Prayer is the key to unlock communications with God
(Deuteronomy 5: 1-4; 1st Kings 19:11-13; Proverbs 1:7-9; Matthew 6: 9-13; James 5: 14-18)
Why Pray?
God said to King Solomon, ‘ If My people who are called by my name would humble themselves and pray…’ Prayer is the way that we obtain what we need from God. Sin has placed us outside of the fellowship of God. By prayer, we can reunite ourselves to God. Whatever we pray for, according to the promises of God, shall be given to us. Everyone that asks receives. They are welcomed to approach the throne of God, if we come in faith. When we are under the power of Lucifer, and led captive by sin, we are blinded to the things and ways of God. Lucifer blinds our eyes to the power of God, and seals up our lips from prayer. However, we must remember that it is good for us to pray to God. Christ will have mercy on all that ask. However, we must be earnest in prayer. We must be humble in prayer. We must have faith in prayer. We must continually be in prayer.
Jesus said that when we ask God for anything in His name that, too, the Father will do. Paul says that the child of God should always pray. When we pray to God, it gives us insight and understanding of God’s will for our lives. Prayer connects us to a large amount of spiritual power and makes this power available to us. We are to use this power for the advancement of the Kingdom of God, and to fight off the attacks of Lucifer.
The Scriptures state that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Prayer is a constant talk with God. The more we talk with God, the more God will talk to us. Our prayers must be made with a purpose in mind and that purpose must be within the will of God. We must depend upon the grace of God to get our prayers answered. However, it is not enough to say a prayer, but we must be specific when we pray. Our thoughts must be fixed upon what we want, and our desires must be within the will of God. The power of prayer encourages the children of God in their battle to be freed from Lucifer.
The power of prayer
Although, God is all-powerful and very perceptive, He has chosen to help us and to communicate with us through our prayers. Our most powerful resource, as the children of God, is prayer. The results of our prayers are more powerful than we can ever imagine. When all else has fell, we use prayer as a last resort. However, this is the wrong way to look at prayer. Prayer should always come first because God’s power and understanding of things are always better than ours. How prayer works is a complete mystery to us. Nevertheless, we do know that prayer works. Our sincere prayers have powerful results.
Because Jesus has made it possible for us to go directly to God, we can boldly approach the throne of God with complete confidence that God will hear us. Whenever a child of God is in trouble or tempted by Lucifer, we can pray to God for deliverance and He will deliver us. The Scriptures in James 5 state that the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much. Our righteousness is like filthy rags to God as his unrepented children. When we believe, rely upon, trust, and depend upon the Scriptures as our road map and have faith in Jesus as our Savior, God will replace our unrighteousness with the righteousness of Jesus. We are then seen as righteous in God eyes. Because of this, our prayer will be heard. Remember, if God said it you can absolutely believe it.
The method of prayer
Jesus shows us the method of prayer. Not that we are to pray this prayer only or always; nevertheless, it is very good to use it. This prayer says much as well as little. There are six requests; the first three relate more specifically to God and his will, the last three to our own concerns, both secular and spiritual. This prayer teaches us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It teaches us that all other things shall be added. After we pray for the things that concern God’s glory, kingdom, and will, we pray for the things we need in this present life.
Every word of the Lord’s prayer has a lesson in it. We ask for bread; that teaches us to depend upon God to give it us. We pray that God would give us this day; which teaches us to renew our need of God. We are taught to hate and dread sin while we hope for mercy, and to rely on the divine intervention and grace of God to keep us from sin. Here is a promise, if we forgive; our heavenly Father will also forgive us. We must forgive, if we want to be forgiven. Those who desire to find mercy with God must show mercy to each other. Christ came into the world as the great mediator, not only to reconcile us to God, but also to reconcile us one to another.
Hearing the Voice of God
All the children of God have entered a covenant with him through their belief in Jesus. Because of this covenant, we should listen for his voice and take heed to his advice. Hearing the voice of God consist of three things. The first is knowing the voice of God. Hollywood has convinced us that God has either a deep Barry White bass voice or a voice of an old man. Contrary to what the writers and others would have us to believe, the voice of God sounds like neither one. The voice of God is not so much heard as it is experienced. Before Elisha heard the voice of God, he encountered God. Before we hear the voice of God, we first encounter God. When we hear His voice, it might not be an audible voice. His voice is a voice that speaks inside the calm and serenity of the hearts of his children.
Hearing the voice of God consist of learning. We are to search for and absorb information about God from the Scriptures and other reliable sources. We are to seek to get an understanding of this information by the inspiration of the Spirit of God. The child of God must be very cautious when accepting information about what the Lord has said in his word or concerning himself. The Scriptures warn us that there are many false prophets waiting to lead someone astray. Before we believe a word that someone says in the name of Jesus, we must evaluate it by the Scriptures. If it is in the least way contrary to what the Scriptures say, we are not believe it or accept it.
Lastly, hearing the voice of God consist of wisdom. Wisdom understandings and Wisdom does or put into action what we have heard and learned. Our God is a purpose driven God. Everything that God does is done for a purpose. When God talks to us, he talks to us for a purpose. This purpose is to do his will. We must be doers of the word and not just hearers. Our soul salvation is dependent upon us doing the things that God has told us to do. Today, we have more information available to us about God than ever before. Nevertheless, wisdom is still in short supply. Wisdom means more than knowing a lot of information. It also means putting that information that we know to use. God shall supply our needs but it is up to us to take those needs that God has supplied and turn them into our wants and desires. When we have wisdom, we will do these things. God will bless us for doing them.
