Devoted to Prayer

                                                                                                                                          

Aloha Dearest Family,

                I recently heard a great teaching about the importance of prayer and it reminded me of why we need to pray and pray often. The first question we should ask is “why?” Why should we pray? The only answer that matters is because God tells us to. There are many different types of prayer in the Bible. There are prayers of praise to God, prayers of thanksgiving and specific requests for help for yourself and for other people. (there are more but these are just an example). But regardless of what type of prayer we offer to God we are commanded to just PRAY.

                Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant (constant) in prayer; (Romans 12:12)

                Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (Colossians 4:2 NIV)

                Pray without ceasing. (I Thessalonians 5:17)

 If God instructs us to pray so many times in His Word, He must think it is important. There are few topics in His Word that are repeated again and again and again. Prayer is one of them. How God’s people have missed it is astounding.

                And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. (Ephesians 6:18 NIV) 

Here we are instructed to be alert and pray for the Lord’s people. Why? God’s people need prayer. We may not know specifically what they need but God does. We want God to step in and get involved in any trouble that the saints are having. When we pray He can go to work.

                Jesus Christ is a great example. If ever there was a man who you would think didn’t need to pray, it was him. But when we read the gospels we find that Jesus had an active prayer life. At many times Jesus separated himself from the crowds and went off to pray.

                  After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. (Matthew 14:23)

                But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed. (Luke 5:15 and 16)

                It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. (Luke 6:12)

In the gospels we find that Jesus Christ prayed often and did so as much as he was able to get away and be alone. Perhaps this was one of the keys to his success.

                Even though it is God’s Will that we pray often, many in the church do not. Perhaps much of the reason is that the church, as a whole, is taught that God is in control of everything. If God is really in control of everything that happens, then prayer is unnecessary. If God is going to do it anyway, then why pray. But the teaching that God is in control of everything is NOT BIBLICAL. Don’t get me wrong. God is powerful enough to control everything since He is the Creator of the Heavens and the earth, but He gave man free will. Free will puts man making his own decisions and hopefully, man chooses the way God has asked and sometimes commands him to go. Biblically speaking, the Bible tells us who is truly in charge of what happens in the world. It is the devil (see I John 5:19; II Corinthians 4:4; John 14:30). Satan is the one who causes calamity and disaster to man-kind, not God. When writing about Jesus Christ it says, 

                 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. (Acts 10:38) 

God doesn’t oppress anyone but Satan surely does (relentlessly –that’s how he rolls). This is why we must continually pray for our brothers and sisters, so that we can get God involved and working on their behalf. The great man of God John Wesley believed that no good thing ever happened on earth without someone praying. All the great men and women down through history all had robust prayer-lives and they were able to accomplish incredible things. The world is a better place because of them.

                God needs you to be a prayer warrior. If we want God’s Will to come to pass in our lives and in the lives of those we care for, we must become devoted to prayer and always on the alert for the attacks of the enemy. God wants to get involved and help but His hands are tied if we don’t pray. God expects us to do our part-and our part is to pray, pray, pray. You need it, your brothers and sisters need it and the world needs it.

                                                                Love Always, Ray

                “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16b)

                “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” (I John 5:14, 15)