Prayer Luke 18:1; 1Tim2:1-2; Phi 4:6-7 & Col 4

Prayer is one of the most important acts of worship and it’s a

privilege for us to communicate with our heavenly Father (God). I.e

we communicate to a higher power (Jesus Christ) for Him to

intervene in our affairs. Prayer is a force, it courses and its source; it

ought to be consist of sincerity, humility, fervency, persistency,

watchfulness & thoughtfulness. Jesus said ‘men ought to pray

always’ (Luke 18:1); according to Samuel, if we don’t pray we sin.

How? It is written ‘God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in

ceasing to pray…’ (1 Sam 12:23a).

If we have never taken prayer seriously my friends now is the time

for us to start praying like never before because we are on the

threshold of one of the greatest revivals that the world has ever

known or seen in the face of the earth. We are truly on the verge of

ushering in the second coming of our Lord Jesus; hence this is not the

time to be sluggish in our faith or in our prayers. The same Jesus

Christ who’s ascension to heaven was witness by 120 people will

come again the very way He ascended.

Praying was so important in the life & ministry of Christ; He prayed

all the time and His disciples were so impressed that they asked Him

to teach them how to pray (Matt 6:9-11) a pattern of prayer was

given them in the Lord’s prayer. Jesus communicated constantly with

God the Father through prayer. Before Jesus did anything He gave

thanks to God even though He was God by Himself. If Christ could

pray then men ought to truly pray even more because in prayer,

power is release to us in through answer from heaven.

God desires that all men be saved and for all to live a peaceable life

in all godliness & reverence. In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he listed four

things that Timothy & the Saints are to pray for because these four,

are good in the sight of God. These are supplications, prayer,

intercessions & giving of thanks for all men. (1 Tim 2:1-4).

A quote of C.H. Spurgeon states; “prayer pulls the rope down below

& the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the

bell, for they pray so languidly; others give only an occasional jerk at

the robe. But he who communicates with heaven is the man who

grasps the robe boldly & pulls continuously with all his might”.

In prayer we seek the face of God because before every great move

of God, there has to be always a move to prayer. The word of God,

the Bible is real and alive so we should learn to let God speak to us

because His message will always become a redeeming, victorious &

liberating truth to anyone; likewise the sermons one have heard or

still hearing will not become liberating and redeeming to one until

such a one learn the art of prevailing prayer. That is why James said

‘the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much’

(James 5).

In prayer, especially in public, behaviour is of great important

because men are watching. This means that we should keep our

behaviours in check before we even start praying. You see people

may doubt one’s words but they will believe one’s actions. So ‘let our

moderation be to all men’ (Phi 4:5a).

WHY WE SHOULD PRAY

We pray because God says we should and Jesus taught us how to

pray therefore we pray because of the necessity of it. - We prayer

because we are vulnerable to the enemy Satan the devil (Mk 14:38)

we watch while we pray so that we would not fall into temptation. –

We pray because we are vulnerable to others ‘bless those who curse

you and pray for those who spitefully use you’ (Lk6:28) – pray to

overcome those that uses you. – Pray because God order the steps of

men ‘Therefore pray for the Lord of the harvest to send more

labourers’ (Mat 9:38).

What should we pray for?

We are to pray for everything including ourselves, others,

cities/towns, nations and our world. And in our prayer we should be

anxious over nothing; however Paul gives us a good sum-up in

Philippians 4:6.

In Paul’s letter to the Colossians chapter 4, he gives us an outline on

what to do in prayer: Firstly pray persistencely; this means we should

devote ourselves continuously in earnest prayer. Jesus gave two

instructive parable on prayer saying ‘…at all thing men ought to pray

and not to lose heart in prayer’ (Lk18:1) & ‘…ask, seek and know… it

shall be yours…’ (Lk11:9). But note there is a different between long

& persistent prayer. A person who is persistent in prayer does not

necessarily have to pray for a long time. Persistence means not

giving up.

Secondly, Be passionate in prayer: Jesus was passionate about His

prayer life, it was something He was always doing. Every time we see

Jesus praying, He was praying with passion, see Lk 3:1; 6:12; 9:29 &

in John 17. His passionate prayer impacts the lives of others. His

Gethsemane moment was full of passionate prayer (Mat 26:39) and

finally a passionate prayer will enable us to maintain the spirit even

in the most difficult of circumstances. (Lk 23:24).

Thirdly, Pray with thanksgiving: Paul never failed to remind us to pray

with thanksgiving, He said ‘thanksgiving is the natural result of being

filled with & walking under the influence of the Holy Ghost’ (Eph

2:20; also see Phi 4:6; 1Thes 5:18; Col 3:17 &1 Tim 4:4). In expressing

gratitude; it articulates dependence upon God; it demonstrates

relationship; it communicate proper attitude & it generates humility.

Fourthly, Intercessory prayer: This simply means praying for others,

intercessory prayer characterized the life of Jesus see Isa 53:12; Lk

22:23; 23:24; John 14:15; 17:9; Rom 8:34 & Heb 7:25. Jesus

interceded for the world.

Five things happens when we prayer; (1) Prayer internalizes the

burden; it deepens our ownership of the burden & our partnership

with God. As we pray we become aware of how God might involve us

in ways we had not therefore foreseen. (2) Prayer forces us to wait:

instead of getting frustrated that God is not on our schedule, prayer

forces us to be on God’s timetable. (3) Prayer opens our spiritual

eyes: prayer enables us to get in touch with what God is doing and

how He is doing things. 2 Kings 6:15-17. I.e. we see things we are

blinded to, we speak and God response to us. (4) Prayer aligns our

heart with God’s heart; ie our hearts are adjusting, as well as our

thoughts, emotions and actions are set to align with God’s. (5) Prayer

enables us to move forward: it enable God, His people & His

Kingdom to function in one accord. Jesus said ‘without me men can

do nothing’; once we pray, we are ready to do anything or task

appointed to one for Kingdom purpose. But until we have prayed we

cannot do anything. Without us praying we cannot accomplish

Kingdom task or win souls for it either.

In prayer we acknowledge His Divinity, Sovereignty, and His

Deity/Mystery. He is omnipresent, meaning He is always fully present

everywhere at the same time. That is why as millions of people are

praying at the same time and in different locations He hears all and

He is fully present with all at the same time. Our prayer can change

God’s mind, see Gen 18:16-33; verse 32 ‘God agreed to change His

mind not to destroy the city if Abraham could find righteous people,

sadly there was none’. Moses also prayed and God changed His mind

not to destroy the people Exodus 32:9-14. In prayer we can change

and re-align the order of events that the devil tries to change.

Brothers and sisters, we must pray because our prayer matters; as

we pray for our leaders, decisions are taken to work for common

good as God intended. And as we pray for others, God is honoured,

so Prayer is a tool for all men to unlock potentials, to open doors &

to realign self with God’s will and plan.

Amen.