PRAYER IN THE DAILY LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN
Luke 11:1
Part 2
As I mentioned last week, this is the only thing that
the disciples ever asked Jesus to teach them. Why? It is because
they knew that Jesus placed a great emphasis on the subject.
Some people want to know what position is the best for prayer. It is more important to have the heart right than the position. A man was real concerned with position of prayer. He did not like to get on his knees because his pants to lose their creases. He did not like to stand because it caused his legs to hurt. He thought sitting and praying was irreverent. One day, he fell into a hole headfirst. I wonder if he thought of position as he prayed that day.
I noticed as I listen to the preachers that I usually do are spending time on this subject also. As I drove home from church Sunday night, I caught the end of Moody Church service. Dr. Lutzer was preaching on the subject of the discipline of prayer. He was emphasizing of praying the Word of God back to the Lord. So I started thinking about a few verses of scripture and it broke my heart. Let give you a few of these verses.
Jude 22
“And of some have compassion, making a difference”
You could pray this verse back to the Lord this way:
“Lord, I want to make a difference. Help me to have compassion
on”. Then you could name some folks that is on your prayer
list that needs compassion. Romans 12:1
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
You could pray this back to the Lord in this way: “Lord, you have shown mercy to me. I give back my body as a living sacrifice. Help me to die to my own desires and plans. Help me to holy. Make my life acceptable in your life. I do this because it is reasonable to do so.”
That is just a few verses. I could continue this over and over again. In your devotions you could pray at least one verse of scripture back to the Lord every day. Does God place a high premium on His Word? Let’s let the Bible answer that question. Psalm 138:2
“I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.”
Let see the first three of seven important truths about prayer that should help us in our daily time of prayer.
I. PRAYER IS A SIN-KILLER.
John 15:5
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
John 17:15
“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”
Psalms 51:10
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
No one can sin and pray. For prayer will either make us cease from sin, or sin will cause us to cease from prayer.” Matthew 26:41
“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
If Peter would have paid attention this ominous warning of our Lord Jesus, it is a strong possibility that he would have never denied the Lord Jesus three times. How many times have you prayed and them deliberately sinned? It is rare. I know that most of the time I act on impulse instead of being in a mode of prayer. It seems that I sin and then I feel the need to pray.
Prayer will help you drive sin out of your life. Prayer will give you determination for in the midst of your prayer life you will be given conviction and desire to overcome sin. What if Jonah, Samson, Lot, Peter, King Saul, or Demas had prayed in the time of their greatest temptations?
There is an old saying that says: “Sin will take you farther than you wanted to go, make you give more than you wanted to give and keep you longer than you wanted to stay.” If we develop the discipline of a constant prayer life, we will give into sin less. I am not saying that you will never sin again. But I am saying that you will spend less time confess sin and more time in prayer on before of others. Prayer can help kill sin in your life.
II. PRAYER IS A POWER-BRINGER.
Ephesians 1:15-20
“Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places”
James 5:16
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
Prayer is the hand that touches “the hem of the garment of Divine grace” and causes the power which is in the Divine One to become ours as we walk by faith, apply the Word of God, and yield to the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives.
Prayer becomes a sacred place. Consider Elijah, Daniel, Jacob, etc. It seems the Scriptures teach us that prayer in Christ’s life meant power. Prayer in Paul’s life, and Daniel’s life meant having God’s power upon them.
The early Church knew the power of God because of their prayer life. In many chapters of the Book of Acts you have another prayer meeting. Ten days before the power of the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples in the Upper Room, they had spent that time in prayer. Prayer in the first church so moved God, that He shook the building in which they had been praying. They had asked the Lord for boldness to witness. This must have pleased the Lord. They left the prayer meeting and had boldness in their witnessing.
Ford Porter, the author of the tract “God’s Simple
Plan of Salvation”, said this about prayer:
”No prayer, No Power
Little prayer, Little Power;
Much prayer, Much Power.”
It ought to be a part of our regular prayer request to ask God for power to witness, power to preach, and power to live the way He wants us to live. Then after we pray, we get off our knees and go and do those things that we asked the Lord give.
III. PRAYER IS A VICTORY-GIVER.
Hebrews 5:7-9
“Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him”
James 4:2
“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.”
James 4:17
“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
Revelation 12:10
“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”
Bunyan’s Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress found that the weapon of “all prayer” was sufficient to wound and defeat the adversary, who would stop him in his progress as a pilgrim.
Failure to pray means a loss of contact with our Lord. Failure to pray means defeat in the battles of life and it means defeat in the marriage, the home, with the children, and in our service. Will we have victory over worry, fear, anxiety, sins of the thought life, in our attitudes or actions deeds, decisions of the will without a strong prayer life? The answer is without hesitation: NO.
Failing to pray means that we really don’t believe that God will act on our behalf as He promised in His Word. Failing to pray means that we really enjoy living a life of defeat.
A defeated life is a discouraged life. A discouraged life leads to lust very easily. Lust is one a half of a step to sin.