We need to understand the importance of prayer and the impact of prayer in our lives. The song you heard reflects the importance of prayer and really how natural it is to pray. Scripture: Ephesians God commands us to pray see also: Colossians That is the only reason we need. But He did not stop with giving a command. He has given us more, literally dozens of more reasons to pray.
Denomination: Baptist. David, the former king of Israel, writes a poem of praise to God. He tells us in verses one through four that God is worthy of our trust and He is worthy of our praise.
David praises God for hearing our prayers. Scripture: Psalms So many people do not use one of the greatest resource that the believer has, and that is prayer. Do you think of prayer as something to use only in an emergency? Do you believe you have a better hold on your life than God could? Do you want any thing out. Prayer is meant to be at the heart of a relationship to Jesus.
Jesus assumes you are already praying. Scripture: Matthew Denomination: Methodist. This is the first in a series on prayer, answering hte question what are the priorities, purpose and promise of prayer found in John Scripture: John Denomination: Pentecostal.
Her father was flattered that his little girl had chosen him. He pushed his Scripture: 1 Timothy Scripture: Jeremiah Consider your ways says the Lord in Haggai and one appliaction for reflection for me was on the phrase in the Lord's Prayer : Give us our daily bread. It unlocks, ignites, heals, transforms, empowers, and calms. The following are 5 compelling and inspiring reasons why we should pray. When we deal with our sin and our heart, God listens to our prayers and acts on our behalf.
Leaving things unresolved makes it difficult for us to be honest, let down and vulnerable, causing our prayers to be distracted or not genuine. Prayer is a perfect opportunity to explore our hearts, share everything with God and begin relieving ourselves of guilt and other emotions that may be weighing us down. Doing this will attract God and allow him to work in our lives. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision:.
Prayer initiates angelic action on our behalf. This is a concept that can be difficult for us to grasp if we are out of practice seeing the world through a spiritual lens. Prayer is a weapon that attacks and defeats the spiritual forces of evil. The armor of God offers protection, but it also allows us to take our stand, and fight back against the dark spiritual forces.
Prayer unlocks us, but only when we pray truthfully, and acknowledge and confess our sin. When we keep silent, we have no strength and our guilt remains. When we pray honestly, we are energized and God gives us confidence, trust, and freedom. Prayer refocuses us on God and not on ourselves or other people. Real power comes from God, not our humanistic abilities or talents.
Praying for others changes the course of their life. Our prayers can give others courage, influence their decisions, and change their outcomes. When praying, try making a concentrated effort to not just pray about yourself. He told us to "watch" when we pray. Jesus said the same thing to the disciples. This must be an important issue.
A little lad asked his dad for a watch. The family was quite poor, something the little fellow could not understand. The father tried to put the boy off by telling him that he could have a watch when he got older.
The little boy just kept asking for a watch. Finally the mother took the little boy aside and told him to stop asking for a watch since his father could not afford one for him. The persistent youth just kept asking. Finally, they made a rule in the house - the watch could not be mentioned! That night the little child asked if he could quote a Bible verse during devotions. The proud parents said yes. Every Christian must keep watch over his or her prayer life!
What does that mean? If we are not on our guard, something will enter our lives which will hinder our prayers. Note some Bible examples:. Look at Nehemiah Truly, Satan is always working against us even when we are "on the wall" for the Lord. We must work, but we must also pray! We must keep watch or Satan will add something to our lives to steal our victory in prayer.
See Mark ; We are also told to be "thankful" in our prayer life. Why is this admonition here? A thankless heart is a haughty one and will soon leave off praying and will begin to trust in self alone. This is true today, especially in terms of the growing humanism within our culture!
We are only ready to enter the battle through prayer when we have guarded our hearts and have grateful hearts! The poet said,. Paul calls for intercessory prayer for himself. He asks the church to pray for him! As great as he was, Paul knew he was nothing without God's blessing and power in his life. In fact, the greater a Christian is, the more he relies upon prayer! But note that the call for prayer is for intercessory prayer. Intercessory prayer is the act of praying for others.
Even when Paul asked for prayer, he did so for the sake of others. He asked for prayer so that the gospel might reach the lost! His request was not a selfish one, but was a selfless one! God can and will bless that kind of request and that kind of prayer.
Perhaps that is why Paul was such a great servant of the Lord. Paul was asking for prayer in order that the opportunity to minister might be granted.
So many of our prayers are self-centered and are focused only on our personal wants and needs. Don't misunderstand me, we are told to bring our burdens and concerns to the Lord through prayer. However, when prayer is only about me and mine, we begin to treat the Lord like a holy bellhop. His concern was not for himself alone, but for God to be honored and glorified. He wanted God's work to succeed. Paul was praying that he might have the opportunity for God to use him.
Now remember, when Paul was used of God it was often very difficult for Paul. He was stone, shipwrecked, beaten, imprisoned, bitten by a snake and faced other hardships while God was "using" him. So, when Paul is praying for the opportunity to be used by God, it was not like some of the prosperity evangelists or our day who ask you to give to their ministry so they can buy another private airplane! Paul's prayer was not personal - it was spiritual.
How much time do you think the average Christian spends praying for God to use him and give him opportunity to be effective in divine work? We pray about our finances, our health, our children, our employment, our safety, our happiness, et al.
But, just take a moment and think about how seldom we pray earnestly for the Lord to open a door for us to be used for His sake, especially if that place of service is going to be dangerous and costly to us. But opportunity was not enough. Paul asked that prayer be offered in order so that he would be found capable of doing his best when the opportunity came.
There was no presumption that he would succeed if given the opportunity. There was no pride or arrogance in Paul's request that prayer be offered for him.
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