Luke chapter 18 begins with the statement,
“And he spake a parable unto them to this end,
that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;”
Jesus preached prayer, and he practiced prayer.
In Luke 6:12 Jesus spent the entire night in prayer before choosing his twelve disciples. In Matthew 14:23 Jesus departs into a mountain to pray alone. After being baptized by John in the Jordan River, the spirit of God drove him into the wilderness for 40 days of prayer and fasting. We see him in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before the crucifixion praying for God’s will to be done, for the apostles, for the coming church, and even for you and I – those who would believe through the Apostles’ ministry.
Christ was all about prayer.
Men of God were all about prayer.
- Seth prayed in the book of Genesis and men began to call on God.
- Noah prayed and God instructed him to build an Ark
- Abraham prayed and gave him a promise and a people
- Jacob prayed and wrestled with an angel
- Joseph prayed and was elevated to the highest offices of Egypt.
- The Hebrews prayed and God raised up Moses
- Moses prayed and God parted the Red Sea
- The Israelites prayed and God gave them manna from Heaven
- Joshua prayed and the sun stood still for 24 hours
- Samson prayed and renewed his strength
- Deborah prayed and delivered a nation
- Gideon prayed and destroyed the enemy
- David prayed and defeated his giant
- Solomon prayed and found wisdom
And the list goes on and on.
Prayer is one of the most basic fundamentals of Christian living. It is our refuge, our medium for obtaining supernatural power in a natural world. It is our source for boldness to proclaim the gospel, Grace to face the toughest situations, and hope for a promised future. It is our means of communicating with an interested Father.
It is our way of life.
“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” – Martin Luther King Jr. –
In part 1, we discussed what prayer is not. In this post we look at what prayer is.
A way to bring your mind and heart in line with God’s
In prayer, we surrender to God, making his priorities our own. While teaching the disciples to pray he noted the importance of submitting our preferences to his will.
“Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10)
Prayer does not twist the arm of a disinclined God. Rather, it gives God permission to work in our lives and bring us in line with his thoughts, priorities, and desires.
God has given us free will. He will not force himself, or his desires, into our lives. We can not automatically assume that he will step into our situations and act on our behalf without our expressed invitation.
As David Bernard notes in his book Growing A Church
“Prayer does not change God’s attitude, but it changes our attitude so that we are ready to receive what God has planned for us.
Prayer molds and transforms us so that we are prepared to receive the answers that God wants to give us.”
In short, Bernard concludes, prayer gives us the ability to
1. discern God’s will
2. to do God’s will
Christ himself gave us an example of this when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.
“And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:41-42)
We can come to God and ask him to move how we want him to, but in the end we must always leave prayer submitted to doing it God’s way.
When we get lost in prayer, truly lost in prayer, it transforms our minds and brings them in line with God’s mind. It brings our hearts in line with God’s heart. It makes God’s priorities our priorities. It makes God’s desires our desires.
Prayer is how we bring our minds, our hearts, our wills, and our priorities in line with God’s
It is also,
A way to die to your old nature so that Christ can be formed in you.
The apostle Paul made the statement.
“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,” (Galatians 4:19)
The word formed means “to fashion.”
Prayer is a way for us to die to our old nature of sin so that Christ can be fashioned in our lives. Paul said, “I die daily.”
A daily prayer life will consistently kill the old man so that God can fashion us into the man or woman of God he has purposed for us to be.
Jesus told the disciples, “Pray that ye enter not into temptation.” (Luke 22:40). Every one of us will face temptation, but a consistent and daily prayer life will stop us from giving in to those temptations.
Paul told the Galatians, “This I say, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16)
Prayer has a way of keeping our spirits in subjection to the will of God, allowing us to walk in the Spirit of God and not after the manner of our flesh.
If you find yourself struggling with the desires of the flesh; that is a good indication that your prayer life is in a weak spot right now. Prayer, coupled with fasting, will crucify your flesh. It will bring your flesh under subjection to the spirit of God.
It will kill your fleshly, humanistic desires, and it will birth in you Godly desires.
“And he spake a parable unto them to this end,
that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;”
Jesus preached prayer, and he practiced prayer.
In Luke 6:12 Jesus spent the entire night in prayer before choosing his twelve disciples. In Matthew 14:23 Jesus departs into a mountain to pray alone. After being baptized by John in the Jordan River, the spirit of God drove him into the wilderness for 40 days of prayer and fasting. We see him in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before the crucifixion praying for God’s will to be done, for the apostles, for the coming church, and even for you and I – those who would believe through the Apostles’ ministry.
Christ was all about prayer.
Men of God were all about prayer.
- Seth prayed in the book of Genesis and men began to call on God.
- Noah prayed and God instructed him to build an Ark
- Abraham prayed and gave him a promise and a people
- Jacob prayed and wrestled with an angel
- Joseph prayed and was elevated to the highest offices of Egypt.
- The Hebrews prayed and God raised up Moses
- Moses prayed and God parted the Red Sea
- The Israelites prayed and God gave them manna from Heaven
- Joshua prayed and the sun stood still for 24 hours
- Samson prayed and renewed his strength
- Deborah prayed and delivered a nation
- Gideon prayed and destroyed the enemy
- David prayed and defeated his giant
- Solomon prayed and found wisdom
And the list goes on and on.
Prayer is one of the most basic fundamentals of Christian living. It is our refuge, our medium for obtaining supernatural power in a natural world. It is our source for boldness to proclaim the gospel, Grace to face the toughest situations, and hope for a promised future. It is our means of communicating with an interested Father.
It is our way of life.
“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” – Martin Luther King Jr. –
In part 1, we discussed what prayer is not. In this post we look at what prayer is.
A way to bring your mind and heart in line with God’s
In prayer, we surrender to God, making his priorities our own. While teaching the disciples to pray he noted the importance of submitting our preferences to his will.
“Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10)
Prayer does not twist the arm of a disinclined God. Rather, it gives God permission to work in our lives and bring us in line with his thoughts, priorities, and desires.
God has given us free will. He will not force himself, or his desires, into our lives. We can not automatically assume that he will step into our situations and act on our behalf without our expressed invitation.
As David Bernard notes in his book Growing A Church
“Prayer does not change God’s attitude, but it changes our attitude so that we are ready to receive what God has planned for us.
Prayer molds and transforms us so that we are prepared to receive the answers that God wants to give us.”
In short, Bernard concludes, prayer gives us the ability to
1. discern God’s will
2. to do God’s will
Christ himself gave us an example of this when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.
“And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:41-42)
We can come to God and ask him to move how we want him to, but in the end we must always leave prayer submitted to doing it God’s way.
When we get lost in prayer, truly lost in prayer, it transforms our minds and brings them in line with God’s mind. It brings our hearts in line with God’s heart. It makes God’s priorities our priorities. It makes God’s desires our desires.
Prayer is how we bring our minds, our hearts, our wills, and our priorities in line with God’s
It is also,
A way to die to your old nature so that Christ can be formed in you.
The apostle Paul made the statement.
“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,” (Galatians 4:19)
The word formed means “to fashion.”
Prayer is a way for us to die to our old nature of sin so that Christ can be fashioned in our lives. Paul said, “I die daily.”
A daily prayer life will consistently kill the old man so that God can fashion us into the man or woman of God he has purposed for us to be.
Jesus told the disciples, “Pray that ye enter not into temptation.” (Luke 22:40). Every one of us will face temptation, but a consistent and daily prayer life will stop us from giving in to those temptations.
Paul told the Galatians, “This I say, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16)
Prayer has a way of keeping our spirits in subjection to the will of God, allowing us to walk in the Spirit of God and not after the manner of our flesh.
If you find yourself struggling with the desires of the flesh; that is a good indication that your prayer life is in a weak spot right now. Prayer, coupled with fasting, will crucify your flesh. It will bring your flesh under subjection to the spirit of God.
It will kill your fleshly, humanistic desires, and it will birth in you Godly desires.
To be continued.... Part III – Barriers to Prayer
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