Prayer

Prayer basically is "talking to the Lord" where there is a dialog between us and the Lord. When we pray, we are speaking with the Lord, who is a real person, and He in turn speaks to us through the scriptures by the Holy Spirit. When we pray, we can be ourselves with the Lord because, the Lord loves us unconditionally, and nothing about us would surprise the Lord, as the Lord knows our hearts. Apostle Paul said:

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” - Philippians 4:6-7

Notice that in the above verse Apostle Paul says not to worry, the reason is because the Lord is with us and He knows what we are going through in life. When we pray, the Lord either changes our situation, or He changes us by giving us the wisdom to handle the situation. Most of the time when people pray, they expect the Lord to change their situation, but they do not expect the Lord to change their attitude or character in order to build them up. The reason some people do not have any breakthroughs in their situation is because they are not allowing the Lord to change their attitude or character. The Lord will never put us in a situation which is beyond our ablity to handle. For this reason God's Word says:.

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” - 1 Corinthians 10:13

The Bible says in 2 Samuel 12:16 that King David pleaded with the Lord to spare his son by fasting and lying all night in sackcloth. His situation did not change because King David's son died, but on the other hand there was indeed a transformation in King David's character where he understood the consequences of committing adultery. The Bible says:

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” - Romans 5:3-5

When we pray, the Lord alters the foundation on which our lifestyle is based upon. Everything which is not of the Lord gets removed, whereas everything which is based on Bible values and principles remain. This is why certain areas in our life are shaken when we pray. When the Lord sent a worldwide flood during Noah's time, everything that was not of the Lord was destroyed, and the only thing that remained was of the Lord, which was Noah and his family. Whenever the Lord puts us in a challenging situation it produces patience in us. We can look back in our own life on any challenging situation which the Lord had put us through and observe what our level of patience was before the situation, and what was our level of patience after we came out of that situation. There definitely would have been a significant increase in the patience level. Patience builds our character where we become aware that the Lord is still on the throne and He is in control of the situation. It is this hope on the Lord being in control that does not disappoint us, where we can always look forward to a successful outcome. The Bible says:

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” - Romans 8:28

Does this mean that all things will only work together to those who love the Lord? Am I loving the Lord enough? Apostle John who depended on the Lord's love for him, where he rested on Jesus's heart and listened to the heart beat of heaven, wrote the following in his letter:

“We love him, because he first loved us” - 1 John 4:19

When we realize the truth that the Lord loved us first, we end up helplessly falling in love with Him. Before all of the above we need to be first anchored in faith that we have been justified because of our Lord Jesus's finished work on the cross. If we come before the throne of God the Father, beating our breast and calling ourself as a sinner, then we are negating the finished work of Jesus on the cross. Apostle Paul says:

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” - Romans 5:1-2

In the above verse, the words "we have" in the Greek is the word "echo", which is in the present active tense. Present active tense means, whether you read the above verse today or after 10 years from now, you still have peace with God because of Jesus's finished work on the cross. Whatever we ask in prayer, let us remember to ask in Jesus name. Our Lord Jesus said:

“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” - John 14:13-14

Prayer is not some enchantment or repetitive chanting, but rather it is an intimate conversation with our Heavenly Father, where we come before the throne of the Father as His children, bringing forth our requests in Jesus name, giving thanks to Him who never slumbers nor sleeps and who always watches over us. Christ did not die on the cross to make us realize that we are dust to God, but rather He died on the cross to establish a relationship between God and us, making us realize that God is our Father and we are His beloved children redeemed by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ. Religion will teach us to say repetitive prayers, but a relationship will teach us to speak out our hearts in prayer to our Father in Heaven who loves us unconditionally. For this reason our Lord Jesus said:

“But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him” - Matthew 6:7-8

An example of a prayer from the heart is the prayer which Hannah prayed when she was barren, as stated in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. Another example of a prayer from the heart is when Jabez spoke his heart out to the Lord. The Bible says:

“And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested” - 1 Chronicles 4:10

Our Lord Jesus also gave us an example on how to pray from the heart by teaching us the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. When we pray, there are two people who are backing us up by bearing witness. The first person is the Holy Spirit from within us, and the second is none other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is seated at the right hand of the throne of God the Father who is interceeding for us. For this reason the Bible says:

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” - Romans 8:16

“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” - Romans 8:34

When we pray with self-righteousness, the Holy Spirit cannot bear witness to such a prayer because, God's Word in Isaiah 64:6 says that our righteousness is as filthy rags to God. But on the other hand when we pray being aware of Christ's imputed righteousness upon us, the Holy Spirit bears witness from within us, and as our High Priest our Lord Jesus presents us as a sweet smelling aroma to the Lord. Therefore we always get an answer to our prayers from the Lord. The more we read and meditate on God's Word, the more we become aware of the truth that we are the children of the Most High God. Believing in the truth of God's Word gives us the courage to pray bold prayers, where we speak our hearts to the Lord, as we no longer need to come before the throne of God as sinners, but rather we can now come before the throne of God as the righteousness of God in Christ anchored in His finished work on the cross of Calvary.