What is prayer?
Prayer is simply talking to God. Speaking directly to God is one of the greatest benefits of our salvation. We can do that by the blood of Jesus, go into the presence of the Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the one for whom nothing is impossible, whenever we wish.
Why should we pray?
Through prayer, God allows us to be involved in His work that will go on forever. When we pray, we participate in God’s will being accomplished “on earth as it is in heaven.”
9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9-10
Why do we need to pray?
Because when we pray, we direct our thoughts toward God. It helps us dwell less on the daily challenges of life and more on God, His power, His love, and His work in our life. And aside from turning our thoughts to God, we also let God into our minds when we pray.
Here are five reasons we should be praying every day:
- Reduce Stress. Doctors who have studied the physiological effects of prayer have reported that when praying, the heart rate and blood pressure decrease, and breathing regulates.
- Increase Empathy.
- Build Relationships.
- Spiritual Exercise.
- Emotional Health.
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
We should always approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, if we do that, we’ll receive mercy and find grace, that will help us in our time of need.
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15
That’s right – we can come before the throne of God to find rescue whenever we need. Someone has said that prayer moves the hand of God, and that He will do nothing except in answer to our prayers. A disciple of Jesus must learn to come to Him in prayer every day, for several reasons:
- Through prayer we come to be intimate with God and know more about Him every day. The more we pray, the more we will know His will for our lives.
- The Bible encourages us to pray continually – 1 Thessalonians 5:17
- God has promised to answer our prayers to Him.
“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”. John 14:13-14
- Without prayer we cannot receive the blessings God has for us-
“You do not have because you do not ask God.”. James 4:2b
- Without prayer we cannot overcome temptations and the devil’s plans against us.
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” Matthew 26:41
- Prayer releases God’s power in our lives.
An Effective Prayer.
A life of prayer is a choice we make and one that requires discipline and determination. It is very important to see prayer as something fundamental in our lives and to have a serious commitment in praying every day if we want to grow and be blessed by God.
Some important advice to pray effectively:
- Choose the best place – We need to have a quiet place where we will not be interrupted so we can pray to God.
- We should Always have a set time to pray – A life of prayer requires discipline. If we have established we want to pray in the morning, we cannot expect to feel like waking up early to pray. One’s desire is often to stay in bed! But if we want to have a successful life, we must exercise discipline over the desires of the flesh.
There was this young man who had recently converted to Christ and was going through a process of liberation and needed a great miracle from God. He decided to get up half an hour before work to pray every day, but he was not having any success. Until one day he decided: he would start to put two alarm clocks to ring in the morning -one in his bedroom and another one two minutes later, in the kitchen.
Once the first alarm rang, he would need to get up in a rush to turn off the second alarm clock, otherwise everybody else in the house would wake up. That’s how he had victory over sleep – running to the kitchen so early in the morning would wake him up and bring a willingness to start praying. Not everything has to be mystical or supernatural in our lives. Sometimes we simply need an attitude that helps us to overcome our natural limitations, and God will consequently bless us.
Our pastor has been an example of prayer for all of us, because since Shalom Church began 16 years ago he has been faithful in morning prayer meetings at 6am for our church, our Town and I have been following in his footsteps!
I decided to get up earlier every day to have a special time with God through prayer, that requires discipline: I set an alarm; when it rings, I must get up, I’m following it but to be honest with you all, let me tell you something it is not easy to obey the decision that I’ve made. When the alarm starts ringing, I feel so tired and want to continue sleeping, but I remind myself that I’ve made a commitment to get up earlier that allows me to fulfil my decision.
- Have your mind and your heart fully focused on God.
Jesus said, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who cannot be seen. And your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you”. Matthew 6:6
God wants us to fully concentrate on Him when we are praying. Take time not only to talk to God, but also to hear Him.
Many people fail to pray because their thoughts begin to “wander off’ and they cannot concentrate on their prayers. This is common because the enemy is not pleased with prayer. If you have been struggling with this, declare and decree broken every chain and every prison in your mind, and every work of religiosity in your life. If you need, pray out aloud, but do not give up! After some time working on your concentration, you will acquire the habit of praying, and it will bring you much pleasure and joy.
- Speak naturally with God. – You do not need to use big words to pray. God is your Father and loves you as you are. Express all that is in your heart and do not worry about formalities.
- Confess your sins to God and keep a clean and upright life – Every time before praying, we must ask the Holy Spirit to show us where we have been sinning and displeasing God, so that we can repent and restore our fellowship with Him.
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:2
The practice of sin separates us from God, as well as preventing Him from answering our prayers.
“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.” 1 John 3:21-22
- Forgive those who have offended you – Unforgiveness prevents our prayers from being answered.
“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins”. Mark 11:25
If you have bitterness in your heart against people, if you are always talking bad about people who have offended you, if you do not forgive, two things will happen: this bitterness (lack of forgiveness) will produce emotional and physical diseases in your body and your prayers will not be heard.
- Ask for guidance of the Holy Spirit when you are praying.
-“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” Romans 8.26-27
Pray in tongues, if you have already received this gift.
- Pray with faith – Let all your worries and anxiety go away, as they prevent you from hearing God’s answer.
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him,” Hebrews 11:6
Unbelief prevents us from the power of God in our lives from praying and seeing. Tell God all your needs, even the small ones.
For example, let’s say you need to buy a pair of shoes. Pray to God saying how much you can afford and what you need, and ask Him to direct you to the right store. If you need a great miracle, such as a physical healing, pray for this miracle. Nothing is so small that God is not interested, nor so big that He cannot do. God wants to teach us to always depend on him.
In addition to asking for what you need, there are other forms of prayer that need to include in your time with God:
- a) Praise and thanksgiving – God is pleased with a grateful heart. We praise God for all He has done for us and always give thanks for blessings and answered prayers.
- b) Intercession –- it is the prayer for the needs of others. Always pray:
For your family – for your closest and dearest people, especially those who do not know the salvation of Jesus.
For the church. Asking God for the salvation of souls: pray for all the recent church visitors, for the cell meetings and their growth, for each member, the leader and deputy leader of your cell group with a desire in your heart to hear God’s direction for your cell group for the pastors and church leaders.
For the authorities in government – for the current Taoiseach, president, TDs, city council, judges, prosecutors, the garda, etc.
“1. I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3- This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, 4- who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2: 1-4
Prayer is so important that it permits us to live a peaceful and quiet life and it will reach out people to be saved knowing the truth that Jesus is the Saviour of the World. Please let us pray continually without ceasing.
Reminder
What did we learn today?
Why should we pray?
Why do we need to pray?
What are the reasons we should be praying every day?
How do we pray effectively?
How do we speak with God?
Challenges and recommendations
1 – We must discipline ourselves every day by getting up earlier to have a special time with God through prayer.
2 – We must study the Bible every day at least twice, in getting up and before going to bed.
3 – We must set a time and agenda for all church activities: ✔️ The meeting of your Cell (if you don’t participate, you are disconnected from the most important meeting of this church). ✔️Biblical School – Conquerors’ School – If you did not do it, you need to do it – because there you will learn the Biblical principles and grow in the knowledge of the Scriptures. ✔️12 Hours of Prayer every first Saturday of the month (From 7am to 7pm) Are you busy for 12 hours and don’t have 1 hour to come to prayer? ✔️2 Hours of Worship every first Saturday of the month. ✔️Prayer Meetings in the Mornings at Hope Café Wed 6:00 / Thur 9:30 Frid 6:00.
4 – We must set our goals and write them down and pray for them.
5 – We must pray before attending all services in the church and take notes on the message delivered on Sunday service.
May the Lord bless you and keep you, Jesus loves you all so much and so do I. Have a blessed week you all and see you all next Sunday.