WHAT IS PRAYER?
Prayer is talking with God. It should involve thanksgiving, petition, praise, intercession, communion and listening with submission.
“Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.”
(Philippians 4:6)
Prayer is our communication with God. It may be spoken words or thoughts out of our spirit, because God can see into our hearts and hears our every thought. God alone can know all about us. We can talk to God at any time. We cannot read another mind and neither can the devil. Only God knows all things. We should live with this attitude knowing God is only a thought away from hearing our prayer. God is always present to hear our cry so we should pray without ceasing. (I Thessalonians 5:17)
To pray, we must be in fellowship with God as believers and come before Him in His presence.
“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise…” (Psalms 100:4)
It is important to begin our communication with God with thanksgiving for what He has already done and with praise for being the wonderful Lord He is. This builds our faith and blesses Him.
PETITION is the practice of turning to God with our needs and desires. We are prone to forget God or to be casual in our prayer life when life is easy and we have everything we need. So God allows us to experience need to motivate us to turn to Him. God wants us to turn to Him first as our source. We are to turn to Him for healing, help and provision. It is not wrong to seek the help of others but God should be our first call, not our last resort.
INTERCESSION is the practice of prayer for others. It is an indication of maturity and is very important for our own growth. It is especially wise to pray for those in authority over you, because the more your parents, pastor and government leaders are spiritually strengthened, the more they will protect and bless you. (I Timothy 2:1-2)
COMMUNION and worship are a part of prayer. Also, we should listen and allow God to speak to us as we seek His face. If we seek His face we will move His hand on our behalf. His face means to pursue a relationship with Him, not just to seek His hand of provision or blessing. The first commandment is that we should love the Lord our God. That is what prayer and everything is all about. We should allow God time to speak to us in prayer and not leave Him a list of do’s and leave after we have had our say.
We should “….pray with the spirit.” (I Corinthians 14:15) When you pray with the spirit, you are not praying with your mind. This is expressed verbally with tongues, and will always have a healthy positive effect on your life. Every believer should seek to pray “… in the spirit” (Ephesians 6:18; Jude 20) that is, to allow the Holy Spirit to direct your praying whether it is expressed in your natural language or in tongues.
Prayer is personal communication with God, and it should be a part of our life every day. Jesus taught us to pray to the Father in the name of Jesus, although it is not necessarily wrong to pray to Jesus or to the Holy Spirit. The Godhead is in complete unity and understanding of God’s people.
Let God’s people PRAY! |
