Setting the Framework of Prayer

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,  His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

I've been reading Jack Hayford's book, Penetrating the Darkness. In it he talks about the four areas that shape our daily devotional time with God. We have talked so often recently about having a "place" set aside to meet with our Lord. We also want to have a "time" set aside - preferably in the morning. When we come before God each morning we want to be mindful of these four things: 1. Present yourself 2. Present your heart 3. Present your day 4. Present your "reach" Let me talk a little bit about the first one: Present yourself. We present ourselves to the Lord by coming before him with thanksgiving and praise. As I read about this I found it interesting that the suggestion was to review the previous day, thanking God for his kindness shown to you. That keeps things new and fresh. We are not thanking God for the things he has done throughout history; we are thanking him for what he did yesterday in our lives. Jack Hayford says, "When we praise Him, we not only come into His presence, but also invite His rule into our lives and current situations." Nehemiah 9:17 teaches us something about this. In this chapter, Nehemiah is describing the Israelites' journey through the wilderness. They had been wandering for quite a while, and, well...let's just say they had a lousy attitude. In verse 17 we find out why: "...they were not mindful of His wonders." Isn't that interesting? We get our attitude out of joint when we do not recall God's goodness to us. I think that is a great reason to start each morning by recalling how God helped us through yesterday. When we do not recall (are not "mindful" of) his mercies, we develop disobedience, pride, rebellion and thanklessness. Let us always be mindful of God's goodness. Let us thank Him for his goodness daily. Blessings and Peace, Greg