Life Ministries

Some thoughts on Prayer
1Timothy 2:1-4   - 1 John 5:13-17

    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 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. I have said before that 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, and 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, 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?…”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. When I look at the prayers of Paul in his letters, they are always purposeful:
(Romans) – I pray that: you might be saved!
(Ephesians) – God may give you the Spirit of wisdom; that your heart may be enlightened; to know Him better; that you may know the hope, the riches, the inheritance, the incomparable power for those who believe; that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God!
(Philippians) – that your love may abound in knowledge and insight; that you may be able to discern what is right; that you may be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ!
(Colossians) – that God would fill you with the knowledge of His will; that you will live a life worthy of the Lord; that you would bear fruit in every good work; that you may have great endurance and patience!
(Thessalonians) – that the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other; that God would sanctify you through and through; that God may count you worthy of his calling, that He may fulfill every good purpose prompted by your faith!
I would like someone to pray these things for me, wouldn’t you?  Do you see the purposefulness in prayer?
    Concerning prayer, A.C. Dixon said; “When we depend upon organizations, we get what organizations can do; when we depend upon education or technology we get what education can do; when we depend upon man, we get what man can do; but when we depend upon prayer, we get what God can do!”  We don’t pray just because we believe in prayer…We pray because we believe in God!