LIFE CHANGING
PRAYER
Many Christians approach Prayer as
if they are going to a supermarket with a grocery list. This list consists of
our wants and needs. Though the scriptures invite us to come into God's
presence and present our requests with thanksgiving, Prayer is more than working through a grocery list of requests
that we desire God to perform or answer the way we expect him to.
Prayer
is an invitation to get to know, worship, praise, and love the God of the
universe and rule of all things more than asking him to do things for us. I
learned to pray to God from a very young age. Over the years, I have grown in
my prayer life. This is how I understood Prayer.
in our troubles and to flee into God's presence, where you
can be safe and live peacefully.
Prayer is an
admission of who God is and what He can do to change our hearts and troubling
situations for His Glory. Prayer is a humble adoration of a contrite and broken
heart of the one who loves us eternally, forgives us continually, and blesses
us abundantly.
Here
are a couple of quotes on the importance of Prayer. C.S Lewis observed his need
for Prayer, "I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm
helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and
sleeping. It doesn't change God. It changes me."
Timothy
Keller realized that "Prayer is simply the key to everything we need to do
and be in life. We should not decide how to pray based on the experiences and
feelings we want. Instead, we should do everything possible to behold our God
as he is, and Prayer will follow." The
apostle Paul challenged the Corinthians, saying, "Follow my example, as I
follow the example of Christ." (I Cor 11:1). Walking in the footsteps of
Jesus, Paul prayed one of such life-changing prayers for the
Ephesian believers, leaving an example for us to follow. Eph 3:12-21.
The
Church of Ephesus was founded during Paul's second Missionary Journey, where he
baptized twelve men. That was the beginning of the Ephesian Church. (Acts
19:7). He spent three years teaching them about Christ and christian living. At
the time of writing Ephesians, Paul was imprisoned. Paul included his powerful
transformative prayers in the epistles. He began his prayers in chapters one
and three, saying, "For this Reason." We must ask for what reason?
I. What is the reason for Prayer?
Every Christian is capable of Prayer. If you are capable of
breathing, then you are capable of praying. Kenneth Haggin observes, "Prayer
is our spiritual oxygen, and just as oxygen is vital to our natural life, so Prayer
is vital to our spiritual life. We need to pray regularly and continually to
live as God intended."[1]
Realizing how essential Prayer is for God's children, God calls us to "pray
continually" (I Thes 5:17). Prayer is not an option but a command. It is
not just enough to pray on Sunday mornings or during our three meal times a
day, but continually.
Why
did God make Prayer mandatory? What is the reason for Prayer? Madame Guyon, an
18th-century French Christian, in her little book, Experiencing God
through Prayer, observes, "Prayer is nothing more than turning our heart
toward God and receiving in turn His love." The reason for Prayer is God!
He doesn't need our prayers for him to act and do His will. But we need Him,
and without Him, we cannot live. One of the ways we reach Him is through
Prayer.
When
the disciples came to Jesus and asked him to teach them how to pray? Jesus
began praying, "Our Father in Heaven." Jesus wanted his
disciples to know God as someone who is not very distant but as a loving
heavenly father who delights when His children call on Him. J. I Packer describes this beautiful
relationship between God and his children in Prayer.
"Knowing
that God in heaven is our Father should "increase our wonder, joy, and
sense of privilege at being his children and being given the 'hotline' of Prayer
for communication with him." Though he is "Lord of the worlds … we
always have his full attention whenever we call on him. Marvelous! But have we
really taken it in?"
Apostle
Paul affirmed this father-son or father-daughter communication in Prayer in
Eph. 3:12- 14. Every child of God everywhere derives their name from God, our
heavenly Father. We are God's family. Therefore, as His children by faith, we
run into God's presence with total freedom and confidence, knowing we will
always have His attention. Hanging out with our heavenly Father in Prayer is
one of our most exciting privileges as believers.
What
happens when you hang out with someone for hours, days, and years together? You
will get to know them in-depth. You will know their likes and dislikes. If that
person happens to be the one you love, your love will hopefully increase, and
you will be changed for the better. Similarly,
when we spend more time with God in Prayer, we experience Him. We will be
transformed inside out. Our sinful habits give way to God's pleasing habits.
God's mission becomes our mission. Our love for Him and others will hopefully
increase. The primary reason for Prayer is not to get things done by God but
for Him to change us and transform us into the likeness of His son, Jesus
Christ. Let's see how Paul's Prayer changes our lives for the better.
II. Life-Changing Prayer
Paul's Prayer was not a grocery list of Prayers for material
and physical wants and needs. It was aimed at a change of heart. Praying to God
primarily affects us inwardly, but we also experience its impact externally.
Praying to God accomplishes the following: Firstly, God might
strengthen our inner man through the power of the Holy Spirit
(Vs16). What does the term inner man, inner being, or inner self mean? We were
created with spirit, soul, and body. Gen 1:27.
The
"outer man" is our physical body through which we experience the
world. Our souls are the personality centers of our beings from which our minds,
wills, and emotions operate. Our spirit is the inner man about which the
Scriptures speak. Our spirits are where the Spirit of God communes with us. We
know we are God's children because the Holy Spirit testifies with our spirits.
Rom 8:16. God, through our Prayer, further affirms that we are indeed His
children.
Secondly,
we will know Christ dwells in our hearts through our faith. (Vs. 17). Thirdly,
we will be rooted and established in love. Fourthly, we may,
together with other God's holy people, have the power to grasp how wide, long,
high, and deep the love of Christ is.
During
this Valentine's season, people are searching for true love. Your boyfriend,
girlfriend, or spouse can not give you what you are looking for, but only God,
when you ask Him, will fill you with his immeasurably rich and steadfast love
and satisfy your soul.
Fifthly,
through Prayer, the greatest truth you need to know is that God loves you and
fills you with His presence. What more would we ever want besides God's
ever-abiding presence in our lives? We become one wholly fulfilled God's
children when God lives in and with us. God is delighted when we address Him
Abba Father. Madam Guyon encourages us to approach God as our Father, "Go to your place of Prayer not only to enjoy spiritual
delights but simply to please the Father. God is greatly grieved at the lack of trust among His
children. Yet He delights when we come to Him in simple, childlike confidence."[2]
How do you relate to God today?
Pray
this life-changing Prayer regularly and see how your life will be changed. Paul
closes his Prayer with this benediction in Vs. 20-21, "Now to Him who is
able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power
that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, forever and ever!
[1] https://www.rhema.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=246:prayer-our-spiritual-oxygen&catid=47&Itemid=147#:~:text=Prayer%20is%20our%20spiritual%20oxygen,face%20trying%20circumstances%20in%20life.
[2] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jeanne-Marie-Bouvier-de-La-Motte-Guyon
