Prayer is one of the greatest privileges God has given us, the opportunity to talk to our creator. The opportunity to tell God what we are feeling, what we have been going through and to ask for his help. What makes prayer powerful is that it puts us in the presence of the Lord. Prayer opens the door for God to work. Prayer allows God to act on our behalf to work out our problems and situations. When we pray God gives us insight and wisdom on how to handle our situations. Prayer gets our focus off our problems and gets our focus on God. James 5:16 says that “the earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].” When a righteous man repents of his sins and prays, he has access to the power of God. God listen to the pleas of those who have a repentant heart.
When we come to God in prayer we have to have a sincere, contrite heart. The bible dictionary says, “A contrite heart is one in which the natural pride and self-sufficiency have been completely humbled by the consciousness of guilt.” We cannot come before God in prayer full of pride, thinking we have everything all figured out. We must understand God is in control and we cannot make it without him. We must be honest with God. He already knows what is going on in our lives. He knows what we need and what we are going through. Our prayers don’t have to be eloquent and they don’t have to be long. They need to be from our heart to God’s heart.
We must have faith in God and believe his word is true. Faith and trust in God is essential when we pray. Our faith should be unwavering, we must believe our prayers will be answered. God’s word is true, he will do what his word says he will do. In 1 Peter 5:7 it says to “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. He will take care of every care and concern we have. All we need to do is give it him and let him carry our burden for us.
Do you know who you are in Christ? You are a child of the Most-High King. God’s word says that, “We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:37). If his word says, he will be a present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1), we must believe his word is true. God hearkens to our cries and pleas, when we call out to Him in prayer. If you are in need call out to him today.
I have spent the last 40 days doing a Prayer Challenge. We met every morning at 6:30 a.m. on a conference call. Since I am not a morning person this was a big challenge for me. What I found out from doing this challenge is that getting up early in the morning to seek God ordered my day. I had more peace, more focus and more joy. The things that would normally bother me, did not bother me while I was doing the Prayer Challenge. In Psalm 5:3 it says, “In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” Lay your requests before the Lord. I challenge anyone who has not spent time with God in prayer first thing in the morning to make it a priority today.
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”(2 Chronicles 7:14) Today let us humble ourselves before the Almighty God, when we bow down to pray, let us come before His throne with a repentant, sincere and humble heart. God loves us all. God wants a relationship with us. Today go before him and tell Him about all your problems. Let him handle them for you. What I love about God is when you go to him in prayer, he will not tell anyone about what you talked about. I dare you to try God today, let him handle your situation and see if he won’t work it out for your good.
LSW
Linda Sharp-Williams 