30 for 30 RESET – Day 25

Gatheringplace   -   September 25, 2024

Yesterday we talked about how important praise is in your personal life. Today I want to share something Jesus gave to us that will help you do this every day.

In our post from Day 11 we unpacked the prayer that Jesus gave to us when He was asked to teach us how to pray.

In that prayer model Jesus taught us to pray, “Hollowed by Your name.” What does that mean?

“Hallowed” is an Old English word that simply means “Holy.” But the grammatical structure means, “Help us keep your name holy.” Or “Help us revere your name.” Or as one translation rightly says, “Reveal Yourself.”

You might wonder how “reveal Yourself” fits, but that is exactly what His names do, they reveal a portion of God’s nature to you that that name describes.

For instance, Adoni means, “My Lord,” while El Shadai means, “God Almighty.” Jehovah means, “I am that I am” which means “I am all in all, and everything you need me to be in your time of need.” That is why when God revealed Himself to people in history, either He, or the one experiencing an aspect of God’s nature in their time of need, would add a name to the name “Jehovah”, such as; Jehovah Jireh “The God Who Meets My Needs”, or Jehovah Rapha, “The God Who Heals”, or Jehovah Roi “The Lord My Shepherd”, or “The Lord Who Sees Me.”

Here is a document called the Lord’s Prayer Guide that I developed for you. If you scroll down, you will find 8 Hebrew Names for God. There are many, many more names for God throughout the Bible, but these will be a good start.

The way I use them is when I pray the Lord’s Prayer, when I get to “Holy is Your Name,” I choose some of God’s names and begin to praise Him for that part of His nature. As you do this you, you will be giving the Holy Spirit an opportunity to reveal God to you in this way. I usually choose the names that I need most at any given time.

This exercise will fill your heart with peace and faith as God becomes bigger than your circumstances (He already is but worshipping Him gives your mind and heart the time to more deeply realize this in a very tangible way). This prepares you for the rest of the prayer – “Your kingdom come…” “Give us this day our daily bread…”

I encourage you to try this. I know you will be surprised at how powerful it is. And don’t rush. This is so hard for us because we are all very busy, and we can be impatient. We usually just jump straight to our personal needs. But if you will slow down and allow your heart and mind to meditate on the greatest of God, even for just a few minutes, I know you will begin to understand why Jesus told us to pray this way.

Go for it!

John

QUICK TIP ON HOW TO SPEND 30 MINUTES WITH GOD (REMEMBER: This 30 for 30 is a tool to help you, not a rule to shame you. Just do your best and let God do the rest.)

“Upward, Inward, and Outward”

  1. Upward: Get quiet. Settle down. Begin to thank God for Who He is – patient, kind, merciful. A God Who forgives sins – Who has forgiven your sins. A God Who cares, Who listens to your prayers, a miracle-working God. (There are many other attributes you can thank Him for. Go HERE for a prayer guide as well as a list of God’s names that will help you thank Him for Who He is)
  2. Inward: Read a chapter in the Bible. I would suggest one Psalm per day. Start with Psalm 1 and go from there. Or read one chapter of Proverbs per day. Start with Proverbs 1 and go from there. And as you read, stop, and think about what it is saying. Take your time (even if you do not get through an entire chapter – it is okay!). Ask God to speak to you through it.

A deeper dive: For those of you who would like to read the Bible in a year, here is a fantastic way to do it. It will take more than 30 minutes per day, but it will be well worth it. It not only gives you a reading plan but each day there is a short, very well-produced video explaining what you are about to read. Go HERE for your one year through the Bible reading plan.

  1. Outward: Ask God to show you how He can use you to reach those around you. Then begin to pray specifically for individuals. Pray for your family members, your boss, co-workers, classmates, friends, your church, its members, its mission, and its leadership. Pray for our city and our nation – that God would rule and reign in every mountain of influence, raising up leaders who fear Him: Church, Family, Government, Education, Media, Entertainment/Arts, and Business. You will not be able to get to everything in 30 minutes, but that is okay, just pick an area or two per day.

PRAYER POINTS

Personal:

  • Closeness with God
  • Deeper devotion to Christ
  • Renewed vision
  • Renewed passion
  • Strength
  • Joy
  • A profound commitment to act as Jesus would during this election year.

Church:

  • And increase of God’s manifest presence.
  • To see more CHANGED LIVES!
  • An increase in Miracles
  • Salvation for those far from God (make a list and pray for them every day)
  • More young people joining the vision at GPC.
  • New building for GPC

World:

  • A mighty harvest in our city and nation.
  • That godly men and women will fill the seats of government at local, city, state, and national levels.
  • For our missionaries (Use the bookmark handed out at church, or go to our website and check out our Missions page HERE)