First Pray, Fresh Church:  February 2024 “Wait”

The LORD upholds all that fall and raises up all those that are oppressed. The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their food in due season. – Psalm 145:14-15

Before you pray, bow quietly before God to remember and realize who He is, how near He is, and how certainly He can and will help. Be still before Him and allow His Holy Spirit to waken and stir your soul with the child-like disposition of absolute dependence and confident expectation. Wait upon God as a living Being, the living God, who notices you and longs to fill you with His salvation. Wait on God until you know you have met Him; prayer will then become very different.  Andrew Murray

Make your ways known to me, Lord; teach me your paths.5 Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; I wait for you all day long. Remember, Lord your compassion, and your faithful love, for they have existed from antiquity.   Ps. 25: 4-5

Blessed Father, we humbly beseech Thee, let none that wait on Thee be ashamed, no, not one. Some are weary, and the time of waiting appears long. And some are feeble and scarcely know how to wait. And some are so entangled in the effort of their prayers and their work that they think they can find no time to wait continually. Father, teach us all how to wait. Teach us to think of each other and pray for each other. Teach us to think of Thee, the God of all waiting ones. Father, let none that wait on Thee be ashamed. For Jesus’ sake. Amen. 

If we draw near to God, it must be with a true heart. There must be perfect integrity and wholeheartedness in our dealing with God, as we read in the next psalm,

Vindicate me, Lord, because I have lived with integrity and have trusted in the Lord without wavering.  But I live with integrity; redeem me and be gracious to me.  Ps. 26: 1, 11

“We aren’t the first to struggle with prayer. The first followers of Jesus needed prayer guidance too. In fact, prayer is the only tutorial they ever requested. And Jesus gave them a prayer. Not a lecture on prayer. Not the doctrine of prayer. He gave them a quotable, repeatable, portable prayer. Couldn’t we use the same?” ~ Max Lucado

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