Praying to God with Power

Theme: Basic Principles of a Prayer and its nature as Lord teaches us in the Bible.

Today blog topic:  Praying to God with power:

Bible verse: Acts 12:5 - "Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant[a] prayer was offered to God for him by the church".
Footnotes: [a]. Acts 12:5 NU-Text reads constantly (or earnestly)

One of the most relentless questions that we asked in our Christian life is:

How to pray with power?

At times, we believe that to pray with power is to pray with a powerful voice in which we emphasize with vibrant voice our petitions.  Perhaps making feel inferior the brother who perhaps is of less powerful and perhaps short voice in expressing himself.  In other words, prayer has no power base if it is pronounced in a strong or softer voice.  It has its foundation deeper than any vocal chords.

In the book of Acts chapter 12 of the Apostles, we have the story of a prayer that prevailed with God and produced large results. To see what led to this prayer, we must go back in chapter 11 of Acts; here we read that many believers were being persecuted and were scattered to many different places (Acts 11:1). Now in verse 26 of Acts 11- “… for a whole year they assembled themselves as a church in Antioch, and taught much to people. And the disciples were called Christians".  (They were a church - The body of Christ).
 
Now entering Acts chapter 12 – King Herod decided to hurt few of the church leaders. He arrested Peter and James the brother of John.  In front of the Jews, King Herod  used his sword and killed James. As this pleased the Jews who were present, he then placed Peter in prison with intensions to be executed after the days of unleavened bread (Acts 12:1-4).  Now in verse 5 of chapter 12 of  Acts, we found the answer of how to pray with power, let’s read the second part of this verse:

 -  “…but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.”

 
I. The first thing we notice in this verse is the consistence expression “to God”
It does not matter how you express yourself one way or the other. Strong vibrant voice or in a softer tone. It doesn't matter how the body feels, what is important is the state of your soul.  Still, some of you may argue: Aren’t all prayers directed to God?  No necessary, I'll explain.

Much of what is call prayer; private or public is not to God.  For a prayer to be truthful directed to God, there must be a conscious and definite approach to God upon praying.  In many prayers, God is not in the thoughts of those intending to pray. That is to say, many times upon praying, we are thinking more in our own needs than in our Almighty and loving Heavenly Father, to whom we must direct our prayers. (Remember? -"Our Father in Heaven").

Often, we don’t even think on our needs or to whom we are praying to. There is no power in that type of prayer. When in reality we see him face to face in the place of prayer. When in truth we seek the things we desire of Him, then there is power in the prayer.  (Remember? "Thy Kingdom come")

Therefore, if we want to pray effectively, the first thing that we need to assure ourselves would be in the following three things:
1. Believe that God is attentive to our prayers and that we are in His presence. In Hebrew 4:16 said – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”.

2. Before offering our petitions, we should feel defined and strongly that we are speaking with God.

3. Not only believe firmly that our petitions are heard by God and He is going to grant us what we ask Him according to His will.


II. The Second Secret in Praying Effectively: 
     We find it in verse 5 “…constant prayer…” (Constant or earnestly = without ceasing).

This is, not as extensively as if intensely. This represent to the soul with ardent and intense desire that continues constant in its prayer. In Luke 22:44 (NKJV) describes Jesus praying – “And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” This type of prayer prevails with God, is the one that expresses the sincere yearning of the soul being extended towards God intensely from the deeper of our soul.

-“Out of the depths, I cry to You my soul” Psalm 130:1

Many modern prayers are powerless because they are not coming from the heart. 

• This is because we rushed to the presence of God.
• Here is a list of requests.
• We got up hurriedly and ran out.

If someone asked us an hour later about what things we prayed, frequently we would not be able to recall. If our petitions are presented with so much lightness is not strange that God does not take much effort to answer them.
 
How to obtain is intensity in the prayer?
If we like to pray effectively with intensity we have to let the Spirit of God to guide us and teach us to pray.
Here is a TIP:  PAUSE BEFORE PRAYING - FOCUS ON GOD (“Let His Kingdom Come”) - THEN PRAY

III.  The Third Secret in Praying Effectively: Is also found in the same verse 5 –
                                          

  “…constant prayer was offered by the church”

There is power in the unified prayer – the Church – Us – Body of Christ

- God delights in the unity of His people –

He increases it anyway, so His promises are a special blessing to the ones that pray in unity. Corporate Prayer has more power then an individual prayer.
In Matthew 18:19-20 we read; - “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.”

- This is Praying to God with Power –

Acts 12:6-10 - God answered the church prayer by sending His Angel to rescue Peter from prison.

- There is power in a unified prayer by the church –

God Bless

Your brother in Christ

Moises Miranda

Follow my tweets at twitter.com/prayerlightous

What God Expects from Our Prayers? -Part 2

Basic principles of a prayer and its nature - Jesus teaches in the Lord Prayer found in Matthew 6:6-13

This is the the second part of "What God expects from our prayers?" Based on Jesus Christ teachings through the prayer model known as the "Lord Prayer".
 Let us see the last three petitions in the Lord’s Prayer are directed to our personal needs. (Mat. 6:11-13)

1. “Give us our daily bread”- Material blessings are as necessary to our lives as spiritual blessings. Therefore, Jesus says that we should ask the bread of today. Not for tomorrow! Also, note that this request is not an egotist, but altruistic: “Give us this day our daily bread.” -Mat.6:11 (KJV). Nobody can do this prayer while practicing injustice toward others or refusing to help in time of need.

Jesus in John 6:35 declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry.”

Proverbs 30:8 – “Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.”

What Jesus teaches us in this request?

a. Our dependence on God - "Give"
b. The modesty to ask for: "Bread" (A Physical and Spiritual need)
c. Faith: "Today" - The brotherhood: we - "Our" (Not “me”)

Matthew 7:7-8 Jesus said –“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

2. “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” Mat. 6:12 (God wants to hear your confessions). In 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Our confession to God. Here we make a confession because we recognize that we have debts (sins, offense). Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

Through the study of this sentence, we have seen that it is assumed that you could not ask for us what we deny to others and to clarify this point, Jesus adds these words, “as we”.

“As we also forgiven our debtors.” (i.e. people who sinned against you, offended you, mistreated you, and made unlawful acts against you). Prior to beg the forgiveness of the Father, we must forgive those who have wronged us. A forgiving heart is required for prayer. God does not grant forgiveness to a soul who cannot forgive.

In Mark 11:25 Jesus said – “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgives him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your sins."

Key word is "if you hold" anything, even a little tiny thing against anyone. This is another difficult task for us to accept. To admit our faults, sins, and forgive those who have done wrong to us not matter the circumstances.

James 4:8 –“Come near God and He will come near you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double mind.”

James 5:16 – “Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

3. The third personal petition is: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Mat. 6:13)

The temptation that is to say, the test, required for the exercise of Christian freedom, and for the effective realization of the sanctity of individual improvement. Otherwise, even if we beat the evil, without virtue in us, active Holiness won in vigorous fight against evil.

Remember that the Lord Jesus was tempted many times. If not, we would then have a passive innocence in us, if we have the essence of evil, nor indeed hold on to good. We read in James 1:13-14 -“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone, but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.”

Nevertheless, we should add, God as divine educator of free creatures, He permits the temptation with the purpose to exercise our fidelity and to enlarge our capacity of resistance.

For that reason, the Apostle Paul admonishes us in 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 – “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil.”

Our Lord, Jesus Christ teaches us to pray acknowledging our own weakness and strength of God, which is accessible to us through Him. Let us find in Him the strength to overcome evil and live the life triumphant and radiant in the midst of the temptations that surround us in this life.

Concluding, let us see the reflections again of the model prayer known as “The Lord Prayer” that Jesus taught his disciples. Notice that Jesus placed;

1. First, the interests of God.

2. Secondly, the spiritual needs of man.

3. In third and finally, the material needs.

Most of us when we pray we reverse the order established by Jesus in this model prayer.

1. First, we ask for material things,

2. Then for spiritual blessings.

3. And finally, for things of God.

After all, prayer is something so simple like a child talking with his father. However, while difficult, the fact that it does not always act spontaneously and with pure motives.

We must therefore ask the Lord as His disciples did; “Teach us how to pray.” So that we do not pray using several repetitions, believing that by our verbiage, we will be heard.

Let us pray with simplicity and sincerity.

Let us talk to the Father in Heaven as a child speaks to his father, is the nature of a prayer that Jesus teaches us in the "Lord’s Prayer".

May God Bless you

Your brother in Christ

Moises Miranda

Christian Blogger

Follow me at http://twitter.com/prayerlighthous

What God Expects from Our Prayers?

Basic Principles of a Prayer and its nature - Jesus teaches in the Lord Prayer found in Matthew 6:6-13

Continuing on the “The Nature of a Prayer” that Jesus teaches in the “Lord’s Prayer”.


Also covered in my first blog were the five basic principles we must follow for prayer in (Matthew 6:6), Jesus then warned His disciples to avoid certain attitude and behavior while praying, like speaking repetitious words incoherently (babbling) spitting words without meaning repetitiously (Mat. 6:7). Given then assurance that God knows what they need before they ask (Mat. 6:8). These rules were given to show the simplicity of the "Lord's prayer" model he is about to give them. 

We can say that the Lord’s Prayer is the frame or outline to maintain or sustain the temple of our thoughts and meditations, which lifted to God through prayer. What Jesus said about the nature of prayer in Matthew 6:7-8?

To pray is to open our hearts to God.

God speaks to man through His Word. The man speaks to God through prayer and the link between them is meditation. (Thomas Manton, a Puritan preacher-writer, in one of his sermons said that God's Word feeds meditation and meditation feeds prayer referring on Isaac's meditation in the field, in Genesis 24:63).

The prayer itself is deeper than words. This occurs in the soul before being expressed in words, and dwell in it even after we stopped talking.

What God expects from us when we pray?

Let us go back into the Lord Prayer and see these initial expectations as we notice that He expect us to pray as Jesus said at the beginning of verse 9 -"When you pray," then the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer are about His name, His kingdom and His will.

His name: “Our Father in Heaven” - He is our Heavenly Father, is our duty and privilege to sanctify his name. A privilege given to those who received and believe in His Son name, Jesus Christ (John 1:12). Able to invoke God as our Father gives another meaning to life and considerably enhances the qualification of a Christian. Sanctify the name of God in all we do. This means to not only get up and go to church worship on Sundays. But we must sanctify and honor His name in our homes, our workplaces, and in the sincerity of our own consciousness.

His Kingdom: "Thy kingdom come" - What does this expression means to you? To about two-thirds of the world's humanity means absolutely nothing. Why? That is because two-third of the world are whether not Christians, not of the same religion, and millions of people to say they don’t believe in God and have no religion. When the kingdom of God comes, it will have an effect on all members of humanity.

His will: Regarding God, this petition perhaps is the most difficult one for us: “Thy will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven.”

That third petition is what most Christians have difficulties in their prayers - That is, to pray that God's will be done in our own lives. We must pray like the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. – “Yet not as I will, but as you will." (Mat. 26:39)

Jesus said in Mat. 7:21 - "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven".

To sum up, let us notice, that the first three petitions of the Lord's Prayer occupies a descending order of importance:

Same God in His essence and attributes: Holy Father.

Then; the demonstration of God in its kingdom and,

Finally, the subjugation of all to His will, within that realm. Heaven and Earth.

Again, that third point is to surrender of all to His will is what most Christians struggle in accepting.

We should commit in prayer like King David said in Psalm 40:8 –“ I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."

The petition “I desire to do your will” is to let us do His will through our life, but in such way that not simply “WE DO IT”, but we do it happily and consciously and in a way that makes His will come to be ours.

Also in Psalm 143:10 - "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground."

In John 7:17 Jesus said – “If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own."

Apostle Paul said in Acts 20:27 – “For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.”

Please come back to this blog as I will post the second part. Until then may God put His Blessings upon you as you seek His will. Let His word speaks to you.

Your Brother in Christ,

Moses Miranda
Christian Blogger

Follow me in twitter at twitter.com/prayerlighthous