I've been having this urge to write to you guys about the power ofprayer in our lives, it's also because a few friends ask what's thesecret of answered prayers and why God hasn't answered their prayersin a long time. A few others, Christians and non Christians, alsowonder about how to start praying/talking to God and connecting withHim, starting is not an easy task but it's the most important step.There are few good books on prayers and one of them is 'Adventures inPrayers' by Catherine Marshall, promised a few friends to translatethat book but haven't been able to do that...sorry guys... so I justsummarize what's in the books, the bible and what God has lead us tofind about prayers.
Why do we pray? (from tante Meis notes during prayer class)
- - Because God wants us to talk and pray to Him, it's one of his His way of connecting with us. Jesus says we should pray and not give up (Luke18:1), He also tell us to pray so that we wouldn't fall intotemptation (Luke 22-45)
- - It's the key to His involvement in our situations.
- - Prayers move/activates His hand & power to change many things in thisworld...including solving problems and fufillling the desire of ourheart among the so many
- - Success...in His eyes...is the result of constantly praying to Him
And the secrets of answered prayers are:
- An attitude of thanksgiving... we sincerely thank Him for the manymany things in life and thank them in detail. And we also thank Himfor all the things we haven't yet received as if we have received them(prayer of faith) ex: "Lord thank you for the new home that you arepreparing for me, or thank you that you are sending me more goodcustomers soon."
- Ask Him for forgiveness & mercy...Be humble in front of Him andconfess our many sins and mistakes and believe that we receive Hismercy fresh and new every morning (Joel Olsteen) The root of all sinis pride therefore be humble when we pray to Him. The prayer of ahumble person pierces the clouds and hits heaven.
- Forgive everybody that hurt you/ made mistakes to you... because Godforgives us and He teach us to forgive others...think of it thisway...in the spiritual realm there are many blessing that would onlybe released once we forgive others and clean our hearts from anybitterness. Forgiving is a difficult task i know, but we can say "Godplease empower us to forgive and lift up our negative feelings towardsthat person, my feelings are violent right now but i surrender that toyou"...i feel it working many times before and felt so free and peaceful afterwards. Read Mark 11:25
- Praise Him. Praise brings the power of God. It release our negativethoughts and puts it on God, It directs our focus to Him, defeatsdevil and evil forces. "Praise will drive spirits that are not ofGod" (Joyce Meyer) ex: "I praise you Lord, your power is greater thananything, There's nobody like you..." "you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" 1Peter2:9
- 'Ask' and ask specifically even the most difficult thing, because when we ask we respect Him and we show Him we believe that He's ableto answer and fulfill our need, that way we acknowledge His power...He yearn to see that we believe He can do even the impossible. God ispleased when He's working. "Ask and it will be given to you, seek andyou will find...For the one who ask receives, and the one who searchesfinds...." Luke 11:9-10. For ex: If you have challenge from A to Z tosolve in your business, then mention A to Z to Him and ask Him to showyou the ways to solve them, you'll be amazed to see how He settlethings His miraculously... His ways are not like our ways.
- Believe and have faith that we have received our answers "Have faithin God, Jesus answered...Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask inprayer, believe that you have received it, and it shall be done foryou..." Mark 11:22-25. I am sure many of you have read/watch 'theSecret' but i can tell you that the theory is nothing new. Jesus teachus that way before. It is faith that pleases him. "Faith reaches outinto the spiritual realm and expects God supernatural power to show upand do what no person on earth could do" -Joyce Meyer
- Lead by the Holy Spirit, many Christians I know are not aware thatHoly Spirit of Jesus lives in us to help us. Holy Spirit is presentand active...and He's here in us to help us pray, our prayer will beenjoyable and creative if it's the Holy Spirit that leads us. He helpus understand many things, the truth, passages of bibles and God'spromise, understand our situation and tells us solutions. Holy Spiritspeaks to us about goodness and rightousness, He's the best friendthat will help straighten and lighten our path. We have to acknowledgeHim in our prayer & enlarge His presence. Ask Him to open our heartsso we can be closer to Him without barrier.
- Most important...ask in Jesus name. Knowing the beauty and thepower of His name, we will be more selective of what we ask for andmake sure that it is not against His will. believing in Jesus is Lordand in His name goes beyond Christian religion, He opens His arms formany. When we pray to Jesus , He will intercedes/ pray for our behalf,it's His faith that will convince the Father.
- Thanksgiving. before Jesus turns five loaves and two fish to 5000people, He looked up to heaven and gave thanks. Start with what wehave, give thanks and He'll multiply.
- Surrender. "God does not wanna violate our freewill and because ofthat unless we surrender our will willingly then God can't act toanswer a prayer"
- Fear Him and be an obedient child "He fulfills the desire of thosewho fear Him, He hears their cry and saves them" Psalm 145: 19
- Cast away fear and worries because those two things are like acurtain that separates us from God (Catherine Marshall). All negativefeelings are not from God. We should pray in Jesus name to deliver usfrom mind-binding spirits, spirits of defeat, deception anddiscouragement. God's words has power to win against the devil in thespiritual realm
- Love Him & have love for others...this too means loving God and obeying His command
- Delight in Him, i learn that having a joyful attitude even in ourhard times, will please Him. "Delight yourself in the Lord and He willgive you the desire of your heart" Psalm 37:4. We automatically getdiscourage when things are not happening the way we want to or when wecame across trouble, but if our heart keeps that joy for Him, God willsee that, He cheer us up an d strengthen us before we received whatwas promise to us. Remember that God gives us the desire and the giftswhen our attitude is right for them.
- Be righteous...our righteousness can only come through following Jesus teaching and His righteousness
- Don't be addicted to guilt, the voice that condemns us in our mindand heart is not from God because He is a forgiving God. When wereceive His forgiveness He puts a closure to our past then He renewour life. When we pray we must clear all disturbance in our mind, askHim to clear those too.
- Persevere and keep pressing on. Remember when Jesus is ignoring the Canaanite woman but she keeps crying out to Him, in this story we seethat He often wanted us to persevere, at the end the woman wasrewarded and her daughter was healed because of her great faith.
- Come boldly and be confident that He hears and answers-pray like a child...when a child ask something from his father hetrust his father and does not doubt in his heart that his father cangive...God wants us to pray like a child and trust Him. When we cannot yet understand His ways, we can trust His heart.
- Pray for others and be self-less,
- Pray all the time and make time and habit to pray, God wants us tospeak to Him often and be included in every aspects of our life.
- Have you ask for forgiveness and forgive all? I remember beingreminded to pray to forgive my dad (for ex: if he's never around or ifhe didn't give us the things we wanted, even though at that time ididn't consciously remember any resentment against him) because in thespiritual realm it breaks the bond that prevents me to see the imageof good life partner. Forgiving releases blessings. Forgiving ourearthly parents enables us to see the goodness of our Father in heavenand fix our perception/the image of Him and brings us closer to Him.
- Are you being good to people and have compassion for them? manyprayer goes unanswered because we do not treat others well and we donot extend mercy or compassion to the difficult situation around us (Joyce Meyer), be good, not rude and don't throw tantrum on littlethings, smile, because it's important to God that we treat people well
- Check on your faith, do you believe in your heart that He's capableto give you the answer? We must take the first step of faith. Manythings we can't understand with our mind therefore we need faith andwisdom from Him. And Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith soit's not something that we have to struggle to get, just ask Him forit. God hears, He's all ears to our prayers, all of them, I've seen andexperienced myself prayers are answered within seconds and minutes inHis perfect timing or in exact details of the requests or better, sofor sure if we haven't receive the answer that's not because He didn'thear.
- Are we still being judgemental towards people in our prayer? It's nota good idea to say "God please change that person to be goodbecause..."...It's telling God that we're better and the other personis wrong...that's being judgemental. Instead, pray for that God poursthem with His blessings.
- Are you persistent enough in your prayer, do you want the answer badly?
- Pride, are we too proud to share our struggle with Him and insist torely on our strength?
- Is our hearts gentle towards God and willing to obey and be changed by him?
- Can we accept His will if it's not the same as our will, and trust that His will for us is the best? Delayed answers increase our patience, sometimes He just wants us tohave patience in our waiting, while the answer is on the way
Later on, the world pushed me away from Him, I turned to other comforts. A few years after, when life was again a wreck, I called Him and say "Father howcan I start talking to you again like before, I really miss thosedays, I need your help"...at that time I didn't know if He heard me ornot, but days and months and years after that day He brought me toprayers, places, people and things to shows His presence in my life,and I know for sure He was always here wherever I am, ready to talk tome and offer help in His perfect timing.
Then I also found out thatwhen I pray to Him, it's actually Him that calls us first. i know thatI'm hopeless and helpless without Him and praying is the best way thatties me to Him. Now I just can't keep track with the so manyblessings from Him all the time.
My hope (in Him) that you guys also have an eternal abiding relationswith our super great Dad and tell Him everything. He is a God that'snear and not a God that's far. Attached are some really excellentprayer examples from 'the Adventure in Prayer book', hope this emailcome to you on time just as you needed to press on in yr prayer :-P
Best,
Mel
Ps: Please let me know if you have additional tips on praying...in themeantime...Live life beach style!!
jg: Thank you Mel... for allowing me post this in my blog... GBU
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