As Inspired by the love god greatly study, The Importance of Prayer-week 5
When we trust in Jesus Christ to be our savior we make a commitment to the Father who sent Him. The commitment involves laying down our own life and desires of the mortal flesh to follow after Christ in the new spiritual nature He has graced us with; or as Paul said, as the “New Person” we have become. Christ’s love now controls us, so we commit to love and obey and to serve Him only.
– Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. … 17This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
2 Corinthians 5:17
This past week’s focus in our study, “The Importance of Prayer”, has been focused on the various commitments of our prayer life, starting with the commitment to wait expectantly, which means trusting God to hear and to answer according to HIS WILL, (Psalm 5). This first commitment fed into all of the others, which included the commitment to being satisfied in and with God – not just an “ok, that will do” kind of satisfaction – but truly deep-down to the “soul-satisfied,” (Psalm 63). The commitment to trust Him and to be truly satisfied with Him – whose love is better than life – will, or should, naturally lead us to a commitment to praise Him – not just when or because life is ‘good’ – but because God is good (Psalm 100). Because life won’t always be good or easy, when we are committed to trusting God we will also be committed to cry out to Him for help and strength when life is stressful (Psalm 18), and equally committed to repent of our sins with a desire to maintain a pure heart and a right relationship with our God (Psalm 51).
While the word commitment and act of committing have raised fear in me since somewhere in my late 20’s and early 30’s, I am happy to say when it comes to committing to God, my life… my prayers … my trust … my fears … and my struggles … I have little to no issues. Why? Because I have found Him to be trustworthy and true. I have found Him to help me when I am weak, to provide for me in my needs, to direct me in my choices, and to sustain me by His power … and so much more! Our study this past week has been a refreshing reminder of the need and the joy and hope that come from being committed to a life of prayer. May the same be true for you as you make these commitments in your own walk of faith and prayer.
Me From the Inside Out 