“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Prayer should be as natural as breathing to a Spirit filled Christian, yer sadly so many of us prefer to hold our breath. Some only remember to pray at the end of the day after all their energy has gone or only when things start going wrong .
Most people in the Western World know something about the Lord’s Prayer such as; “Our Father which art in heaven….” But they don’t know how to pray. For some the only prayer they pray is …. “Oh my God!” and even then they don’t wait around to hear if He says anything in response.
The disciples of Jesus came to Him and asked, “Lord teach us to pray.” You would think that being His disciples they would know how to pray but they had to be taught. As a Christian do you know how to pray? Do you pray all that much, or only in an emergency?
Pray is quite simple really and could end up being the secret to your success as you put it into practise. Many struggle to find time to pray, and this is because we have an enemy who hates us praying, for he knows that it’s through prayer that we defeat him. He tries to get us to do all sorts of other things to keep us from praying and whispers in our ears that it’s all a waste of time.
Let’s face it, Christians don’t naturally like to pray for its talking to someone that we can’t see. We would rather read a Christian book, or sing a nice Chorus, watch a Christian video or even speak to some one about God than spend time talking to Him.
Prayer is simply speaking to God, having a conversation with Him. He is always ready to listen and longs for us to come to Him. The bible even says that He hears the ravens when they cry and their cries all sound the same to us and aren’t that pretty. Psalm 147:9. This tells us that our prayers no matter how simple, are far better than a raven's cry. Our God is like the Prodigal Son’s Father who is always waiting for us to come to Him. Jesus said that we are to ask Him for our needs and He will meet them.
“Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you:” Matthew 7:7 (KJV)
We see here the heart of God. He is a generous giver but we need to come and ask Him for help. God has designed things so that we don’t have everything we need. For us to find true fulfilment we need to constantly come to God and ask Him for help. We’d never come to Him if we had everything. It’s by coming to Him that we develop a relationship. Most people come to God in their time of need, for when all goes well we don’t seem to want God. We need God more than we realise, in fact we can’t get to heaven without Him.
In Luke 18:1- 8 we read that we should pray all the time otherwise we’ll give up under the pressure. It’s inferring that if we are not praying we will be weak Christians. This parable is about a woman who was in trouble and came to a judge for help but he couldn’t care less about her problem. She kept nagging him day after day and eventually he gave in and helped her – and it was because of her continual coming to him. Jesus says that if this judge could answer her request by her continual coming then how much more will God answer our prayers if we come to Him for help. He also says that we must come to Him night and day.
“And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
It’s obvious that we should not just pray once and then stop, but keep on praying. It says to knock and keep on knocking, seek and keep on seeking and we will be blessed.
When you pray it gives God a chance to change you as you wrestle with Him in prayer. Look at Jacob who wrestled with the Angel through the night. During this struggle he was changed from Jacob to Israel (Prince with God) and so will we be changed and blessed as we spend time in prayer. Genesis 32:22-32.
When I came to God at 21 years of age, my life was a mess. I had been taking drugs and had bec0me really paranoiac. My mind was starting to crack and I thought the police were after me all the time. I had been on a bad LSD trip as well and had all sorts of strange ideas going on in my head. Darkness was overtaking my mind and it was affecting my artist talent. Friends said that my art was becoming evil and this scared me a lot.
When I came to Christ I was at the bottom of the pit, the next step down would have been a Mental Home. I began to pray and ask God to help me and He did and changed my life around slowly but surely. I praise God that I was saved in a Pentecostal Church and was encouraged to speak in Tongues. I would go for walks praying in tongues letting the Holy Spirit intercede through and for me. Slowly but surely a healing process took place and God changed me.
I have seen so many answers to prayer, with God answering my requests emotionally, physically, spiritually, materially, financially and socially. I have received houses, cars, airfares, souls, a lovely wife, children and even my deepest desires have all been given to me through prayer to a loving heavenly Father.
Ask God to help you discipline yourself to pray, making it a high priority in your life. Don’t let the Devil trick you into spending all your spare time just reading books, watching television or spending time with people. Step out in faith and talk to this wonderful God who longs to show you His power.
You may have everything taken away from you and even be put in jail for your faith but no one can stop you praying if you want to.
Many of the Apostles ended up in jail and weren’t able to preach anymore. They couldn’t read the word, travel or minister to the sick but they could pray and sing to God and kept their faith high.
You can pray right now and God promises you in John 14:14 that you can ask anything in the name of Jesus and it will be given to you. With promises like that why don't we spend more time in prayer?