One Prayer

I understand your stress and strife! I to am looking for a job. I have applied and not heard anything back. I have faith in the Lord that He will place me where I can glorify Him. Yet being human I forget that He has always taken care of me and I know everything will be okay. I will be praying for the two of you. I to need prayer. Thanks.

Please Pray for James. James is now 27 years old and is not following the Lord. When he was very young about 5 years old he went through a time where he would
'pray without ceasing," he constantly prayed wanting to always be heard by God. It was very cute at the time, but now I hope he remembers some of those prayers, as he has slidden away from God and his early salvation. Pray that those prayers will be brought back up from his memory and he might pray again with a new desire.

Thanks

My heart is breaking and I am in tears. The love of my life needs a job here and we need other believers praying for us. Being apart is causing such strife and stress. He has applied for several jobs and we haven't heard anything. Please keep him in your prayers that God will reveal to us the job for him here.

FRlamb

Thank you so much for you encouraging words. They were just what I needed. I actually just finished a book called "The Blessed Life" by Robert Morris. I read the last chapter last night, and the entire thing was about listening to God and doing what he tells you to do the minute you hear Him give you the insturctions. That, and your encouraging words were all the confirmation that I needed. In fact, Im preparing my two weeks notice right now. God is ready to use me to do great things, and I am ready to trust Him and serve Him!

In love with HIM,
Lifechurch.tv- Tulsa

Wow! I have never been so moved as I have been over the last few weeks. This series is so awesome and it is truly amazing to be a part of it. As I sit here in the middle of the night/morning on Tuesday, trying to not think about how hungry I am getting already, all I can think about is how AWESOME our Lord is... and all I want to do is talk to Him, worship Him, praise Him!!! The funny thing is, I never knew how to pray, and this series has taught me so much about connecting... I am so excited...Coming from a Catholic background, your pretty much taught prayers to prayer, they are never personable... So when I rededicated myself, got rebaptized and all, I never knew what I should say but Thank you and keep my family safe.... Wow, I have a lot to learn..... As you can see I am long winded and that is how my prayers would be, long winded and without content.. This series has opened my eyes so much, not only that but it has forced me to leave the comfort of my own home and find a church to get involved in... I attended one of the local churches who is a part of the One Prayer series her in Austin and I cant wait to be more involved... Thank you God for weighing this series on Craig's heart, I know it is helping so many people other than myself...

Dude! I know God is up to something big, yet it is so easy to get our focus on the mondane crap from day to day! I just want to be faithful and have my faith renewed- not doubting or living under pressure- And i want to be a light!
pray for me- rebecca BEC cranford, douglasville GA thechurchatchapelhill

Something Craig said in his "Going all the way" book has become my prayer for my marriage. He said that we need to be in love with God first - "He's the One", and our spouse is the TWO! Also, that we need to focus on serving our spouse not ourselves. So many times I find myself frustrated with my husband because I am wanting to serve myself instead of giving of myself to God and to him. If I am doing this I know that everything else will fall into place. Thanks Craig for this because I have been so self focused instead of husband focused! This book is really putting things into place especially my prayer life for my marriage.

It is so amazing to see all of us coming together in Christ's name from all over the world. I will be fasting tomorrow and praying for the miracle of world change. For us to become ONE and to be as dangerous as dangerous can be!!!

It is so awesome I am in Santa Monica this week I went to a church called risen church. He talked
about one God and some similar things that is going on at lifechurch. It is really awesome to see what God is doing. I dont know if they are are apart of one prayer or not. The message was really awesome.

I pray that I can Fully trust in GOD. Don't worry. Pray! Come to him with all circumstances and obstacles. Be faithful and honest through my prayer with GOD!!!!! This might sound simple but often can be hard to tackle.

My prayer is for the bible study that me and my friend are starting in a week i pray that GOD will do supernatural amazing growth in the people that go to our bible study i pray that though GOD we will reach hundreds of people that it will start a movment in the lives that we come along though this bible studie i pray that GOD's words will be hurd and that people will be filled with the holyspirit and see him change there lives in JESUS name AMEN

In Love With Him
I prayer for 2 years about my work situation and if I should quit. I was miserable every single day. Tears and anxiety attacks it was aweful!
Finally w/o another job I quit, just one day didn't plan on it -just quit.
But deep in my heart I knew God had been asking or telling me for some time to lean on Him. Take that step of faith. If Your heart hears Him speaking to you, Like He did when He called you to become His Own, you must listen to His call. Honor His Plan, live in faith. He willnever leave you or forsake you.
Praying with you for the best possible solution,
In Him
R
He would take care of me

Many times during an affliction we find ourselves left with no hope and no joy...it can become an open door for the enemy to steal even more from us..it is the enemies desire to distract us with what we see and feel as to complete his main goal..which is what? to break our communication with our God, our Lord, and our Savior...To be steadfast
( faithful ) means that we will be planted, both feet , we will not be moved, to not sell out and give up, hold true, move in closer to our God..and it will not be long before our joy will return...

My friend Marlene was just layed off from her job. My prayer for her is that God would use this
opportunity to open doors for her with a great new job opportunity. I pray that the Lord would use
this situation as a testament to His faithfulness. That even when we go through trials, we know
that He is right there beside us and always looking out for our best interests. I pray that this
situation would strengthen Marlene's faith, and that she would be a witness for others in this
situation. I pray that the Lord will give her strength, faith in Him and His word, and peace about
this situation. Lord, I know that you are going to use this for good and you are going to be there
to comfort Marlene during this time.

My prayer is that through this blog, that others might read this and also pray for Marlene. Lord,
we love you so much and we thank you for who YOU are, the almighty, the Great I Am, the One
True God, you are our provider, strength and comfortor. Lord, I life up Marlene and her situation
to you right now and I know that in JESUS name you are going to do amazing things!!! AMEN!!

I loved reading your devotional. Prayer can be difficult sometimes, not that it is difficult, but we can make it so. I liked the comment about "Hey dad.." I haven't phrased it that way, but I often tell my 7&5yr old to say Dear Father & to think of Him just like that...a father. Dad might be easier for them to grasp. Thanks for that. God certainly does listen & answers our prayers. Not too long ago, I was pregnant, had an 18 mnth old & found myself facing a divorce. Hard to deal with when you don't believe that is Gods way. However, I am divorced & also remarried to a man that loves my children as much as he loves me and God, too!! Thanks for listening & answering my prayers and I will try to talk to you as often as I possibly can, every single day. Thanks, Daddy...

Pastor can you help me pray for the world and its leaders for God to have his way. Can you also help me pray for God to lead me in the right direction. I am going through a lot at the moment and i need the Lord to help me make the right decisions for not my will but his be done. Thank you

I love this verse. Boy, have we endured some affliction the past two years, but we are still full of hope and joy. Being patient is difficult, but God is showing us the true nature of HIs character every day. Prayer has been such an important part of all we have been through. Hundreds of people praying thousands of prayers for us every day! What an awesome thing to have a direct line to God no matter where we are or what we are doing.

It is amazing that in a time where a relationship is fighting for it's life that Sunday we both ended up in church. We may not have shared our normal spot side by side , however, we did share the message. This we can take with us all week long and try to continue to heal and remember each other. I am not sure that her prayers where sent in my direction, but I know mine went to her. I love her so much but at this point I must trust in the power of prayer and it is a good feeling to know god is at work in both of our lives. Romans:26-27 remind us that there is so much love inside the heart that just needs direction. For now I will continue to send my prayers skyward and believe in god's awesome power to help us heal.

Since One Prayer has started, I feel that God has put something on my heart in order to test my obedience and to test my trust in Him to provide my needs. I work at Blue Cross Blue Shield and sit at a desk all day processing claims, yet I am a very out-going "social butterfly" who can carry on a conversation with just about anybody if they will let me. I feel that God is instructing me to quit my job at Blue Cross because he has somewhere else that he needs me to be. Could you all pray for me and help me to strenghten my trust in Him, so that I can be obedient to his instructions?

Sometimes I get concerned that my prayers are selfish. Should I be praying for others more? I seem to pray for myself a lot because their is SO MUCH work to be done in my life. Does God have expectations of how much we should pray for others vs. ourselves? My soul and heart always wants to please him so of course I am concerned if I am meeting his expectations.

I found your devotional very uplifiting as I have always wondered if I am praying enough. I am not a "get in the corner, head bowed, on your knees" type of prayer person. I tend to talk to God all day long as I would to a friend. I pray as I think of people and things that need to be prayed for. I complain and whine when things don't go my way. I excitedly tell Him when things do. I try to remember to thank Him in everything but sometimes that does not get done as often as it should. Although I pray like this everyday, I still feel I need some of that "get in the corner, head bowed, on your knees" prayer too and every now and then I drop and pray. Thank you for clarifying that all prayer is conversation with God no matter what the settiing. I just pray that my busy-ness never gets in the way of talking to my best friend, which is ultimately how I view my relationship with God.

I want to thank everyone for their posts, especially the one with Philippians 4:6. Reading that passage again today really feels like it applies to me.

To share some of my experience with praying without ceasing, I have found that God introduces trials and tribulations in my life when I need to pray more, sometimes even physical pain. I can't do anything by myself, and I thank God that He reminds me of that. I know it can be tough to pray without ceasing when you have managed to deceive yourself into believing you are doing things by your own strength Michael, but I know God will remind you when you need it.

Sometimes I do better at praying without ceasing than at other times, but I have tried to pray before bedtime every night. I have heard spending time with God compared to dating, and one thing that can make a relationship closer is just spending time at the end of the day talking about what happened. I like to tell God about what has me excited from the day - and praise Him for it! I will also tell him what was disappointing, sad, or worrisome and pray for help. I will also pray for the next day. I very much believe that making prayer the habitual, typical "chruchy" prayer can take the relationship aspect out of it, but I also like having a habitual time to spend with God. I used to mull my problems over before going to sleep at night, trying to solve them on my own. Sometimes I still fall into this old habit, but I am trying to turn my worries and concerns over to God. He can deal with them better anyway!

God bless His Church! I thank God for every one of you.

I go to Lifechurch.tv Tulsa campus... I serve in LifeKids and this morning one of the girls I was working with prayed with the kids but instead of saying Dear Jesus or God or something she said "Hey Dad!" I thought that was so cool that she unashamed just started talking to God as if He were her dad standing right in front of her! Maybe when we stop thinking of God as a big cosmic thing somewhere out there and really realize that He truly is with us everywhere we are because He lives inside of us we can truly pray faithfully without ceasing!

Our Father gave us His Only Son that we may come to Him at any time. Jesus is the reason our Father hears us whenever we speak to Him, wether it be our first words to Him in the morning, driving in our cars, walking in the mall, while we wait for a doctors appointment or before we close our eyes at night. It's His blood that covers our sin that allows us before our Father because HE so loves us.

Gary, I've been blessed to know this and been doing it for years. Jesus is my constant companion and wants to be part of ALL I think and do! God bless you! Jane

I found this devotion, and really the verse itself, extremely challenging. I think I used to be what I would call a "prayer warrior" - I faithfully prayed to God, I can actually say that I prayed without ceasing. It was like my whole day was a conversation with God. For one reason or another, those days are gone and now I find myself leaning more on my own strength than on His. It's stupid, I know, but prayer now seems so hard. I feel I've been let down by God in a few areas so I think I'm kind of burned out on prayer. Even still, I pray when think of it, but I find that it is more when I need something (not a very good relationship if I only pray when I need something!)
Anyways, I appreciated what you said:
"it is just the discipline of being faithful when the Holy Sprit lays something on your heart to communicate with God about it."
I am going to try and become a prayer-warrior once again!

These last two weeks I have been praying more than I ever have. I find myself talking to God while I'm driving, working, eating, walking, whenever....Not only do I lift my prayers up to him, but I also thank him constantly throughout the day for all of the blessings he has given me.
Don’t worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
~ Philippians 4:6

Thank You Gary . i also, at one time, thought I had to be on my knees to pray and for god to listen. I have been sitting at my computer trying to type a short version of one revealation in my life. So, I prayed to God for the words.
God came to me in a very painful time in my life and so vividly revealed to me that He is my father, He would be my true and only father. I am his daughter, he will protect me, love me, correct me and guide me. Since then God is on my mind in all I do and everywhere I go. I too thought there was a perfect way to pray. How wonderful.... our dear Father will listen anywhere, anytime, we talk and pray to him. God often reveals himself to me when I am in or near water, including the bathtub.. How sweet is our God...."Happy Fathers Day, my Dear Father." My prayers and Blessing are with all involved in One Prayer.

you are right. and also we need to know and understand that prayer about the most impotant part of our relating to God. fine, one may say that our offerings, labours in the house of God etc. are very necesary as a christian, but we should understand that they are just helping hands and supportive activities to our relationship with God. and what is that relationship? it is prayer. discussing with God, telling Him about your needs, fears and expectations. and at the same time getting to know His own plans for you and answers to what you need.

It is such an awesome privleage to pray when & whereever we wan't. God is always listening! Plus we can pray about anything! I thingk our churches are going to become closer.

I think that prayer should be part of our daily activities,prayer is really simply talking to God our father,and I am encouraged by the discussion on prayer.God indeed answers prayers.I thank God through our Saviour Jesus Christ for making it possible for us to reach out to God and call Him Abba Father.

For me, a consistent prayer life was something I struggled with. It was only recently that I had a breakthrough, and it seems second nature to me now to pray about any and everything. I'm amazed at the immediate comfort I recieve from God after prayer and/or spending time in His word. It has really become such an important part of my life and I'm very thankful that God gave us that gift.

Also, I feel like the first two parts of that verse might kind of fall into place if you are faithfull with the third. Being patient in affliction is probably my favorite part. It's such a challenge that when I can get through it with God's help, I feel such a sense of accomplishment and appreciation at the same time. What a rush!

Wow!!! I can relate to having the consumption that Prayer is to be only done in a quiet place on your knees speaking very fancy and religiously. But like you said God wants us to come to Him as we are open and honest where we are and depend on Him. Prayer is an ongoing dependence on God

I have just recently had a break through in my prayer life. Through prayer, God revealed to me that my boyfriend is not saved although he appears to be on the outside. This broke my heart, but God called me to prayer and fasting to see it through. Even though I cannot see what God is doing, I know He is working already. Also, I'm seeing breakthroughs in other areas of my life. When we pray, we build that much needed relationship with God and the rest of our life flourishes. How awesome and mighty is our God that He desires to have a close relationship with us through prayer!

Thank You Gary,

I had the same fellings on prayer, and this divotional has shed some light on this subject for me. I pray every day but I have not been in constant communication with God. I used to feel that if I were to pray every time I felt like it I would be praying too much. Now I understand that there is no such thing as praying too much.

Pastor Gary, thank you for simplifying this pricinple, like Pastor Craig I like your quote
"Prayer doesn't end when we say Amen." It is truly a blessing to be able to be taught by so many
great men of God!! Thank you for taking the time to bless us with your wisdom & understanding.

Lancasterinokc, I stand in agreement with you & pray for John. I pray healing over him!! In Jesus
name!! Amen!!

I want to bring up my son Gabriel who is 16 & going to so changes & having trouble
understanding them. I pray that God would wrap his harm around him & fill him with love. I pray that I can be a great spiritual leader & lead him on the path of life. In Jesus name I pray!!

Gary, I love your quote, "Prayer doesn't end when we say Amen." Powerful. Thanks for the great thoughts on prayer!

Sometime things are so huge I let God take them and forget about them.
I am convinced this is not always what God wants. He wants us to take to him
the things we have trouble with, give him the chance to work through our faithful prayer.
It is letting others know your burdens as well as God in a continual offering of thanksgiving
and prayer of petition until He gives us peace to release it completely to him. All the
while, resting in him, waiting for he prompting to pray.

I Pray that all would agree in prayer that my boy John Clayton would be healed from ulcerative colitis and be free to live as normal.
- LifeChurch.tv - NW Oklahoma City Campus

I have never thought of it that way. It is so easy to get caught up in everything and only remember God at the end of the day instead of first and always. I try to talk to him everyday and am constantly reminded when I speak with my brothers in christ. The thing that helped me out the most is surrounding myselft with god fearing christians.

Today at Church@theSprings in Ocala, Florida we had an awesome message today from Craig from Lifechurch about the church becoming one. It underscores the problems that denominations and interpretation arguments have caused over time. We focus on things like that and it distracts us from the our purposes.