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GLEANINGS FROM THE WORD Experiencing an extraordinary God in ordinary life Issue # 780 April 12, 2003 Talking To God Thanks for the prayers about the youth outreach event last night. I don't have the numbers, but it was a good crowd and I know that many gave their lives to Jesus. Watching the Jesus Film For Children last night was a joy. I had seen it before, but it was a good refresher. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. One of the things that struck me most was when the child actors spoke to the audience about accepting Jesus and growing in their faith at the end of the movie. They used terms that the target audience (ages 4-14) could easily understand. I think the church could use some of that simplicity. One of the expressions they used was "Talk to God." They explained you could talk to God about anything at anytime. As believers we know of the concept as prayer. But for many, prayer is a complex formula and they feel that to pray a person must have all the churchy jargon down pat and their act together. Nothing could be farther from the truth. God knows all about us, our desires, our secrets, and our needs. He created each of us as individuals and wants to talk with us as individuals. Prayer doesn't have to be filled with "thee’s", "thou’s" and "beseech". Certainly there are some excellent models of prayers out there that can act as guides, but the key is to simply talk to God on an ongoing basis. Let's look at a couple of examples of talking with God.
might become
Paul's letter to the church in Philippi
could be read as:
Jesus' instruction on prayer:
might be rendered as
Imagine the prayer power that could be loosed if all believers simply "talked to God" about the things on their heart. Until next time, simply take some time and talk to God about all the things on your heart. Tell Him your hopes, your fears, your dreams and your mistakes. He's just waiting to hear from you. Be blessed. Hallelu Yah (Praise God)! Kevin YOU ARE Once you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour you can have confidence that He hears your prayers.
Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. You have value in the eyes of God so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You can simply begin the relationship by honestly and completely opening your heart, admitting you need God's help, and saying a prayer along the lines of: Jesus: I have made many mistakes in my life and done things I am not proud of. I have sinned. I need your love and forgiveness. I believe that you came into this world and gave your life on a cross to pay for my sins and that you defeated death and rose again. Please forgive me, and be the Lord of my life. I give my life to you Lord. Amen If you pray this prayer for the first time let me know so I can rejoice with you. Did you know that at Gleanings, we have a dedicated team of prayer warriors and all prayer concerns are kept strictly confidential? Your comments, your questions and your joys are shared with the prayer team, to keep me accountable as the head of the ministry and to encourage them as they see God at work in your life. As with prayer all these things are kept confidential within the Gleanings team. To share your questions, comments, thoughts, prayer concerns and praise reports email us If you enjoyed this issue of Gleanings From The Word, email it, in its entirety, to a friend. For information on use of Gleanings in your church newsletter or other situations please visit the permissions page . You can write to us at Gleanings From The Word Ministries International 114 Oak St Sherwood Park, AB Canada T8A 0V8 © 2003 K.F. "Kevin" Corbin Gleanings From The Word Minististries International - All Rights Reserved
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