Title: *Power for the Faint

 

Title:*CHANGE 34/Mm - Visual Prayer Art from Collection by Rev.Bola

Isaiah 40:29 He gives power to the faint,
 and to him who has no might he increases strength. 

Inspiring Thought: *Power for the Faint

In this verse, Isaiah was speaking to believers who were living in captivity,
yet ones who had remained faithful to God. In spite of our commitment to the Lord,
sometimes we grow weary and powerless as we face difficult circumstances. 
It's usually because we forget that we can never serve and obey God in our own strength.
We must trust and depend fully on him in every situation.
We must wait for his strength to fill us when we become faint.
Daily, hourly, and minute by minute, let God renew your strength.

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Posted by Rev.Bola 

Title: *Hindrances To Prayer* - Section 1

 

Title: *STRESS RELIEVER* Light Orb - from collection painted by Rev.Bola

*Hindrances To Prayer*

The normal Christian life is a life of regular, daily answer to prayer. In the model prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray daily for bread, and expect to get it, and to ask daily for forgiveness, for deliverance from the evil one, and for other needs, and daily to get the answers they sought.
It is perfectly normal for an obedient child to ask for food every meal time and get it, get all he wants, and eat until he is perfectly satisfied. And using that figure the Saviour said, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matt.
When I turn faucets in bathroom or kitchen, I expect water to pour forth every time. If I turned the tap and water did not come, I would be surprised. Also I would know that something radically was wrong and I would immediately set out to find out why the water did not run. If I press a light switch and the light does not shine, or if I plug in an electric motor and there is no power, I know that something is wrong, dead wrong, that the connection with the powerhouse is broken; and I set out to find what is wrong and to remedy it. Just so, every Christian ought to be in daily communion with God and ought to live the joyful life of answered prayer. And when anything hinders his prayers the Christian ought immediately to be able to find out what is wrong and get it remedied.
Often we are painfully conscious that our prayers are not heard. Last night a man said to me as we parted at the close of the service in a great rescue mission, "Preacher, before you sleep I wish you would pray for me. My prayers never get higher than my head. God won't hear me." Is that your case? Do you feel, even as you call on God, that He is not pleased, that He will not hear, that there is no likelihood of your receiving the thing for which you ask? Then, oh, how important it is to clear the line between you and God so He will hear you. How important it is to confess and forsake everything that grieves the dear Holy Spirit and shuts up Heaven to your prayers and stops God's ears!.
A selfish purpose in prayer robs prayer of power. Very many prayers are selfish. These may be prayers for things for which it is perfectly proper to ask, for things which it is the will of God to give, but the motive of the prayer is entirely wrong, and so the prayer falls powerless to the ground. The true purpose in prayer is that God may be glorified in the answer. If we ask any petition merely that we may receive something to use in our pleasures or in our own gratification in one way or another, we “ask amiss” and need not expect to receive what we ask. This explains why many prayers remain unanswered.
For example, many a woman is praying for the conversion of her husband. That certainly is a most proper thing to ask; but many a woman’s motive in asking for the conversion of her husband is entirely improper, it is selfish. She desires that her husband may be converted because it would be so much more pleasant for her to have a husband who sympathized with her; or it is so painful to think that her husband might die and be lost forever. For some such selfish reason as this she desires to have her husband converted. The prayer is purely selfish. Why should a woman desire the conversion of her husband? First of all and above all, that God may be glorified; because she cannot bear the thought that God the Father should be dishonored by her husband trampling underfoot the Son of God.
Many pray for a revival. That certainly is a prayer that is pleasing to God, it is along the line of His will; but many prayers for revivals are purely selfish. The churches desire revivals in order that the membership may be increased, in order that the church may have a position of more power and influence in the community, in order that the church treasury may be filled, in order that a good report may be made at the presbytery or conference or association. For such low purposes as these, churches and ministers oftentimes are praying for a revival, and oftentimes too God does not answer the prayer. Why should we pray for a revival? For the glory of God, because we cannot endure it that God should continue to be dishonored by the worldliness of the church, by the sins of unbelievers, by the proud unbelief of the day; because God’s Word is being made void; in order that God may be glorified by the outpouring of His Spirit on the Church of Christ. For these reasons first of all and above all, we should pray for a revival.
Many a man prays and prays and prays, and gets absolutely no answer to his prayer. Perhaps he is tempted to think that it is not the will of God to answer, or he may think that the days when God answered prayer, if He ever did, are over. So the Israelites seem to have thought. They thought that the Lord’s hand was shortened, that it could not save, and that His ear had become heavy that it could no longer hear.
“Not so,” said Isaiah, “God’s ear is just as open to hear as ever, His hand just as mighty to save; but there is a hindrance. That hindrance is your own sins. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you that He will not hear.”.
It is so to-day. Many and many a man is crying to God in vain, simply because of sin in his life. It may be some sin in the past that has been unconfessed and unjudged, it may be some sin in the present that is cherished, very likely is not even looked upon as sin, but there the sin is, hidden away somewhere in the heart or in the life, and God “will not hear.”.
I well remember a time in my life when I was praying for two definite things that it seemed that I must have, or God would be dishonored; but the answer did not come. I awoke in the middle of the night in great physical suffering and great distress of soul. I cried to God for these things, reasoned with Him as to how necessary it was that I get them, and get them at once; but no answer came. I asked God to show me if there was anything wrong in my own life. Something came to my mind that had often come to it before, something definite but which I was unwilling to confess as sin. I said to God,.
Many a man makes an idol of his wife. Not that a man can love his wife any too much, but he can put her in the wrong place, he can put her before God; and when a man regards his wife’s pleasure before God’s pleasure, when he gives her the first place and God the second place, his wife is an idol, and God cannot hear his prayers.
Many a woman makes an idol of her children. Not that we can love our children too much. The more dearly we love Christ, the more dearly we love our children; but we can put our children in the wrong place, we can put them before God, and their interests before God’s interests. When we do this our children are our idols.
There is perhaps no greater hindrance to prayer than stinginess, the lack of liberality toward the poor and toward God’s work. It is the one who gives generously to others who receives generously from God. “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again.” (Luke 6:38, R.V.) The generous man is the mighty man of prayer. The stingy man is the powerless man of prayer.
Many a man and woman who is seeking to find the secret of their powerlessness in prayer need not seek far; it is nothing more nor less than downright stinginess. George Muller, to whom reference has already been made, was a mighty man of prayer because he was a mighty giver. What he received from God never stuck to his fingers; he immediately passed it on to others. He was constantly receiving because he was constantly giving. When one thinks of the selfishness 4of the professing church to-day, how the orthodox churches of this land do not average $1.00 per year per member for foreign missions, it is no wonder that the church has so little power in prayer. If we would get from God, we must give to others. Perhaps the most wonderful promise in the Bible in regard to God’s supplying our need is Phil. 4:19, “And my God shall fulfill every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (R.V.) This glorious promise was made to the Philippian church, and made in immediate connection with their generosity.
The fifth hindrance to prayer is found in Mark 11:25, “And when ye stand praying, FORGIVE, if ye have ought against any; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”.
An unforgiving spirit is one of the commonest hindrances to prayer. Prayer is answered on the basis that our sins are forgiven; and God cannot deal with us on the basis of forgiveness while we are harboring ill-will against those who have wronged us. Any one who is nursing a grudge against another has fast closed the ear of God against his own petition. How many there are crying to God for the conversion of husband, children, friends, and wondering why it is that their prayer is not answered, when the whole secret is some grudge that they have in their hearts against some one who has injured them, or who they fancy has injured them. Many and many a mother and father are allowing their children to go down to eternity unsaved, for the miserable gratification of hating somebody.
In many and many a case the prayers of husbands are hindered because of their failure of duty toward their wives. On the other hand, it is also doubtless true that the prayers of wives are hindered because of their failure in duty toward their husbands. If husbands and wives should seek diligently to find the cause of their unanswered prayers, they would often find it in their relations to one another.
There are other things in the relations of husbands and wives which cannot be spoken of publicly, but which doubtless are oftentimes a hindrance in approaching God in prayer. There is much of sin covered up under the holy name of marriage that is a cause of spiritual deadness, and of powerlessness in prayer. Any man or woman whose prayers seem to bring no answer should spread their whole married life out before God, and ask Him to put His finger upon anything in it that is displeasing in His sight.
Prayers are hindered by unbelief. God demands that we shall believe His Word absolutely. To question it is to make Him a liar. Many of us do that when we plead His promises, and is it any wonder that our prayers are not answered? How many prayers are hindered by our wretched unbelief! We go to God and ask Him for something that is positively promised in His Word, and then we do not more than half expect to get it. “Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.”.

Title: *Hindrances to Prayer* - Section 2

 

Title: *STRESS RELIEVER 2* Light Orb 10 - Visual Prayer Art from Collection Painted by Rev.Bola

Hindrances to Prayer – The Problem
 The Bible is clear that there are hindrances to prayer. Have you ever felt like your prayers are hitting the ceiling and going no further? Let’s study what the Bible says about effective prayer.

Hindrances to Prayer – The Reasons
The Bible lists several hindrances to prayer. Here are a few of them:

• Unconfessed Sin – When there is sin in the life of a believer, it creates a barrier in fellowship between you and God. Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”
• Living in “the flesh” – When you begin a relationship with Christ, you receive a new nature. Even so, that nature resides in the old flesh. Sometimes you give control over to your old nature (“the flesh”), which is sinful. Believers are reminded: “For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13). Living in the flesh is another hindrance to prayer.
• Failure to spend time in God’s Word – “If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable” (Proverbs 28:9).
• Incorrect Motives – Motivation in prayer is very important. When your prayers are selfishly motivated, that hinders your prayers. James 4:3 says, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” Your prayers should not be focused on fulfilling your own selfish desires.
• Misunderstanding of prayer – The Bible explains that prayer isn’t about getting God to bends His will to your will. Instead, prayer is about cooperating with God and abandoning your desires and submitting to God’s will. 1 John 5:14 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
• Indifference to the needs of others – Philippians 2:3-4 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” When you are indifferent to the needs of others, you can expect your prayers to be hindered.
• Doubt and Unbelief – “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Your confidence should be in God’s ability to answer your prayers in accordance with His will.
  
  
• Family Problems – 1 Peter 3:7 says, “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
• Vain repetition – “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words” (Matthew 6:7).

Hindrances to Prayer - The Remedy
All hindrances to prayer can be remedied by confession and repentance. God doesn’t want your prayers to be hindered. He desires intimate fellowship with His children and for the lines of communication to remain open.
1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

As your fellowship with God is strengthened, you’ll be more in tune with God’s will and will pray accordingly.

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Posted by Rev.Bola
 

Title: *YOU ARE NOT ALONE

Psalm 34:18

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.  

Inspiring Thought: *You Are Not Alone*

 

Is your heart broken today? Is your spirit crushed? This Psalm reassures us that the Lord is very near to us when we're facing overwhelming troubles. In fact, the Lord is right there, present with you in the sorrow, in the heartache. He is walking right through it with you. And you can lean on him for comfort, because he too knows what it feels like to be crushed and broken.

Recovery Thought:

Praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion.
In prayer we act like men; in praise we act like angels. ~ Thomas Watson

James 5:13 

Is anyone among you afflicted (ill-treated, suffering evil)? He should
pray. Is anyone glad at heart? He should sing praise {to God}.

♰ Recovery Prayer ♰

Holy God,
May Your praise be continually on my lips as I pray and commune
with You. Amen.
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Posted by Rev.Bola
Minister and Life Coach

Title:*Bread of Life* - Wise Thoughts

Title: *BLESSED* Orb of Light 45 /Mm - Visual Prayer Art from Collection by Rev.Bola

Matthew 4:4
But he answered, "It is written, " 'Man shall not live by bread alone, 

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.' 
 

Inspiring Thought: *Bread of Life*

 

Like food that sustains our physical bodies, our spirits depend on the Word of God for life-supporting nourishment. Here, after 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, Jesus speaks the Word of God from Deuteronomy 8:3 to overcome the temptation of the devil. The Son of God, a man who possessed divine power to defeat the enemy, chose the weapon of Scripture to combat Satan. This powerful Sword is our weapon too—the same spiritual resource we have today—the Word of God! Are you feeding your spirit by feasting daily on God's Word? 

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth,
give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

*Wisdom Thought*:
Have no fear for the unsettlement or the disturbance of the Kingdom of heaven.
It began in eternity, it will go on through everlasting; there is no panic in the
divine personality. God is peace. God gives peace. God gives rest. ~ Joseph Parker

♰ Recovery Prayer ♰
Thank you Lord,
No matter what is going on within me or around me, You grant me peace.
When I come to You and surrender, Your unfailing gift to me is serenity and
rest. I praise You for Your graciousness in my life. Amen. 

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Posted by Rev.Bola

Minister and Life Coach

Title:*CAST ALL YOUR ANXIETY ON GOD*

Title:* CBT ORB3/Mm - Visual Prayer Art from Collection Painted by Rev.Bola (Nov2013)

*BLESSING No1*

Philippians 4:6–7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

*Inspiring Thought: Cast All Your Anxiety on Him

George Mueller said, "The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety." Someone else said, "Worry is unbelief in disguise." So, see your anxiety today for what it really is ... just a symptom. Turning to God in prayer and trusting completely in Him is the cure. 
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*BLESSING  No 2*

*Wise Thought: We lie to God in prayer if we don't rely on God after prayer.
{Submitted by Rev. Nancy}

Psalm 5:11 But let all those that put their trust in Thee rejoice:
let them ever shout for joy, because Thou defendest them:
let them also that love Thy name be joyful in Thee.

♰ Recovery Prayer ♰
Holy Father,
So often I pray asking for help, guidance and strength and then I
foolishly start relying on my own self or others for results. Keep
my focus on You, Your will and Your graciousness in all things.
In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen. 

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Posted by Rev.Bola 

Minister 

Title:' Wise Thought For The Day'

*Wise Thought*

Lord, 

I forego all anxious thought,
And cast on You my care;
Content that You are over all,
And rule everywhere.

Teach me to listen for Your voice
When the storm howls loud;
Help me to look for light from You,
Beneath the darkest cloud.

Your face I seek with earnest prayer,
For You are all my stay,
Now let Your mighty arm appear
And drive my griefs away.
~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon {adapted} 

James 5:13
Is anyone among you afflicted (ill-treated, suffering evil)?
He should pray. 

♰ Recovery Prayer ♰
O God,
When I pray 

You remove my anxious thoughts. 

I am assured that You indeed rule over all and everywhere. 

Thank you for being my stay, my light and my life. Amen. 

- Christians in Recovery

http://christians-in-recovery.org/

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                                                                  Posted by Rev.Bola