We are discovering together what the Bible says about wellbeing.
Otherwise, how can you live a more satisfied, fulfilling life! We recently
discussed the first step to entering the gateway to Biblically based wellbeing:
becoming a Christian by accepting Christ’s forgiveness by faith, understanding
our salvation is permanent, and that we should not feel guilt. What great
promises!
Based then on this sure foundation, several weeks ago we began to
discuss the 5 Scriptural tools to mature our faith by examining Scriptural
knowledge (Acts 2:42 and 47). Today, we discuss prayer!
Prayer is one of the cornerstones of the Christian life. Scripture
tells us that we should pray frequently and persistently. As Christians we can
come boldly before God in prayer uninhibited and unafraid to receive mercy in
our every time of need (Hebrews 10:19-22). The content of our prayer should
be thankfulness for God and others (Philippians 1:3-4, Colossians 1:3), praise
(Hebrews 13:15) and petitions for ourselves and others (Philippians 4:6).
The content of our prayers should be consistent with what
glorifies Jesus Christ (John 14:13,14,15:7). Paul offers 3 model prayers in
which he emphasizes what God wishes us and others to attain by our prayers no
matter the situation (Ephesians 1:15ff, 3:14ff, Colossians 1:9-15) including:
knowledge of our salvation and the Bible, understanding, hope, power and love
as well as demonstrate service, patience and persistence in our Christian walk.
Medical research indicates that the active prayer increases wellbeing
and the more frequent the prayer the better for wellbeing (1-5). Why would this
be? Well this has been studied little to my knowledge but several potential
benefits might be:
Ø
Prayer provides a release for our emotions to
God perhaps relieving tension and frustration.
Ø
It engenders a sense that somebody cares and
is listening. We also know that the Holy Spirit and Christ Himself pray on our
behalf (Hebrews 7:25, Romans 8:26, 34)
Ø
It causes us to pay attention to Scripture, hopefully,
as we pray and so offers us help to consider, and form an answer to, our
problems as we deliberate mentally our requests to God.
Ø
It reminds us to be thankful for others and for
His blessings to us.
Ø
It helps us to praise and remember that we
have a great God whose purposes are greater than ours. Thus, it helps keep our
own problems in prospective.
Ø
In addition, as Christians we have the
benefit of God's promise to answer prayer so there may be a further benefit
through His gracious provisions (John 14:13-14).
Therefore, prayer is a key tool to maturity as a Christian,
invoking God's help but yet reminding us of Scripture, praise and to be
thankful, all which may our assist our wellbeing. Prayer is one of the great
benefits of our Christian life. Thanks be to God for such a provision.
Thank you for joining me. See you next time!
Why will God not give me my desires? To participate in our latest poll
question - please visit our website at http://teleiosresearch.com/#anchorpoll
WC Stewart
http://teleiosblog.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TeleiosResearch/
@TeleiosResearch
2. MacIlvaine WR et al. Association of strength of community service to personal wellbeing. Community Ment Health J 2014;50:577-582.
3. MacIlvaine WR et al. Association of strength of religious adherence to quality of life measures. Complement Ther Clin Pract 2013;19:251-255.
4. Stewart WC et al. Review of clinical medicine and religious practice. J Relig Health 2013;52:91-106.
5. Stewart WC et al. Association of strength of religious adherence to attitudes regarding glaucoma or ocular hypertension. Ophthalmic Res 2011:45:53-6.
Response policy
The
purpose of the comment section is to promote discussion that is encouraging,
propels the further search of Scripture and raises interesting and thought
provoking Biblically related questions. You may feel free to disagree with me
in a constructive manner using appropriate language.I reserve the right to remove your comments if they are profane, pornographic, libelous or I do not consider them constructive or consistent with the policy stated above. By posting you no longer own your comments and you are granting me an unrestricted worldwide license to use your comments.
Copyright © 2016 Teleios, Inc. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment