MORNING MANNA 1-8-26
WHO ARE WE DEPENDING ON?
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”
Matthew 7:7
Seems like many Christians confess and relate to one another about a tendency to depend on ourselves instead of the Lord. Less often do we seem to admit if our prayer life is weak. The conflicting thing about this is, our prayer life is a picture of our dependence upon the Lord.
God commands us to pray and to ask. This is guidance from God, that we might grow in full dependence upon Him and abandon depending upon ourselves.
The Bible says “ye have not, because ye ask not.” Can you imagine God giving us everything without any request from us? If He did, we wouldn’t depend on Him at all. We draw close to the Lord when we pray. “Pray without ceasing” is what we read in scripture. Prayer is to be a continual, natural action and reaction daily. We’re to take big things, small things, and all things to God in prayer, because everything is important to Him.
Could we ever imagine while Jesus carried out His earthly ministry saying, “Well, it’s time to take my disciples out into a storm at sea to teach them about faith. I think it will go well. I don’t need to pray about it first.”
or
“I’m going to witness of my salvation to the woman at the well, but I know what to say, I don’t need to call on the Father for this one.” No. I can’t imagine Jesus, who commands us to pray, not faithfully carrying out His own commands. He did!
– When Jesus came to the garden of Gethsemane, he said,” Sit ye hear, while I go and pray yonder.”
– John 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted his eyes to heaven, and said, Father…
– John 17:9 “I pray for them” Jesus says.
– John 17:15 “I pray…. that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”
– The entire 17th chapter of John is Jesus praying!
As God’s people, may we stop trying to take care of things ourselves. Let’s pray and ask Him. In doing so, we will be picturing dependence upon Him.
WHO ARE WE DEPENDING ON?
