I Love My Lord
I love the Lord because he hears and answers my prayers. Because he bends down and listens, I will pray as long as I have breath!�?Psalm 116:1&2
Prayer is every Christian’s 24 hour, 7 days a week, hotline to God. Each time we pray, we:
· never receive a busy signal.
· can spend all the time we want talking.
How can this be? Because God is never too busy to speak with us. He always welcomes our calls and we don’t need to be concerned about any phone charges, because Jesus has already paid our bill in full.
1. What is prayer?
It is one of the most important instruments in our spiritual survival arsenal. More specifically prayer is:
* Our S.O.S. signal to God in times of crisis.
* The key that unlocks the miraculous.
* Where we become spiritually recharged.
* Talking to God with a trusting heart.
* Listening for God's voice. Isn't listening one of the qualities we look for in others? Someone that is more intent on hearing us than telling us about themselves. This is the same in our relationship with God. He is looking for people that will not only talk to him, but care enough to spend time listening to him.
2. What happens when we don’t pray?
Doubt, weariness, discouragement, and disillusionment creep in. Ultimately, it brings our spiritual disaster.
3. What are the benefits of praying?
Our faith is bolstered. We are strengthened, encouraged, receive spiritual vision, optimism, and blessings.
God divinely intervenes in response to our prayers.
Here are some good examples of divine intervention after Jesus spent time in prayer occurred in Jesus�?life.
Jesus walked on the water, calmed a tumultuous storm, and healed all the sick that came to him. A lifestyle of prayer and fasting will bring miraculous results in our lives as well.
4. Why pray God's scriptural promises?
God's promises don’t return to him empty. They accomplish what he desires. First, search the Bible for the scripture promise that is the antidote to your problem and then pray it.
Here are some scriptures to help you get started:
When all looks hopeless: "With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
When feeling trapped with no way out: "Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom." 2 Corinthians 3:17
When grieving: Matthew 5:4
When in sorrow: John 14
When you worry: Matthew 6:19-34
When you are in danger: Psalm 91
When God seems far away: Psalm 139
When your faith needs stirring: Hebrews 11
When you are lonely and fearful: Psalm 23
When you grow bitter and critical: I Corinthians 13
When you feel down and out: Romans 8:31
When you want peace and rest: Matthew 11:25-30
When you leave home: Psalm 121
When you want courage: Joshua 1
If you are depressed: Psalm 27
If you are discouraged: Psalm 126
For dealing with fear: Psalm 34:7
For security: Psalm 121:3
For reassurance: Psalm 145:18
5. Why is prayer so important?
‘Nothing�?is accomplished without it first being realized in prayer. Jesus knew this principle and applied it many times while he was on earth. One of his prayers was for his disciples and for "you"! We find this prayer in John 17.
"Jesus looked up to heaven and said, 'Father the time has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. For you have given him authority over everyone in all the earth. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. And this is the way to have eternal life - to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. I brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you told me to do. And now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.
I have told these men about you. They were in the world, but then you gave them to me. Actually, they were always yours, and you gave them to me; and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything I have is a gift form you, for I have passed on to them the words you gave me, and they accepted them and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me.
My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. And all of them, since they are mine, belong to you; and you have given them back to me, so they are my glory! Now I am departing the world; I am leaving them behind and coming to you. Holy Father, keep them and care for the, - all those you have give me - so that they will be united just as we are. During my time here, I have kept them safe. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.
And now I am coming to you. I have told them many things while I was with them so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not. I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They are not part of this world any more than I am. Make them pure and holy by teaching them your words of truth. As you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself entirely to you so they also might be entirely yours.
I am praying not only for these disciples but also for "all who will ever believe in me" because of their testimony. My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father - that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.
I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are - I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you've given to me to be with me, so that they can see my glory. You gave me the glory because you loved me even before the world began.
O righteous, Father, the world doesn't know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. And I have revealed you to them and will keep on revealing you. I will do this so that your love for me may be in them and I in them. "
Our final step in prayer is to:
Stand by faith as we wait patiently and continue to trust God for the answer he will give us. The key word here is patiently. Spiritual survivors are those that have learned to be patient people.
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