People pray all over the world. Many people pray in a religious manner such as Muslims pray religiously 5 times a day at set times. Hindus make shrines and pray 3 times a day. Some people pray out of fear of death, illness or need. Humans have an innate yearning to connect with the source of creation. In God's Word he tells us to pray on all occasions ( Ephesians 6:18). The word "prayer" is mentioned a 132 times, "pray" 121 times, "prayed" 68 times, etc. In short the subject of prayer is mentioned in total of 375 times in the Bible. This tells me that prayer is very important in the life of a Believer in Jesus, but why is it taken so lightly? Prayer is one of the foundations of Christianity. This is the first thing you're taught starting with the prayer of Salvation, so why do we drop the ball? When you look at church buildings the service with the less people is the prayer service. It's usually the elders of the church and a few new Christians that fade off after a while. This should not be. We've mistaken prayer for an option instead of it being a necessity. Prayer isn't an option for a Believer, when we neglect to commune with God we walk in our will instead of his. We also allow the enemy to do whatever he wants because we are not calling God to act on the behalf of the world.
My answer to this question was usually "talking to God". While this is a true answer, prayer goes deeper than that. Soon you will see why it's not an option, it's a necessity. Prayer is the power to influence earth from heaven. Jesus told us that in Matthew when he said whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. We often see evil things happening in the world and we feel helpless but really we have power through prayer in Christ Jesus to make a change. Let me explain. In the beginning God gave dominion to mankind. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Gen 1:28) God made the earth for mankind and gave them authority over it. When Adam and Eve sinned they gave that authority to satan. This is why he is called "the prince of the air". Before this happened Adam and Eve talked with God daily, we know this because scripture says that after God made them "he said to them". Prayer was from the beginning. God spoke to them with no interference. They wasn't thinking "is he talking to us" or " how do we know when God is talking" God explained to them what everything was made for and what to do with it. He gave them instructions and had regular conversations with them daily. The Bible says they heard the voice of God in the garden in the cool of the day. This was nothing new to them, but the relationship was broken from sin. Sin brought the disconnect between man and God. We were created for God's pleasure, will and purpose. We were made to be one with God, just as we are one with our spouse (meaning one accord, not sexually). If we go back to the scripture stated above, God was telling them his will and purpose for their life. He was basically saying this is why you were created. God is all powerful see's all, knows all and everything was created by him, through him and in him. Nevertheless, God is a God of integrity. His word is greater than his name to him. Psalms 138:2b for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. God's word means everything to him, so when he gave us authority he only interferes when we call on him through prayer. He doesn't take authority, satan does that. Matter of fact he just tricks you out of your authority. satan tricks people into handing over the keys daily through deception and half truths. Anything on earth without a body is here illegally unless they have been called by a human. This is why demons (who are spirit) seek bodies that they can possess because their time is limited without one. That topic will be for another day :)
Jesus won our dominion back for us
Once Jesus came as 100% man and 100% divine he was the final sacrifice for our sin. God was here legally because he sent himself in a body to do what we couldn't do. He became our atonement. This doesn't mean that all mankind has their authority back though. We only gain our authority back when we accept Jesus as our savior. Once we do that we now have the power of God literally inside of us. satan has no control over you anymore and neither do sin unless you allow it. Now that you've been cleaned in the blood of the lamb the communication signal is back open. Jesus is the link from man to God.
So if I'm saved and I pray sparingly, what's the problem. 1. We pray out of our own selfish desires. James 3:4 says God will not give you the desires of your lust. 2. We don't realize we were created for God's purpose, not our own. Thus, our prayers should line up with his purpose, will and pleasure. 3. We are unaware of God's purpose because we haven't fully surrendered to him, nor searched his word to find it. 4. God is not concerned with being our personal Jenie, he wants a intimate relationship as a father with his child. 5. We continue to walk in sin and hinder our prayers which make them null and void.
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| James 5:16b (NIV) |
James 5:16b(kjv) The effectual fervant prayers of a righteous man availeth much. Our job as a Christian is to pray for the saints, our world, family, ourselves, and that God's will, purpose, pleasures and promises come to pass. Our prayers are successful in producing a desired result when we are passionate about God's purpose and living a Godly, sinless and noble life. Souls are being lost because of non prayerful Christians. This world is becoming darker and darker by the day because we haven't said "tag God, you're it". We only have ourselves to blame. We spend far too much time thinking about a new car, new house, clothes, trips, etc. This is where we go wrong because we don't even have to pray for those things. Jesus said seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matt 6:33). Wealth and riches are in his house and his righteousness endures forever. (Psalms 112:3) But the blameless will inherit what is good (Pro. 28:10b).
This is just a few of many scriptures that shows that God loves you and know what you are in need of. He also knows the desires of your heart. Our job is to first seek the kingdom of God through prayer and living morally in God's standard not man's. We are live righteous, not good. There is a big difference. God has done his part, we must do ours. Prayer is a necessity for us. We can't live without it. To be without prayer is to be blind to me. How can I know my destination without talking to the person I'm meeting? We were created to commune with God. We were created for his pleasure “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are, and were created.” Rev.4:11.
In Conclusion,
Prayer has to be taken seriously for the life of the believer. Prayer is the power to influence earth from heaven. We were created to fulfill God's purpose & will for our life here on earth. Our will should always line up with God's will. We will only know what "created for his pleasure" mean when we seek him first by reading his word and praying. God gave us authority of earth because he entrusted us to be righteous because we were created in his likeness and image. This means when we are reborn we take on his characteristics, his integrity, his righteousness, his love, his will and his purpose. Our prayer life should reflect this. Let's begin to take our prayer life to a new dimension in him. My goal is to become one with God, to be on one accord with him. The Bible says Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus Phil.2:5 Jesus being 100% man & 100% God was humble, he always put the will of the father before his own. When you read the gospels you see Jesus always praying that the will of the father be done. I purpose to be more like Jesus, so I can be effective while on this earth to help in the saving of souls and the building of the kingdom of God.
There will be a part 2: How to enter into God's Presence
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