Category Archives: Devotional Life

The value of developing a relationship with God, The value of having a daily quiet time.

Five Descriptions of Faith

Posted on by
Reply

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

In some respects the meaning of faith is so simple.  It means to just believe God, to trust and rely on Him.  But because we are human and sinful, faith becomes so hard for us.  Hence, we seem to need to dissect it and to look at it from different angles, in order to get the meaning of faith that pleases us or that helps us to understand it.  And I think that’s good.  We need to do that.          

In my reading on faith I have come across numerous descriptions.  Here are a few I have put together.  I hope these will help you understand faith.  Perhaps from these you will come up with your own description. 

 

1. Faith is a work of God’s Spirit in the heart. 

Andrew Murray wrote, “Faith is completely the work of God’s Spirit through His Word in the prepared heart of the…

View original post 462 more words

Three Foundation Stones of Faith

Posted on by
Reply

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

God has revealed Himself to us by His Word and through His Spirit; and by these He works in us to tell us who He is and what His will is; and He urges us and leads us according to His will.  Thus, these are, generally, the three foundation stones that we build our faith on: knowledge of His will, knowledge of His character, and whether we experience the urging of His Spirit.

 

Three Foundation Stones that we Build Our Faith On 

 

1.  Knowledge of God’s will 

The Bible tells us that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).  Hence, the will of God (concerning a certain thing) that comes to us in our ears, by His Spirit, and through our diligent study of the Word, builds in us a basis for our faith (in obtaining that certain thing).  This…

View original post 1,171 more words

What is Faith?

Posted on by
Reply

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

Faith is the avenue through which every believer became a Christian; and it is the way every Christian should live.  I’m sure most believers would say that they desire to have a stronger faith.  I sure do.  Well I have 8 different blog posts ready to go on this subject, which are excerpts from my book Prayer A to Z.  This first one is most basic and what we need to know in order to begin this study.  I want to ask you right from the start if you would consider making some comments.  So, when you read this, think of that you want to contribute.

 

The Definition of Faith 

 Vines dictionary defines faith (pistis) as “firm persuasion, a conviction based on hearing.”  The verb of faith (pisteuo), translated as believe, is defined as: “to believe, to be persuaded of, to place confidence in, to…

View original post 595 more words

Our Prayers Will Fail If We Don’t Pray According to the Bible

Posted on by
Reply

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

Here are the last seven reason why our prayers fail, beginning with our neglect of the Word of God.

 Teachings on Prayer – We don’t let the Bible teach us how to pray.  Everything in the Bible was written for our instruction (Rom. 15:14).  All the prayers of the Bible and all the teachings on prayer, all the stories of how people prayed and how they had faith to pray (Heb. 13:7) are our teachers on how to pray.  If we fail to read the Bible and heed it’s teachings about prayer, we can’t expect to know how to pray; therefore, we will certainly fail in prayer.

 Unity – We lack unity.  Prayers will always fail when there is no unity in the body of Christ.  For where there is no unity in the body of Christ there is also no unity with Christ.  And where there…

View original post 534 more words

We Fail In Prayer When We Are Not Exposed To Real Needs

Posted on by
Reply

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

Here are six ways we may fail in prayer. The first failure listed is that we don’t let ourselves be exposed to many of the real needs around us.

 Needs – We don’t see the real needs.  One of the reasons why we fail in prayer is because our prayers are not specific enough to meet the real needs of people.  It is possible that our prayers are too much for ourselves and not enough for others, too heavenly and not enough on the earth.  We may pray thanking God for all the beautiful things, but we don’t have eyes to see the sin, the suffering, and all the pain on earth.  Therefore, because of this neglect, we lack compassion for others and our prayers don’t carry the burden of their needs.  What value then is our praying except to make ourselves feel good; but in the end…

View original post 578 more words

We Fail in Prayer When We Don’t Pray God’s Way

Posted on by
Reply

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 Failure is a tough word. We may not like the idea that we can fail in prayer. But when we don’t pray God’s way and when we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to help us pray, that guarantees that we will fail in prayer. Here are seven ways many Christians will fail in prayer.

 God’s way – We don’t pray God’s way.  You will definitely fail in prayer if you insist on praying your own way instead of God’s way.  We all naturally tend to pray to impress others.  God wants us to pray, however, not to impress anyone or to show them how righteous we are, but simply to receive from Him what we need and what He desires to give us.

Jesus has instructed us to pray in this way: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.  Your kingdom come Your will be done on…

View original post 584 more words

Surorile Gorgan – Nu pot sa stiu | Lyric video — Ioan17 – John 17 — Prayer A to Z

Posted on by
Reply

Versuri ️ Petru Brăila 1.Nu pot să știu Ce s-ar fi întâmplat De ne-ai fi luat De pe masă Painea Să n-am ce bea Când sunt mai însetat În timp ce belșug In toată lumea R:Dar una singur știu Puțin am prețuit Dar una singur știu Puțin am mulțumit Am pâine , am ce bea […] […]

Surorile Gorgan – Nu pot sa stiu | Lyric video — Ioan17 – John 17 — Prayer A to Z

Failure in Prayer – Part 1

Posted on by
Reply

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

Failure in prayer I think is mainly due to our failure in getting to prayer—because of our laziness and lack of discipline. But there can also be a failure in prayer even when we are disciplined to pray—because we just don’t know how to pray effectively. In the next four blogs (parts) I will bring to you 26 ideas (in alphabetical order) on why prayers fail (fail to receive answers). Today it will be A through F.

 Authority – Prayers fail when we don’t pray with authority.  If you have gone to prayer, and your prayers have not been answered, it may be because you are not abiding in Christ, nor are you executing the authority He has given you in Him.  Do these things and you will be able to resist the devil in faith as you use the Word of God with power in all your praying.

View original post 572 more words

3 prayer requests for an effective witness

Posted on by
Reply

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

There is no need for any Christian to worry about whether his witness will be effective. Pray these three things and trust the Lord to do His work.

 

For the Holy Spirit to continue His work long after your witness.  If the Holy Spirit has led you with boldness to witness to someone, you can believe that He has also been ministering to that person—that is, all along the way He has been preparing that person’s heart to hear the gospel.  Bit by bit He has been liberating that one’s mind and heart from the power of Satan; He has been helping them to see their own lostness, to see that time is short, and to see God’s love.

Let me urge you to keep praying for that lost one. Pray that throughout your witness and even after you witness, that the Holy Spirit would continue His ministry…

View original post 490 more words

Pray for the Holy Spirit to Open Eyes to See Four Things

Posted on by
Reply

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

For those we are witnessing to, we should pray that the Holy Spirit would open their spiritual eyes to see these four things:

 

1  That they would see that they are lost.  By lost I mean those who are separated from God because of their sin—for the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23).  They are lost not because they have sinned (for all have sinned), but because they have not found a remedy for their sin.  I think a good description of the lost are those who don’t know the truth and therefore can’t find their way to God.

Pray that the Holy Spirit would help them to see their sin and to see that God’s penalty for sin is eternal separation from Him.

2  That they would see the certainty of hell.  As we have already discussed, the horrors of hell are certain for all that…

View original post 432 more words