I wrote a post not too long ago about the importance of prayer during your
process
click here if you haven't read it yet I strongly
suggest that you do because it will bless you! But this time I wanted
to focus a little more on how to pray, when to pray and
the power of praying with one another.
In Luke 11:1-13 Jesus teaches us how to pray. Then in Matthew 6:5-15
Jesus instructs us how to pray:
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to
pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.
Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room,
close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who
sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on
babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many
words. Do
not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
“This,
then, is how you should pray:
“Our
Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one."
For if you forgive other
people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others
their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."
In these verses Jesus advises us to go into a room (our room) and close the
door instead of standing on a street corner. He also tells us to pray to our
Father in heaven; this should be our mentality as we are entering into this
time with Him. He tells us to come to Him and call Him
father;
this shows the significance of our relationship with Him. Jesus also
instructs us to pray in first person plural because even though our prayers are
done in private we are to pray and intercede for one another. We pray for our
family, friends, co-workers, etc... Our prayer shouldn't only be about us
and our needs and selfish desires but also about our brothers and sisters in
Christ. He also instructs us to ask for forgiveness and to forgive
others
(Matthew 6:14-15). How can we ask God to bless us
and provide for us but hold a grudge against a brother or sister (in Christ)? I
wrote about
forgiveness here. We have to be free
and forgive in order to be forgiven.
Why is it that we know the power of prayer, and the power we feel when and
after we pray but we don't do it or we wait until we are desperate for
example when we are sick we pray to get better or when we are running late
to an interview meeting, work, church, or whatever place we may be going to we
pray we get there on time? Why do we wait to pray and ask God to do anything
for us? It's really sad to think that most of us never think about praying
until something bad happens or life isn't going the way that we planned it to
go. Then we get upset/mad at God because He didn't answer our one request out
of selfishness.
James 4:2-3 says
"You lust and do not
have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not
have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask
amiss, that you may spend it on your
pleasures."
So my question is when do you pray? Is it when you are at church (at the
alter) and everybody is watching/can see you or when you're out with
a group of "Christian friends"? Or when you are overwhelmed with
life, or maybe happy with life? Do you pray when you are full of
joy and are well? Do you pray when all hell is breaking lose? When
exactly do you pray? You might be saying well the bible doesn't tell us a
specific time when to pray. Or does it? Well in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 it
tells us to "
PRAY continuously"
another version says
"pray all the time" So
you see the bible does tell us when to pray
1
Chronicles 16:11 says: "Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always." This to me means
to always be in commune with God; to always be praying no matter the time of
day, no matter life's situations/circumstances, no matter the way I might be
feeling at times, no matter where I may be school, home, grocery shopping, at
the gym, and especially at work. You don't know how many times I've had to pray
before, during, and after work lol I can laugh about it know because I can see
where those prayers have brought me (I'll blog about that another time) but you
see prayer does work! It shifts our focus onto the One who sees the bigger
picture. I love this quote that I read the other day it said "Don't
stop praying! Satan tries to limit your praying because he knows your praying
will limit him."
Ever wonder why you start to
feel tired or lose your train of thought/focus as soon as you are about to pray
or read your bible, hmmm?? Well that isn't a coincidence it's the enemy, Satan.
He sees you trying to get your life back on track with God and he begins to
play with your mind; he sees you reaching for that bible and about to pray and
he makes you think of anything and everything else just so you can be
distracted and not talk to God or read His word. The devil isn't stupid! He
might want you to believe that but he's not, he knows exactly what it will take
for you to not pray. He knows that if you get into an argument at work you
won't pray so don't be surprised when so and so comes trying to start something
with you. He knows that if you are down you won't pray, so he'll send you some
bad news. He knows that you won't pray if everything in your life is going
great, so he'll send you some more good things into your life (not God things
but good things), and so on and so forth... do you see how he works?? I
know most of us heard this saying before: "Pray hardest
when it is hardest to pray!" So what will
it take the enemy to get you to not pray? Think about it...
Lastly I want to talk about the power of praying with one
another. There are so many verses in the bible that refers to
the body of Christ and how we need one another. There is so much
power in praying together Matthew 18:19-20 is a great example of what the power of praying with each other
can do "Again, truly I tell you that if two of you
on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my
Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my
name, there am I with them."
James 5:6 "Therefore
confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may
be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."
James 5:14-15 says
"Is anyone among you sick? Let
them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil
in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered
in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they
have sinned, they will be forgiven."
2 Chronicles 7:14 "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."
Half the time some of us Christians don't really know how to pray on our
own, or either we're in a season where we can't find the words to pray or the
strength to carry that load by ourselves and that is when we are to step
in and carry those burdens for our fellow brothers and sisters in prayer. As I
mentioned earlier we are to pray and intercede for them; after all, they are
the body of Christ and we need every last one of them on this journey called
life.
If you've never prayed with someone or for someone other than
yourself before I encourage you to do so, there is so much freedom and
power when we lay aside our needs to pray for someone else's needs. Not only do
you feel the freedom and power but so does the person you are praying with/for.
And if you are reading this and your prayer life isn't where you know it should
be I want to personally encourage you to P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Something
Happens) through it!
I love you all <3
Your sis in Christ,
Joy J
