Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
John 16:24
We are looking at the necessary furrows that enable joy to flow to and through us. Yesterday we looked at the bible, God’s word to us and saw that we must say a big YES to what we read there and that we need to ask good questions. Asking those questions is in fact praying. We are directing those questions to God himself and as we saw yesterday we are asking His Holy Spirit to enable us to obey what we learn.
Attitude is paramount here. There was a self righteous pharisee whose prayer was nothing but ‘praying to himself’ (Luke 18:11). Prayer focussed on someone or something other than God himself is utterly joyless. In prayer we encounter the God who creates all things and we learn His name, Immanuel, ‘God with us’.
Jesus offered several specific models for prayer as well as ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. To me they are all summed up in ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is [done] in heaven.’ In praying that line we are praying that all God’s purposes get done. That’s huge. But we begin there and then we get more and more specific. We read His word to discover His will, and we pray it. We look around us and whatever we see, we ask a question; Would this look like this if it were being done in heaven? If yes, then hallelujah, give God the praise in prayer. If no, then that gives you your agenda for prayer, prayer to bring kingdom transformation to what you currently see.
Do you want some other top tips for joy producing prayer?
Remember it’s a conversation
Remember He is Daddy, Abba Father
Remember to remove distractions
Remember to put things right with him (ask for and receive forgiveness)
Remember to keep track of answered prayer
Remember to have fun in prayer (ask + receiving = joy!!!)