Happy New Year to you and your family! I trust that your Christmas and New Year’s celebrations and remembrances were filled with the love of the Father. Some of you had a fully joyous time, some may have had family drama, some may have experienced loss or the memories of loss. Whatever your experience was, we know that God is good.
Our family had a mixture of emotions but even the tough memories could not overshadow the grace of God we experienced together. As we gathered, we celebrated that my mom was able to spend the day with us. The past two years have taught us to cherish this time with her. We, “ooo’d”, and “ahh’d” over the antics of all the babies. We remembered those who are no longer with us. We remembered Abigail’s beloved Bradley who our family dearly misses. And of course, we remembered my dad and my sister’s husband who have moved on to heaven ahead of us.
I’m grateful for all the memories, even the hard ones. Many of us were teary this year, both family and friends. There was a real sense that Holy Spirit was near and holding us while bringing healing from the pain of the past five years.
As I prayed about 2022, the Lord impressed upon my heart something He began speaking about in 2021. That is; intimacy with Him. Intimacy with our Father and Savior will be an overarching theme for 2022. I don’t yet know everything I will share with you, but I know it will be good! As I prayed, I asked Him where to begin? He gave me a song, I Come to the Garden Alone. I immediately thought of the example of Jesus always finding time to meet alone with His Father.
That led me to think of prayer. There is no better way to begin a practice of intimacy than to engage with God in prayer. For the month of January, we will be focusing on Matthew 6:5-15 in The Passion Translation, (TPT). As we begin week one, we’ll study through verses five through eight. Here they are for you to read:
“Whenever you pray, be sincere and not like the pretenders who love the attention they receive while praying before others in the meetings and on street corners. Believe me, they’ve already received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your innermost chamber and be alone with Father God, praying to him in secret. And your Father, who sees all you do, will reward you openly. When you pray, there is no need to repeat empty phrases, praying like the Gentiles do, for they expect God to hear them because of their many words. There is no need to imitate them, since your Father already knows what you need before you ask him.”
Before we begin our study, let’s define a word that I don’t think I’ve ever looked up, or do I remember a teaching that defines this word. We assume we know what it means, and our assumptions are probably correct, but let’s look at the original word definition for pray. The Greek word proseuchomaimeans to pray to God, or to supplicate (ask or beg for something earnestly or humbly), worship, or pray earnestly for.
I want to note that as sons and daughters of the Supreme King, we are not beggars in any area of our lives, especially in prayer. Philippians 4:4-7 says, “Be cheerful with joyous celebration in every season of life. Let your joy overflow! And let gentleness be seen in every relationship, for our Lord is ever near. Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell Him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ.” (TPT).
Now that we have defined prayer, next week we’ll look at three aspects that are important for us to remember as we pray. While you wait for next week, please spend time in humble prayer and worship. Remember as you pray and worship to also listen for God to speak. When He speaks, be sure to write those important words down in your journal.
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Prayer Zoom Call Invitation!
We will be gathering as a community to practice what we’ve been learning about prayer.
I hope you’ll join me Tuesday, January 25th from 6:30-7:30
More information will follow!
