Continuing on from my post "May we learn to value the blood bought privilege of prayer" with some reflections on prayer which I'm titling, "Lord, teach us to pray once again." I would encourage you to read/pray through that post in addition to this one.

Lord Jesus, we saw You, Immanuel, while You were in the flesh here, fully God and fully man, tempted as we are and yet without sin...intentionally slipping away, purposefully taking time to withdraw alone so You might pray and commune with Your Father.

Lord God, You have already taught us to pray...
Yet we are so slow to learn...
Father, have mercy on us.
Forgive us, for Jesus' sake.
Though we are slow to learn we come to You and ask us to teach us.

We confess we so often want to busy ourselves with working and doing,
but we forget that one of main works You call us to is the work of prayer.
Lord Jesus, You keep seeking Your Father's face in prayer, should we not do the same?
You died on the cross so we might come into Your presence and pray.

We love You, but we confess our love for You is so weak and incomplete.
We know there is no way we can follow Your devotion and dedication in prayer about from Your power to do so.
May Your Holy Spirit place into our hearts a deeper love for You.
Put into our hearts a deeper desire to know You so we might pant, hunger and thirst after You.
We confess we so often pant, hunger and thirst after things in this world.
We confess we often do not make that time to arise very early in the morning.
The next thing we know it is very late at night and we have not prayed, not really prayed as we ought,
but we have spent time doing so many other things, even good things.
O, we may have prayed, but have we really, really prayed and met You in deep fellowship?

O, Lord God, You are the center of our lives.
Without You we are and we have nothing.
Without You we would be lost, but now we have been found.
Without You we were not a people, but now we are a people.
We are the people of God; You are our Father.
Yet how often do we act childish and not come to You in prayer.
Restore to us childlike spirits, so we might seek Your face constantly.

Your Spirit dwells in us and has given us the Spirit of adoption so we might say, "Abba, Father!"
Yet, how often do we say those words?
Do we save "Abba, Father" only for our times of dire need and desperation?
How foolish we are. Every moment, every day of our lives is a time of need.
Apart from Your Spirit showing us, we see ourselves as rich and needing nothing.
Show us our poverty and our neediness.
We are poor and needy, and we have nothing apart from You.
We are poor and needy, and we can do nothing apart from You.
You are to be the center of our lives.
You are to be the center of our days.
You are to be the center of all we do.
Just as You placed Your holy tabernacle in the center of all the tribes of Israel,
You are to be placed in the center of the Church, in the center of each of our lives.
Forgive us when we put other thing in the center rather than You.
Teach us to number our days and to make the most of the time we have here.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, teach us to pray once again.

As we pray for ourselves and one another, let us lift up and reflect on Paul's words to the Colossians today...

Colossians 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

5 Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

O, holy God, author and perfecter of our salvation,

You know how weak we are. Our spirits are willing, our flesh is weak. Strengthen us to continue steadfastly in prayer. Keep us on alert since the devil is continuing to prowl. His work goes on. He is holding captive souls and blinding them to the glory of Jesus Christ. Impress upon us the importance of our needing to continue steadfastly in prayer. Open our eyes so we might see our need to continue to commune with You in prayer so we might fight against the wiles and schemes of the devil. May You increase our desire to pray so that we can't not pray, that our lives become a picture of Paul's words in Thessalonians: pray without ceasing. Our great high priest is praying without ceasing for us, so we might be strengthened to pray. Your Holy Spirit lives in us to transform our desires so we might desire to pray and then works in us so we might act on those God-imparted, God-breathed desires You are writing on our hearts and in our minds.

And as we pray, let us remember to continue to give You thanks. Thanks for Your love, mercy and grace to us in that we deserve nothing from You. Thank You, our Father, that You chose us and adopted us as Your children.Thank You for hearing us. Thank You for making a way for us to come into Your presence through the body and blood of the Lord Jesus. Thank You, Jesus, that You continue forever and have attained eternal salvation for us. Thank You, Holy Spirit, that You have not left us alone but dwell with us forever and You intercede for us and all the saints according to the will of God.

Today we pray You would open doors for us to declare the Word, the mystery of Christ. O, guard and protect us from proclaiming any other word or from proclaiming ourselves. There is salvation in no other name but the Name of Jesus Christ. O, may we make the word clear, so we might speak as we ought. That we might not compromise but lift up Jesus to the highest place, that He might not be made one of many options, but exalted as Lord and Christ, as the Way, the Truth and the Life. We read these words of Paul who was in prison. How much do we risk by speaking for Christ where we live? For most of us, not very much. Right now we lift up our brothers and sisters in those places where they do risk daily to proclaim Christ. Strengthen them to speak for You. How pitiful we are when we shrink back in fear for what others might think of us when it costs us very little, if anything, to do so. Forgive us for being self-protective. Holy Father and our Lord Jesus, we come to You asking for what You have promised to us: the gift of Your Holy Spirit. Yes, we  have received Him when we first came to Your Kingdom. We could not come to You apart from His quickening work in us. But now we are asking You again for Him to come and empower us to witness, to be bold and confident in Your power so we might declare Christ clearly and speak as we ought. You have promised to send Him and He would help us. We cannot expect to be Your witnesses apart from the One who witnesses of You equipping us to do so. Ought we not be proclaiming You with boldness and assurance? Are You not the Light of the world? Forgive us for so often not being bold and for so often hiding You under a bushel. We are trusting when we proclaim Your word in Your power that it will not return void but will accomplish the purpose You have intended for it.

May we make the most of our time. We are stewards here. May You lead us to open doors and may You embolden us to speak Your word, the mystery of Christ, as we ought. We have many opportunities here on Xanga and Revelife, as well as in other places, but let us be led clearly by Your Spirit in all of those and be discerning. We believe there are particular doors You will open for some of us and not for others. We are trusting You have already been preparing hearts and breaking up fallow ground to receive Your implanted word. There are so many souls who are hungry and seeking but their eyes are blinded. Use us to open their eyes, Lord, to Your gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. May we be discerning in how we use our time here. As You direct us, may we sow in faith, we do not know which of those seeds will produce a harvest or not, but You call us to be faithful to sow and to water as You lead us. Help us to be good stewards of Your word and of our time and our resources. Help us also to continue to study to show ourselves approved so we might be able to speak and write Your word in a way that brings You honor and glory, so we might be prepared to give an answer to the hope which lies within us. May Your Spirit continue to led us into all truth and let us not be afraid when we are ready to speak or write, but trust as You have led us to a particular place, to a particular conversation, Your Holy Spirit will fill our minds and our mouths and He will give us the right words at the time. May we continue to be led not of our own wisdom but of Your Spirit's wisdom. You call us to work, but may we never work out of our power, but through the power of Your Holy Spirit.

Lord Jesus, may our speech always be gracious, may we strike that right balance of grace and truth as You always had. That is impossible for us apart from Your Holy Spirit Who dwells in us. You were full of grace and truth. May we be the same. Yes, our speech needs to be seasoned with salt, to preserve and to purify, so that means it will not be welcomed by all, but yet we are faithful to proclaim Your word, all Your word, and hold nothing back. We are to speak all the words of Your life. May we stand firm in the faith and yet may all we do be done with love. We are trusting that those whose hearts You are preparing and those sheep You are calling will respond. Open hearts and minds to receive the word of Your gospel. Be gracious and open the blinders from their eyes so they might see. This is a work You alone can do in dead souls.

Give us wisdom to know how to answer each one. Each soul is a unique individual, fearfully and wonderfully made. Each soul needs Christ, yes, but yet we do not deal with people in a cookie cutter manner. Give us hearts of love and minds to discern particular needs to know how we ought to speak to each individual. May we have Your heart of compassion for these lost and weary souls. Fill our mouths and our fingertips with life-giving bread and living water so we might feed to those hungry and thirsty souls with You, O Lord. There is not life apart from You.

May You, O Lord God, be glorified in and through us and in this place. May all we do never cause You to be grieved but may we found well pleasing to You. Amen.

Please read Jesus' words to the churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia in Revelation 2:8-11 and 3:7-12.

After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. 2 Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar (that is, Engedi). 3 Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written, Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

O Lord our God,

As Your children, since we are in Your Kingdom, we are now all enlisted in the battle against the devil and the powers of darkness. You call us to patiently endure, to be faithful and steadfast unto death. How can we do so if we do not seek You and seek help from You the way Jehoshaphat and Judah did?

We keep trying to put on Saul's armor and use worldly weapons.
We confess we have made idols our of worldly weapons.
We confess we are tempted to fight this battle in our own power.
We confess we have tried to fight this battle in our own power.
Forgive us, O Lord, for fighting in our own power.
Our power avails nothing in the battle.
Help us to fight this battle in the power You provide.
Help us to cast off the armor of Saul and to put on the armor of David.
Help us to cast off the weapons of this world and to put on the weapons of Your warfare.
Help us to seek You alone.
Help us to seek help from You alone.
For Christ alone is the power of God.
When we go in Your power, You, Lord, will deliver us from the hand of our enemies.

We keep trying to put on Saul's armor and use worldly weapons.
We confess we have made idols our of worldly weapons.
We confess we are tempted to fight in our own strength.
We confess we have tried to fight this battle in our own strength.
Forgive us, O Lord, for resorting to our own strength.
We only come to know your strength through our weakness.
Help us to fight this battle in the strength You provide.
Help us to cast off the armor of Saul and to put on the armor of David.
Help us to cast off the weapons of this world and to put on the weapons of Your warfare.
Help us to seek You alone.
Help us to seek help from You alone.
For Christ alone is the strength of God.
When we go in Your strength, You, Lord, will deliver us from the hand of our enemies.

We keep trying to put on Saul's armor and use worldly weapons.
We confess we have made idols our of worldly weapons.
We confess we are tempted to fight using our own wisdom.
We confess we have tried to fight this battle using our own wisdom.
But You have chosen the foolish things to confound the wise.
Forgive us, O Lord, for leaning on our own wisdom.
Help us to fight this battle with Your wisdom.
Help us to cast of the armor of Saul and to put on the armor of David.
Help us to cast off the weapons of this world and to put on the weapons of Your warfare.
Help us to seek You alone.
Help us to seek help from You alone.
Christ alone is the wisdom of God.
When we go in Your wisdom, You, Lord, will deliver us from the hand of our enemies.

Amen.