I asked the question of my church; “Does prayer really change things?”
and, the answer of course, is a resounding “Yes”… We have experienced the
changes that prayer can bring into a person’s life, I have experienced the
results – positive and negative of prayer – and how it has changed me and my
life circumstances.
While it is true that change is the result of prayer, the real
purpose of prayer is to bring us into a closer relationship with Almighty God.
Prayer would be - and is - a wonderful privilege even if nothing changed. We
take our relationship with God in the wrong direction if it depends on whether
or not He does what we ask of Him. In fact, and in reality, our relationship
with God is based on whether or not we do what He asks of us!
The first thing we need to know is that our prayers should always be positive. We ought to always find
something positive to say about the person or the circumstance for which we are
praying. And, we should always remember that God is at work in every person’s
life in one way or another, and we don’t know what God might be doing in their
lives. As I said last time, we can easily destroy the work of God in a person’s
life with a simple negative word or attitude. That’s why we must take to heart
scriptures like “Let your speech be always full of grace, seasoned with salt,
so you may know how to answer everyone”. (Colossians 4:1) Or, “Do not let any
unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful in building
others up according to their needs”. (Ephesians 4:29) We should always be
positive, especially in our prayers.
Second, our prayers ought to be personal. When interceding for others, we can
reflect on how they affect us personally; When praying for the Philippian
church, Paul said; “I have you in my heart…and I long to see you” This was a
personal prayer. It reflected his attitude concerning this church. Our prayers
can do the same. We may reveal attitudes of love, concern, sympathy, even
anger, guilt, or joy…It is good to reflect our personal feelings toward someone
or something…They may bring us joy or make us mad. The circumstance may also
bring us joy or make us angry. We need to be honest with God. And, by the way,
if you don’t know the person or are not personally involved; perhaps you should
be! Sometimes just a phone call to let them know you are praying and why…and
you wonder if there is anything in particular you should be praying for…will
change a life.
That brings us to the third thing, which is to make it a purposeful prayer. Remember my
example of my early attempts at prayer?…You know; “Bless Mary, bless Joe, bless
Oscar…” It was prayer, and you could say
it was even “positive” prayer… But, it certainly wasn’t personal or purposeful.
The point is, if we don’t know what we ought to pray, maybe it’s an opportunity
to find out what to pray for. Going back to Paul’s prayer for the Philippian church,
he says; “I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth
of insight”… “so you may be able to discern what is best…and be filled with the
fruit of righteous-ness.”… I would like someone to pray that for me, wouldn’t
you? Do you see the purposefulness in
that prayer? For the purpose of our
journey, try to use these 3 things in your prayers…Positive, Personal and Purposeful,
and if you don’t know what to pray for in any of the five areas of blessing,
then it’s a good opportunity to find out! Is it Love? Joy? Peace? Forgiveness?
Or Need? (Financial or Material)
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