Luke 18:1, And Jesus spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.
1 Thessalonians 5:17, Pray without ceasing.
Luke 11:1, And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. 2. And he said unto them, When you pray, say Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in heaven so in the earth. 3. Give us day by day our daily bread. 4. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliever us from evil.
Matthew 5:44, But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
Matthew 6: 5, And when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men, verily I say unto you, they have their reward. 7. But when you pray use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Jude 20: But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.
Examples of Prayer:
(Jesus) Mark 1:35, And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, Jesus went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
(Paul and Silas) Acts 16:25, And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God; and the prisoners heard them. " Suddenly there was a great earthquake "
( Moses) Numbers 21:7, Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee: pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
( Elisha) 2 Kings 6:17-18, And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; And he saw; And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. 18. And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
(Jonah) Jonah 2:1, Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly.
Seven days without prayer makes one weak:
According to Webster's dictionary, truth is the real state of things; fact. But to others, especially of some religious persuasion, it seems truth is as they feel or teach. I have for the past several years, become very defensive toward those who seem to teach they hold all the truth.There seems to be many defectors from these teachings. Why would someone leave the truth? I can't help but feel that people are seeing through this veil that many are masquerading behind. You don't have to spend much time with these truth bearers to find the human element present.
In writings this message, I don't want to appear an outsider to these organizations that teach spiritual bondage, For I too was one of their ministers for eight years of my life. I believe that I have heard just about most of the common teachings on the truth. I would like to share with you my take on some of these so-called truths. First one is this truth that teaches for one to become a child of God, one must repent of their sins, then be water baptized according to their formula for baptizing.( Acts 2:38) Before one is fully born of the water and the spirit, one must speak with other tongues as the Spirit gives them utterance.
The sad part about this fellowship is that they are convinced, they are the only ones right and that everyone else must fall in line with what they say the Bible's teaching to know the truth. Another group teaches repentance with much to do of being water baptized, especially by one of their gospel preachers. The truth of this fellowship is they don't allow music to be played in their worship services.They spend much time desiring to debate anyone who would openly disagree with them.They also feel that they alone have the truth. No one on the outside of this fellowship is called brother or sister.
Another teaching for the truth is by a small group that follows the teaching of just the Apostle Paul. Nothing is taught about repentance, water baptism or even living a life consistent with the teachings of Paul. (Holiness) This group also believes they alone have the truth of God's Word. They love to teach on the mystery of being something no one but them understands. Still yet others who claim to have the truth have passed on into the realm of the spirit. The truth behind this fellowship is, that they no longer will be bound to any organization.
And everything Scripturally also has taken on some spiritual significance even if it don't. If I understand correctly what they are teaching is that they have already put on a glorified body, become little Jesus's. The whole purpose of writing this article is not to find fault in what others believe. My purpose is to say that the truth is the real state of things for me, in accepting Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour. I feel the truth for my life is allowing Christ to become my pattern for living. I must decrease and he must increase within me. I believe the truth is that I should not fit people into my mold, they must fit into God's mold.
I must allow people to find the Lord, the way he would have them to come unto him.I don't disagree with repentance for Jesus commanded we repent of our sins. I don't disagree with water baptism or speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance, these are scriptural teachings. I don't see me fitting into what some man's idea of what I should be. Jesus said, let no man or his teachings deceive you by any means.In searching for the truth, I realize that most hold to the teachings of Jesus to some degree or another.It would appear that some feel they are further along than others in their quest for God.
I am beginning to realize that God will have to intervene or should I say the bottom will have to fall out. Then and only then will the people of God come together as a united body of Christ. It will take some hard times to bring the cloud people out of the clouds, and get their sights back on Jesus.In searching for the truth, I realize that I don't know everything. I realize that I'm not alone in not knowing everything. It seems all that teach a truth seem to have some reserves about having complete truth.There are doubts and fears held by all that I have met.
In conclusion: There is the need to take hold of something that is solid. (Christ Jesus) The mathamatical equation of God has been reduced to the lowest common denominator, receive Jesus the Christ = eternal life. Accept the teachings of man and be deceived. Jesus said, "My sheep will hear my voice".
© 1997 sanders10@juno.com
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