Prayer.
You see bumper stickers around town of praying hands; Christians bow their heads in church when the pastor of deacon prays; when you have a test in school you pray that you did well; when you desire something you say a prayer to the "man upstairs".
Is this the image of prayer believers are giving the world? If we're all honest, I think it is. We treat prayer like a gimmick. Like it is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We think we will get anything we want simply by saying a prayer.
No wonder people don't take prayer seriously anymore!
When we don't make it something serious in our life, then no one else will, either; when we don't take prayer seriously, we are showing everyone around us that our relationship with Jesus isn't serious.
Let me explain exactly what prayer is. See, it isn't a "get what you want" whisper of a request. It is an intimate time with the most Powerful Being there has ever been...and the most powerful there ever will be.
We shouldn't go to Him with selfish desires. We go to Him with an earnest plea, totally humbled before Him, because when we get to the bottom of it all, He doesn't owe us a thing. You want a bigger house? Terrific. A better salary? Fantastic! God doesn't owe you any of that.
(I might go off on a rabbits trail for a minute, but just bear with me.)
Now before you get all riled up...let me finish explaining.
See, God isn't one for giving us what we deserve. His love goes beyond anything the human brain could ever comprehend. We cannot begin to fathom the depth of His amazing love.
"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)" -Ephesians 2:1-5
Think about all the things you've always said were "mistakes," now go look at the ten commandments. How many have you broken? God says even if you think you've only broken ONE, it is as if you've broken them all. Unfair? No. God is a righteous Judge and will punish according to the crime. If someone killed one of your family members and went before a judge, and said "But judge. I've never lied, or stolen anything, and I'm a good person most of the time." would it be "fair" to let the man go, weighing the one bad thing verses all the good decisions he had made? No. We all agree, a good judge would still give the man his sentence according to his crimes committed.
Now think about what your punishment should be for disobeying (sinning against) the Lord of the universe! In the instance of Christ, He allows a way out, and that way is to repent. To willingly admit you have done wrong.
Well, God isn't here on this earth physically so you can't go find Him and tell Him you're sorry...how can we repent then? This is where prayer comes in.
Falling to Christ as one who has nothing to offer but our dirty sinful lives. The weight of everything we've done lies on our shoulders as we bow before the King. This is the sweetest time one can have with Christ. In that instance, He takes away every wrong doing, every sin, every mistake you've ever made and places them in a pit. Never to be carried by you again. He says it is no longer yours; it is no longer even there. He wiped your slate clean.
The power of prayer.
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14
Now, this verse was not written for all of God's believers in 2012...but that doesn't mean we can't take something away from it. See, prayer is powerful because the one we are praying TO is powerful. He is great and mighty, and can do anything He very well pleases. His will may not always be ours, but the more we seek Him the more our desires will be what His will!
Prayer works.
"But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer." -Psalm 66:19
"Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me." -Psalm 66:20
When God's people pray, He not only hears them, but blesses them. He always answers prayers, even if it is not in a way that we wanted.
There's a story my dad always told, about a man that gave the credit for his answered prayer away (I will try to get it right.)
A man was up on a roof one day working away when he lost his footing and began to fall quickly towards the edge of the roof. He was in a state of panic and cried out "Lord, save me!" All of the sudden the mans shirt caught on a nail and saved him right before he went over the edge. He said "never mind Lord, this nail caught me."
Sound familiar? How often do we do that?
Prayer is sufficient.
This does not mean we pray and sit back waiting for God to hand us an answer on a silver platter. But more so that prayer should be enough. When we make prayer (time with God) a priority in our life, we will find all of the things we thought were SO important become so small and irrelevant that it's almost funny.
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My God is enough.
He is not some made us being for the weak to use as a crutch. He is not a fairy or giant in some fairytale land. He is THE Creator. THE King of the world. THE Loving/Righteous Judge. You can tell people all you want that you do not believe in the power of prayer or in Jesus Himself, that is fine. He gave us freedom, even if it means being free from Him. But know this, that doesn't mean He isn't there. I can go up to someone sitting down on a chair and tell them I don't believe there is a chair there...even though the evidence is right in front of my face. SOMETHING is holding that person up from falling, and me saying I don't believe in it will no more make it disappear than one saying they do not believe in Jesus will make Him any less real.
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Prayer is a straight line to talk to our Saviour.
When God's people pray, great things can happen. We cannot sit here doing nothing as we complain about the "state of the world" blaming it on what people ARE doing or acting like the "other" people, those prayer warriors, have it all under control. We should be blaming it on ourselves, for what we are NOT doing. The minute we give up our joy and belief in prayer is the minute we give up the most blessing filled minutes of our life.
Don't quit. Don't ever stop. Even when things seem to be going great, prayer is still as important as ever. God hungers for us to come to Him. He wants to spend time with us! And that should drive us to spend time with Him.
Do we really care?
"MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’" -Matthew 21:13
The house of God; Our churches. They are the house of God, correct? But what exactly is the "church"? In reality, it is not a building, but the people in the building. God's people MAKE the church. So, God's house, our church (His followers) are called to pray. His followers coming together to pray for one another; for the lost; the sick; the poor and needy; the hurting; the lonely; the condemned; the discouraged; the ones who are told they are nothing.
Are we going to let prayer become a thing of the past, that people look back upon as a fairytale, or will we make them talk for hundreds of years about how God's people prayed and God MOVED among thousands? It is your choice.
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