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Prayer

Prayer Is Not An Option by Sue Stahl

Prayer Is Not An Option.jpg

A strong statement, yes, but this mindset may be needed to help us recognize the many schemes of the devil that are at work to destroy our desire, our approach and position in prayer.

In Ephesians 6, the great analogical lesson on our spiritual armor ends with the warning to ‘keep alert with all perseverance’ by ‘praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayers and supplication’.
Thus personally, I have asked Jesus to teach me how to pray.
These reminders of His truth have helped me to reposition myself into the blessing that is found at the throne of grace.

• Prayer isn’t about my words. It is about my heart’s desire to draw near to God.
He knows what I have need of before I ask Him. He intercedes for me when I don’t know what to prayer. His ways and thoughts are higher than mine.

I come to God as He is: Almighty, Creator, Sustainer, Life giver.

I come to Him as I am: weak, beggarly, childlike, foolish, uncertain, sinful.

We meet in the dwelling place of His love, His mercy, His power.

Light penetrates the darkness. I am home.


13 And you will seek Me and find [Me], when you search for Me with all your heart. - Jer 29:13 NKJV

• Prayer is the mortar to build the church:
The descriptive phrases that are coupled with prayer in the early church exhibited a passion, a certainty and a confidence that God would perform as He had promised in continuing to build and nurture His church. The sampling of these words would indicate that the knowledge and practice of prayer was foundational to the health of the church:devoting themselves to prayer, earnest prayer, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day,constant in prayer, praying at all times in the Spirit, continuing steadfastly in prayer, praying without ceasing, striving in prayer, always in prayer, remembering you in prayer, Struggling for you in prayer.


2 And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. - Luk 10:2 ESV

• Prayer is a thread of eternity weaving my soul into the oneness of a triune God.
The Atonement-ordained by my Father in heaven who gave me the right to be called a child of God.

Jesus, the eternal sacrifice who became flesh and dwelt among us.

The Holy Spirit who gives life and is a guarantee of my heavenly inheritance.

The One who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

The One who parts the seas and walks on water.

The One who completes the good work that He has started.

My prayer is not about me in this moment, it is about His desire for me to embrace Him in every moment, forever. His eternal purposes become my goal, my vision. My momentary trouble is but for a moment.


22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. - Jhn 17:22-23 ESV

• My prayers bring delight to my Father and His response is my reward (a giving back, a payment, something I receive)

He tells us to ask that we would receive. His delight is to give us good gifts from above.
His intimate blessings reveal that we are His children and He knows the desires of our hearts.
Abba Father, Give us this day our daily bread. Fill and satisfy my longing soul with the good things from Your hand.


6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. - Mat 6:6 ESV

• Prayer is the conversation of truth that leads to life.
Eve’s conversation in a beautiful garden lead to rebellion and death.

Christ’s conversation in the garden of suffering lead to surrender and life.

I don’t need to wait to be in a place of suffering to seek Him.

He is a God of all seasons and always worthy of praise and thanksgiving.


41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." - Mat 26:41 ESV

• Prayer brings healing
This is how they will know that we are His disciples. We learn to trust, we become authentic, we receive instruction, we are brothers and sisters in Christ. We become knit together. We love.
In prayer, the vulnerability and weakness of another becomes a fragile treasure carefully lifted up.
We are changed. The cry for God’s healing touch upon another becomes our own balm of healing.


16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. - Jas 5:13, 16 ESV

• Prayer is a service of the Kingdom Priests
In the ancient priesthood, ritual and sacrificial duties were required to allow sinful man to meet with a Holy God. Though the Levitical priesthood has now been replaced by the leadership of our High Priest Jesus Christ, our role of intercessory prayer is our offering as servants under His ‘royal priesthood’.

Our prayers for the saving of souls, for the Word to go forth, for missionary needs, for doors to open, for ministries, for the church to grow are right now the petition being declared in the heavenly realms!
His Kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.


8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." - Rev 5:8-10 ESV

Thank you Lord Jesus that You have seated us with You in the heavenly places. Let us serve in our position beside You. Please elevate our response to prayer as a privilege with purpose and power by Your Spirit Lord. Teach us how to love You more through our prayers. Amen


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Thoughts On Prayer (pt1) by Daniel Williams

As I have read and studied the topic of prayer, I have come across so many wonderful insights into the topic by many men and women of God. These have helped me better understand prayer itself, the importance of praying, and how to pray. I hope you find them to be helpful for you as well. I am also including a link to a very valuable book on prayer that I read recently called, “Prayer” by Pastor Bruce Zachary. You can download the book for free, and I highly recommend it. I pray that you are encouraged and inspired by some of these thoughts and insights on prayer.

PRAYER & IMPORTANCE

“Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still.” - E.M. Bounds
As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray.” - Martin Luther
“Prayer is the vital breath of Christians. Not the thing that makes us alive, but the evidence we are alive.” - Oswald Chambers

PRAYER & PLANNING

“Unless I’m badly mistaken, one of the main reasons so many of God’s children don’t have a significant prayer life is not so much that we don’t want to, but we don’t plan to. If you want to take a four-week vacation, you don’t just get up one summer morning and say, “Hey, let’s go today!” You won’t have anything ready. You won’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. But that is how many of us treat prayer. We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be a part of our life, but nothing’s ever ready. We don’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure, And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences of prayer. The opposite of planning is the rut. If you don’t plan a vacation you will probably stay home and watch tv. The natural, unplanned flow of spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality. There is a race to be run and a fight to be fought. If you want renewal in your life of prayer you must plan to see it.” - John Piper

PRAYER & GODILNESS

“The neglect of prayer is a grand hindrance to holiness.” - John Wesley
"Prayer is a means for spiritual acorns to become mighty spiritual oak trees." -Bruce Zachary
“Through prayer, our hearts are aligned with God’s heart so that we gain spiritual insight.”  - Bruce Zachary
“Prayer - secret, fervent, believing prayer - lies at the root of all personal godliness.” - William Carey
“What is the reason that some believers are so much brighter and holier than others? I believe the difference, in 19 cases out of 20, arises from different habits about private prayer. I believe that those who are not eminently holy pray little, and those who are eminently holy prayer much?” - JC Ryle
“This much we do know---Jesus prayed. Luke tells us ‘But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed’ (Luke 5:16). If Jesus needed to pray, how much more do we need to pray? Prayer is expected because we need it. We will not be like Jesus without it.” - Donald Whitney

PRAYER & GOD’S WORD

“The more familiar we are with God’s Word, the clearer His will is to us. The clearer His will is to us, the more confident we become that He will respond to our prayers.” - Bruce Zachary
“The great lack of our faith is that we do not know God.” - Andrew Murray

PRAYER & ACTION

"We learn most about prayer by praying." - Bruce Zachary
“Reading a book about prayer, listening to lectures and talking about it is very good, but it won’t teach you to pray. You get nothing without exercise, without practice. I might listen for a year to a professor of music plating the most beautiful music, but that won’t teach me to play an instrument.” - Andrew Murray
“Reading about prayer instead of praying will simply not do. But reading about prayer in addition to praying can be a valuable way to learn.” - Donald Whitney

PRAYER & PERSEVERANCE

“If the ships of prayer do not come home speedily, it is because they are more heavily freighted with blessings. - C.H. Spurgeon
“It is comforting to know that God is never late. However, He is rarely early. As we ask, and while we wait, we learn to depend on God.” - Bruce Zachary
“The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God’s glory, they should pray until they get it.” - George Muller

DOWNLOAD A FREE EBOOK ON PRAYER:


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