Prayer Part 1 - What Is Prayer?

Over the next few weeks we are going to be talking about prayer. Prayer is powerful but it is an area where people have the least amount of confidence. This blog is not teaching everything on prayer but is breaking prayer down to its bare bones in that prayer is “talking to God”.

Prayer is based around and on God’s Word. There really is no great mystery around prayer. It really is just talking to God, declaring His Word in your life and the lives of others, speaking His Word to situations. Prayer can be two words, or it can be hundreds of words. Prayer is as long or as short as it needs to be. No-one is better than anyone else at praying. The person who knows God’s Word and understands the simplicity and power of prayer will achieve more, but only because they have a relationship with God and know His Word. I am hoping that this blog on prayer will encourage you to spend more time with God, in His Word and in prayer and to pray more confidently realising that it is not about us but about Him and what He did. All we have to do is believe and have faith, just the size of a tiny mustard seed, in Him and what He did, and we can move mountains!! Prayer really does change things!!

Each time a scripture is mentioned, please do turn to it and speak it out loud, take ownership of it, it is yours. Put your name in there. Even if you have turned to it before and you know it, it doesn’t matter, get your Bible out and turn to the scriptures. Just reading the blog isn’t good enough.

Pray Always (Ephesians 6:18)

Prayer is a lifestyle

God created us for fellowship. What does that mean? It means that He wants to talk to us every day, commune with us, spend time with us. He wants to be in our lives. He wants to share all the good things that He has for us, with us (1 John 1:3).

God wants us to meditate in His Word, because He is in those Words, He is those Words. Not the paper they are written on, but in the Words. So we need to know what the Bible says about Him and us. He watches over His Word to perform it (Jeremiah 1:12). When we spend time in the Bible, which we should do each day, we spend time with God. He will give us fresh revelation of the Bible and a deeper understanding of how we can live a successful life (Joshua 1:8), a healthy life (Proverbs 4:20-22), a prosperous life (2 Peter 1:2-3), a fearless life (Proverbs 3:24-26). The more time we spend in the Bible the more we will understand that God is our Father and we are His children, entitled to know Him and love Him and to be loved by Him (John 15:7).

Prayer is talking to God. Praying is not a special way of talking. It is simply talking to God, letting Him know how much we love Him (Psalm 18:1), asking Him questions (Psalm 27:11), telling Him what we need and what we want (Philippians 4:6).

We cannot pray and believe God for Salvation if we don’t know that He can save us. (Romans 10:9-10)

We cannot pray and believe God for healing if we don’t know He can heal us. (Isaiah 53:5)

We cannot pray and believe God for wisdom if we don’t know He gives us wisdom.(James 1:5)

We cannot pray and believe God for protection if we do not know that He protects us. (Psalm 91)

We cannot pray and believe God to be our provider if we do not know that He provides for us. (Philippians 4:19)

We cannot really know anything about God or get to know Him intimately, the way He wants us to, if we do not have a Bible. If we do not have a Bible we cannot pray effectively. So, the first step in a successful prayer life is to own, study and obey the Bible. If you don’t have a Bible, then get one. If you can’t afford one ask God to either provide you with a Bible or the finances to buy one. Things’ Happen When We Pray!

Things happen when we pray especially if prayer is our lifestyle. If we pray believing, it changes things – If we don’t pray or don’t pray believing things don’t change.

Paul and Silas knew how to pray (Acts 16:14-34). Paul and Silas had been preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and many people got saved. Each day they went to the synagogue to teach and pray. In the city there was a young slave girl who used to tell people their fortunes which earned a lot of money for her masters. Each day when she saw Paul and Silas she would shout after them trying to tell their fortune. Paul and Silas ignored her at first but it became a bit annoying, so they cast the demon out of her that was making her say all of the things, meaning, she could no longer tell people their fortune. This made her masters very angry, so they had Paul and Silas beaten and thrown into prison.

While Paul and Silas were in prison do you think they cried, moaned, cursed God, and wanted to know why this was happening to them? Did they lie down in a corner and cry and constantly complain that it just wasn’t fair? The Bible tells us that they were praying, singing hymns and being joyful! They were not putting on a brave face! They were not pretending! The Bible does not lie. It says they were praying, singing hymns and being joyful and doing it with such gusto that all the other prisoners could hear them. Suddenly the whole building shook and the chains that were on Paul and Silas’s legs fell off and all the prison doors flew open. Paul and Silas were free!! God answered their prayers and got them out of prison.

Do you think God moved because Paul and Silas were special? Do you think God moved because these men lived in the Bible times? No! God answered their prayers. He responded to their faith in Him and He will do the same for you and me if we needed it! Right here! Right now! You see Paul and Silas loved God. They spent lots of time with Him and had learned to trust Him and to believe what He said. So when trouble came they knew exactly what to do!

Do we spend time with God? Do we trust Him? What would we do if trouble came along? If we do not spend time with God, learning to trust Him and His Word, the Bible, no matter what, we won’t pray when we are troubled. We won’t praise God and we won’t be joyful. We will worry, fuss, sulk and moan.

So what should we be doing every day? We should be spending time with God in His Word and in prayer so that we will know what to do in every situation. We must discipline our flesh, put it down, prioritise time for God and His Word and speak it over our lives even in good times so we know what to do always. What would have happened if Paul and Silas had done what 99.9% of Christians do when trouble hits? They would have stayed in prison! Most Christians moan, complain and get upset. Most Christians would not pray in faith because prayer is not a lifestyle to them. Things do not happen when we do not pray. Paul and Silas knew how to pray in faith. They had spent many hours with God in prayer, in good times and in bad, and they knew that if they trusted Him, He would get them out and He did. He shook the prison and their chains fell off! This does not mean that they enjoyed being in prison. This does not mean that they were not in a horrible dark, dirty, smelly cell, but they knew who to trust in every situation.

Do you know who to trust in every situation? Are you going to pray more this week? Are you going to read your Bible more this week? I encourage you to pray and read your Bible every day. Build that relationship with God.

Pray out loud: “Father God thank you for loving me, for having the Bible written for me. I’m sorry I haven’t spent as much time as I should with You in Your Word and in prayer. Please prompt me to spend more time with you this week, in Jesus name, Amen”. God is faithful, and the Holy Spirit will prompt you to spend more time in your Bible and in prayer. It is up to you to yield yourself to the Holy Spirit and read your Bible and pray.

Have a great week and catch part 2 “How do I pray?” next week.