Never an Empty Room

    It’s finally time! You’ve started down the path towards Jesus and now you’re ready to begin your next adventure! Don’t worry though, you don’t have to do it alone!

    Following Jesus is about a lot more than just showing up on a Sunday or a Thursday! Jesus wants a lot more than that from us too. He doesn’t just want us to “show up” or only just do the right things, He wants to know you! He wants a relationship with you!

    No matter who you ask, a big part of a good relationship is communication. All of the best relationships, regardless of the type, have good communication. Jesus is no different! He has already told us what He wants from us and what we should do. He didn’t try to keep any of it a secret either, He told us everything we needed to know!

    Not only did Jesus tell us everything we need to know, but He continues to talk to us every day! When we accept Him, we also start hearing from the Holy Spirit! God has always been in constant communication with us from the start, and that doesn’t stop. He talks to us every day, so shouldn’t we respond? 

    A lot of the time we end up overthinking prayer and what it really is! Prayer is just our way to talk to God and stay in communication with Him! There’s not a specific way to pray or any special ritual we have to do in order to, we just get to talk and God listens! Even when we don’t have the words to speak, He still knows what we need! In Romans 8:26, Paul writes this about prayer “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” Prayer is an amazing thing that allows us to express the feelings in our hearts that God already knows!

    So take the pressure off of yourself, there’s no “right way” to pray! Just talk to God and then give yourself time to listen to what He says back!

    Read the following verses and write below what you think they say about the importance of prayer and what it means to you!

    -Ephesians 6:18

    -Mark 11:24

    -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

     

    Weekly Challenge:

    Pray for 5 minutes each day and keep a journal of who and what you pray for! Make sure to keep track of any prayers that get answered and how God answers! Bring this to Rise Youth next week to share!

    Pastor Blake

    4 responses to “Never an Empty Room”

    1. cneer2006 Avatar
      cneer2006

      Prayer is important because it is our way of communicating with the father. But, asking for things or begging for help through a trial or with a tough situation requires us to lay down our pride and acknowledge that we need it. God wants us to realize that we need help and that we can’t do things on our own and for us to realize that we are never in control. I think, to me, prayer means surrendering complete control to God and saying, “hey, I need help, and I know you’re the ONLY one that can help me with this. It’s too big for me to handle and I know you’re gonna figure it out for me and see it through.” God doesn’t expect us to be able to fix everything or get through every trial/temptation alone. But, he does expect and want us to ask for help and to realize that we need the help. Humility is a big part of prayer and being a Christian in itself. God wants us to ask for help and rely on him through trials. The closer you are to the father, the easier it is to fight off Satan in times of battle. Being able to communicate with your father is a big part of being a follower of Jesus.

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    2. BreawynnNeer13 Avatar
      BreawynnNeer13

      Prayer is important because it is really our only was with communicating with God! Prayer helps me and other followers lay down all of our worries, anxieties, and other things that we are dealing with to God! It helps us get rid of the things we are dealing with! Prayer also helps with our faith and trust knowing that if we lay down our pride and ask for help that he will be there to help us and answer our prayers! Prayer means that we are putting our full faith in knowing that we don’t have to carry any of our crap because he always will! If we ask for help he will take it upon himself so we don’t have to feel the weight of our thoughts.
      Prayer means to me that if I ever am feeling attacked by the devil that I can just pray and he will go away! It also means to me that I can tell God anything and he will not judge me but instead say “I’m here for you, let me help you.” It means that I need to lay down anything and everything for it to be fixed and solved! It means that I can trust Him to guide me through the rough times of life and not turn away from me! Prayer is power to me because if I pray about anything I instantly feel changed, and if I feel attacked by the devil I can pray and he will go away! It means having a full relationship/friendship with God knowing that I never have to deal with things on my own because If I just give them to God they all go away!

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    3. Jayleigh Jones Avatar
      Jayleigh Jones

      Prayer is important for us Christians because this is our only way with communicating with God. Us Christian’s don’t want to admit that we need Gods help with our problems and worries. We think we can handle them. But God wants us to realize that we can’t handle our problems and worries alone. So praying to Him will take that burden away from us and He can reward us by answering our prayer. Prayer can help us lay all of our worries and problems to Him and he can answer back. Prayer can also help us with our trust in Him. Prayer can raise our trust with him and we already know that we need to let God answer our prayers no matter how long it takes. Prayer is so important to me because if I am feeling down and need help with a problem, I can just ask, “God, I need your help with a problem I have” Then instantly, he will make me feel changed and feel like a new person. Being able to admit that you need help and able to communicate with the father is very important to being a follower. 

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    4. ejones15234 Avatar
      ejones15234

      The verses above show a good description about what prayer is. In Ephesians, it’s saying to be humble and pray everyday. Without that humbleness, you won’t ever actually get the main issue that’s hurting you. In Mark, it says that God will answer your prayers if you believe. If you believe in God, that means that with your faith God can empower you to do amazing things you didn’t think you could without him. In 1 Thessalonians, it says that God loves it when you pray to him and he wants you to pray everyday. Just like humans, God loves to hear about you and what you need help with. He also wants to hear about the good parts of your day to rejoice with you. Something that I think is missing is that God isn’t just there to answer your prayers. He’s also someone you can talk to about whatever good or bad happened. If you’re feeling sad, he’s there to comfort you and make you calm. If you’re happy, he’s there celebrating with you.

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