The Sunday News
GREETINGS beloved nation in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Psalm 65 vs 2, “O you who hear prayer, to you all men will come”.
We are living in a generation of people that are lazy to pray and people who are full of needs that are not met, a people who love to complain so much about everything that is happening in the world. It’s a generation that wants answers, a generation that is trying everything but not prayer. When they are praying they are complaining to God, telling God how big their problems are and what the world has done to them and how it has impacted their families and their ministries negatively.
We complain about the economy, politics, social issues and spiritual issues. David in the book of Psalm 65 comes with the assurance meaning that he had tried every god in the world but failed to get a solution. He actually came to the conclusion that there is a God in heaven who answers prayers. The reason why a lot of people hate to attend prayers or to pray individually is probably because they have tried and failed in their effort to get whatsoever they wanted and they were discouraged. Probably they have concluded that what they have asked for from God, God has not heard them or their request is too big.
Bible
But we see a man called David, a man that enjoyed a special relationship with God. He brings an assurance that there is a God in heaven who answers prayers. The book of 1 John tells us that we have this confidence that when we pray according to his will
He hears us or He answers us. When we know that He answers us we have to approach him in prayer with faith knowing we will receive. As we are starting a new year I want to give you some of the reasons why we pray; 1. Prayer is a command. Luke 18:1, 1st Thessalonians 5:17. Whether we like it or not we need to prayer. We pray in season and out of season. Whether we have things or we don’t have things. God expects us to pray. 2. Prayer creates fellowship with the father God.
1 st Corinthians 14:2. Our fellowship with God cannot be strengthened if we do not spend time in prayer. So we see that no one should stop praying and say `God is not answering me’. Since the beginning when God created man, He wanted to fellowship with him. 3. Prayer creates a platform for growth and transformation. Luke 9 vs 28:29. As a child of God you cannot grow spiritually if your prayer life is dangling by a thread. Prayer brings a great transformation. We see that when Jesus was praying, the bible tells us that his face was transformed and his clothes also. So prayer can bring glory in your face. A lot of people don’t look their age, not because they are aging or they are lacking certain oils, it is because they lack prayer.
There is no glory in their face. That’s why a lot of people have disfavour. When people look at you they don’t celebrate you, they think you come from another planet. So prayer carries a cleansing effect, it can change your appearance. The bible tells us about Moses that when he descended from the mountain, they had to put a veil over his face because there was this glory that the children of Israel could not look at him. May any witch or wizard because you are a praying man or woman, may they not look at your face because of the glory that is covering you. 4. Prayer creates a platform for warfare and intercession. 1 st Corinthians 14 : 4, Jude 1:20 In this world that we are living in there are principalities and powers that are monitoring your life, family, ministry, business, political position and these spirits their duties are to destroy, kill and steal. So there is a war that is going on. Remember that the devil is on the earth he is not in heaven.
So his mandate is to make sure that he kills as many as he can. So we can only fight these spirits when we begin to pray because our warfare is spiritual. So prayer is a spiritual exercise. It enables us to engage in warfare with these spirits. In Acts 12 vs 1-7,
“It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. 3 When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. 6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with chains and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up, ‘Quick, get up!’ he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists”.
We see in this chapter that the church was fought by a king named Herod, killing pastors and arresting Peter. All that was happening because the devil hates the church of the living God. In verse 5 we see the church praying fervently for Peter when he was about to be executed. And the bible tells us that there was an angelic intervention. Meaning that if the church did not pray Peter was going to be killed. But these people understood they could fight for Peter not in words or by blaming anyone, but in prayer and they overcame. We see 2 dimensions in their prayers (i) we see a spirit of a fighter (ii) we see a spirit of intercession. They had to stand in the gap for Peter. A lot of people are so selfish that even when they are praying it’s about themselves only. They don’t want to pray for other people, for nations, for pastors, for ministries. What they only do is to complain about everything. But the people in church of Acts were not selfish. Ladies and gentlemen no one will pray for your family unless you rise up and start praying; pray for your husband, your wife, your children, intercede for them.
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