We should probably spend more time in prayer asking for understanding

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how so many people can read the same scriptures and come away with so many different views. I think the answer has finally come.

Satan has made it his mission to interfere with our prayer lives, both individually, and collectively in the institutional churches. Churches dedicate hardly any time to prayer compared to other parts of a worship service. How can we ever hope to understand God's word if we're not dedicating more time to seeking God's guidance. We run to our commentaries or swallow whatever the preacher says.

Do we really want to know the truth, or are we happy with the status quo? James 1:5 says: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it shall be given to him."

How can we ever hope to receive if we don't ask. I've been in untold number of church services and I know firsthand that hardly any time at all is devoted to prayer.

Again, James says: "You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend it in gratifying your lusts."—James 4:2-3

Do we really want unity? We can't let Satan defeat us in this area. It's critical.

good post i believe every time we study we should pray for help to hear him. Sometimes we think we know better than what it says. The author is with us and desires us to understand his word that’s definately a prayer in his Will but do we really want to know as you ask ?

I think also if we learn what Jesus taught of prayer in the gospel it would help our prayer life immensely one of the key points would be

“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any:

that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭11:24-25‬ ‭

It isn't only prayer for help, it is taking advantage of the help that God prepares for us.

I was stuck in dogmas of my church, bible study was like going to kindergarten. I was challenged to really get to know the old testament as a way of better understanding the new. Before, I had gotten as far as God telling Joshua to kill all, threw my hands in the air in defeat and went to the new testament. This time I was determined, so I found a commentary by a learned Christian to guide me with only history ad scripture. I was real work, hard work, but it gave wonderful light on Christ.

Prayer opens doors, but we must walk through. Prayer can point the way but if we don't go that way it is of no use to us.

Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

very good topic

Amen. We need the Spirit of Wisdom and revelation. I heard a preacher on this subject not long after I was saved. I pray this often for myself and I believe that I have received much revelation over the years. We also need to know that it is the Holy Spirit's job to lead us into the truth (John 16:12-15).

The mind is an excellent servant but a terrible master. Simply looking at a Bible verse and working out what it means is a recipe for confusion and deception. We need to "see" with our spiritual faculties. The mind enables us to understand what we see and then we can communicate that to others.

I've been looking at the Welsh revival again recently. It began with people becoming desperate about the condition of the church and praying. One man prayed that God would raise up a particular kind of man, a worker, not a professional, theologically trained preacher. Evan Roberts was exactly that, a miner but with a heart for God. In two years, at least 100,000 people were saved. The retention rate was 82%. Billy Graham said that he would have been happy with 4%.

The revival spread to other places, including the Azusa Street revival. God can do it again. The question is, does anyone care enough?

I think also in addition to prayer, time dedicated to studying is also essential, like the Bereans.

Knowing his voice is very important it is absolutely vital it is far to easy to mix his voice with our own. This is why we have so many different opinions and views on the same verses if it is by the spirit we understand the word of God then by that conclusion it only makes sense to know his voice.

yeah a lot of great points blick I couldn’t agree more . I would say that we should always pray d always be pressing forward closer to knowing Christ because none of us really is going to ever be perfect like him but what the perfect mindset for a Christian in my own personal belief is this

the same apostle Paul who said “ saved by grace “ wrote

“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law,

but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect:

but I follow after,

if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded:

and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:8-15‬ ‭KJV‬‬

I believe it’s the mind of a disciple of Jesus Christ shown to us in the Gospel , we hear and believe his word and teachings we trust his ways above all cause he is our Lord and Savior our redeemer , our teacher , he Loves us he showed us he did he was accused , spit upon , mocked , beaten , slapped , beaten more by both gentile and Jew .

All mankind , in other words was represented in our transgression gainer our Own creator every one who has sinned is why Jesus died. We belong to him now so his word is our law he purchased us from a sentance of death and says of you out all of your faith in me Jesus Christ , I will lead you to eternal life …..even if you stumble , even if you come up short , even if you just realized your never going to be perfect if you trust in what all of the entire Bible says about me Jesus Christ the only You have eternal Life me will be with me forever you will be Child of God “ in me “

you will be delivered I can cover you i gave God the father my life in exchange for your life . I died for what you have done every so now trust in me hear what I myself said on earth d believe consider it , try to find what I’m saying to you in the gospel .

and believe and just let go and trust me I’ll never let you go

that I believe is the perfect mind of a disciple but we have real earthly lives lol so it’s a process over a lifetime we just grow like children and trust him to cover us when we’re not there yet but also we are meant to keep the things he taught in us in our thinking in our hearts his spirit leads us by that of we need and believe he gives us direction and ways that re his ways and his promises of eternal Life

Gods doing new thing d he’s saving people from the world now to fill the new one to believe Jesus and trust Jesus learn from Jesus and the apostles too as best we can with real love for what he did for us even being nailed to a wooden cross

but he also rose up and lives still advocating for the imperfect but true believers who trust him even if they don’t know much of what he taught faith saves but we need to just know the lord and Jesus is the way to accomplish it

A lot of false interpretations come from mistranslations within the different versions of the Bibles.

I don't think our misunderstandings come from different versions of the bible, no study I know of backs that up at all. But once a misunderstanding gets set in our minds it clings to us. Look at the Mormons, they study scripture.

Perhaps the key is to keep our hearts and minds focused on pure scripture. There has been church councils that have added to scripture since the first council in 323, we need to keep strictly to God's word. The Mormons accept some marks they supposedly found on some metal Indians buried to add to scripture.

I have a prayer shawl for my morning devotions. The function of the shawl is to cover my head so that all outside stimuli is shut out and I and the Lord are alone together under my shawl that has been blessed.

I agree but I think there are some good ones and bad ones. A couple are really part of the issue I think too change a lot of the meaning because so many words are added it’s sort of like the more modern the version the further away it’s getting from what was said

I do think a few Of them are necassary because many people can’t understand the antiquated kjv of its modernized it helps them understand

There's a lot of flesh involved as well. satan has ingrained our flesh with the desire to be right and reject correction. We seek out that which confirms what we want to believe. To admit we are wrong is to admit weakness and even defeat. We need His understanding, yes, but unless we are willing to LISTEN AND CONSIDER instead of knee-jerk responding, we won't be open to His understanding if it runs counter to our own.

Truth is only available to those who are willing to question what they think they know.

It's funny, the church I've been going holds studies but I've yet to see them hold a prayer meeting. Just Wednesday we started another new study, and I asked when are we going to stop studying and put what we've learned to use in prayer. Didn't really get an answer.

Regarding the Title to the OP:

I fully agree!

You said a mouth full when spoke of putting God's word to use. That is what Christ speaks over ad over in the four gospels, putting his word to use. We are to use it for prayer, we are to use it to repent, we are to use it to live this life by ad we are to use it to prepare us for the next life. We talk about doctrine, but talk about use gets stopped with talk against works.

We are even given a sample prayer to tell us what God wants us to speak to him about. It is about praising Him, wanting to follow His way, about our needs both spiritual and fleshly being met, and about forgiveness.

in my church of ~ 150-200 people, about 80-100 would show up every sunday. about 25 would show up for wednesday Bible study. about 3 would show up for a prayer vigil. close to all 200 would show up for a picnic.

I joined a prayer group. They sat around moaning and groaning about how terrible it was for some people, little was said about the relief and help they knew the Lord would give them. It was only a pity party.

Three groups of 15 each did a test of the effectiveness of prayer at a California college one year. One group studied scripture about prayer and followed scripture as a group, one group prayed alone half an hour a day, one group went to a psychiatrist with their troubles. The study group mostly worked on their sin, especially resentments, that separated them from Christ, and they were most successful. The group at home failed, and it was thought that they simply repeated over and over to the Lord their troubles, and so the Lord gave them the trouble they repeated.

Amen!

This is how the Lord speaks to us in my opinion. Not a "still small voice."

I agree. I like to consider the originals then also look at several translations, not depend on one translation only. But I agree, not every "translation" can be trusted.

Amen!