Someone wrote and asked several questions concerning prayer and since our prayer life is so important to our success, (or failure), and certainly relevant to others, I decided to write about it today.
I believe that once we accept Christ as our Savior, we must completely surrender our lives in order to obtain the success that we desire. In order to fully surrender to Him and enhance our faith, we must engage daily in a serious Bible study program, establish regular fellowship with other Christian believers, and employ continuous prayer throughout our lives.
I always look towards Christ’s life as a model to how I should try to live my life. Jesus prayed and prayed and prayed throughout His lifetime and ministry. There are countless examples of it throughout the Gospels. If He prayed in such a fashion, how much more so should we?
What is prayer anyway? It is direct communication with our God. Many equate prayer as being similar to submitting a long grocery list of our desires and needs. “Hey God, I need this, and this, and this, and this….Oh yeah, I almost forgot, and that, and that, and that….”
I believe that God, who already knows our needs far better than we do, desires far more from us when we pray. Foremost we should worship and praise Him through our prayers. We should offer thanksgiving for His blessings, confess our sins, and express our thoughts, fears, and emotions. We should go to our Holy Father in adoration, but in a personal manner. Romans 8:15: For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” It is interesting to note in this passage that “Abba”, a term of endearment similar to a child calling its father “daddy”, is used. We are to go to Him respectfully, but lovingly just as a son or daughter would go to an earthly parent.
This is not to say that our prayers should not include items that are for our personal benefit, or for the benefit and sake of others; they should! Jesus prayed time and again in just such a manner. I’m merely making the point that our prayer life should be an all inclusive discussion of every facet of our lives with a Father who deeply loves us and wants to help us to succeed in every aspect of our lives whereby and thereby we can enjoy His peace and joy.
It is sometimes difficult to know what we should pray for. Poor old Job recognized the need for this when he said in Job 37:19: Tell us what we should say to Him; we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness. Jesus addressed this dilemma with a prayer in John 14:16: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever”.
Indeed there is proof that God directly answered His prayer in Romans 8:26: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express
So when we pray and we do not receive the desired answer, should we assume that prayer does not work? If we correlate to our own lives we can easily see that everything our children ask for and desire is not always what they need or good for them. What parent has not turned down a request from a child for something that would not have been in their best interest? When Jesus asked God if there was any way to spare Him “this cup” , (as in the trip to the cross), to please do so. There was no other way. We must realize that the answer to our prayers is not always yes and when we get a no do as Jesus did, we should accept it: “Nonetheless Lord Your will be done and not mine”.
As CEO of my company I’m often ridiculed for some of my decisions by employees and others who are not privy to all of the information that I am. If they all knew everything that I knew about the situation, my decisions would make more sense. God knows everything and is in a much better position to make the correct and perfect decision every single time and grant or deny requests accordingly. And if we truly have faith in him, we will trust Him and accept His answer even if it grieves us to do so.
So how should we pray? Some religions ritualize the act of prayer, requiring a strict sequence of actions or placing a restriction on who is permitted to pray. The Bible tells us that prayer should be practiced spontaneously by anyone at any time.
Prayer may be done privately and individually, or it may be done corporately in the presence of fellow believers. Prayer should be incorporated into a daily “thought life”, in which we are in constant communication with God throughout all that is happening during the day, continually seeking guidance as the day progresses.
What about body posture?
Huh?
Personally I don’t think God cares if we pray while standing, sitting, kneeling, prostrate on the floor, eyes opened, eyes closed, hands folded or clasped, hands upraised, holding hands with others, or a laying on of hands on others.
The Bible warns us that prayers should not be recited from memory or mindlessly chanted and read from a book of prayers, or done to edify one’s self in front of others, rather should be composed spontaneously as they are prayed to a personal God. They may be thoughts, said, or sung. They may be with musical accompaniment or not.
I could go on and on, but you need time to get prepared to go to church this Sunday. Sorry this was so long, but it is a deep subject. Have a great weekend…
Eph. 6:18
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.