The Grow CourseSample

Over four days, we are looking at the essentials to grow in your relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. This is day three on Prayer.

A simple acronym for prayer is PRAY.

P stands for praise. Start your prayer in thanksgiving. We teach our children to say please and thank you, but with God, we should say thank you before we say please, and as we start with prayer, we magnify God, and we see him as he really is, and our faith begins to grow, our eyes turn away from our circumstances and our challenges and turn to Him.

R stands for repent and repent means to make a 180° turn. It's where we say sorry to God. We ask Him for forgiveness and take responsibility before God for our thoughts, actions, and attitudes. The Bible says in Acts 3:19, 'Repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out and seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.' It also says in 1 John 1:9, 'if we confess our sins he's faithful and just, will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'

A is to ask. We ask him then for the things that are on our hearts. Ask Him for his kingdom to come and His will to be done in our lives, families, and sphere of influence. We begin to ask him for our daily needs, ask him for our daily bread.

Y is to yield. It's when we surrender to God. When we say as Jesus did, not my will be done, but your will be done. It's when you and I come to our commander in chief and ask him for our assignment for the day, when we say, "Lord, you are Lord, we are your servant, show us what you want us to do." In Ephesians 2:10, the Bible says that God has prepared good works in advance for us to do, and in prayer, we ask God what He wants us to do, and we begin to go and do what he's called us to do.

Prayer is both talking and listening to God. God speaks to us in three primary ways.

Number one is through the Bible. The Bible is God's word, God is speaking to us, and we see principles, patterns, and promises in the Bible where God shows us things for our lives.

Number two, God speaks to us through his Holy Spirit, through an inner witness, the Bible says, a nudging on the inside, a leading of his peace on the inside, and as you grow in your relationship with God, you will be able to recognise his voice more, the voice of the Holy Spirit on the inside.

Number three, God speaks to us through others. I want to encourage you to be in a relationship with others who can disciple you, mentor you, and spur you on in your relationship with God.

It is helpful to know that anything God ever says to us by the leading of his Holy Spirit or through other people will always agree with the patterns, principles, and promises in the Bible. My encouragement for you today is to start today. Start praying. Start talking and listening to God.

Thank you. God bless you.