Check Your Account

"It is not your gift that I value but rather the interest increasing in your own account." - Philippians 4:17

In a way, our prayer life is like a bank account - we have to deposit in order to be able to withdraw when we're in need. We often have this false perception that God needs our prayers when He doesn't. We might think that we are obliged to pray to make God happy, but we are the ones that need daily prayer urgently. When we spend time with God in prayer, we give Him our time, we give Him our thoughts, our ideas, everything. In turn, He starts building us up. The work of God in the soul is hidden and you might not realize it, but with each second spent in prayer, God is fortifying your soul and preparing you for what you'll need in the future. Down the road will come a time that you will be in need, you will need assistance and you will feel alone, but because you went depositing in your divine bank account by praying to God and He went depositing faith, grace, strength, and virtues into you, you will be able to withdraw whatever you need from the Lord and even more… He knows you'll be good for it!

Think about how sad it will be for those who never deposited anything and have nothing to show when they are most in need. What can possibly be left for us if we are spiritual poor as well? A healthy prayer life is the way to making sure we are always increasing in value with God.

Today's Prayer:
My God, show me how much in need I am of You. My account with You can never have enough in it. Help me to work hard to fill it and be able to increase in worth for You. In Jesus' Name we pray, amen.

Willingness

"My grace is enough for you; my great strength is revealed in weakness." - 2nd Corinthians 12:9

I was just reading about the life of St. Thérése of Lisieux. When she was a teenager, she wanted God to make her a saint, but she struggled in trying to contain her emotions, such as stubbornness, anger, and the desire to seek attention. She made a mistake that we all make - she tried to work on her own feelings instead of giving them up to God to handle.

Tomorrow, we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. After meditating on His passion, some of us are moved to explore a closer relationship with God, but there are always doubts that pop up into our head: Can I really live a life following the Lord? Am I ready to give up certain things I know aren't good for me? Will God really listen to me? Is He really there? All of us struggle with doubts and questions, but all that God needs from us is our willingness to let Him guide us, instead of trying to do the work ourselves, as Thérése first did. Don't try to control anything or change anything yourself. As He told Paul, His grace is enough for you and in the areas you feel weak, He'll show you His strength. Where you feel you don't believe or can't continue, He'll help you through. All you need to do is tell Him with a sincere heart that you are willing to have Him work in you. That's the beauty of following the Lord - sometimes we think there is too much work involved, but then you see how He gently moves you in love to better, more peaceful places. All He looks for is a simple prayer from the heart saying that you are willing.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, today, I give up to You my fears, my weaknesses, and my doubts. I bring before You my desire to follow You, and with all of my heart, I would like You to work in me. Carry me when I am weak and when I doubt. In Your Name we pray. Amen.

When You Are Weak

"My grace is enough for you; My great strength is revealed in weakness." - 2nd Corinthians 12:9

Oprah had a young girl on her show named Kristen Anderson. When she was about 15/16 yrs old, Kristen lost 4 of her closest friends in suicides and accidents. A year after that, her grandma died and shortly after that, she was raped. Needless to say, she was full of despair. She felt alone, helpless and with nothing to live for or look forward to. One evening, she decided to go out to her back yard which was next to some rail road tracks. After seriously considering ending her life, she decided to lie down on the tracks as a train approached. The train came and rail road cars drove right over Kristen. Amazingly enough, she didn't die. Fully conscious, she looked behind her and saw her legs with her brand new sneakers lying a couple of feet away. The train engineer stopped the train and called the cops. The Kristen Anderson that made it to the Oprah show, however, was a completely different person. She was radiant and all smiles as she pushed her legless body off her wheel chair and onto Oprah's coach. Oprah also had another young adult on the show who also tried commiting suicide after his parents divorced. He took a gun and blew off his face, but somehow survived. After about 18 reconstructive surgeries and 6 months in a drug induced coma, doctors have some what rebuilt his face. David also sat on Oprah's couch radiant. The show was about people who had tried commiting suicide but failed. Oprah wanted to show her audience the warning signs and how to help people in despair who see no way out, but I saw another message in the people's stories. These kids had awful things happen to them and they saw no hope, no help. Somehow after their accidents, they both found God and instead of going on Oprah with sob stories, they both told Oprah that they have found the love of Jesus Christ and despite having severe disabilities, they said they were happier than ever. David is now blind and hardly even has a nose or a mouth and Kristen's legs were cut off right above the knees, but in God, they are more full of life than most of us are! We let financial problems and relationship problems keep us down and gloomy but these kids have seen worse, tried killing themselves, and now, when the world would see them at their weakest, they are strongest. Happiness and strength doesn't lie in physical strength and beauty, but it ONLY lies in having God in our hearts. For these disabled kids, His grace is enough because when they are weak, they are really the strongest since their faith is firmly and indivisibly placed on God. We need to learn that God's grace is our only strength, and when things are at their lowest in our hearts, in our souls, prepare yourselves because that is when God really shows His strength!

Today's Prayer:
Lord God, forgive me for not allowing You to be God and for You to be my strength when I feel down and defeated. I can't do it on my own. Favor me with Your grace and give me the supernatural strength I need to get through. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Dreams and Goals

"For that reason, faith is the way and all is given by grace; and the promises of Abraham are fulfilled for all his descendants, not only for his children according to the law, but also for all the others who have believed." - Romans 4:16

In each of us, God puts a dream which our hearts want to accomplish. I was speaking with a friend of mine who told me metaphorically that he wants to conquer the world but things get in the way. He knows that everything is in God's hands, but I feel that he might be putting a little too much pressure on himself. In Genesis, God told Abraham that he would make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. God gave him a dream to look forward to and Abraham had the faith.

Naturally, when we have a dream, we may put our faith in God, but we feel a great burden to get things off the ground ourselves. We need to learn that God wouldn't put anything in our hearts that He wouldn't take the lead on in developing. Like Abraham, our part is to have faith. When in this letter to the Romans, Paul says that faith is the way and all is given by grace, it means that our faith, like Abraham's, is what opens the door for God to work. All is given by grace means that the actual work, and the results of our faith are completed and achieved by the power of God, not by ourselves. This is grace, a free gift of God. As much as Abraham wanted, he could not make his elderly wife fertile or pregnant. Only God could do that, and He did because Abraham believed.

There is nothing in this world that we could ever successfully accomplishment without the grace of God. All we need is the faith in Him to believe it will happen, and He will do the rest! Notice, the only action God calls us to in this verse is to believe, and nothing else.

Today's Prayer:
Lord, help our faith. We have dreams we want to accomplish and projects we want to get off the ground. If these things are not founded on You, they will never take flight. Help us keep our faith firmly on You as we wait to see the fruit of our dreams. In Your Name we pray, amen.

In Constant Contact

"Pray at all times as the Spirit inspires you. Keep watch, together with sustained prayer and supplication for all the brothers." - Ephesians 6:18

Just like in the Looney Tunes we watched when we were younger, we have two voices in our heads, one trying to tempt us into sin, and the other leading us to God for the good of our souls. When it comes to prayer, the truth is that most of the time, we don't feel like praying. Don't think that religious people want to pray 24/7 because it's not true. Yes, it is so rewarding to go into the Lord's presence, but a lot of times we just want to be left alone, or we're too tired to pray. But when we allow ourselves to be tuned out like this from being in contact with God, how do we expect God to speak to us or make Himself known to us? Each of us hears that little voice inside of us, nudging us from time to time that we need to pray. But here scripture is telling you that it is the Spirit of God speaking to your heart, telling you to go to Him and speak to Him. You might hear it faintly if you are not used to recognizing it, but if you learn to pay attention to it, God will speak louder to you each time. Do as the scripture says and pray each and every single time you are inspired to. Don't ignore the voice because you don't have time, you are too tired, or you can't pay attention, because it is God that gives you the time you have and He should come before everything else. When you learn to listen to His voice and let yourself be led by Him, then you will receive true blessings in your life. You will no longer find yourself begging and crying in a time of need, because your communication with God will be constant and the gifts and protection He gives you will be continual and abundant; you will no longer even need to ask Him for anything because He gives freely.

Relax your mind right now, do you hear the voice? Do you feel the need to connect to your Father in Heaven? Don't miss this call and go be in His presence.

Today's Prayer:
My Lord, forgive me for the times that I brushed aside Your call because I didn't have time or didn't care to make the time. I seek to put You first and be in constant contact with You. Please help me stay in union with You always. In Your Name we pray, Amen.

Two Wishes

"Yet the Lord waits to give you grace; He rises to show you compassion." - Isaiah 30:18

My wish for you is that you understand with all of your mind and all of your heart how much God loves you. He made us to belong to Him and I know how easy it is to replace Him and fill yourself with other things because I have done it too, and so many times. But God never sees any of that. Don't worry about what you have done. As a loving Father, He only sees your pain and your worries and is longing to help you through. That problem you have that makes your heart ache and that one thing you need, He wants to help you. But He also wants you to ask Him. Isaiah says that God is just waiting for you to go to Him and He's ready to show you compassion. Take advantage of this. Be careful if you say to yourself, "well, I pray and I go to church and I don't feel God do anything for me," because then you really need to be honest with yourself. If you're looking for a quick miracle, then it is not God you are seeking. Understand that to love someone is to have a relationship with someone. The ways of God will never be a quick fix, instead it's to walk with God for Him to work in every area of your life. When you do this, He will give you His grace and compassion, tranforming you into a new being so that He can empty out all His blessings into you, helping you with so much more than that one thing you need so badly right now. If I had a second wish, it would be for you to not be scared to give up your current life to follow Him - there are just too many great things that God has in store for those that decide to put their faith in Him and it doesn't cost anything but your sincerity and some time.

Today's Prayer:
Forgive me God for being so blind as to not see Your love for me. Forgive me for wanting to be on my own when You want to strenthen and bless me. Help me, my God, to walk in Your ways. In Your Name we pray, Amen.