Isaiah 30:18 – the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him. (NASB)
Our Father is a God who longs for His children & has created us with a longing for Him in return. This is part of our DNA – part of being created in His image. Louie Giglio, author of The Air I Breathe, wrote “You’ve been created by God. And if that wasn’t enough, you’ve also been created for Him. As a result, there’s an internal homing device riveted deep within your soul that perpetually longs for your Maker. An internal, God-ward magnet, pulling your being toward Him.”
In the passage quoted above, Isaiah wrote that those who long for God are blessed. Too many in this world have replaced their natural, innate longing for God with an unnatural longing for the “bling” of the world – and will never be satisfied, much less blessed!
ASSIGNMENT:
You will find, as you read through today's assignment, that many of the questions call for personal reflection. We encourage you to do your best to remove any distractions, to take your time in answering these questions and to write those answers in your notebook for referencing later on.
1. Are you aware of this innate longing for God? What are some ways this longing finds expression in your life?
One of the ways we express this longing is, of course, through prayer.
2. How would you define prayer? Write out that definition now.
3. List some purposes of prayer. What are some of the benefits (for you)?
*Discussion Question*
(Please click the "Let's Discuss" link on the right to share your ideas on the discussion board and read the thoughts of the fellow studiers. This discussion thread will be under the title "God's Purposes for Prayer")
4. Review your list of purposes and attempt to see it through God’s eyes. Do you think His list would be similar to yours? What do you think is God’s highest purpose for prayer?
5. Most of us encounter hindrances of one kind or another as we pray. A few are listed below:
1) Inherent difficulties as the finite communicate with The Infinite One
2) The matter of unanswered prayers (more precisely, denied requests) of the past
3) Busy lives/misplaced priorities – it takes time to pray. In Acts 6 the apostles appointed others to care for some of the needs of church so they could spend more time teaching and PRAYING.
4) Even with discipline and set times for prayer, our minds wander or we fall asleep before the ‘Amen.’
5) Do we really want God’s will to be done in every area of our lives?
Tony Ash writes, “Most of us may want divine help some of the time. But we have those pockets of life where we cannot imagine changing.” Absolute trust/submission does not come easy – but that is what our Lord wants. (Sometimes we may pray, “Lord, help my unbelief, help me want to want to submit without reservation to You.”)
6) Beware! The last thing the devil wants to see is us on our knees. As we commit to praying more like Jesus, the temptations may become more intense and the hindrances more of a hindrance. Paul warned the Ephesians that their struggle was not against other folk – but against the powers of darkness and the spiritual forces of evil.
You may have encountered hindrances/difficulties not mentioned here. Again, as you pray, be honest with God, confess your “hang-ups”; ask for Him to search me, O God, and know my heart…see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. (Psalm 139:23-24)
Remember to ask the Lord today to teach us to pray.
