What follows is another excerpt from Cornerstones New Year’s Day sermon. To here the preach in its entirety please go to www.cornerstoneag.net follow the pastor’s corner link to the sermon section of our website.
We have been talking about the F.L.A.C.T.S. that is:
Faith with a
Listening spirit
Adoring God before everything else
Confessing both the strengths and weaknesses of our situation
Thanking Him for His move in our lives as we recognize it and finally
Supplicating with the Lord in regards to the things HE wants to give us.
Having an effective prayer life involves coming to God with a LISTENING spirit. You see, Ultimately prayer is not about asking God for things. It is about discovering the will of God in a circumstance and coming into agreement with it. Some of our prayer lives are anemic because we spend all our time talking and no time listening.
Here are some steps in learning to listen:
1. Take the first 5 minutes of a prayer to be still and know that God is God. What does that mean to you?
2. read the Bible or a devotional for the next five minutes
3. Take five minutes to ask what the devotional says to you personally. How does it apply to you in your situation?
4. When you begin to pray for things don’t start with the conclusion you desire. Start by asking God what He would do in the situation. What outcomes seem very strong to you? Begin to pray into those things.
What steps have you taken to grow in listening?
Reinventing the We'll 