A word from heaven.

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Prayer

The following is part of a prayer teaching we went through in the NS Ministry. I hope it'll help your prayer life.

The thing about prayer is that no one knows if you don't pray. If you skip service, probably the whole world will know, if you skip caregroup, probably, half the world will know. If you don't pray, no one will know. That is unless we bring up the issue to our mentors yeah?

Some people have been so disappointed with their own prayer life that they have given up praying altogether. Basically these christians pray in front of other people, they pray during meal times, they pray during caregroup but that is as far as it gets. Let's see what the bible says about this.

5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

~ Matthew 6:5-6 ~

Prayer is just so enjoyable. Is that a theory or is that a truth in your life? I was going home the other day and i just can't wait to get home because i know that i can finally retreat into my room for a great time with God.

Let me now address the issue of why people have stopped praying all together.

1) Perception of prayer and God.

Prayer is like talking to God. How many times have we heard this. When God ask us to pray, if his only purpose was for us to talk to him, Satan would have been really spiritual. Satan is scolding Jesus every day yeah? Communication is one thing. Healthy communication is another.

I’ll put it this way. Prayer is fellowshipping in the presence of God. When you pray, your spirit comes together with the Holy Spirit and as a result of this interaction or fellowship, we have what we call prayer. So prayer is in essence not only talking to God but talking to God in a way that is counseled by the Holy Spirit. That’s why he is called the Counselor, a counselor who refines our thoughts.

That is also why Jesus said it was better for him to go, because after him, he will send someone else.

7But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

~ John 16:7 ~

Prayer is powerful when it is done in partnership with the Holy Spirit. Its like two buddies coming together to see how they can win this war.

You know when God saved you, he didn’t take you back to heaven immediately. He put you back on earth with a commission. And before he put you back, he shouted. Hey, don’t forget to call! I’m waiting. I’ll guide. I’ll be your source of strength. If anything happens call home. Call home.

Den someone will come and ask me, my walkie talkie seems to run out of battery very often. God never seems to answer any prayer.

2) Unanswered prayer

The so called unanswered prayer is perhaps the largest killer to our prayer life.

With each so called unanswered prayer, our faith in God decreases, our confidence in God decreases. You see, on the other side of the walkie talkie you are holding now is not Santa clauz. Its Jesus, Its God.

So, to God, whether your prayer is answered or not becomes secondary to whether the kingdom of God is advanced, it comes secondary to the glory of God. God always listen.

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

~ Matthew 6:7-8 ~

So now, pray for what? Prayer, helps you to flow with the will of God. It is not asking for things. Its asking to flow with the Holy Spirit.

Miracles and answer prayers are promised. But we must not mix up the purpose of the prayer with the result of the prayer. The purpose of prayer is always to fellowship with God, be comrade in arms with God and experience the love of God. The result of prayer is the miracles and tangible result as God move. We must not let these manifestations become the purpose of praying.

Can you imagine that all your prayers are answered? So who is God here? You or God. If God is at our command, who is the king? Prayer is flowing with God’s will.

That’s why it says, let your will and not my will be done.

your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

~ Matthew 6:10 ~

3) Lack of a vibrant prayer life

People are never lazy to pray. They are just bored with their prayer life. If every prayer was a divine touch by God, who can be lazy?

Prayer is exciting when when it is done in dialogue with the Holy Spirit. Don't just babble on and on in prayer and after that read the bible and sleep. When we feed only on the Logos word and don't seek the Rhama word from the Holy Spirit, the conversation becomes dry and one way. Pray in tongues and see where the Spirit leads you.

Tongues is a very much misused language especially among yonger believers. Tongues is a language that is a resultant of our fellowship with the Holy Spirit. It is not a mouth exercise to signal the start of prayer and it is also not babbling our mouth before we even start focusing on the Holy Spirit.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

~ Romans 8:26 ~

The more we misuse tongues, the less this divine language would be able to touch us. What should be divine should stay divine. Prayer is divine so let it stay divine k?

Let the spirit lead you today. Its really divine.

Regards,

Jie hui

Labels: Christian Living

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Thursday, August 16, 2007