The Bible teaches us how to pray in Mt 6:5-14. It says, we should go to a separate room, close the door and pray to our unseen God with minimal words because He knows all our needs even before we ask. Jesus himself did this at Gethsemane. He went to a lonely place there, leaving His disciples a little behind, threw His face to the ground and just said 'take away this cup of suffering from me, if it is your will' (Mt 26:39).
When you look at the history of first century Christians, they had prayerful churches and they lead a prayerful life which helped them to achieve a lot of things. Prayer life should grow each day and should be a permanant experience. It should not be static or stragetic or systematic. Let not our prayers be constant instead, let it change according to our needs. Then we will definitely feel that God is hearing and answering our prayers by some means. We can either see or hear God's reply on the same day or sometime later in our life.
Though there are no hard and fast rules that we have to be like this or that while praying, it is important that we show some kind of respect and adoration to the one who created the heaven and earth, and who is the king of this universe. The reverence can be shown by bowing down, hands kept crossed, eyes closed and heads covered (esp women). Through prayers, we pour out our thoughts and emotions, we confess our sins, we place our petitions, and we thank Him for the blessings we have received.
Let's see the four important things a prayer can do in the discussion below.
1. Prayer changes life: Our God is a miracle working God. He can change our life in no time when we believe and go to Him with a humble heart. Is 64: 4 says, God does certain things that no one would have ever heard or seen, to those who put their hope in Him through prayers. This is well explained in Hannah's life (1Sam 1&2). She was a childless woman, she went to the temple one day and cried bitterly and prayed for a son of her own. She believed that God will do it for her and she never doubted her prayer. Soon she was blessed with a son and this changed her life. Her happiness knew no bounds.
2. Prayer brings us closer to God: When we tell everything to God in prayer, the distance between us both will decrease. We will feel that God knows our in and outs, and our ups and downs. This will make us a new person and we'll be free from all our worries because we have someone else to carry all our burdens. Can you imagine how privileged we are to have such a close friend like Him just by praying.
3. Prayer makes our work worth: All of us pray for the work we do. We pray that we might shine well in our place of work. This is absolutely acceptable in God's sight because He is the one who blesses our work life too. Nehemiah worked as a emperor's wine steward. But he had the burden of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, He prayed to God day and night about it. God heard his prayers and He took away all the oppositions that was on his way. He rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem in just 52 days and made his work worth.
When we take Daniel's life, we all know how his prayer life made him a ruler over Babylon (Dan6:1-3). He prayed three times a day without fail or come what may, which made him do his work better than anybody in the whole empire.
4. Prayer is a powerful tool: I am sure everyone will agree with me that prayer is a powerful weapon that can fight any situations in life. King Ezekiel used this weapon to extend his life for another fifteen years. King David used this tool to win all his enemies. Acts chapter 12 proves that an earnest prayer is the powerful tool which can do any wonder (Peter being set free from prison).
Prayer should be a part of our life and it helps us to grow spititually to receive spiritual blessings. God says wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst. Let's invite Him in our midst by gathering as a family everyday. Family prayer is something very important, it solves many problems. The last days are very crual and bad, we must be strong in our faith and be able to pray (1 Pet4:7 and 2 Tim 3:15).
When you look at the history of first century Christians, they had prayerful churches and they lead a prayerful life which helped them to achieve a lot of things. Prayer life should grow each day and should be a permanant experience. It should not be static or stragetic or systematic. Let not our prayers be constant instead, let it change according to our needs. Then we will definitely feel that God is hearing and answering our prayers by some means. We can either see or hear God's reply on the same day or sometime later in our life.
Though there are no hard and fast rules that we have to be like this or that while praying, it is important that we show some kind of respect and adoration to the one who created the heaven and earth, and who is the king of this universe. The reverence can be shown by bowing down, hands kept crossed, eyes closed and heads covered (esp women). Through prayers, we pour out our thoughts and emotions, we confess our sins, we place our petitions, and we thank Him for the blessings we have received.
Let's see the four important things a prayer can do in the discussion below.
1. Prayer changes life: Our God is a miracle working God. He can change our life in no time when we believe and go to Him with a humble heart. Is 64: 4 says, God does certain things that no one would have ever heard or seen, to those who put their hope in Him through prayers. This is well explained in Hannah's life (1Sam 1&2). She was a childless woman, she went to the temple one day and cried bitterly and prayed for a son of her own. She believed that God will do it for her and she never doubted her prayer. Soon she was blessed with a son and this changed her life. Her happiness knew no bounds.
2. Prayer brings us closer to God: When we tell everything to God in prayer, the distance between us both will decrease. We will feel that God knows our in and outs, and our ups and downs. This will make us a new person and we'll be free from all our worries because we have someone else to carry all our burdens. Can you imagine how privileged we are to have such a close friend like Him just by praying.
3. Prayer makes our work worth: All of us pray for the work we do. We pray that we might shine well in our place of work. This is absolutely acceptable in God's sight because He is the one who blesses our work life too. Nehemiah worked as a emperor's wine steward. But he had the burden of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, He prayed to God day and night about it. God heard his prayers and He took away all the oppositions that was on his way. He rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem in just 52 days and made his work worth.
When we take Daniel's life, we all know how his prayer life made him a ruler over Babylon (Dan6:1-3). He prayed three times a day without fail or come what may, which made him do his work better than anybody in the whole empire.
4. Prayer is a powerful tool: I am sure everyone will agree with me that prayer is a powerful weapon that can fight any situations in life. King Ezekiel used this weapon to extend his life for another fifteen years. King David used this tool to win all his enemies. Acts chapter 12 proves that an earnest prayer is the powerful tool which can do any wonder (Peter being set free from prison).
Prayer should be a part of our life and it helps us to grow spititually to receive spiritual blessings. God says wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst. Let's invite Him in our midst by gathering as a family everyday. Family prayer is something very important, it solves many problems. The last days are very crual and bad, we must be strong in our faith and be able to pray (1 Pet4:7 and 2 Tim 3:15).
We all give tithe in the form of money but tithe is not just that. We have to offer one tenth of everything we get from God, which includes our time. We need to spend atleast 2 hours and 24 minutes in a day for God. We can read Bible, pray, praise Him by singing or hearing songs, listening or watching spiritual programs and messages in radio or telivision, read spiritual books or even telling others about Him. Let's not steal God's time.
A half an hour prayer is advisable every day. Getting up early and praying in the morning gives a good start. Spend first 5 minutes in praise and worship, second 5 minutes to thank Him for all the blessings or just say Ps 103 and 121, third 5 minutes to confess our weakness, fourth 5 minutes for mission, fifth 5 minutes for others and country and the last 5 minutes for yourself.
Let's ask and recieve everything from God through prayers, for our God is a rich God and His arm is not short. Our God is bigger than our needs. Let all our prayers turn to praises.
