Luke 18:1 “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always pray, and not to faint.”
Philippians 4: 6-7 “Be careful for nothing; but in everything 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.”
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First, let us understand what prayer is:
* Prayer means practicing the presence of God
*Prayer is a place where we find hope
*Prayer is a place where supplication is made
*Prayer is a place where we claim dependence on God
*Prayer is a place where we exercise our faith to touch our Father’s heart.
*Prayer is a way to show devotion to God [Romans 12:10-13]
*Prayer is a memorial unto God for us. When we pray, we make God remember us.
*Prayer is the channel through which grace flows
* Prayer is a mighty and powerful tool that we need to engage in, it is also a way to show thanksgiving and appreciation to God.
Prayer is a matter of choice, and people have chosen not to pray; if we look back at the areas we have challenges in our life, it is the areas we pray the least or don’t pray at all in. The church exists to encourage one another to pray because nothing is going to work in your life if you don’t pray. We should not solely rely on the church praying for us, but also imbibe a praying habit.
In the above scripture, the word ‘ought’ means prayer is not a command per say, but it is what we are supposed to do. Prayer must be in all your ways and said every time; the same way your body longs for food, you must train your body to long for prayers also. Where prayer exists, power is available in abundance but unfortunately, this is one activity that doesn’t evoke excitement in people. We need to understand that a prayer-less life is an empty life. Everything that we do should be birthed in prayer because prayer is a channel of blessing for all those who use it.
Prayer is a spiritual exercise and the availability of it makes us grow spiritually. However, most people find it difficult to pray on their own and this is where the church comes in because the people need to know that no great task can be accomplished for God without prayer.
In many churches, one of the least attended services or programmes is the prayer meetings which is a sad occurrence. One major excuse is that we say we are too busy to pray, however anyone who is too busy to pray is too busy to obtain power for spiritual warfare. Regrettably, many people have now turned prayer to an emergency line that they engage in whenever trouble occurs. The question you should ask yourself is this; is prayer a spare tyre or the steering wheel in your life? You should let prayer steer your life and not be a spare tyre that you rarely use unless you have a flat tyre or get into serious problems.
WHY PRAYER MUST BE OUR PRIORITY
One major reason is because this was an exercise Jesus always engaged in (Luke 5:15; Luke 6:12; Luke 23:24; Matthew 14:23). It wasn’t just that it was a regular thing for Jesus – in times of emergency, times of deepest need and in His darkest hour, Jesus prayed. There was no emergency or difficulty that caught Jesus unawares; when you are used to praying, nothing will catch you unprepared!
Nothing should be too small to pray about, when things happen to many of us, we resort to crying or self pity. We should make prayer a habit and use every opportunity to talk to our Father, no matter how big or small the situation we find ourselves, because there is nothing in your life that cannot answer and bow to sincere and faith-filled prayers. We need to make prayer a priority because when we pray, God hears and answers us. There is nothing prayer cannot do for us, so we should not play with prayer because all that God is and all that God has and all that He has promised are at our disposal if we pray. Acts 6:4; I Peter 3:12; Psalm 2:8
There is no communication without response; without prayer, a vital and growing relationship with God is not possible. Prayer is the vehicle, the platform by which we can connect with God and as we draw near to Him, it grows us and empowers us. It also drives sin out of our lives because sin is fully resident in a prayer-less life – if prayer doesn’t drive sin, sin will drive prayer out of your life. When you neglect prayer, you will faint because you will disconnect from the lifeline; without it, we cannot receive direction, instruction and guidance from God.
We should learn to have a prayer list; it helps to plan one’s prayer life effectively. Pray for your needs, the church, your pastors, your country, your neighbors etc. When you prepare this list, you will realize that you have more than enough things to pray about. We must plan prayer into our everyday lives. When you pray, things can turn around and God meets you at the point of your need.
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