40 Days of PRAYER - 01
Dr Jim Brown's TruNorth Devotional
40 Days of PRAYER
Day 01 | HEAR MY PRAYER
40 Days of PRAYER
Day 01 | HEAR MY PRAYER
HEAR MY PRAYER
Psalm 17:6
“I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my Prayer.”
We are less than 3 months away from another General Election in our nation and things are about as tense as I can ever remember. Yet... the Lord tells us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 - “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” And we NEED healing. So, my wife Debbie and I thought a devotional focus again on PRAYER would be particularly appropriate now. So welcome to 40 Days of Prayer.
The number 40 has some interesting significance in science, literature, and Scripture.
> “Forty” is the only number in English whose letters appear in alphabetical order.
> Minus 40 degrees is the only temperature that is the same in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.
> When the bubonic plague gripped Europe during the Middle Ages, ships would be isolated in the harbor for 40 days before passengers could go ashore. The Italian word for 40 is Quaranta—from which comes quarantine.
> Forget nine months… the typical pregnancy lasts 40 weeks.
> It took chemists 40 attempts to develop the magic spray we call WD-40.
> “40 winks” is considered the perfect nap.
> Forty hours is the typical American workweek.
> The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years.
> Ezekiel was instructed to lay on his right side for 40 days to “bear the iniquity” of Judea’s sins.
> Three great Hebrew kings reigned for 40 years each: Saul, David, and Solomon.
> Goliath taunted Israel for 40 days before David defeated him.
> God destroyed every living thing on the Earth by flooding it for 40 days.
And so, we shall consider a few of the things that Scripture says about PRAYER for the next 40 days.
So… What is PRAYER?
Simply, PRAYER is communicating with God.
The Billy Graham organization says: “Prayer is spiritual communication between man and God, a two-way relationship in which man should not only talk to God but also listen to Him. Prayer to God is like a child’s conversation with his father. It is natural for a child to ask his father for the things he needs.”
It’s important to emphasize that PRAYER is not a one-way street where we just talk and talk to God, tell Him all our problems, and ask for help. It should be a two-way conversation where we listen as much (or more) as we talk. And we’ll discover more about this and other facets of PRAYER in this new 40 Day series.
Prayer: LORD, teach me to improve my two-way communication with You. Amen.
Psalm 17:6
“I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my Prayer.”
We are less than 3 months away from another General Election in our nation and things are about as tense as I can ever remember. Yet... the Lord tells us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 - “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” And we NEED healing. So, my wife Debbie and I thought a devotional focus again on PRAYER would be particularly appropriate now. So welcome to 40 Days of Prayer.
The number 40 has some interesting significance in science, literature, and Scripture.
> “Forty” is the only number in English whose letters appear in alphabetical order.
> Minus 40 degrees is the only temperature that is the same in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.
> When the bubonic plague gripped Europe during the Middle Ages, ships would be isolated in the harbor for 40 days before passengers could go ashore. The Italian word for 40 is Quaranta—from which comes quarantine.
> Forget nine months… the typical pregnancy lasts 40 weeks.
> It took chemists 40 attempts to develop the magic spray we call WD-40.
> “40 winks” is considered the perfect nap.
> Forty hours is the typical American workweek.
On the Biblical side…
> Moses, Elijah, and Jesus each fasted in the desert for 40 days.> The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years.
> Ezekiel was instructed to lay on his right side for 40 days to “bear the iniquity” of Judea’s sins.
> Three great Hebrew kings reigned for 40 years each: Saul, David, and Solomon.
> Goliath taunted Israel for 40 days before David defeated him.
> God destroyed every living thing on the Earth by flooding it for 40 days.
And so, we shall consider a few of the things that Scripture says about PRAYER for the next 40 days.
So… What is PRAYER?
Simply, PRAYER is communicating with God.
The Billy Graham organization says: “Prayer is spiritual communication between man and God, a two-way relationship in which man should not only talk to God but also listen to Him. Prayer to God is like a child’s conversation with his father. It is natural for a child to ask his father for the things he needs.”
It’s important to emphasize that PRAYER is not a one-way street where we just talk and talk to God, tell Him all our problems, and ask for help. It should be a two-way conversation where we listen as much (or more) as we talk. And we’ll discover more about this and other facets of PRAYER in this new 40 Day series.
Prayer: LORD, teach me to improve my two-way communication with You. Amen.
Posted in PRAYER