Prayer is the best conversation any of us can ever have. It
is communication with the One who made us, the One who saved us and the One who
abides in us. We should get excited just thinking about this! But that is not
the case for everyone. I run into people who think prayer is boring? When asked,
“Why?” often it is a lack of understanding of who God is, but mostly they have
tried to follow some type of formula and felt it failed them. And I can relate
to that!
When Jesus became Lord of my life—I was on fire—and wanted
to be a big time Christian! Whatever the heck that was. At the time I had great
zeal but no understanding, which can be a formula for disaster.
My new members class paired us up to be prayer partners.
That was a big No, No! Why? We were basically all babes in Christ. I was
blessed to be paired with a sister who was a private person like myself and
suspicious of others. So, we agreed to touch base and pray about whatever? It
worked, and we bypassed falling into the gossip trap. I don’t want to mislead
you in anyway—I was one of the biggest gossips that ever lived! I was just selective
as to whom I gossiped with, and I didn’t know these people. But as time went on
this sister and I became friends and did share our broken pasts when we began
to feel safe with one another. But over the years I’ve seen too many people
wounded from gossip of things they shared with a so called “prayer partner”.
In the mid 80’s, Pastor Larry Lea wrote the book “Could You
Not Tarry One Hour” and it took off like a wild fire. His ministry came to
Philadelphia, PA and hosted a huge free dinner at one of the nicer hotels and I attended. Wow! It was something else—full of flash and fanfare!
I joined their ministry and pledged money I didn’t have (and wasn’t sure I
would be able to pay either), started watching his daily morning program and afterwards
jumped into praying through the Model
Prayer (click) touching on each point. Example: you start off with “Our
Father” then you were to say all the Jehovah names in the Bible. And though he
gave the definition of each name (Jahovah-jira, God my provider) they were just
words to me. I had no point of reference yet as to God’s provisions for me, or even who
He was.
Well, needless to say…I became bored and disillusioned with
the whole mess. It was impossible for me to pray according to this man-made formula
an hour each day. There was no joy whatsoever. In fact, I felt condemnation
because again, I was not good enough. I couldn’t even spend an hour with God. I
felt the shame that Peter and the two sons of Zebedee might have felt when
Jesus found them sleeping and asked, “Could you not tarry one hour with me?” My
disappointment and shame ran deep, so I just gave up!
I honestly don’t know if it was a year or 2 years, but for
the longest time when reading my bible I would skip over the Model Prayer. I didn’t want to read it
or hear it! Now that was a very bad place to be. But the blessing for all of us is—we serve a God who loves us through all the bad places we might find
ourselves. Amen!
My pastor at the time started a 6:00am half an hour daily
prayer at church. And he asked if I would be willing to participate and give a
young sister a ride that lived near me? I agreed only because he asked me. But
it turned out to be just want I needed. We started promptly and he took only
about 3 minutes to direct us in what we were to pray about. It was the fastest half an hour ever! For the
first time as a Christian I found joy and purpose in praying.
Because I talk a lot about prayer, people have somehow tried
to label me as a prayer warrior. Why? I have no idea. Reason being—what the
heck is a prayer warrior? Where in the bible does it speak of certain people
being prayer warriors? I’ve come to the conclusion that again, like so many
things—we have made this up. In the Body we like to make up titles to make
ourselves feel important or special. But the truth is—all of God’s children are important and special.
Now to me, Anna who for 84 years never left the temple and
served God by praying and fasting, would be an ultimate prayer warrior if there
ever was one, but she is referred too as a prophetess. It doesn’t look like she
sent out a decree, “Calling all prayer warriors!” Nope, she did what she was
called to do without fanfare of any kind, and what was her reward? She got to
see the face of God. Luke2:36-38
(click)
Sisters knowing who we are in Christ Jesus gives us the
confidence to believe God hears us just as He hears everyone else. And we can stop wasting the time of others with foolish and outlandish prayer request.
Don’t ask me to pray that you get your garage door fixed. For one, I’m not
going to do it. But I will pray that the Lord open your understanding. People
would be surprised if they knew that most often I don’t pray what they request. When I’m asked to pray that someone gets a job they are interviewing for,
I always pray God’s will be done and lift them up to wait on God’s perfect
timing. I do this because if this is not the job God has for them, it is a
waste of time to pray that they get it. But there is the possibility they might feel discouraged and
disappointment when He says, “No.”
We need to stop wasting our time praying the foolish
requests of others and pray their strength in the Lord. Pray that our brothers
and sisters will come to an understanding in what it means to be seated in
heavenly places with Christ. Oops! We have to know that for ourselves in order
to pray it for someone else.
Prayer is not just about our wants, desires and needs—it’s about
our relationship with God. It is conversation. It is about trust and faith. It
is about love and truth. It is a privilege and honor that we need to stop
casting aside so easily, hoping others will do it for us.
The Bible tells us how to pray, what to pray for and how
often to pray. It’s time to stop being complacent and lazy, and seriously
develop our own prayer life with God. And we don’t need formulas; we don’t need
to be seen and we don’t need a title. Amen!
I praise God that I have grown to the place where I can now tell
Him my deepest thoughts and secrets and never have to worry about them being
repeated or used against me. My growing faith in Him, allows me to trust Him
with my life. I don’t have to be anxious or worried because He has given me an
open ended invitation to come boldly to His Throne of Grace. I can cry
out, “Help me Jesus!” and know that He is right there. I talk to the Holy
Spirit all during the day, for He never leaves me. This is how prayer evolves
for All of us.
Studying our Bibles is the key to knowing God and the
benefits that are ours as His daughters. But it takes a made up mind and determination
to develop that which He holds before us. There is great FREEDOM in your own personal relationship with God.
Do not allow anyone to put you in bondage of how you are to
pray, how long and where. It’s relational. And I say this because there are
still certain group prayers I don’t participate in. I do not enjoy group prayer
where there is loud music and they are trying to get everyone all hyped up. I
don’t like being told to recite “Repeat after me,” prayers—this is never
settling to my spirit.
Prayer with God is special and personal, so don’t make light
of it and allow others to rope you into how it should be done. Spend time with
the Lord and work it out for yourself.
And there is one last thing I want to say, “We do not have
to beg God for anything!”
Next week, The
Bondages of Christendom (Part 4… Finding what your gift(s) are.)
Until next week...
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