by Ormond Wellington Burns on Friday, March 11, 2011 at 2:58am
My prayer life- I am often surprised when I hear people of faith say "All I we can do is pray". I feel this response in times of trouble is one in which we feel that, I have done eveything else to solve my problem so let me try prayer. Prayer becomes our last ditch effort to find a solution to some particular situation
I am sure our LORD would rather be the very first option instead of the last during our times of need. Do not make God our Father, the last choice make Him the very first choice .
I view prayer also as fellowship with GOD. In the early morning hours when we first arise out of sleep is for me a great time to be in fellowship with Jesus. The LORD knows I am seeking Him for one reason only, it is because I want to be with Him, my Lord and my God.
During the times when I have a need, my prayers will be persistent until an answer arrives . Sometimes I have been criticized regarding this persistence I have, when petitioning my Lord for an answer to prayer. I have been told that if I had faith I would pray about my need and leave it at the altar. I was told "Did not GOD hear you the first time, where is your faith".
Jesus told this parable on the subject of prayer;
Luke 18:3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, Protect and defend and give me justice against my adversary.
Luke 18:4 And for a time he would not; but later he said to himself, Though I have neither reverence or fear for God nor respect or consideration for man,
Luke 18:5 Yet because this widow continues to bother me, I will defend and protect and avenge her, lest she give me intolerable annoyance and wear me out by her continual coming or at the last she come and rail on me or assault me or strangle me.
Luke 18:6 Then the Lord said, Listen to what the unjust judge says!
Luke 18:7 And will not [our just] God defend and protect and avenge His elect (His chosen ones), who cry to Him day and night? Will He defer them and delay help on their behalf
The point Jesus made is clear , presistence pays off.
Luke 18:1 ALSO [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up)
There is a moment that occurrs during my prayers when I no longer pray about something. Perhaps you are thinking, when do I stop, is it when the answer to my prayer arrives? I can stop prayeing over a need when GOD settles the matter first in my heart. I get a feeling of great peace and comfort from the Holy Spirit, letting me know the answer is on the way.
Phil 4:6 Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.
Phil 4:7 And God's peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
GOD's presense overtakes my need and at that moment I no longer see the need I only se HIM.
We must realize that when we pray sometimes an answer will come but NOT to the specifics we may have outlined to GOD in our request. God answers nothing unless it is in accordance to and in harmony with HIS will.
Rom 8:26 So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.
Rom 8:27 And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will
That should be a sobering revelation to many of us, it is the realization that it is not about us, it is ALL about GOD. Your prayer my brother and my sister will be will be revised , modified, perhaps substracted from or added to as it relates to the intent of GOD But when the answer comes in any format we shall rejoice and be satisfied.
Remeber the key to a succesful prayer life is to be persistent!!!!
Matt 7:7 Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.
2 Matt 7:8 For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.
