The Tenderizer-Thirty Days of Prayer-Day 09

We are on Day 09 of our 30 day prayer journey. It is amazing how prayer works. Prayer is like this adhesive agent that binds you in heart to who you are praying to, binds you in heart to the situation you are praying for, and binds you in heart to the people you are praying with. Prayer is like a mallet to a piece of tough meat and it beats on your heart until your heart is tenderized to hear the voice of God and to receive answers from God. I understand why Jesus made statements like this:

Mat 5:44-45 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; (45) That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

The toughest time we have to get our hearts right is when we are wronged against. Praying for the person is the furthest thing from our minds in most cases. Ironically, it is on the only thing that can take the nasty, restraining, and vengeful feeling out of our hearts.

I have to admit 94.5% of the time when I fall on my knees to pray about a situation where I was wronged I lay my heart out to God and He reveals my own faults, then that frees me up to deal with the circumstances calmly and fairly.

It goes like this "Father I need help, this person is getting on my nerves, he isn't listen to me and is so prideful and stuck on himself. I know I am right. Open his eyes to see that he is wrong. Help me to deal with his stubbornness. He just makes me mad." Then I wait a little bit and my words begin to play back in my head and I realize that in my heart I am 2x worse than what I claimed he was. God begins to show me how I treat others, and how I have treated him in the past. God begins to show me blind spots in my character. The holiness of God begins to shine in my life and I begin to feel like an unworthy crumb. Then it all turns when I think of this one point. Jesus died for me in spite of my bad attitudes, pride, and sin. Jesus forgave me so I can forgive this person. I confess my own faults to God and go back to that person and ask them to forgive me even if I only did one thing wrong and they did fifty things to me. THIS IS WHAT PRAYER CAN DO!!!

Eph 2:1-4 (CEV) In the past you were dead because you sinned and fought against God. (2) You followed the ways of this world and obeyed the devil. He rules the world, and his spirit has power over everyone who doesn't obey God. (3) Once we were also ruled by the selfish desires of our bodies and minds. We had made God angry, and we were going to be punished like everyone else. (4) But God was merciful! We were dead because of our sins, but God loved us so much that he made us alive with Christ, and God's wonderful kindness is what saves you.

Prayer to the Father in the name of his son Jesus is the best remedy for all of our heart conditions. The mallet of prayer tenderizes our heart and causes us to remember that we are forgiven and that frees us to forgive. Go and tenderize your heart with prayer.

Like I said in my last post we are taking prayer request from all of our friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers so email me at jhill1972@gmail.com

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