Isaiah 33:2 O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.

As we address these issues of growing in Christ it would be wrong of me to ignore prayer any longer. Prayer was such an important part of who Christ was and it should not be ignored by us.

Luke 9:29 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.

This verse shows the end results of a perfect life of perfect prayer. Who would not want to be seen as transformed in prayer, that your very countenance would be seen by others as a testament to the power and glory of our Lord? If that should be your goal in prayer you will fail miserably. Men of God who attained to that level of prayer did not do so in public. They perfected prayer in private.

As you read more and more about prayer life in Christ, you will find few examples of the words used by Jesus in prayer. When asked to teach His disciples how to pray, He gave us the Lord’s prayer as a guide, an outline, structure of prayer. He never meant for those words to be used solely as prayer.

Matthew 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

A thing repeated over and over and over loses all sincerity. The structure of the Lord’s prayer is what Christ was showing by example. The same can be seen in that Isaiah 33:2 prayer. Simplicity, directness, without embellishment or grand sounding words.

In the beginning of our walk with Christ, as children our prayers are simple, clean, uncomplicated. If I were to advise you on anything about prayer, I would encourage you not to lose that in your personal prayer time. You will always be His child.

2 Peter 3:18a But grow in grace,

As I said yesterday, examine grace as a gift but understand what it does, so that it might be used and not to place it back in the box and put it away on the back shelf of your closest.

John 1:14,16 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

Another way to look at John 1:16 is to say grace received is grace extended. Our Lord is gracious, He is grace and truth. If we are to be conformed into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ as we are promised in Romans 8:29, then His characteristic of grace is to become our characteristic in conformance.

Colossians 4:6 Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

Grace abides in us to be gracious to others, so that they might come to know that side of our gracious Lord.  Grace is a resident characteristic of Christ. Are we instantly gracious? I wasn’t. Grace had to perform its transformative work in me in order for me to develop that characteristic. It was not natural.

Ephesians 3:7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

Romans 12:2-3 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

We have come full circle as grace is tied to faith.