Christians-Today Ministry

Today as I was watching a sermon Dr. Charles Stanley was preaching on television, I felt compelled to share his sermon with all of you. Today’s sermon was regarding “Life-Changing Prayer”. I consider myself to be a very “in tune” Christian; a Christian who is very attentive to God’s Word and constantly seeking God’s will for my life. Even though I have these Christian qualities, I am sorry to say that there has been something lacking in my prayer life. Yes, I do pray each and every day, and most days several times a day, but for the most part, I feel that my prayers lack substance. After listening to Dr. Stanley, it finally dawned on me what my prayer life is actually lacking. It is lacking consistency and a set direction. Believe me when I say this, my prayers are all over the place! Because I found Dr. Stanley’s sermon today so stimulating, I would like to share with you what I feel are the important points of the sermon regarding a life-changing way to pray. This type of prayer can be for yourself or for someone else, keeping in mind that you are requesting that you or the person you are praying for, will see life from God’s viewpoint. Please note that a good part of what I write will be direct quotes from Dr. Charles Stanley and not my own personal views.

**If you would like to watch the sermon yourself, please click on this link so that you can hear word for word directly: (http://www.intouch.org/site/c.cnKBIPNuEoG/b.5462719/k.4F0E/A_LifeChanging_Prayer.htm). Again, it is entitled “Life-Changing Prayer”. The program was aired on 9/20/2009 in case you need to find it in the following archives: (http://www.intouch.org/site/c.cnKBIPNuEoG/b.4943225/k.9234/Audio_Archives.htm).

Today’s Scripture (Sunday - 9/20/2009): Colossians 1:7-14

Colossians 1:7-14 (New International Version)
7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Quoting from Dr. Charles Stanley’s Sermon outline, here is the introduction:
I. Introduction: How do you respond when people ask you to pray for them? Do you know how to lift them up before the Lord? In the first chapter of Colossians, the apostle Paul has given us a powerful model for intercession. We can have confidence that God will answer this life-changing biblical prayer.

Life-Changing Prayer (How your prayers can make a difference in yours or someone else’s life)

• Request direction for that person’s life (“Be filled with the knowledge of His will”).

• Request for them to walk in a manner worthy of Christ’s name (“In all spiritual wisdom and understanding”).

Colossians 1:9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

• Request that their life will make an impact (“Bearing fruit in every good work”).

• Request for them a desire to know God (“Increasing in the knowledge of God”).

Colossians 1:10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God

• Request that they will be given strength by the power and knowledge of God (“Strengthened with all power”).

• Request they will have the right attitude about life, joyously giving thanks to God (“Joyously giving thanks to the Father”).

Colossians 1:11-12 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

When you pray, pray in confidence that God the Father will have heard your prayers and that you trust He will answer your prayers.

Visit Dr. Charles Stanley’s Website

In Touch Ministries Life Principles Notes

Copyright to All Respective Owners

How do you feel when you know that someone has done something wrong to you or someone you care about, and they ask you for forgiveness? Most people without even thinking, will feel that if they forgive that person, they are condoning their behavior or what they’ve done. However, this is so far from the truth. Jesus said in Matthew 18:21-22:

21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

Why do you think Jesus would actually want us to forgive someone who sins against us? Is it because He thinks we should condone sin? No. It is because when we ask Jesus to forgive us of our own sins, He does. And if we do not forgive those who have sinned against us, God may not forgive us for our sins.

In Mark 11:25, Jesus tells us:

^{25 “}And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

You see, if you want God to forgive you for your own sins, then you MUST forgive others. Now you may be asking, how can this be done? If someone has hurt you, forgiving them is usually the last thing you intend to do, right? Let me tell you a little bit about forgiveness. I honestly think that forgiveness is one of the hardest things we are expected to do in our Christian walk. If you know that you have to forgive someone and it isn’t in your heart to do that, how can you? Did you know that when you do not forgive, that person actually has power over you? That’s right, they actually have power over you. I say this because when you are angry, feeling rejected, or you are mentally or physically wounded by someone and you hold on to that, it is constantly playing out in your mind over and over again, just like a broken record. When you don’t forgive, you are actually hurting yourself.

Here is an example about forgiveness: Let’s say that you just caught one of your friends cheating with your spouse. At this point you are feeling angry, rejected, betrayed and bitter toward your spouse and your friend. Your spouse begs you for your forgiveness, but it just isn’t in your heart to forgive them. Your friend doesn’t bother asking you for forgiveness, so in your mind you feel that you will never forgive them. A few days go by and your spouse keeps begging for forgiveness, but still you cannot forgive them. You go to sleep angry each night and wake up angry each morning. But still, you do not condone what they did, so you will not forgive. Two weeks have now gone by and you still haven’t forgiven your spouse or your friend. You are now starting to suffer with migraines and you are drained because you haven’t been sleeping well. You become irritable and your job is starting to suffer as well. Now you are at a point where something has to give - or you are going to have worse problems.

Finally. You approach your spouse and say that you need to discuss what happened and where to go from here. You make the decision that if you want to continue in your marriage, you are going to have to forgive. At this point you forgive your spouse and you find a way to work things out. Just because you forgave, does not mean that you condone. You feel better because when you forgive someone, you are no longer resisting something that inevitably needs to happen in order to maintain your relationship

However… you still have not forgiven your friend and you never plan to. Your friend has been avoiding you and has had such a bad attitude. It is as if they have no remorse for what they’ve done to you and your family. The migraines continue, the anger still hovers in the background and you are still not sleeping well. What should you do at this point? The first thing that I suggest that you do is to forgive your friend. I know, it is not an easy thing to do. But there is a way of doing this, without even saying a word to your friend. What you now need to do is forgive that person in your heart. Obviously they are not coming to you asking for you to forgive them, and they seem to have no remorse, so I would not go to them and forgive them either. BUT I would forgive them in my heart so that they no longer have the power over me, causing me to hold on to that anger and resentment. Once you have forgiven somebody for wronging you, you will be set free. You will have no reason to hold on to any of that bitterness or negative feelings any longer. Sure the anger and resentment will creep back up from time to time, but you will just need to forgive them again and again, for as long as it takes. Even though your friend (or ex-friend at this point) has not asked for your forgiveness, if you take it upon yourself to forgive them in your heart, they never need to know. You are doing this for your own peace of mind and to heal your own heart, not to make them feel better.

So remember, when someone sins against you, once you have come to your senses, you need to realize that at some point you will have to forgive them and let it go; because if you don’t, it will eat at you until you do. Believe me, after many hard lessons and many sleepless nights, I finally began to use this technique in my own life, and it really has made a positive difference in the way I interact with other people.

May God Bless You,

Cindy