Your prayer life…is it good, bad, or non-existent? What about the quality and quantity of your time spent in prayer? We all would admit that our prayer life could be better. For most of our prayers are quick apathetic words thrown at God, lacking energy and even the confidence that they’ll even be answered. So how can we change our weak and impotent prayers into the prayers spoken about in this verse? James tells us that as Believers our prayers are capable of producing great results, and through God, He is able to accomplish incredible feats because of our prayers. So think of it this way…our prayers start God (and all of creation He has at His disposal) moving. Our simple prayers trigger God’s all powerful and magnificent response… opening the way for Him to do miraculous things on our behalf. That puts a completely different spin on our prayers, right? For if we could only take hold of and comprehend just how powerful and effective our prayers were…we could change the world for Christ.
Tag: prayers of the saints
Acts 1:14 ” They all joined together constantly in prayer…”
Jesus taught by example. And over the course of His ministry here on earth, He modeled for the disciples not only the power of prayer…but the necessity for constancy, and steadfastness in the process. Prayer wasn’t an after thought for Jesus…it was the main thought. Nor was it the last thing He did after everything else had failed, it was the very first thing. So after Jesus had ascended into heaven and the disciples were alone and scared, they relied on the discipline of prayer Jesus had shown them to face the uncertain world ahead. The early Church was devoted to prayer…the Church of today should be as devoted.
Matthew 6:7 ” And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions and blabbering on like pagans, for they think they’ll be heard because of their many words.”
Are your prayers more of a formula of repetitious words from memory…often without paying attention to what you’re actually saying? Have they become just a fixed routine of the same prayers repeated over and over again? Congratulations, you have the gift of religious gab! But this isn’t how the Lord wants you to communicate with Him. It isn’t the quantity or intensity of your prayers that He desires. Rather, it’s the heart-felt, getting real before the Lord, quality He wants.
Matthew 6:6 ” But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, Who is unseen. Then your Father, Who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Praying shouldn’t be a publicity stunt for the cameras while seeking 15 minutes of fame. For it’s our personal, intimate conversation with God…and He takes prayer very seriously…and so should we. As a Believer, I’ve seen the power of prayer and witnessed how intercessory prayer can literally change the atmosphere. But we tend to think of prayer as some sweet little poem we recite at the dinner table before meals and not the authoritative commands we can speak under the power of Jesus’ blood. To paraphrase I John 4:4, Greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world. And if we could but grasp a glimpse of just how powerful our prayers are…this world would be shaken, and all the evil in it. May I then be so bold as to encourage you to prayer walk around your town…around your schools…around the area you live in. For we are all asking ourselves the same question, “What can I do in the face of all this evil in the world?” The answer is prayer…bold, impassioned prayer.
Colossians 4:3 ” And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.”
Paul was chained up in a dark, dank prison in Rome with deplorable conditions…yet his concern was focused on proclaiming the Gospel. So what’s my excuse? What’s my justification for not telling others about Jesus? How can I explain away the times I’ve had the opportunity…but didn’t speak? God will open doors daily for us to tell others about the spiritual truths of the Gospel…we just need to be brave enough to walk through them. I pray in the days ahead that all Believers be endowed with a supernatural boldness to reach the lost for Jesus…times are getting short.
Acts 4:29 ” Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak Your Word with great boldness.”
Telling others about Jesus should come easy for the Believer. Declaring the Gospel to those we come in contact with should be as natural as asking, “How you doing today?” So why do we freeze up when it comes to talking about our faith? What exactly are we afraid of? For there is no fear in the Gospel…only freedom. So we should make the same request that the Apostle Paul made in Ephesians 6:19, “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel…” Paul was confidently relying on the Holy Spirit to give him the words to speak…he just had to open his mouth in obedience.
Nehemiah 2:4 ” The King said to me, ‘What is it you want?’ Then I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the King…”
King Artaxerxes asked Nehemiah what he wanted…but before he responded, Nehemiah prayed. It could be called an “as we go” prayer. This type of supplication doesn’t need to be long… just the length of a deep breath. It doesn’t need to be in depth…a simple “Give me wisdom, Lord!” will suffice. The Lord is with us always…His presence there in the middle of all situations…so why don’t we take a moment to seek His guidance before blurting out something we may later regret.
Nehemiah 1:4 ” When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”
Nehemiah’s tears were for the ruined city of Jerusalem. His burden for it was immense, for the Lord had laid on him the obligation and passion to rebuild the walls. A burden is a faithful focus of prayer over a long length of time…personal burdens being for family and children. But God also burdens us with other outside issues…things that when we hear about them, we react and ask, “What can I do God?” But the problem arises when we react to everything…and our efforts become scattered and ineffective. We try to do it all, and instead become frustrated, and discouraged. We can’t do everything for everyone…but we can do something. And the wisdom lies in discerning the burden from the emotion.
Luke 6: 27-28 ” But I tell you who hear Me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
You can’t change how others in the world will react and behave towards you. The only thing you can change is how you respond…and this scripture is very direct in how you should go about it. You should love. Not loving the sin, but loving the sinner. You should bless. This means speaking well of someone even if you don’t agree with their life-style. You should pray. Now this is probably the most important command… for pray changes not only the person you’re praying for, but it changes you.
Revelation 5:8 ” Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”
Sometimes, we all feel like our prayers go up as far as the ceiling and then stop there…stuck…never to reach God. But this verse shows quite the opposite. All prayers of the saints are gathered in golden bowls, and burned as a sweet-smelling fragrance before God. And as the perfumed smoke fills His nostrils, God breathes in deeply and recognizes each prayer, utterance, and plea, from every saint who has reached out to Him.
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