{"id":4707,"date":"2011-05-26T05:29:07","date_gmt":"2011-05-26T13:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wordpress\/?p=4707"},"modified":"2011-05-26T06:21:35","modified_gmt":"2011-05-26T14:21:35","slug":"thinking-of-prayer-as-jesus-taught","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=4707","title":{"rendered":"Thinking of Prayer as Jesus Taught"},"content":{"rendered":"

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May 26, 2011<\/div>\n
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Pray without ceasing . . . \u20141 Thessalonians 5:17<\/div>\n
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\u00a0Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues \u201cwithout ceasing\u201d; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops the offering up of prayer. \u201cPray without ceasing . . .\u201d\u2014 maintain the childlike habit of offering up prayer in your heart to God all the time.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Jesus never mentioned unanswered prayer. He had the unlimited certainty of knowing that prayer is always answered. Do we have through the Spirit of God that inexpressible certainty that Jesus had about prayer, or do we think of the times when it seemed that God did not answer our prayer? Jesus said, \u201c. . . everyone who asks receives . . .\u201d (Matthew 7:8<\/a>). Yet we say, \u201cBut . . . , but . . . .\u201d God answers prayer in the best way\u2014 not just sometimes, but every time. However, the evidence of the answer in the area we want it may not always immediately follow. Do we expect God to answer prayer?<\/p>\n

The danger we have is that we want to water down what Jesus said to make it mean something that aligns with our common sense. But if it were only common sense, what He said would not even be worthwhile. The things Jesus taught about prayer are supernatural truths He reveals to us.<\/p>\n

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May 26, 2011<\/p>\n

Journal Entry for Today-JDV<\/p>\n

Pray without ceasing\u2026when I first read this scripture I wondered how can I do that? How is that possible? I have to work, eat, communicate and interact with others. How can I pray all the time and still be functional? I thought this scripture was about other kinds of Christians; monks or people without daily responsibilities. Then one day I went looking for Jesus in everything I encountered.\u00a0 I was so overwhelmed and devastated by my circumstances; I could not communicate or function. I needed God\u2019s help for everything. And right there inside of my needs I discovered I could find Him in everything and everything in Him.<\/p>\n

And God says\u2026\u201dPraying without ceasing is simply communicating and engaging God in all you do, all day every day. The reason you stop praying without ceasing is because you want to take control back on issues about which you do not want or think you need Me. You want to be God of your own life in certain situations\u2026so you stop praying without ceasing and take back your life. And when you choose to take your life back I will release you and let you make your own choices. However, deep down you know that if you are to have your life, you must surrender it to Me. \u2026\u2026 Matthew 16:25\u2026.\u00a0for whoever wants to save their life\u00a0will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. When you lose your life in Me you pray without ceasing. When you give me control of your life this is your way of life.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 26, 2011 \u00a0 Pray without ceasing . . . \u20141 Thessalonians 5:17 \u00a0Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4707"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4707"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4711,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4707\/revisions\/4711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}