OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL
DATE: THURSDAY AUGUST 15TH 2024
THEME: PRAYER EXTINGUISHERS II
MEMORISE: Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
James 4:3
READ: James 4:1-6
1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
MESSAGE
Yesterday, I discussed how sin can extinguish our prayers. Another prayer extinguisher is -not praying according to God's will. You must understand that God has a plan for your life and wants to bring you to an expected end (Jeremiah 29:11). This means that God already has an expectation about you before you were born. Thus, everything He does, including the prayers He answers, is to bring you to that expected end. You cannot pray for God to do something against His will and expect Him to do it.
Many people have said, "I have been asking God for a particular thing for so long without an answer." Where they are probably getting it wrong is that they are not checking if what they are asking for aligns with God's will or if it's just for their selfish lusts (James 4:3). Asking for something outside God's will is asking amiss; such prayers are extinguished, and God will not grant such requests. This is why you must be intimate with the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:26 says that we do not know how to pray because, many-a-times, we don't know the will of the Father. However, the Holy Spirit can help you to pray exactly what the will of the Father is, and then your prayers will be attended to.
When you pray in tongues, you are praying very accurate prayers because the Holy Spirit is praying the will of the Father through you. Imagine that you are friends with the son of the chairman of a company, and you apply for a job in that company, using an application letter that was written by a director in the company, and having the chairman's son, who is also a director, as your referee. When your application gets to the chairman's table, he will not be able to ignore it because it will contain the exact things that relate to the organization and the role you are applying for, and also because his son is your referee. You will surely have the job because your application will contain exactly what is on the chairman's mind, and you have a good relationship with his son.
If you don't want your prayers extinguished, let the Holy Spirit pray through you as you maintain an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ in whose name you are praying. The best prayer points are the ones generated for you by the Holy Spirit.
PRAYER POINT
Holy Spirit, please teach me to pray according to the will of the Father at all times.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Jeremiah 40-43
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A ADEBOYE
HYMN 22: SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER
1. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
that calls me from a world of care,
and bids me at my Father's throne
make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
my soul has often found relief,
and oft escaped the tempter's snare
by thy return, sweet hour of prayer!
2. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
the joys I feel, the bliss I share
of those whose anxious spirits burn
with strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place
where God my Savior shows his face,
and gladly take my station there,
and wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
3. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
thy wings shall my petition bear
to him whose truth and faithfulness
engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since he bids me seek his face,
believe his word, and trust his grace,
I'll cast on him my every care,
and wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
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