10 Minutes
The truth of prayer resides in the power of prayer not to enter into temptation.
Matthew 26:41
Pray for God's help to keep us from making wrong choices. The truth is that the power of prayer opens the heart, humbles the mind, and fills the life with awe of who our mighty God is. This is our confidence in going to God in prayer. Prayer is power and strength, a power and strength that influences God, and is most salutary, widespread, and marvelous in its gracious benefits to man. Prayer influences God. The ability of God to do for man is the measure of the possibility of prayer. Pride-filled beliefs are dismissive of God's provision. Pride invading the heart soon starts to bleed into the way truth is viewed and faith in the word is no longer a substance or evidence of things. None of us are immune from believing we can have a truth apart from Christ. But by God’s grace, we have the gift of discernment, wisdom, and clarity. You and I are called, commanded, and guided to live his way, in his truth, for our lives. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is it. His truth is our truth, end of story. So, to my brothers and sisters in Christ, let’s pray we take up our cross and live out the real truth of Jesus Christ to this ever-darkening world.
Do we remember the choosing of Jesus? This election by God does for us that which we need to bring God’s truth to all peoples...it removes cultural distinctions that complicates interactions and relations.
II Chronicles 7:14
In newer words, praying is our becoming in the circumstances in our life, the core of the character determined by what we talk to God about. And the power of prayer shows to be quite simply, the power of God, who hears and answers prayer. Prayer is an act on our part of worship that glorifies God and reinforces our need for Him. As we live a life of prayer, we communicate with the very source of, and purpose for, our existence. We are healed as heaven comes down to us. The truth of prayer is when we ask God to hear us, He does. When we ask for patience, He begins to tend to our hearts. When we ask Him to be near to us, His presence sweeps in and surrounds us, filling us with His peace and strength. It is prayer that brings the effective righteousness of Christ to our avail and advantages us in pleading for others to turn to righteousness. Power is inherent in prayer. A principal weapon of spiritual warfare is prayer. Not just routine or mediocre prayer, but prayer powerful enough to move God’s hand in order to determine the destiny of a whole nation.
The truth of prayer is that we do not realize the power we have available to us when we take our authority in prayer as granted by God, in Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. If we did, we would be praying far more. We would be sacrificing everything else in order to pray. Instead of worrying about the increase in evil in our land, we would be on our faces before God crying out for obedience and His intervening in our lives to bring sin to an end. With this we will stand strong in God’s truth knowing that our God can provide everything for us when we pray. We are in the appointed season, and we have awesome responsibility. We need God’s revelation of our spiritual obligation in union with Christ.
What a privilege we have in prayer. In this power we invite the resources of heaven to intervene in our situation that the omnipotent God might do His work. Prayer comes from us in the knowledge that we can of ourself do nothing. Thus our prayer must come from a place of truth. Take every situation to God in total openness and in its reality having no false belief. Our discernment of the determinate counsel teaches us that prayer cannot supersede or override the will of God, particularly as God has determined by His will to effect a change in accordance with our prayer. What an approachable God we serve! When we understand this and are aligned with God’s purpose, there is nothing that God will not do in answer to prayer because our prayers are already aligned with what He wants to do in the first place. The truth is, the only way to grow in prayer, is by praying. And look how God brings the sharing of His power of omnipresence to His believing faithful...truthful prayer and the love of God will reveal the most powerful influence wielded by His people. We can be in one place and impact situations around the world simply by asking God to intervene. That’s why it is important for us who are true believers to make prayer a priority and not just a profession. When we do, we position ourselves to see God’s power in operation. Regardless of the outcome, we have true intimacy with God. God uses the prayers of His people to accomplish His plans. He’s completely sufficient without us, but prayer teaches us humility, dependence, submission, and trust. Intimacy with God is built when we come to Him with our praises, thanks, confessions, and petitions. The profit of prayer is not that we receive something but that we’re able to relate to the One who supplies all our needs. Simply put, praying God's word means speaking His language. It means talking to Him using His words. Don't waste time looking for a “formula” or “right” way to pray God's word back to Him. This process comes from what is in our heart and on our mind. We are ever to be on alert for every scripture that reflects the mind of God toward strongholds in our life. We pray, asking God to guide us and to open our eyes to His truth. Let’s be fellow sojourners in the words of Christ. It is by Christ that our relationship with God is unique. We are in the very last of times. Our prayers are solemn requests for help. We are to offer them with expressions of praise, gratitude, adoration, and thanks. Humility will be the core of our souls. God is the only One who can speak things into existence. When He speaks His peace to us, we become His peace. When God says “I have put My words in thy mouth”, with an upright heart we trembleth as we become His word.
The truth of prayer is seen in the sorrow of our prayer. We ask God to lift us from the darkness of this grief to peace and joy in His presence. Our experience with sorrow will be more that just a good cry. We will plead with God not to give us over to the weight of our sadness for the trials endured. It is in our prayer, as we truthfully take in our sorrow and bring it honestly before God is one way He strengthens and grows us. Heads bowed in submission to the Lord, we can expose the depth of our sadness to Him without hesitation. In truth, our prayer of faith signifies the promised end of our sorrow. While the layers of sadness that fill us here on earth are many, joy is our eternal posture. It is in the night, contemplating Christ, that the layers of sadness fill us with thoughts of the Prince of Peace. We recognize that prayer will be our last resort. We will come to the end of ourselves. We must hand everything over to God, He is our only hope. I imagine praying without ceasing and fall asleep, having my mind always on the things of God. And even when we are not speaking consciously to God, there is to be a deep, abiding dependence on Him that is woven into the heart of faith. What is this unconscious prayer? It is our deep innate desire, relentlessly on fire, making itself felt through the groaning of our mind and soul, silently begging the very energies of God Himself, to let it come to consummation. There will be powerful inner pressures in our life in these last days. Our prayer lives must express our deepest oratories for the consolation of God’s grace. Peaceful solitude will have us search for both a stunning revelation and a wonderful consolation from heaven in centering our prayer in dependence on the Holy Spirit. Our default prayer will be “O God, help...” God knows our needs in all circumstances.
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