Have you ever said a prayer similar to this. Dear Lord, As your humble servant, let me prove to you that winning the lottery won’t change me. Amen.
Or how about this. “Dear Lord, so far today, I am doing alright. I have not gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or self-indulgent. I have not whined, complained, cursed, or eaten any chocolate. I have charged nothing to my credit card. But, I will be getting out of bed in a minute, and I think that I will need your help then. Amen
Prayer! What a very mystical yet awesome concept. Prayer is mentioned timelessly in Scripture and has proven its self around the world as being the single most important action we can take as Christians, no matter the circumstance. Prayer moves obstacles and changes lives. Prayers answers comes with Yes, No, Wait! To some, prayer is easy, and to others its more challenging. Regardless of our skill level in prayer, we need to remember that praying without ceasing, even if its painful, its vital to our journey.
I think we sometimes we misunderstand prayer. To pray, we don’t have to fully understand His plan in our lives, and we do not need a PHD. Prayer is something that is learned and taught in a very mystical way. Prayer develops with practice and asking God to help. God placed it there in each believer.
In a manner of speaking, God has placed in us a wireless telephone with unlimited minutes. No surcharges, no monthly fees. It’s a free phone that dials directly to God. Its always available, you won’t have dropped calls and every time you call He will answer, even if its no or wait. However, when God calls us, do we let it ring off the hook? Send it to voicemail?
I remember telling someone that I haven’t heard from in a while, that my phone is exactly the same distance from my house to yours. So there’s no reason why we can’t talk. Its all about being available to God and our willingness to listen.
Yet, Jesus tells us clearly to have an active prayer life. Praying is our responsibility to commune with God for ourselves, and believe it or not, for others. Listen to what Paul is telling timothy in todays reading. First of all, then, I urge that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made in behalf of all people, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
The word intercession here means to petition or bring to God and account of what your asking for. In other words, be specific. Pray for an account of what is your request, not just for world peace. Just as Christ interceded for us to the Father in prayer, so do we for our fellow man. It is in Gods full intention to hear the prayers of all who believe in Him, and God wants all people to be saved, even our worse enemy!
Have you heard or thought of questions like Why pray when I don’t know if its going to do any good? Why pray when I just don’t know how or what to say? Why pray when its just not in me? Why have others pray for me, is not my prayers enough? These are great questions, and let me first emphasize the importance of prayer.
A 19th century minister E.M. Bounds wrote this on prayer “Prayer should not be regarded as a duty… but rather a privilege to be enjoyed, a rare delight that is always revealing some new beauty’. 1 Thessalonians tells us, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Notice the word the ‘will of God’ for us to pray.
Listen to the epistle of James, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
Actual fervent prayer of a righteous person swells with blessings, overflows with Love and succeeds in doing Gods will for us.
Romans tells us, Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Groanings!
Just in these few verses alone friends enlightens us into what God is saying. WE Pray because its Gods desire for us. WE Pray as the prayers of a righteous person avails much or succeeds. WE Pray amongst our weakness as God intercedes for us even when we don’t know what to say. Most importantly, WE Pray because Jesus gives us many examples from the Lords Prayer, to his own private prayers He done for the disciples and us today. Prayer is powerful, necessary and it shows obedience. We are to Pray without ceasing! We don’t give up!
Pauls letter to the Colossians tells us “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned.” Here we learn Paul is in prison, and he continues to enforce Prayer as the only for sure way to fight our battles.
Also found in the Gospel of Luke, there is a parable Jesus told about a widow woman that kept coming to a judge asking for justice in her circumstance. She kept coming to the judge and finally the judge said I do not fear God but this woman is bothering me. I will give her justice as she is wearing me out. Hear what Jesus said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge *said; now, will God not bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night, and will He delay long for them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly.”
So in having persistent or un-ceasing prayer we see at least three things.
First, God Cares For Me! (Repeat). 1 Peter tells us directly to cast ‘all’ our cares on him because he cares for us. Psalm 52 says to ‘Trust in God’s unfailing Love for ever and ever. Even our fleshly un-willing drive to submit and ask for our needs is at risk of being challenged because we know the great value to communicating with our Lord is above our comprehension. For most people, we are mis-interpreting our fleshly world to the spirit world! This is one of the important reasons to pray, we are not aligned to God’s sovereign will for our lives, whom knows best and not just the wants! Let not as I will, but your will!
Second, God Hears My Prayers. (Repeat) It would be absolutely waste of time if you gave a mechanic money to repair your vehicle and then you find out he absolutely done nothing to repair it. In the Old Testament Isaiah tells us ‘How gracious he will be with you when you cry for help!’ Right there gives you an example of his Love in and through prayer!
Psalms 102 tell us he will not reject your pleas. He is listening! Just as He did for the woman who went to the Judge.
Third, I can Pray with Confidence (Repeat) Out of all three, this is the hardest I think. Going to God with full confidence that he Cares, He is Listening, and he will answer, even if its NO.
Ephesians tells us ‘In Him and through faith in him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence’! Hebrews tell us to approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Gospel of Matthew tells us clearly ‘If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer’.
A very hard question to ask, does God not listen to my prayers? What has to happen in order for God to turn a deaf ear to us? Is it even possible?
Listen to what scripture tells us. Psalm 66, Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me. I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; he has given heed to the voice of my prayer. Jeremiah 11:11 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words; they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am bringing evil upon them which they cannot escape; though they cry to me, I will not listen to them.
You see, even when we don’t realize it, we can sabotage our own prayers. Our lips say cry to God, but our Heart is far from Him. We can portray Christ physically, but in our Spirit, its quenched like a desert. Isaiah tells us sin alone will drive us away from God and He will not hear us. Proverbs tells us If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.
WE have every reason in the world to pray, but none to neglect it.
The good news is that the Bible doesn’t leave us wondering. The Bible passages I mentioned give each us a way to weigh our thoughts and motivations to discern whether or not we’re going to God in prayer with the right heart. And when we do approach God earnestly, we can rest confidently on this promise: “The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve.”
There is power, real power in praying in the name of Jesus. There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved.
A father took his children to the county fair. Knowing his kids would only be interested in the rides, he bought a whole roll of tickets for them. As each child approached a ride, they went to the father, reached out with their hand and received a ticket for that ride. At one ride, after the children got their ticket, a strange boy approached the father, put out his hand and obviously was expecting a ticket. The father withdrew the roll of tickets as he did not know the boy. Then one of the fathers children named Stephen came to the father and said, “Its ok dad, this is my friend. I told him you would give him a ticket.” Do you know what the father did? He gave the strange boy a ticket in Stephens name. The strange boy had no right to the ticket, but since his son Stephen had said he could have one, the father honored the name of his son. Praying in the name of Jesus, is what we have to do. So friends, what do we do now? What can we do with prayer in our lives?
Pray Always, Pray According to God’s Will, Pray in the Holy Spirit, Ask in Faith and Ask For Faith, Pray in Jesus Name, Pray with clear mind and self control, Pray in agreement with other believers, continue to pray during the good times and bad, Pray in Secret and he will reward you openly, Pray without hidden sin. Please remember, prayer must be accompanied with thanksgiving!
The result of Christ empowered prayer is a result of our joy being made full, busting and running over. We have a loving heavenly father, so let us rejoice knowing that in Jesus name, we pray with full confidence that we will never be forgotten, separated or abandoned. Amen.