What is prayer? Prayer is simply conversing with God. It is communion
with God. We converse with people all the time. Husbands and wives talk
together. Close friends get together to visit. Prayer is just doing
with God, what you do with people all the time. We can’t have a close
relationship with another person without spending time communicating
with them. It’s exactly the same with God. We can’t have a close
relationship with God without spending time talking with Him.
When should we pray? Jesus once told a parable to show that
at all times we ought to pray and not to lose heart (Luke 18:1). Paul
instructed the Thessalonians that they should pray without ceasing (1
Thess. 5:17). The apostle Paul would often begin his letters saying that
he was praying always for them, that he did not cease to pray for them,
and that he prayed for them night and day (Col.1:3; Col.1:9;
1Thess.3:10).
How should we pray? Jesus instructed us how not to pray. He told us not to pray using meaningless repetitions, or to be seen of men (Mt. 6:5,7).
The New Testament teaches us that we are to pray:
- With faith: “All things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Mt. 21:22)
- According to God’s will: “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14-15)
- In the Holy Spirit: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 20)
- With devotion: “rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer” (Rom.12:12)
- With thanksgiving: “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving”) Col. 4:2
- Earnestly: “As we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith” (1 Thess.3:10)
- Being on the alert for all the saints: “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints” (Eph.6:18)
You know I love ya...and pray for you often. Don
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