Prayer is something that always has to be a priority in our lives. Prayer is the way to strengthening our fellowship and friendship with God, and the key to understand His will for our lives and experiencing His power in our lives.
Prayer is something that always has to be a priority in our lives. Prayer is the way to strengthening our fellowship and friendship with God, and the key to understand His will for our lives and experiencing His power in our lives. That’s why Jesus and the Apostle Paul modeled and taught us about the importance of prayer (Luke 11:1-13, 18:1; Ephesians 3:14-21).
Read and reflect on the following statements about prayer from great Christians in times past.
n “The principal cause of my leanness and unfruitfulness is owing to an unaccountable backwardness to pray. I can write or read or converse or hear with a ready heart; but prayer is more spiritual and inward than any of these, and the more spiritual any duty is the more my carnal heart is apt to stay from it. Prayer and patience and faith are never disappointed. When I can find my heart in frame and liberty for prayer, everything else is comparatively easy.” (Richard Newton)
n “The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is pray. It is not the only thing; but it is the chief thing. The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I mean the people who take time to pray.” (S. D. Gordon)
n “The power of prayer can never be overrated. Those who cannot serve God by preaching need not regret. If a person can but pray, he or she can do anything. He who knows how to overcome with God in prayer has Heaven and earth at his disposal.” (Charles Spurgeon)
n “What the church needs today is people whom the Holy Spirit can use – people of prayer, people mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but through people. He does not come on machinery, but on people. He does not anoint plans, but people – people of prayer.” (E. M. Bounds)
I want to challenge you to make prayer a “top priority” in your life, in your home, and in your Life Group in the coming days.
The level of spiritual growth and victory experienced by you, your family, your Life Group and our church will be directly related to your effort and effectiveness in prayer.
If you’re having struggles in your prayer life, then the following tips will be helpful for you.
n Set a time and place for prayer every day. Someone said, “Hem in both ends of your day with prayer, and its less likely to unravel.”
n Pray out loud when you pray, and kneel or walk around if that will help you to concentrate
n Be specific when you pray, avoiding generalities as much as possible
n Confess your sins when you pray, because the Lord has said if we don’t deal with our sins He will not hear us (Psalm 66:18, 1 John 1:9)
n Pray earnestly and intensely when you pray (Acts 12:5, James 5:16)
n Take time to listen and allow the Lord to speak to you when you pray (1 Samuel 3:9)
n Read and quote passages from the Bible when you pray (Psalm 119:105)
n Spend time in your prayer time praising the Lord, confessing to the Lord, thanking the Lord, and praying for others, your church and your city as well as yourself.
Daniel in the Bible was one of the most successful and influential men who ever lived. One verse characterizes his life. Daniel 6:10 tells us that when Daniel was in a stress-filled situation: “He went home and knelt down three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to God.” As a result of his prayer life, Daniel was delivered from a den of lions and the prospect of death.
If you and I will pray as Daniel did the Lord will deliver us and those we’re praying for from “dens of lions” and from emotional, financial, relational and spiritual death.