Prayer

Written by Stephen Kingery


Continued from page 1

A sister in Christ and I were recently debatingrepparttar subject of baptism, when she began to feel that I was questioning her sincerity. She told me thatrepparttar 140934 last few months had really been trying for her, and that without prayer she did not feel that she could have made it through her ordeal. She asked me, "Where do you pray?" I told her that I prayed everywhere, that I did not feel that there was any place that I could not whisper a prayer to God. God's word tells us where to pray: A solitary place (Mark 1:35); on your knees (Acts 9:40); in a place of prayer (Acts 16:16); in our closets (Matthew 6:6); and together (Acts 1:14 & 12:5). To say that we should pray in a solitary place or in a closet indicates that we should pray where we can be alone with God, justrepparttar 140935 two of us. This is important for us to be alone with God as we talk with Him, so we can share with Him our innermost thoughts and cares. This also gives usrepparttar 140936 opportunity to tell God how much we love Him, praise Him, and honor Him forrepparttar 140937 blessings we receive. But we should also pray together for blessings that will help our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, individually and collectively asrepparttar 140938 church. To be sure, we can (and do) pray in other positions. However, we should not forget that when we pray we should humble ourselves before God. Getting down on our knees is one way to do this.

Who do we pray for? I'm afraid that all too often our prayers are for what we want or feel that we need. It is important that we make our desires known to God. However, we also need to pray for others and their needs. We should pray for friends (Philemon 1:4); enemies (Matthew 5:44); fellow Christians (Philemon 1:9 & 1 Thessalonians 5:23); for harvesters (Matthew 9:38); for sinning Christians (1 John 5:15,16); forrepparttar 140939 sick (James 5:16); church officers (Acts 6:6 & 14:23); for those in prison (Acts 12:5); and preachers (2 Corinthians 1:11, 8:4, & Ephesians 6:19).

Wouldn't it be great if all Christians had a very active, sincere, fervent, daily prayer life? Just imagine how much better this world would be if all Christians united daily in this kind of prayer. Unfortunately there are hindrances to prayer, and Christians are subject to those hindrances. If we have an un-Christian relationship with others, our prayers are hindered. 1 Peter 3:7-12 speaks torepparttar 140940 relationships we have with others. We should "...be of one mind, having compassion for one another, love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous..." (1 Peter 3:8a). The opposite of these causes a hindrance to prayer. Having unforgiveness in our heart also serves to hinder our prayers as Jesus taught in Matthew 6:14.

I said earlier that we should not pray for material blessings so we can have our lives more abundant in things ofrepparttar 140941 world. In reality, when we pray this type of prayer, it becomes a hindrance to what we should pray for as well as answers to prayer. "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." (James 4:3). Self-righteousness serves to hinder us in our prayer life, readrepparttar 140942 parable ofrepparttar 140943 Pharisee andrepparttar 140944 Tax Collector in Luke 18:9-14. Other hindrances include Satan, lack of fasting, lack or persistence, unbelief, and iniquity inrepparttar 140945 heart.

This has not been an exhaustive study of prayer, for there are more than eighty prayers inrepparttar 140946 Old and New Testaments, as well as countless other references to prayer. However, I have tried to give you and overview of prayer which will teach yourepparttar 140947 basic truths about prayer. Learn to pray to your Heavenly Father. Praise Him, thank Him, glorify Him, and seek His guidance in a daily time of prayer. But most of all love Him with all your heart and soul, and express that love for Him in your prayer life. Does God answer prayer? YES! Remember, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." (James 5:16b).

Favorite Scriptures

I have many favorite scriptures that help me make it through this world and live each day in Christ Jesus. Here are just a few.

"for all have sinned and fall short ofrepparttar 140948 glory of God." (Romans 3:23)

"Or do you not know that your body isrepparttar 140949 temple ofrepparttar 140950 Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19)

"For I received fromrepparttar 140951 Lord that which I also delivered to You: thatrepparttar 140952 Lord Jesus onrepparttar 140953 same night in which He was betrayed too bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance os Me.' Inrepparttar 140954 same manner He also tookrepparttar 140955 cup after supper, saying, 'This cup isrepparttar 140956 new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.'" (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have an abundance for every good work." (2 Corinthians 9:8)

All scriptures quoted are fromrepparttar 140957 New King James Version unless otherwise noted.



Stephen Kingery is an author, preacher, teacher and founder of The Home Bible Study Institute.

Visit our site at http://www.james1-22.org

Permission to use is granted if attributed to author and his website.


Rightly Divide The Word Of Truth

Written by Stephen Kingery


Continued from page 1

For many of us, it is helpful if we have various Bible study aids to go along with our study ofrepparttar Bible. Please allow me to give you a word of caution on this subject. Earlier in this article I stated thatrepparttar 140933 Holy Spirit knew there would be a tendency for men to teach their own opinions rather than scriptural truth. This problem is just as prolific in written material as it is inrepparttar 140934 spoke word on TV or radio. My prayer is that you will be able to determine when this is happening and "see through it." Many people today who claim to preach God's word develop a theology (an organized body of opinions concerning God and man's relationship to God - The American Heritage Dictionary) and then use isolated scriptures to "prove" that they are right. Let me give you an example. Suppose that I decided that suicide was taught inrepparttar 140935 scriptures as a viable means of concluding one's own life. First I would need to locate and quoterepparttar 140936 scriptures that I wanted to use to prove that this theology was correct. Which ones would I use?

"Then he threw downrepparttar 140937 pieces of silver inrepparttar 140938 temple and departed, and went and hanged himself." (Matthew 27:5) "And Jesus said to them, 'Go and do likewise.'" (Luke 10:37b) "Then Jesus said to him, 'What you do, do quickly.'" (John 13:27b) Now obviously suicide is not being taught inrepparttar 140939 Bible. However, putting these scriptures together in this fashion, pulling them out of context, it can be made to appear that suicide is taught inrepparttar 140940 Bible.

You are probably saying to yourself, "that's absurd." Friends, this is no less absurd than many ofrepparttar 140941 so called "scriptural truths" being taught today by men concerning salvation, baptism,repparttar 140942 deity of Christ, and whererepparttar 140943 spirit of man goes when he/she dies. This is why it is so important that we "rightly dividerepparttar 140944 word of truth."

The point I am trying to make in this discussion is this: Do not acceptrepparttar 140945 spoken word orrepparttar 140946 writings of men (mine or anybody else's) as gospel. Go torepparttar 140947 scriptures, in prayer, using sound principles of interpretation and study to see ifrepparttar 140948 scriptures are saying what men say it is saying. What arerepparttar 140949 sound principles of interpretation?

(a) Determine who is speaking. Inrepparttar 140950 Bible there are many different people speaking. It may be Jesus teaching His disciples. It could be one ofrepparttar 140951 apostles in their writings torepparttar 140952 churches. It could be a prophet, a king, Satan, or even Balaam's mule. The point is, in order to fully understandrepparttar 140953 significance ofrepparttar 140954 statement, we must know who is makingrepparttar 140955 statement. (b) To whom is it being spoken to? Here again,repparttar 140956 relevance ofrepparttar 140957 statement depends on to whomrepparttar 140958 statement was given. Isrepparttar 140959 statement made to Christians, sinners, enemies ofrepparttar 140960 church, a person seeking to be saved, or to entire congregations. The meaning ofrepparttar 140961 statement could be entirely different if spoken to each of these examples. (c) What isrepparttar 140962 statement speaking about? In other words, what isrepparttar 140963 content and context ofrepparttar 140964 statement. Is it a command, a warning, aboutrepparttar 140965 nature of God or His Son, about Israel, Christians, orrepparttar 140966 church. Knowing whatrepparttar 140967 content is about is very important in understandingrepparttar 140968 teaching contained therein. Also, what isrepparttar 140969 context in which it is being used. What goes beforerepparttar 140970 statement and what goes afterrepparttar 140971 statement. What goes before and afterrepparttar 140972 statement can (and does) alterrepparttar 140973 statement. My example about suicide shows this very well. (d) When doesrepparttar 140974 passage speak? Is it written for just that time,repparttar 140975 Patriarchal age, Mosaic age, or Christian age. This is just as important as is to whorepparttar 140976 statement is made. God has dealt with His people differently at different times. The Christian must know and recognizerepparttar 140977 difference in how God has chosen to deal with His people inrepparttar 140978 various ages. We must make a distinction betweenrepparttar 140979 two testaments. The Old Testament was forrepparttar 140980 Jewish nation, whereasrepparttar 140981 New Testament is forrepparttar 140982 world andrepparttar 140983 Christian gospel age. (e) Allow Scripture to explain Scripture. Letrepparttar 140984 scriptures speak for themselves. Some passages which may seem a little unclear can be further understood in light of other passages. For example, God's plan of salvation is an excellent example of this. There are eight occasions in Acts where one or more people were converted to Christianity. In Acts 2 whenrepparttar 140985 three thousand were converted we have repentance and baptism specifically mentioned. In Acts 8 whenrepparttar 140986 Samaritans were converted, we have faith and baptism mentioned. And in Acts 8 whenrepparttar 140987 eunuch was converted, we have confession, faith and baptism mentioned. We can then userepparttar 140988 passages from all three occasions (andrepparttar 140989 other five as well) to see that we must have faith, we must repent of our sins, confessrepparttar 140990 Lord Jesus, and be baptized intorepparttar 140991 watery grave of baptism to receiverepparttar 140992 gift of salvation. Taking any one of these passages by itself and using it exclusively to show God's plan of salvation, we would be misinterpretingrepparttar 140993 scriptures.

If we love God and give Him all our allegiance, then we must make every effort to "rightly dividerepparttar 140994 word of truth." It is my prayer that this article has given yourepparttar 140995 desire and ability to do this.

All Scriptures quoted are fromrepparttar 140996 New King James Version unless otherwise noted.



Stephen Kingery is an author, preacher, teacher and founder of The Home Bible Study Institute.

Visit our site at http://www.james1-22.org

Permission to use is granted if attributed to author and his website.


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