1- Introduction
Jesus Christ, the very Son of God used to pray as he was living with us on earth some 2000 years ago (Luk 3:21; 22:32,39-46; 23:34-46; Mt 27:46; John 17), he taught his disciples how to pray (Luk 11), he even exhorted them to pray (Luk 22:40). We have many examples where the early church was used to pray (Act 10:9; 1 Tim 2:8); and we are urged by the Bible to pray all time (1 The 5:17; 1 Pet 4:7).
Is there any amazing thing about all that to be called mystery? Not yet, I think. But the amazing part is when it is said that even now, Jesus Christ our Savior prays interceding for us (Rom 8:36; Heb 1:3), sustaining the whole universe (Col 1:17; Heb 1:3), up to the point where even our move is possible only by him (Act 17:28), and the Holy Spirit of God, the One who knows the mind of God, he also prays (Rom 8:26-27), that's how everything can work together for our good; and when it is said everything, it means every-thing (Rom 8:28).
Why is prayer so important that none of the will of God happen but by prayer?
- Jesus presented prayer as a child talking to his heavenly father. And we see also throughout the Bible that God indeed talk back. So in the prayer: there is a time of speaking and a time of listening (it might be later on), it is a "conversation" that someone has with God, it is a two-way thing.
As a talk, by prayer we open up our heart to God and we have access also to his heart. And since there is no darkness, nor lie in God, you won't get but truth from him. That's why prophecy doesn't come but by prayer, the same for word of knowledge, and any other revelation from God like vision (Act 10:9-10).
- It is by prayer that we commune, have communion with God; and it is that prayer that was cut in Eden, called death.
o How can?
§ Prayer is communion with God, giving us access to him the source of life; so as the light bulb is dead when switched off, being cut-off from the source of electricity, we too are dead when cut-off from the source of life, and it is only by prayer that that connection can be re-established.
§ Implication: Christian lack of prayer is a dying Christian! And the first attack (which sadly works very well) that the enemy uses against the children of God is by taking away their prayer life, or making them occasional-prayer Christian. Do you pray as a lifestyle, or occasionally, when in need (of requesting, or giving thanks) only? Be careful because you might have been attacked that way, and that's how you'll get to live less and less the will of God, you might be dying spiritually.
- It was that prayer that was recovered on the cross.
Why would we need salvation, why would we need forgiveness, why would we need eternal life if not to pray? Remember: prayer is communion with God, so the Cross gave us back our ability to pray and to know the heart of God. Before the Cross, people pray to God by sacrificing animals, and know his will by consulting prophets and priests. That's how can John tell us that as we believe in Jesus Christ, we have eternal life, as a present tense thing (1 Joh 5:13), because we can go boldly before his throne to pray (1 Joh 5:14-15).
- Let's picture it this way:
o A person without Christ is pictured as someone locked in a room (the world), and as he doesn't know the outside world since his birth then his room is his world, and telling him that outside is beautiful won't be easy unless you open a window for him to see it using your godly filled with peace and joy life.
o Eternity is the outside: endless space, endless possibility, no wall to stop you moving forward, no roof to stop you knowing more about God.
o But to have access to that life, you've got to pass by the only door: Jesus Christ.
o And the key we Christian have to unlock the door is prayer.
o By our prayer in the Name of Jesus, we can get out of this world, and seat in the heavenly seat with Jesus Christ (Eph 2:6) to set things right in our life, in this world! Hallelujah!
Sadly, few Christian has reached praying 'always' as suggested by the apostles (1 Pet 4:7; Rom 12:12; Eph 6:18; Col 4:2). They still live as someone who doesn't have the key to get out this world and have fun in heaven with Jesus. It's fortunate for you anyway, you know it know, and it's not too late to change the way, by start having a lifestyle of prayer.
3- What do we show or what does God see in the prayer?
- Faith
It touches the heart of God to see us closing our eyes and believing that God exist and listens to us, and is going to move in our situation. Maybe it sounds obvious for us to believe so, but it doesn't stop pleasing God, that's why it was written in his Holy Word (even if that verse is most the time used being cut) Heb 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." And remember that millions of people don’t believe in God, and many pray to pacify their heart, not because of the reality of God's being and his listening.
We “waste”our time with prayer because we believe that it's worth it: God hears, and he will answer.
Ø With our prayer, we show and God sees how much we believe in him, whom we don't even/always see nor hear.
- Trust
A child, to whom his father has never given more than $10 a week, won't dare asking $200 daily. In the same way, trusting that God is great and mighty will help you to ask him great things. As we pray, we trust that God will do it, if you doubt, then that's how you don't get things from him. You've got to trust him.
So with our prayer, God sees that we trust him, and asking him great things shows him how much we trust on his answer. (Deu 32:4)
Ø Even though God knows our needs (Mat 6:8), he still wants us to show him our faith and our trust by telling him straight what we want, believing he can do it, and he will do it (Joh 16:26).
- The lordship of God in our life
o As we pray before doing all things we show God that we are not able, he is the One able. So more you pray, more you show that you depend on him. And it is the independence that Satan used as bait to deceive Eve: she thought that being like God would be better, at least God won't be there to dictate them what to do anymore.
o As we are thankful with our prayer every time we succeed doing things, we render to our source of strength the glory, anyway, he is the only one worthy of praise.
o As we consult the Lord by prayer before deciding anything, we are just like a faithful servant who does things as it pleases the boss. God doesn't want to be bossy, but he is the boss anyway.
Let God be the Lord in your life, and you his child. Don't think that God will be pleased with your Sunday worship when your week is full of Jesus-less self-confidence, full of self-praise, full of independence from God’s lordship, full of 'I', 'me', 'myself'.
Learn to ask God’s opinion about your friendship, relationship, your choices; why not even ask what does he think about the color of the pant you are about to wear? Does it sound crazy? But you should remember that the one who does that values his friendship with God more than you who ignore the presence of God in your life. Learn to appreciate Jesus as you are still able to tie your shoes: if you have had experienced serious sickness, you will know what the meaning of what is said is. Learn to ask him to help even with the things you think you ‘can’,because it’s by asking help that you won’t forget to appreciate and it is ‘in him that you breath and move’ anyway (Act 17:28). Learn to not take anything for granted.
Ø So as you shout ‘MY LORD’ in the Church, fill your life with ‘MY LORD’, let him be your real king whom you worship willingly, not you worship when he has to call your attention.
- Humility
God hates pride! For it is written: for God resisteth the proud (1 Pet 5:5; Pro 3:34; Job 40:12). And it is that pride that leads you to say that a thing is too small to be asked from God, or you can still do it! You think that it is small, but don’t think that the pride will get you with the big stuff, of course, it will start with the little things until you get comfortable saying you are able!
“God, have mercy!”
How much pride do we have to make us just wake up the morning and start doing our things without thanking God for the good night we had, and not committing unto him the new day, are you proud enough to say that you are better that those 80 000 persons who couldn’t make the night trough?! Or are you strong enough toface the destruction of the enemy if without heavenly protection?!
Ø Be humble enough to commit all things into the hand of God, remember: more you pray about smaller thing, more you humble yourself before God.
Let’s learn from our Master: Jesus shows his humility facing temptation by praying, he was not proud to say that he is God, so will be able to make it, no need of prayer. At his last trial, “he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death” (Heb 5:7), and that’s how “appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him”(Luk 22:43) so he was able to face everything. He was exhorting his disciple to do the same but since they were not aware of the danger of the temptation, and the victory they could get with prayer (Luk 22:46) then they just enjoyed their restful sleep. Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. (Eph 5:14)
Don’t say that you are strong enough to face your temptation, run away from it (2 Tim 2:22), pray as Jesus taught you: “lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil” (Luk 11:4). When James 1:12 is saying that blessed is the man that endureth temptation, 1 Cor 10:13 explains that we can bear the temptation not by staying under it but because he will make a way for us to escape, and that way of escape is revealed to us by prayer because with prayer the mystery of the will of God is revealed to us from the Holy Spirit (1Co 2:7, 10; 1 Cor 14:2).
4- What is Prayer for?
- For the glory of God.
This is important: With prayer we shouldn’t look at our need but look at the glory of God as he moves in our need.
Jesus promised that whatsoever we ask in his name (meaning according to his will, approved by him, not just because you said ‘in the name of Jesus’), he will do it, not for us to be happy or whatever concerning us but ‘that the Father may be glorified in the Son’ (Joh 14:13). Which mean: we pray and he will answer so God will be glorified. With that in mind, Joh 16:24 will call our attention, saying: “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” What is it exactly: for God’s glory of for our joy?
Thank God his word is enough to explain to us his meaning, Joh 15:1-11 tells us how prayer, God’s glorification and the fullness of our joy walk together: Jesus said that as he is the vine and we are the branches, we should abide in him and will bear much fruit. He continues on clarifying that as we abide in him and his words abide in us (being full of the knowledge of the will of God) we will ask what we want and it will be done unto us, because it is with that that our Father is glorified and we bear much fruit being his disciples. And he said at the end, “these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be
full.”
Ø So Jesus taught us that if we pray according to his will, it will be done unto us to glorify the name of the Father, and knowing that fulfills our joy. Consequently, end your request with something like this: “In the name of Jesus I pray, so your name O heavenly Father will be glorified through that situation, and teach me also to always glorify your name as you always move in my life.”
Phi 2:9-11 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
- For the will of God to come to pass. Even his promise is not accomplished but by prayer.
It is clear that the Father loves us, he gave us his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (Joh 3:16) but still none of what he wants will come to pass unless someone prays for it, if you won’t pray he will ask someone else to do it for you, if no one wants the Holy Spirit always wants and pray for it (Rom 8:26-27), that’s how everything works for our good (Rom 8:28) even tribulation (Rom 5:3-4), beside Jesus’ intercession for us (Rom 8:36).
Is it biblical to say so? Yes, we have great examples from the bible,
o If we just look at Moses used by God to fulfill what he has promised Abraham 400 years earlier (Gen 15:13-14), we see that the process of deliverance begun when the cry the children of Israel came up unto God by prayer (Exo 2:23-24). God gave his word to Moses that he is going to deliver his people with strong hand, yet Moses pried for that to come to pass (Exo 5:20-23); God has said to carry the Israelite until the land of Canaan but still the manna and the water from the rock and all they needed on the way came after a prayer (Exo 15:24-25; 16:3-4; 17:4-5;…)
o The demon will be cast down from heaven, and that is God’s plan, and will come to pass as the result of the prayer of the Christian (Rev 12:9-11)
Ø So don’t just sleep waiting for the promise of God to come, pray for it.
- For what we want (according to the will of God) to happen
There are things that were not ‘supposed’ to happen but by prayer it does, I mean, prayer initiates it. This part needs our attention, because, this is one of the things we, as believer, do more than Jesus (Joh 14:12). He came just to do what the One who sent him wants, not what he wants (Joh 6:38).
Let’s take directly a biblical example:
In the book of Daniel, chapter 10, we see the visitation of an angelic being to the prophet, and the angel said that he came because of the prayer of Daniel (Dan 10:12). And he didn’t just come, but he came to tell the beloved man of God that as he is praying and fasting down here for 3 weeks (Dan 10:2), the angel of the Lord is fighting against the prince of Persia (the demon controlling the kingdom of Persia – Eph 6:12) exactly one and twenty days (Dan 10:13). Isn’t it amazing that the angel fought exactly the same number of day as Daniel’s prayer? It is so, because it is our prayer that upkeep our victory, and we keep praying until victory is confirmed.
You want revival in your family? Pray; you want your friend to come to know Jesus? Pray; you want to not be sick or get healed? Pray; you want success? Pray; you want your joy back? Pray; you want to be overcomer? Pray; you want God’s revelation? Pray; you want to know God’s plan? Pray. With Prayer God will do things that was ‘not supposed’ to be done.
Therefore, don’t wait for what God has in mind, check the will of God, and pray according to it whatever you want. The Bible is what we have at the first place to know what the will of God is. Knowing God more (The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, each in a very personal way) will help us greatly to face situations. Did Jesus raise all dead when he lived with the Israel? No. But he raised some; so to know when to raise the dead you meet, you need to know very well Jesus’ heart, what can push him to do it, and what won’t. The same thing works for the Holy Spirit and the Father.
Ø In one word: for the Glory of God, pray for the will of God, pray according to the will of God.
5- What’s going on when we pray?
- The angels are mobilized
o From the story above, about Daniel, it is obvious that his prayer let angels move to fight the army of the enemy. In Dan. 10:13 we see even Michael one of the chief princes, Daniel’s prince (Dan. 10:21) had to come to help the first angel, because the fight was too tough for him alone.
o The same scenario is seen in the prophecy for the latter day, in the book of Revelations (Rev. 12:1-12) where Satan is cast down to the earth (Rev. 12:9), being battled by the host of heavens (Rev. 12:7-8) result of the prayer of the saints (Rev. 12:11).
Ø Put in another word: Our prayer plays the role of fuel for the battle against the kingdom of darkness. That battle is not physical, but spiritually done by angels, commanded with the name of the Lord of Host, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior who has given unto us authority to bind and to lose on earth, and it will be done so in heaven. Victory doesn’t come but by prayer, we like or not.
Eph 6:12, 18 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Heb 1:14 Are they [angels] not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
- To our prayer, the four and twenty elders and the four beasts who is before God worshiping day and night, say Amen (Rev 7:9-12; 19:1-4), Jesus Himself with His name given to us approves and will do it, the Holy Spirit, finger of God (compare Luk 11:20 with Mat 12:28) will do it as we pray in faith, God the Father himself loves us with an eternal love. Halelujah!
Eph 2:18 For through [Jesus Christ] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
6- The confidence we have in prayer
- Where our subject of prayer might come from?
o Can it be from the demons? God forbid!
That’s why we can’t pray to sin because the enemy knows that with our prayer the heart of God will be revealed to us, and that will of God will tell us that what we are about to pray is very wrong, so instead of giving your request you will end up asking for forgiveness. The Devil knows that prayer is the key to us to get into the heavenly seat with Christ by his name to set things right, so with prayer he knows that there is no way for you to accomplish sin. So what the Devil works day and night is to take away your prayer life so you will stay ignorant of the will of God.
o Can it be from the world? Nay!
The world (any external ‘voice’ that whispers to us what is not the will of God) is the right hand of the evil one, so it will never tell you to pray or give you a subject of prayer. With prayer you will be strengthened to stand before any temptation from outside, so why would they inspire you to be strong and stand against them?
o Can it be from the flesh? Oh Yeah!
And it’s so confusing because it is against the will of God and will be answered ‘NO’, and that may put into distress our faith that our request was not granted, not as Jesus has promised.
The how part of the way to not pray a prayer from the flesh is clear as Jesus indicated: Abide in me, and let my words abide richly in you (Jesus speaking). But the problem comes when to separate the prayer from the flesh out of the good prayer. We have some points here that can help us as we present our request before God.
§ The prayer from the flesh won’t have anything to do with the kingdom of God, but the earthly needs / desires (1 Cor 15:19), self-centered (me, my friends, my family, my study, my country, my my my); you can try to tell God that you just want to get rich for you to be able to help the poor, do you really think that you can fool the Holy Spirit of God?! He knows that if you don’t do anything for the poor now with the small you have you won’t do differently even being rich, you might do something according to the abundance of what you have, but you just deceive yourself because that widow lady who put two mites into the treasury does better than you (Mar 12:41-44).
§ The prayer from the flesh will demonstrate lack of faith (Heb 11:6), by using vain repetition (Mat 6:7-8); telling God the way to solve the problem, you can give him a hint, but let him be God: able to provide water in the desert, even making highway in the wilderness. Tell him just the problem, tell him what you want him to do for you, and let him decide how to do it.
Ø I didn’t mean that we cannot have desires, we can, but just tell him your desire, and believe he has heard it, no need even to repeat it twice, there are a lot of things to pray for out there so why would you waste your time praying in the same subject over and over again, but those people in your contact lists (Skype, Facebook, …) need prayer each and every single one of them, why don’t you pray for everyone if you want to pray?
Ø There are things that we need to pray repeatedly because the answer also is continuous, for instance: health, travel mercies, daily bread, peace …
James 4:2-3 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
o Can it be from the Holy Spirit? AMEN
As He knows the very will of God, and what God is going to do he inspires us what to pray so when it come to pass we will glorify God.
Ø Have confidence then because when your prayer is not from your flesh, it is from God himself by his Holy Spirit, and he tells us to pray over it because he is already planning to do it to glorify his Holy Name!
Let’s repeat again: God is going to do a great thing, so he ask you to pray over it, for you to be thankful when it is done; so there is no need of thinking that what you are asking for won’t come to pass.
- Also, our confidence in prayer is because God loves us: He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Rom 8:32)
7- Ending words
Rev 2:26-29 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Dan 12:1-3 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
As the title implies, we just learn now a very small part of the hidden things in prayer, pray and more will be revealed. To God be the Glory, now and forever. AMEN!