Prayer for Inner Growth

As we enter 2006, many of us will begin to make New Year resolutions. We resolve to: lose weight, read more, join a gym, do more with the kids, pray more, read the bible more, etc., etc. My own is always the same from year to year….. yep, You guessed it…lose weight! However this year, instead of making a resolution, I am going to make a "commitment" to myself to eat healthy, exercise, join a water aerobics class for senior citizens with arthritis at the YMCA, and leave the chocolates alone.

My doctors have diagnosed me with osteo-arthritis. I claim healing through the Blood of Jesus.

Yes, it’s that time of year to dream, make plans, and pray for a better year for us all.

Today while reading my bible, I came across Ephesians 3:14 – 20:

"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us."

God wants to grant us our wishes, answer our prayers and meet our fondest hopes, desires and dreams.

We are His children, and as His children God has much for us if we will just ask and believe in faith for them.

Let us examine these verses:

In verse 14, Paul said: "I bow my knees". God wants us to recognize who He is. He wants us to worship and praise Him, our Heavenly Father.

Verse 15: The "whole Christian family", are Christians alive here on planet Earth and those gone on into heaven. Read your bible for increased faith, strength, and courage. God’s WORD is truth! Hebrews 11 is known as the "Faith Chapter".

In verse 16: Paul says he wants us to "be strengthened with might by HIS Spirit" (the spirit of God), in order for us to live a spiritual life.

Zechariah 4:5,6, says; Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my lord." So he answered and said to me: "This is the word of the Lord: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts" .

Read the Word of God for strength in the Lord, then believe what you read and trust God…it is HIS WORD, and you can believe HE will live up to HIS WORD. God will NEVER fail you.

Verse 17: "That Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith" God wants us to be "rooted and grounded" in His love for us and in the ‘WORD of God’. He wants us to be as a tree planted by the river with its root running deep, so that when the trials of life come, we will be able to stand.

Matthew 7: 24,27, "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

Verse 18: That we "may be able to comprehend" God’s love for us. God wants us "to know" that "we know", that "we know" the love He has for us is unconditional. His love is wider then the entire Universe, taller than the highest mountain, deeper than the deepest ocean and goes beyond the highest stars in the sky. God’s love for us cannot be measured and is unconditional. How many times have we heard of a mother or father who became so disgusted with their child that they kicked them out on the street? God’s love for us will NEVER, EVER fail us. We may fail God, but HE will never fail us. Hallelujah!

Verse 19: "Filled with all the fullness of God". God wants the life, character, and virtues of Himself fully developed and living in our lives.

Philippians 2:5, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, We cannot have the mind of Christ, if we don’t know HIM. However, when we begin to study, pray, and talk with God, we can learn more about God, the Father, and His Son, Jesus, then we can begin to have the mind of Christ Jesus.

Verse 20: "According to the power that works in us". This is where I get really excited. God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think…"According to the power that works in us". I don’t know about you, but I have to ask the Lord from time to time, "Lord, please examine me and see if there be anything in my heart that should not be there."

David prayed in Psalms 139:23 & 24 "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." If my heart, mind and soul are right with God, then I can pray, knowing my prayers will be heard. This is faith in action. Pray then believe that your prayer was heard and is already in your possession. Sound crazy? 1 Corinthians 1:27, But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame (confound) the wise, .

His Word says HE will do "above all that we ask or think". Have you ever thought about something you would like to have and suddenly found it in your possession? Coincidence? If you believe that then you don’t believe the scripture. God really does answer prayer. The Psalmist David, was a man after God’s own heart because he was quick to ask forgiveness and was always praying and praising God for His blessings and protection. He prayed in Psalms 26: 1-2, "I have walked in my integrity.

I have also trusted in the Lord; I shall not slip.

Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; Try my mind and my

heart".

The church is the same today as it was back then. Why, then we ask, don’t we see prayers answered today, as they were in bible days and back in the old "brush-arbor days?"

It is not God. It is us, you and me. We don’t ask, and if we do ask, do we really believe our prayer will be answered?

I heard a minister some three years ago, say from the pulpit, that God does not answer prayers today as back then. I asked him after church if he really believed that God does not answer prayer today. He said God might answer some prayers but we have to take care of most of them ourselves.

NO! NO! and NO!

God cares about every aspect of our lives. When I asked, God removed a mole on my neck about 35 years ago. He showed me which store to purchase my sons Easter suit in 1978. In the winter when there is snow on the ground, He tells me which road to take to the store, to church or to Portland. He told me when I was working and got lost in Portland, which way to turn to get back to the office. He tells me when and to whom to send a card of encouragement.

When my washer quit running, I anointed it with oil and prayed over it and it worked for another 3 years. It was still working when I bought a new washed and gave my old one to a family who needed a washer.

When our car would not start, God told me to walk around it 7 times and it would start. So me, and my children, Debbie and Junior walked around it seven times, then I told them to "get in". We all got in and arrived to our appointment on time and returned home with no problems. Thanks be to God.

Once I stood at my kitchen window and was wondering how I was going to get the kids some school clothes. That same day a lady came over with a huge bag of clothes for the kids. I had not told anyone except for God, that the kids needed clothes for the new school year.

I could go on and on but I think you get the picture.

God cares about every each one of us in every aspect of our lives. How can we grow spiritually? We must believe ALL of God’s Word.

I believe Jesus died for me and rose again so I can live with HIM. I believe the same power that is in Jesus, is the same power we can have when we are filled fully with HIM.

Truly He must increase and we must decrease to receive the spiritual "inner growth" of God in our lives.