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Prayer
To pray is your personal communication with God. When Jesus gave His life on the cross He bridged the gap that sin had created and allowed us to have the ability to come directly to the Father in prayer. Prayer is how we as Christians grow our relationship with God.
Imagine for a minute that you and your spouse or you and your parents, or you and your friends never ever talked. How far do you think that your relationship would go? Not far at all. You must communicate with the Lord if you expect your relationship to grow.
God wants to hear from you when you have struggles in your life. He also wants to hear the good news of the things that are going on in your life and your concerns as well as your questions for Him. He cares for you tremendously and He wants to you to expand your relationship with Him and He will expand His relationship with you.
So when do you pray? Well the Bible says it very clearly. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 it say, Pray without ceasing. That means all the time. Now I know that it seems impossible, but, basically you should pray as often as you think about it. Try to remember what its like to make a new friend and how much you love to call and talk to that person. Or maybe a girlfriend or boyfriend, you are always on the phone with that person. In that same way you need to communicate your deepest desires, as well as your fears and worries to God.
God wants to carry all of your burdens on his shoulders. In fact, He asks us simply to lay them on Him and He will do the rest. The Bible tells us this in
Matthew 11:28-30: 28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
You see its that simple. You have the creator of the entire world in you corner and He doesnt want you to fight. He actually wants to take the hits for you, so let him. The Bible also says in Matthew 6:27: Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life and in Matthew 6:24: "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Prayer is the lifeline for a Christian. It is one of our biggest defenses in a world that does not believe in God. With it, the Bible says that we can do anything according to Gods will. Be a prayer warrior for the Lord and learn to use this incredible weapon that the Lord has given you.
I will leave you with this story. My wife and I were heading to Mobile Alabama this past summer. We were going on a 5-day cruise to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary. As we approached Mobile it began to rain hard and we were worried about boarding the boat in the rain. My wife asked me to pray that it would stop raining, so I did. I prayed: God if you can part the red sea, and if you can part the river Jordan, please let it stop raining. Do you know that 10 minutes later we were in Mobile and we looked up in the sky and the clouds, if you can imagine, were parted perfectly over the dock where the boat was docked. No kidding! There were dark clouds on either side of the blue sky. Beautiful! Believe me when I tell you that prayer works.
Below is more scripture where prayer is shown. Read through them and meditate on Gods Word. Remember, the more time you spend with God the more you will become Christ-like. You have to do your part in this relationship.
What Good Does Prayer do?
2 Chronicles 6: 19-42: 19Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O LORD my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You: 20that Your eyes may be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place. 21And may You hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive.
22If anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to take an oath, and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, 23then hear from heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, bringing retribution on the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.
24Or if Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this temple, 25then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and their fathers.26When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, 27then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.
28When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; 29whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands to this temple: 30then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men), 31that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.
32Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray in this temple; 33then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name.
34When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, 35then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
36When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to a land far or near; 37yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness; 38and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name: 39then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You. 40Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place.
41 Now therefore,
Arise, O LORD God, to Your resting place,
You and the ark of Your strength.
Let Your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation,
And let Your saints rejoice in goodness.
42 O LORD God, do not turn away the face of Your Anointed;
Remember the mercies of Your servant David.
Psalm 4:3: But know that the LORD has set apart for Himself him who is godly;
The LORD will hear when I call to Him.
Mark 9:29: 29So He said to them, This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.
If God Knows Everything, Why Pray?
Isaiah 38:1-5: 1In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.
2Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, 3and said, Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight. And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, 5Go and tell Hezekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years.
How Should I Pray? (A very important question)
Jonah 2:11Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fishs belly. 2And he said: I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction,
And He answered me.
Paraphrasing the notes from the NIV (New International Version of the Holy Bible), Life Application Study Bible, p. 1450: Jonah 2:1ff (the notes section), This prayer was a prayer of thanksgiving by Jonah, not of deliverance. What Jonah prayed to God for was thanking Him for not letting him drown in the belly of the fish. His prayer was heard, even from inside the belly of the fish. What this means is that you can pray anytime and anywhere. For Jonah, his prayer place was inside the belly of the fish. No matter where you are and you pray, God will hear you. Finally, no sin is ever too great and your predicament is never too difficult for God.
Mark 11:22-26: So Jesus answered and said to them, Have faith in God. 23For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. 25And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26But if you do not forgive neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.
Hebrews 4:16: 16Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
1 John 5:14, 15: Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
You Can Pray to God about anything and everything. He wants to hear from you.
Philippians 4:6, 7: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
The Lords Prayer
Matthew 6:9: Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Psalm 23: A PSALM OF DAVID.
1 The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His names sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD
Forever.
These are some of the prayers that you will find throughout the Old and the New Testaments. There is prayer abounding in both texts and when you read them and hear them, write them down, memorize them and pray them everyday, no matter where you are.
Sincerely,
Alex Aleman
Mission Lighthouse Ministries
©Mission Lighthouse Ministry. All Rights Reserved. 2010.