The Value of Prayer
1ST TIMOTHY 2: 1
The bible says all are called to entreaties and prayers, petition and thanksgiving. We Christians should be leading in prayer and there should be no time when we feel we’ve done enough in prayer. Prayer is the most ancient, most universal, most intensive of the religious instincts. It touches the infinite extremes, the simplest form of speech that even infants can try with the simplest strains reaching the majesty on high. It is indeed the Christian vital breath and native air.
Queen Elizabeth of England once said that she could not fear any great army as she feared the prayers of John Knox. It was the same with Martin Luther and the black and the white Americans, who could do nothing by themselves but only by prayer. It is not a strange paradox that most Christians today do not naturally delight in drawing near to God. We pay lip service to the delight and the potency and value of prayer. We assert that it is the indispensable adjunct of the spiritual maturity.
Despite the many prayer outcomes mentioned in the bible, we too often fail to pray. We should be encouraged by the lives of men of like passion with ourselves who conquered their natural reluctance and became mighty men in prayer. The aids of Samuel Chadwick said that he was essentially a man of prayer. It was said that every morning he would wake up early and go to a small room he had made for his private devotion and would pray greatly. Toward the end of his life it was said that he wished he would have worked less and prayed more.
Mastering the art of prayer takes time, but we need to know that the time we allocate to things is dependent upon the importance of the things in our lives. When we feel our prayers are important we will automatically allocate enough time. We will have to reduce the crowding duties and fix time for the prayers. Martin Luther once confessed, when being asked about his program of the day, that his day was so busy and had a lot of work and so he prayed for three hours before he did anything in the day. It meant to me that when he had much to do the he would pray much.
Those who are skeptical of the validity of prayer do not take it seriously. We can not learn to pray except by praying itself and slowly we come to realize the joy of having fellowship with God. Sometimes to the skeptic, prayer does not seem logical, but they need to do it and will come to know its validity. If Jesus himself taught much about prayer, how will we see the prayer as unnecessary in Christian living? If prayer had no meaning in Christianity, then Jesus would not have taught much about it.
It touches our hearts to see that Jesus himself, being then begotten son of God, being the prince of life and possessing every power, would humble himself before the throne of the father praying for grace to help him in times of need.
In Luke 5:16 we find that Christ would withdraw himself from the people and go to places with no people to pray. One so mighty and endowed with all power found it necessary to do this. How will we sons of men then withdraw ourselves from the people and the many affairs that surround us and seek God’s help and guidance?
True prayer is a strenuous spiritual exercise that demands our utmost mental discipline and concentration. Paul said to the Colossians that Epaphras was laboring for them in prayers (Col 4:12), He further said that he was in prayer conflicts because of them. Praying for the Colossians was agonizing. It was not easy. It was an act of toiling. It was a battle and as a soldier struggling to deliver people from danger so it was and usually is in the realms of prayer.
When we pray in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit links himself with us and pours his supplication into us in those times we do not know how to pray, when we get weak and become helpless. He who knows the will of the Father intercedes on our behalf. (Rom 8:26-28). If we do not understand the importance of the Holy Spirit in our prayers we will not be able to fix it.
Most of our prayers are physical and not in the realms of the Spirit. They move in the realms of minds alone. They are products of our own thinking and are prayers out of hope and not in faith. The bible says that without faith no one pleases God. We should move from praying in the physical to the praying in the Spirit. We need to move from praying out of hope to the praying out of faith.
Ephesians 6:18 says that we need to pray in the power and the energy of the Spiri, giving ourselves wholly into prayer and praying in every occasion. Human energy of the heart, mind and will can only give human results but there are times when we need the supernatural. Therefore we need to pray in the supernatural, i.e. in the Spirit. Our minds are sometimes ignorant of the will of God but the Holy Spirit knows the mind of God.
Whenever we pray we should overcome the opposition from the devil who will always seek to oppress and depress, to create doubt and discouragements. This can only be in the mighty assistance of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is a spiritual warfare. When we pray we have God on one side, man on one side and the devil on the other side, but our power comes from our unity with Jesus. When we pray for people, we should always pray against Satan and his will. He holds people captives. It is good to deal with the cause other than dealing with the effects. It is Satan to be blamed in the bad lives of the people. Satan must be rendered powerless and must be bound before we can loose our brothers and allow them to go free to serve the lord.
By prayer we will move the world. It is by prayer that we can say no or yes…to God. God has given us control of whatever happens in earth and by allowing him to do, mighty he will do. He is waiting for us to allow Him to do as He has promised. He is just waiting for our prayers. Let us continue to pray. Prayer influences God to influence the world. Without prayer we can not move the world.
The eminence of great leaders of the bible is attributable to that fact that they were great in their prayer lives. They did not become great because of their magnificent culture, native endowment or their brilliancy but because they prayed greatly. May you become great as you pray. May the supernatural begin to work in your life as you pray. May your enemies be defeated as you pray. May the Lord give you grace to continue in prayer. May you begin to pray even when there seems no hope. May you begin to move in prayers by faith and may your prayer move the world, in Jesus name.
