Blog Post
Posted by Dion Todd May 9th, 2024 2,218 Views 28 Comments
In these days, he went out to the mountain to pray, and he continued all night in prayer to God. When it was day, he called his disciples, and from them he chose twelve, whom he also named apostles Luke 6:12–13 WEB.
Jesus prayed all night. Even though He was the son of God, He continually developed His relationship with His Father. Jesus lived as an example to us. Intimacy and infinite knowledge were not freely given to Him. He had to work at it. He had to pray and listen. Jesus was tested in all ways, just like us, but without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus did not pray once at the beginning of His ministry but often withdrew to have some quiet time to pray and listen. Jesus was on the cutting edge because He stayed in tune with what the Father was doing.
All of us have heard or read messages that felt like they were meant for us, directly from God. We have also heard others that seemed dated, irrelevant, or uninteresting. When the apostles spoke, the people listening were: "cut to the heart" (Acts 2:37, Acts 5:33, Acts 7:54) because the apostles had first sharpened themselves in prayer:
"When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were gathered together. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness" (Acts 4:31).
If you want your words to be relevant today, to walk on the cutting edge, then you must also spend time in prayer. Even taking a few minutes to talk to the Lord will help shape your day, brighten your outlook, and encourage those around you. There is an infinite well of resources, wisdom, knowledge, forgiveness, grace, and mercy that we can access, and it all starts with prayer.
Any relationship that stops talking will slowly but surely die, while relationships that converse a lot grow in strength. We have all had friends that we lost contact with because we ceased talking at some point. We get too busy with daily life to maintain a strong relationship with many people at a time, and we keep a select few. So be sure the Lord is one of those in your inner circle.
Today, spend a few moments alone with God and pray. Even if it is nothing more than to tell Him good morning and thank You for letting you wake up for another day. It's a daily thing that you should get in the habit of doing, and you have to start somewhere. If you want to grow closer to the Lord, take a few minutes to talk to Him each day. Jesus did.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I thank You for always being there. I am sorry that I am not as faithful as I could be. Please draw my heart to You and fan the flames within me. Sharpen me, Lord. For the sake of the world, light a fire within me. Help me be steadfast, graceful, loving, and merciful today. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!
Note: Ladies, today is Thankful Thursday at the "Ladies in Distress" group (our RHM women's group)! You are welcome to join in our weekly sharing of thankfulness for the Lord's presence and any blessings you may have experienced, big or small! Until we get our small group areas up again, Thankful Thursday will take place at the home page at RHM! As always, If you have a prayer need, we are here for you! We and the prayer team are ready to lift you up at our private prayer page: RHM Prayer Network
Site update #586: I completed a large update to the Audio Library on the left sidebar. There is now a live service archive of all past services, full-length in case you miss a service and want to catch up, as well as all of our original music. You can download the .mp3 files directly to your device now to listen when you don't have internet. I also added a pop-out player so you can listen without remaining on the page. Give it a try and let me know if you have any problems. 😀
Amen!
Post from Scott Riegelmann
1 year ago
Amen thank you Father for our relationship and for your grace and mercy when it comes to me not listening or spending more quality time building our relationship, I am going to visit my best friend today who would struggling with his cancer treatments let your light shine through me in Jesus' name I pray amen
Comment from Michele Copley
1 year ago
Praying for help in comfort and healing for your friend struggling, that he see God working in his life, and by way of your compassion, having faith for what God can do.
Comment from Dan Remley
1 year ago
I am praying for comfort, health, and healing brother ❤️
Comment from Sylvia Todd
1 year ago
Praying for you and your friend, Scott 🙏!
Comment from Lynn Brown
1 year ago
Praying for healing for you both, Amen.
Post from Michele Copley
1 year ago
Oh, dear Abba God, You are ever faithful and true, I praise Your holy name! Today is a fresh day for me to far more loving, merciful, and open, listening to Your voice, Your holy Word's commandments and life's Word's spoken in scriptures I seek, for me to to set my heart on fire higher in honor of You, to be one single grain of salt of the earth as You need and asked me to, while building relationships stronger with friends and family. My desire to build my relationship with You, following Your Will, is my foremost desire, and thank You for leading me, and this I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Post from Wesley Paulus
1 year ago
Amen!
Post from Richard Mondello
1 year ago
In Lord Yeshua's name I pray this Amen.
Post from Candy Laventure
1 year ago
Amen!
Post from Mari Kaufmann
1 year ago
God thank you for your blessings. Amen
Post from Liesel aka lisa Wardle
1 year ago
Amen and Amen, and yes, thank you dear Heavenly Father for always being there for me even though I'm not as faithful as I should be with my constant focus on You first of all, please by Thy mighty spirit draw me closer and closer to Thee so that my first thought upon waking up in the morning would be of You!!!
Help me be steadfast, graceful, loving, and merciful today. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!
Help me to focus more with you, I am nothing without you, Yes sharpen and strengthen me to serve you Lord! Thank you for this brand new day, 🤟🏻
This is a wonderful message pastor Dion. It's a reminder to stay close to our Lord and Jesus. All I know is that my life is so peaceful and full of happiness and love when I stay close to God. He has moved me to tears with his Holy Spirit at times. What a great feeling ❤️
Post from Deng Tembreza
1 year ago
Good morning LORD. Thank you LORD, that when we wake up you are sill with us and we are still with you. PRAISE THE LORD. Amen
Amen. This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.
Heavenly Father, I thank You for always being there. I am sorry that I am not as faithful as I could be. Please draw my heart to You and fan the flames within me. Sharpen me, Lord. For the sake of the world, light a fire within me. Help me be steadfast, graceful, loving, and merciful today. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen! ❤️
Thank You for Pastor Dion for reminding us of how powerful prayer is and Gods love for us all. This spoke volumes to me and I give thanks and praise to our Heavenly father for another blessed day.
AMEN Father Thank You For Always Being There For Me And My Family And Friends. Thank You For Waking Me Up This Morning. Good Morning Everyone
Post from Theresa Bright
1 year ago
Amen. Thank you Father.
Post from Marisa Jackson
1 year ago
Well said are Dion!! Prayer 🙏 is very powerful and in keeping in prayer, Our Heavenly Father is near and hears us because He loves hearing from His children 💝! Thank you Father for your most precious Son Jesus whom I love 💕 with all every breath of my being. In Jesus precious name I pray 🙏, Amen!!
Post from Mark Williams
1 year ago
Father,thank You for always being there,whether I realize it or not.
Post from Wanda Pennington
1 year ago
Heavenly Father, I thank You for always being there. I am sorry that I am not as faithful as I could be. Please draw my heart to You and fan the flames within me. Sharpen me, Lord. For the sake of the world, light a fire within me. Help me be steadfast, graceful, loving, and merciful today. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!
Amen
Post from Gloria Nebarez
1 year ago
Amen, thank you Jesus
Post from Celeste Strenn
1 year ago
Amen
Post from Schalk de Beer
1 year ago
Yes, amen Lord.
Post from Jeffrey Green
1 year ago
Lord I need you .It seems like my faith in you needs to be stronger.Please help me to deal with life changes through your grace and mercy Amen
Post from Kay Collinsworth
1 year ago
Amen
Amen!
Comment from Cathy Webb
12 hours ago
What a blessing, Pastor Dion! The audio library page is easy to navigate and I truly appreciate the pop-out player, as I have many tabs open during my computer sessions and this allows me to keep the music flowing. Well done! 😊🎶
Comment from Gloria Nebarez
19 hours ago
Thank you
Comment from Tyler Velau
3 days ago
Thank you for your continuing work on the site and your efforts to bring the truth of the Gospels to people around the world via the internet. Your hard work and dilligence is appreciated.
Comment from Liesel aka lisa Wardle
3 days ago
Thank you so much, Pastor Dion, for all that you do, it sounds to me like non-stop "24-7"! God bless you and Sylvia abundantly, above and beyond! 🙏🤗
Comment from Nell Neathery
3 days ago
sounds great. I know that will be useful for me...need to write that down. Hope the Todd family have a blessed Saturday and Sunday. I do believe God gave us those 2 special days for His sake and our sake! Work hard or volunteer (myself) hard through the week. We get our rewards here on Earth and rewards in Heaven.
Comment from Lynn Brown
4 days ago
That sounds amazing Pastor Dion, thank you!!!