Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Be a Prayer Warrior


 
Edward Payson said, “Prayer is the first thing, the second thing, the third thing necessary to a minister. Pray, then, my dear brother: pray, pray, pray.”



 Isaiah 55:6, Matthew 7:7-12 and Philippians 4:6 we read that men are to pray – to pray for the advancement of God's kingdom, their lives and their family.

People often ask, “Is prayer really necessary? Will my prayer really make a difference? Does the sovereign, all powerful, all knowing, all present God really need me to pray?”

E. M. Bounds said, “Prayer is the keynote of the most sanctified life, of the holiest ministry.  He does the most for God who is the highest skilled in prayer.  Jesus Christ exercised His ministry after this order”.

 The Word of God instructs us to pray, however, many Christians do not see the importance of prayer simply because they lack sufficient knowledge on the subject of prayer. Prayer puts God in full force in the earth it releases Him to move in the earth on our behalf. To a prayerful man God is always present in realized force; to a prayerful church God is truly present in glorious power throughout the earth.

 E. M. Bounds said “…It is only when the whole heart is gripped with the passion of prayer that the life-giving fire descends, for none but the earnest man gets access to the ear of God.” 

 Hebrews 11:33-40 “…Men of old who were strong in faith and in prayer, subdued kingdoms, produced righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, waxed mighty in war, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”

 Why can’t we be those men today? All we need is to be strong in faith and strong in prayer.

  What is Prayer

We see from Psalm 5:1-3; 19:14; Matthew 6:6 and Acts 10:1-2 that when we are praying we are communicating with God.

 Robert Hall said, “…The prayer of faith is the only power in the universe to which the great Jehovah yields. Prayer is the sovereign remedy.”

 There are two things that must be attended to in prayer (i) That it be in every time, season, or opportunity; (ii) That it should be in or through the Spirit – that the heart should be engaged in it, and that its infirmities should be helped by the Holy Spirit.

      
Prayer must always be two ways

 In Psalm 10:17 and 65:2 we read that God the Father hears us when we speak. We read in Psalm 99:6-9 that Our Father not only hears our prayers he actually answers those prayers. In Isaiah 58:9 we read that when we call God will answer.

Prayer should be daily

Psalm 5:3 the psalmist says that he will lift up his voice in the morning and God will hear him. Psalm 143:8 the psalmist encourages us to not only speak to God in the morning but also to listen to him. Prayer should flow from a desire within us to attain a new level of spiritual aptitude or fellowship. Prayer should be daily fellowship with our heavenly Father springing out of our love for him.


Prayer is a lifestyle
ifestyle consists of a choice we make to live a certain way. We choose to love our wife, husband, and family etc. we need to choose to pray daily.

Prayer should be without ceasing
Colossians 4:2 tells us to continue (the Greek means to continue perseveringly) in prayer.

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