PRAYER

                                                                        Prayer

“And it came to pass in those days that He (Jesus) went out into a mountain to PRAY, and He continued all night in prayer unto God.” Luke 6:12

“And He (Jesus) spoke a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint...” Luke 18:1

“I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men: for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” 1 Timothy 2:1

“Who (Jesus), in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared/piety(NAS)/because of His reverent submission (NIV).” Hebrews 5:7

INDEX:
- WHY IS PRAYER SO IMPORTANT?
- PRAYER SHOULD BE A NATURAL PART OF OUR DAILY LIFE:
           THE CALL TO PRAY PRAYER REQUIRES; PRAYER TIME
                                                                                 PRAYER EFFORT
                                                                                 PRAYER INTENT                                                                    
                                                                                 PERSEVERENCE IN PRAYER
- THE PATIENCE OF PRAYER; THE PRAYER OF FAITH
                                                   THE FAITHFUL PRAYER
                                                   THE PRAYER OF HUMILITY
- IGNORANCE TO WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR PRAYER TO BE ANSWERED
- THE CHRISTIAN'S PRAYER LIFE (AND SUGGESTIONS)
- CONCLUSION
              

WHY IS PRAYER SO IMPORTANT?

Prayer is how we communicate with God.

Prayer is as natural and spontaneous to people as breathing and thinking. Most everyone has prayed at least once in their lives. People have prayed without even realizing that they were actually praying, who they were praying to, or even sure why they were praying, and quite often simply because it seemed to be the thing to do at the time, and were at a loss for a better and alternate solution. A good example of this is in the story of Jonah while fleeing on the ship to Tarshish, “Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god.” Jonah 1:5

- Not all prayer is directed to the right source. I read a book by a former soviet service man who said that while at the tomb of one of their founders, that he prayed to him (not realizing that that was what he was actually doing). For a Biblical example, read the passage of Scripture describing the showdown between the prophets of Baal and Elijah, 1 Kings 18:20-39

- Not all prayers are with the right motives. “You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts.” James 4:3

- Some of our prayers are presumptuous, or done in ignorance. “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” 1 John 5:14-15

(Some of these are also addressed in the Blog topic ‘Connecting With God – Fail Sures’)

- Sometimes we lack faith and so our prayers are not answered. “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave on the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he will receive anything from the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:6-8

- Abiding in the will and purposes of Christ is crucial for effective prayer. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:7

- All prayer for the Christian is to be done in Jesus name. “If you shall ask anything in My (Jesus) name, I will do it.”  John 14:14

NOTE – This is not a ‘magic formula’ or a ‘spell’! Merely because we tag the Name Jesus on the end of a prayer does not mean He hears it or will answer it. The seven sons of Sceva, who were exorcists, and who tried to cast out devils in Jesus name (which was not a prayer, per say, but the principle was the same) found that out the hard way. Acts 19:13-16. If we are not asking in faith, according to His will, with the right motives, or being directed by His Holy Spirit, He is not obliged to answer. We are His servants, and He is not our Servant. Looking at the exhortation from the verse in Hebrews 5, that even Jesus Christ Himself, when He prayed, it was with wholehearted and deep earnest intent, and He was heard because of His perfect submission “…for I (Jesus) do always those things that please Him (God the Father).” John 8:29.

 

 Once we are in Christ Jesus and He in us, we have become reunited with God our Heavenly Father through the redemptive work of the blood of Christ on the cross, and the relationship Adam lost has been regained at such a price. We can now fellowship (be family and friends) with God. “…and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” 1 John 5:3 This means communion, communication, relationship, which includes talking. True not all communion with God is talking, but meditating on Him, waiting, listening, reading His Word, communing without words from our spirit, and worship, but interesting enough He does specifically call us to prayer throughout the Bible. “If My people, which are called, by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14, Luke 18:1, 1Timothy 2:1  

PRAYER IS OR SHOULD BE A NATURAL PART OF OUR DAILY LIFE

-THE CALL TO PRAY  -  There are various types of prayer for different needs, and  a multitude of goals. There are some forms of prayer that are more challenging and even more demanding than the standard ‘first thing in the morning’ prayer. What I am referring to is the prayer where we are called or intending to get involved in the concerns of life. These types of prayer are listed as: prayers, petitions/ supplications, and intercessions, (and everything with thanksgiving).

- PRAYER REQUIRES – time, effort, earnest and wholehearted intent, perseverance, patience, faith and faithfulness, and HUMILITY.

- PRAYER TIME – The strange thing about prayer is that it is one of the hardest things to find time for. Often so many activities within our daily life, and even important things, seem to take the place, override, and or interrupt prayer. It is a battle that must be won!

- Prayer Effort – Because it is a struggle, it takes effort, like any type of work or discipline. The world, the (your) flesh, and the devil, are there to fight you every step of the way.

- Prayer Intent – Our hearts and minds must be fully persuaded to its call, need, and importance, in order to apply the necessary time and effort. If we are not earnest or whole-hearted, we will soon give up after the first few obstacles and retreat back to the old routine whatever that may be.

- Perseverance in Prayer – That requires the relentless pressing into the Kingdom of God, and in this case prayer. So if the last prayer times were weak, short, interrupted, we just keep pushing on until we obtain our goal. A super example of this kind of relentless perseverance is when Jacob wrestled with the angel in Genesis 32:26

“And he said, ‘Let me go for the day breaks.’ And he said, ‘I will not let you go, except you bless me.’”

- THE PATIENCE OF PRAYER – “…for you have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.” Hebrews 10:36  When we pray, we are asking God to, from His position of principles, laws, delegation, and responsibility, to fit our addenda into His schedule and influence of the multitude of other lives. Now we know that all things are possible with God, but we must, once we have prayed, to step aside and allow Him to answer our prayer request in His good timing. Often, when we think that He is not listening or will not do as we request when we do not see the answer which we were looking for, when we expected it, so we give up praying (there maybe a number of reasons involved for an 'apparent' unanswered prayer which we may never know).

 We, therefore, with patience persevere by holding on to His promises, trust and believe that He will always do what is right, how He needs to, and when He needs to. In the end we sometimes do not even recognize that He had already answered it. Perhaps it came in ways and when  we did not expect. Many years ago I was challenging a fellow worker to believe in Jesus. He told me that he asked for five things from God and never received them. So I asked him, “What were they?” He proceeded to tell me, and before he actually could list each one, he paused and said, “Oh, I got that… and that one… and that one…” The last one was a car. So I asked him why he did not just save up and buy one? So patience is so critical to genuine faith, and you cannot have one operating without the other. 

IGNORANCE TO WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR PRAYER TO BE ANSWERED
 Perhaps more than we realize, we have no idea what is required for our prayers to be answered, which may be a reason why they seem to be delayed, or even ignored. A most serious example of this in the Scripture was when the believers in Acts 12 were praying for Peter's release. Do you see what was required for Peter's release? That cost the lives of 4 squads of soldiers! This is not a light issue with God. Jesus said that He came to save lives and not destroy them. For some reason God the Father had approved of Peter's release all the while knowing that their authorities would execute them for it, and we know that His judgment was perfectly just. WE OFTEN DO NOT REALIZE WHAT WE ARE ASKING GOD TO DO WHEN WE ARE PRAYING FOR SOMETHING.

- The Prayer of Faith – “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” James 5:14-15   “But without faith, it is impossible to please Him.” Hebrews 11:6  If we are merely rattling off prayers mechanically, and not actually praying in faith and trusting God that He will do as He promises, we are wasting our time. We can be sure that we are not going to receive our request unless the Lord is over-riding our situation graciously, which He does do. Read about the Apostle Peter’s miraculous escape from prison who surprised the church while they were praying fervently for him when he arrived, but could not believe it was him knocking at the door. Acts 12 (Don’t you just love God? He is so Good and Gracious)  Now, dear friends, there are two things we all struggle with; confusing knowing that God can do something, and thinking that that in itself is the faith needed, which is different from the faith that is knowing that He WILL do something. The other misconception regarding faith is that we mix up hope with faith. We do pray in hope for sure, but that is again not necessarily the faith we need to see something transpire. If this is the best we can come with, do we cease to believe, hope, pray? - NEVER! We persevere, and that is faith, until we receive the promises.

- The Faithful Prayer – Prayer needs not only faith, but faithfulness. Here I am referring to hoping and believing the best for the object of our prayers. Like the prayer of a parent for their wayward child. Never giving up on them and persevering in prayer for them. This can apply in so many areas of our lives. Remember that “…faith which works by love.” Galatians 5:6,  We can take to prayer knowing that is the will of God for this person(s), situation, but still not have a heart for it, for whatever the reason. When we finally come to terms within ourselves that it is not only God’s will, but our will too, it not only becomes less of a chore, but a burden of our heart, and applying ourselves to the earnestness and diligence to the undertaking will be an honor and pleasure. “Who for the joy set before Him…in bringing many sons to glory…endured the cross…”  Hebrews 2:10, 12:2, Results can be expected to follow.

- Prayer in Humility – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, of theirs is the Kingdom of God.” Matthew 5:3, “…God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6  Remember the parable Jesus spoke regarding the Pharisee and the publican that went up to the temple to pray, and which one went away justified before God (Luke 18:10-14)?

Our own goodness and self-righteousness are like “…filthy rags.” before God. That is why we present our petitions and requests to God in Jesus’ name, in humility as we have nothing in ourselves to barter with before God Almighty. It is, “Christ in us, the Hope of glory.”

THE CHRISTIAN’S PRAYER LIFE –

 Thankfully there are no set rules and regulations regarding developing a prayer life. That is entirely left to the discretion of the individual, between them and God alone. There are good examples and principles to follow but they must be developed in co-ordination with the life’s demands and faith of the individual. As we each follow the Scriptures and the leading of the Holy Spirit, the Lord gently guides in growth and development in every area of our lives. We also have pastors and leaders who lead and inspire our growth and development along the way, but it is ultimately up to us to decide what we will do and how.

Remember, prayer, like Bible reading, going to church, giving to the poor… are not what we do to be more righteous, Jesus already purchased our righteousness. These things we do for our own benefit and development, and for the benefit of others. In other words, we get to do them. How exciting is that!!!

Because we are developing an eternal relationship with God our Heavenly Father in Jesus our Lord, we need to exercise our faith in these areas for our own good. The three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, are always trying to oppose us in any area of growth, or push us too far if we are very zealous. Disciplines in these areas like prayer, and consistency are so helpful, but should never replace spontaneity; however, spontaneity should not replace hard core consistency.

 All this to say that making prayer, and Bible reading, a daily effort, is essential to Christian growth and strength, just like eating, sleeping, and exercise is for the body. On a further note, public prayer meetings are extremely important, but should not take the place of personal prayer, and vise-versa.

 I would also like to encourage you, if you are not already doing so, to engage yourself in extra prayer, by tackling situations and issues in the world around you for the sake of the Kingdom of God, like the help of other believers who are struggling, the salvation of specific people, the divine intervention of God against certain works of darkness… Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you and follow the Word of God as you attempt to do so. It can also be so exciting, and a privilege.

Learn about and experience intercession, fasting, praying in tongues, travailing in prayer, worship, and the giving of thanks. There is so much we can do, and we have little time to do so in the big scheme of things.

PS – For a short note, if you have not developed a consistent prayer life or Bible study, as a suggestion, do not bite off more than you can chew. You need to know yourself.  Some people can engage in a new discipline and not flinch, but there are many of us who need to start small and grow into a greater level by process. What happens with some is that they start bigger than they have done before and wear out, get discouraged, and quit – similar to what many of us have attempted in dieting or body building. Growing it into our character and lifestyle for some of us is easier, more reliable, and less stressful. This is just a suggestion.

CONCLUSION – Pray, and “…pray without ceasing.” Jump in with both feet and join with Jesus, and with other believers, in the service of the Kingdom of God, and be a part of what God is doing in this world.