Personal Prayer Guide - Praying to Experience Christ’s Presence in Our Lives

Read:

Eph 3:16-17  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

Romans 2:4; Philippians 4:12-13; Romans 7:22; Romans 8:10

Consider:

Well, we are entering our fourth week of “Sheltering in Place”.  We are in to our fourth weeks of living and working in and from our homes. 

Some are saying this is a ‘once in a century experience’.  It has been rightfully called ‘Unprecedented’.  Christmas was a mere four months ago and no one would have or could have guessed we would spend a month of our springtime staying at home. 

For many of us, this may have been the most consecutive time you have spent at home, with the people in your home, in a very long time.  Whether it is only you or only your spouse or a house full, you are getting to know one another again in new ways.  There have probably been some challenges, and some laughs along the way and this is a time of making memories that will shape our relationships for a long time, if we let them.  We will be able to look back one day and say “do you remember when we were stuck in our homes and …this happened”. 

This is also a gift of opportunity for you and I to grow deeper in our relationship with Jesus in this time.  Where we get to know him in new ways and strengthen old, maybe forgotten ways.  So that, and it would be my desire for us all, that when we are able to leave our homes and move about freely, that we move out in a stronger relationship with Jesus than we started our homebound stay.   How wonderful would it be if we used this time to grow in strength in our souls?

Eph 3:16-17  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

Just like we live in our homes with our families, as followers of Jesus, Christ dwells in our hearts.  We probably know that intellectually, just like I always knew that my family would be in my home when I came back at the end of my day.  But this is an opportunity for you to interact with him personally and perhaps become reacquainted with him in some new ways.  Let your relationship with him become fresh again.

Ephesians says ‘that Christ may dwell in our hearts’.  Dwell is an active word, to take up residence, to settle in (like we have settled into our homes).  Where Christ sits, and lives, and stays; he doesn’t go anywhere but to be with you.  That certainly describes our physical life, but does that describe your life with Jesus?

His occupancy in our hearts is a gift of his ‘glorious riches’.  Staying in, especially for those of us who are use to going out, may not seem like a gift, but his dwelling in our hearts is the result of his glorious rich gift. 

Rom 2:4

⁴ Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

His presence is to always an expression of his kindness and love to us.  He is patient with us in a way that is intended for us to experience the re-calibration of repentance.  Experiencing the redirection of our lives to the direction of his life.  This happens by turning various areas of our life away from our paths that suit ourselves and to the path that leads in his right ways.  He wants us to live in the ways where we can experience his strength and power regardless of our situation.  He may be using the other people in your home to point out the areas of your thinking, attitudes or actions that need some attention.   

Phil 4:13

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

This is the kind of power Jesus brings into our lives and into the very core of who you and I are, into our inner beings.  When Jesus dwells in our lives, he brings all of who he is into the center of our being.  But are we experiencing his incredible rich presence?  Have we plunged into the depths of his love? Do we rely on the expanse of his presence?  Are we experiencing the incredible power of his strength? 

One day, we will be free to leave our homes and return to our workplaces, play places, our church buildings and schools and lets pray that when that day comes we are able to reenter our world with a new strength because of Christ’s dwelling presence in our lives.  

Prayer: Father, It is incredible to realize that your Son can actually live in our hearts through faith in him. 

·      Thank God that the Spirit of Christ lives in you.

·      Thank Him for the incredible gift of his glorious riches that helps you experience his kindness, patience and longsuffering in these days.  Be specific.

·      Allow him to bring an attitude of repentance and reveal sin in your life.  Acknowledge its influence in your life and put the sin it to death by turning away from it and towards Jesus.

·      Receive his strength to live today in harmony with him and others.

·      Ask that the deadly affects of coronavirus would be stopped in our community.

·      Pray for someone you know personally who has been affected by COVID

Father, Thank you that Jesus brings life into our inner being and brings our soul life.  Help me live today in the power of that life.     Amen 

Meditate:

Eph 3:16-17  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith