PRAYER!!!

WHAT IS PRAYER?

Prayer is simply the divine communication with God. In prayer we find time to be alone with our loving God, who promises to hear and answer us. Sometimes we receive more than we ask or even think is possible to receive; and other times God denies our specific request for greater goal of experiencing His grace; Prayer is calling on the name of:

 1. The Lord, (Gen 4:26) “And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and He named him Enosh. Then men begun to call on the name of the Lord”; (Gen 12:7-8) Then the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an alter to the Lord, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an alter to the Lord and call on the name of the Lord.” (Zeph. 3:9) “For there I will restore to the peoples a pure language that they all may call on the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one accord.”

2. Prayer is calling to God: (Ps. 4:1, 3) “Hear me when I call O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Have mercy on me and hear my prayer; But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly; the Lord will hear when I call to Him.”(Ps. 17:16) “I have called upon You, for You will hear me, O God; Incline Your hear to me, and hear my speech.”

3. Prayer is seeking God’s face: (Ps. 27:8) “When You said, “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord I will seek.” (2 Chr. 7:14) “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

4. Prayer is seeking the Lord: (Ps. 34:4) “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” ;( Isa. 55:6) “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.”

5. Prayer is crying out to God:( Ps. 3:4) “ I cried to the Lord with my voice, And He heard me from  His holy hill”; (Isa. 66:1) Thus says the Lord, “ Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool, where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?”

6. Prayer is lifting up the soul to God: (Ps. 25:1) “To You O Lord, I lift up my soul.” (Ps. 86: 4) “Rejoice the soul of Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up soul.”

7. Prayer is lifting up one’s hand to God: (Ps. 28:2) “Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.”; (Ps. 141:2) “Let my prayers be set before You as incense,  the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”

8. Prayer is approaching God’s throne of grace: (Heb. 4:16) “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

9. Prayer is drawing near to God: (Heb.10:22) “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

TO WHOM SHOULD WE PRAY TO?

1.       To God: (2 Chr. 20:5-6) Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said: “O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hands is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You?”; ( Ezra 9:6) And I said,” O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our quilt has grown up to the heavens.”(Acts 4:24) So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them.”

2.       To the Father: (Eph. 1:17) “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.”; (Eph. 3:14) “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”; (Col. 1:3) “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.”

3.       To the Lord: (2 Chr. 20:5-6), (Acts 4:24), (2 Cor. 12:8) “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.”

4.       To Jesus: (Luke 23:42) Then he said to Jesus. “Lord remember me when You come to Your kingdom.” (Act 7: 59) And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus receive my spirit.”

THE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF PRAYER

1. Postures of Prayer

·         Standing:  (1 Kgs. 8:22) “Then Solomon stood before the alter of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hand toward heaven.”; (Neh. 9:4-5)   Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Chenani stood on the stairs of the Levites and cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God. And the Levites Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God Forever and ever! Blessed be Your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessings and praise!

·         Sitting: (1 Chr. 17:16) Then King David went in and sat before the Lord; and he said, “Whom am I, O Lord God? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far? (Luke 10:13) “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty work that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.” (Ezra 9:4) “Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel assembled to me, because of the transgression of those who had been carried away captive, and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice.”

·         Kneeling:  (Dan. 6:10) “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before His God, as was his custom since early days.”; (Acts 20:36) “ And when said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.”

·         Bowing down: (Exod. 34:8) “So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.” But as for me I will come into Your house in the multitude of your mercy; in fear o You I will worship  toward Your holy temple.”; (Ps. 95:6) “ OH come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”

·         Lying on the ground: (2 Sam 12:16) “David therefore pleaded with the Lord for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.”; (Matt. 26:39) “He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed saying,”O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

·         Lifting up hands:  (Ps. 28:2) “ Hear the voice of my supplications when  I cry to You, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.”;  When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.” (1 Tim. 2:8) “I desire therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.”

2. Manner of Prayer

·         Alone, silently: (1 Sam. 1:12) “And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk.”

·         Alone, aloud: (Ezek. 11:13) Now it happened, while I was prophesying that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell on my face and cried with a loud voice, and said, “Ah, Lord God! Will You make a compete end of the remnant of Israel?”

·          With two or three: (Matt. 18:19-20) “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

·         In a large group or congregation: (Ps. 35:18) “I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people.” ( Ps. 22:22) “I will declare Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.”

3. Time of Prayer:

·         In the morning: (Gen 24:63) “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up.” ( Mark 1:35) “Now in the morning having risen a long before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.”

·         In the evening: (Gen. 24:63) “And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there the camels were coming.”

·         At fixed times: (Ps. 55:17) “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.” (Dan. 6:10) “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and give thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.”

·         Always:  (Luke 18:1) “Then He spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.”( Rom. 1:9) “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son that without ceasing, I make mention for you always in my prayers.” (! Thess. 5:17) “pray without ceasing”

4. Possible places of prayer

·         Secret: (Matt.6:6) “But you, when you pray,  go into your room, and when you have shut the door, pray to Your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who  sees in secret will reward you openly.”

·         In bed:  (Ps. 63:6) “When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.”

·         In a family setting: (Acts 10:1-2) “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, , a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who  feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.”

·         Out in the open: (Gen. 24:11-12) “And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water. Then he said, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham.”

·         In the battlefield: (Josh. 10:12-13) “So Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the Children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel; ‘Sun , stand still over Gibeon;  And Moon, in the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies.”

·         By the riverside:  ( Acts 16:13) “And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayers were customarily made and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.”

·         In the Temple: (2 Kgs.19:14) “And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.”

·         In the Church gathered together:  (Acts 4:23-24, 31) “And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. So when they heard that, , they raised their voice to God with one accord and said; “ Lord You are God who made heaven and the sea, and all that is in them; And when they had prayed,  the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness,”

·         Anywhere: (1 Tim. 2:8) “I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.”

Beloved! Don’t miss the next epistle of the power of prayer and the elements of prayer.  Until next time.

“Grace to you and Favor of our God and Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen and Amen and Amen.”