. A move in another direction that is noteworthy...sign of the times?


Do you mean other than Jesus clarifying and refining what the OT taught and foreshadowed?
 

Sharpened

A fleck on His Sword
@Laela they are missing out on so much information, mainly clarification of what the inspired writers were trying to get across. I could almost write a book on what I discovered simply looking at the culture and language of both the Hebrews and the Greeks.
 

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"

Sharpened

A fleck on His Sword
Oh my, Yah help us! The reason people are leaving Christianity is the same reason I don't like religion: believers are not showing people Jesus (in the natural or supernatural), just religion, church and morality. Here is a direct quote from the article:

In every case, what disturbs these folks who have left the church or are considering leaving is the church’s failure to do the good in the world.

That is not the OT's fault. The article itself is OK, but these theologians and ministers are too much into mindsets and head games to be of any use in the long run. These are the people James was talking about in Chapter 1:
22Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves. 23For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, 24and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.
26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless. 27Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
In modern day vernacular: Get up off you butt and go do something. Quit sitting around over-analyzing this stuff because your opinions and viewpoints change constantly. Seek the will of Yah and obey (listen and do). You see all these people who need help; go help them. Your life is a mess; go fix it.
 

Laela

Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
Today I am thankful to the Most High God for making a way for a family member that I've long put into His hands. Victory came for him when it seemed there was no way. I'd already claimed the outcome, verbatim, prayed on it and had believed it. God was faithful and I know it was God. Don't ever doubt God, folks. Never!
 
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