Prayer

"Prayer is the chief exercise of faith."
(John Calvin)

We know we are meant to pray but, if you are like me, you probably find praying a real challenge. You want to pray, but you just find it so difficult to develop a life of prayer.

We shouldn’t be surprised. If prayer is “the chief exercise of faith” then it should be no surprise that everything conspires to stop us praying. The World, our flesh, and the Devil all try and distract us from praying.

Acting rather then Re-acting

When we want to learn something new, it is always helpful to have a good teacher. When it comes to prayer, the best teacher we could ever have is Jesus. We can read about his life of prayer in the Bible and one of the things that really impresses me is that He always acted rather than reacted to the situations he faced.

When we react, we allow other people, or circumstances and situations to take control. But Jesus acted and took control of every situation. Even when he was being judged by the Roman governor, Jesus took control of the situation. He was able to act rather than react because he spent time talking to His Father in Heaven and this guided the decisions and the actions he took.

We can learn to act rather than react by spending time in prayer. As we pray, we discover the mind of Christ so that when we make decisions we can be confident we are acting within the will of God.

Teach us to Pray

The disciples spent many months with Jesus, and one of the main things they noticed was the way he prayed and the relationship he had with His Father in Heaven.

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he stopped praying, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray…”

The answer Jesus gave has become our template for praying. It is often called The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:10-13)

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

When we pray we should begin with praise: “hallowed by your name,” (Your name is holy).

We should pray with an expectation that what God is doing in Heaven, he will do through us on Earth: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth.”

We should ask for what we need: “Give us our bread.”

Confess our sins: “Forgive us,” and be quick to forgive others.

Finally we can trust God for our protection from temptation.

Ask, Seek, Knock

Pray in the Holy Spirit

Luke 11:9-10

“So I tell you to ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find, and for the person who knocks , the door will be opened.”

ASK

In prayer, we must learn to ask. God is our Father and he enjoys giving to his children.

John 16: 23 - 27

“ If you ask the Father for anything in my name, he will give it to you….. Ask and you will receive so that you can be completely happy…. You will ask for what you want in my name. I’m telling you that I won’t have to ask the Father for you. The Father loves you because you have loved me and believe that I have come from God.”

How to Ask

Ask in Faith (Matthew 21:22)

Ask in relationship to Christ (John 15:7)

Ask with the right motivation (James 4:3)

Ask in accordance with God’s will (1 John:14-15)

SEEK

Prayer is all about devotion. Deut 4:29 “If you seek the Lord, you will find Him. If you seek with all your heart and soul.” In our prayers, we seek to strengthen our relationship and love for God. Paul reveals in Phil 3:15 that the sign of Christian maturity is a desire to attain an intimate relationship and communion with Jesus.

This is accomplished through reading the Bible, but primarily through prayer.

Jeremiah 29:11-14 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord.”

KNOCK

The third aspect is praying for the needs of others. We knock on the door of Heaven to see the needs of others met - this might be for physical healing, for financial provision, for them to come to know Jesus. In fact we can pray about anything. As part of God’s family, we share Christ’s burden and compassion for people and this motivates us to pray.

Qualities of someone who prays for others

Simeon (Luke 2:25-35) is a great example of someone who prayed for others and for world events. He models the following qualities:

He was devout

He was patient

He was full of the Holy Spirit

He trusted God

He was a man of vision

Our prayers open doors in both spiritual and practical situations. Our prayers open opportunities for us to preach and see the Kingdom of God advance.

There are so many situations and people to pray for and at times we don’t even know what we should pray for. We can trust the Holy Spirit who knows the mind of God and can know the will of God for each individual and situation. If we pray in the Holy Spirit, we know we pray according to His will.

Romans 8:26-27

In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express. 27 And God, who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of his people and in accordance with his will.

We can get to know the Holy Spirit through entering a life of prayer. In John’s Gospel we read that the Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and the Comforter. As the Spirit of Truth, He helps us understand the Word of God. As the Comforter, He will bring into our hearts a peace that the world cannot give. As we learn to walk in the Holy Spirit, we learn to walk in truth and peace.