Prayer

     Prayer is something all of us should be doing on a daily bases. Prayer is an honorable, pure, personal and virtuous form of communication with God. Because God is a personal God, all people can offer prayers to God; however sinners that do not trust Him or believe in Him; God hears you but will not acknowledge it. Unbelievers do not meet the conditions of the Bible for effectiveness for prayer. You have to become a believer first; then He will acknowledge you and talk to you. We believers depend upon God for all of our blessings, guidance and many other things. You can say everything that we have came from Him. Believers respond to God because of our love, trust and faith in Him; and His love for us. His love is revealed through the life of Jesus Christ (His Son), His death, His resurrection and atonement at the cross, He took away all of our sins; He paid our penalty that we could not pay ourselves with His life, His resurrection and His continuing presence through the Holy Spirit that indwells us.

     The Lord does not hear a sinner's prayer as it states in John 9:31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. If this is true the Lord would not hear any of our prayers because we are all sinners. The Lord will not hear the prayers of a person who loves his sin and is unwilling to give them up and keeps on living in a sinful way as it states in Psalm 66:18 If I reguard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Now let's take a person who fears, loves and adores the Lord; does his will and obeys his commandments: when this person prays; God will hear this person. Does this person sin? Yes, he does, but he sins through ignorance, weakness, and human infirmity. He does not do it on a big scale as a big time sinner does; the Lord will hear him; the Scriptures are full with promises that tell us that he will hear us. Proverbs 15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayers of the righteous.

     However prayer involves a few things. First one is Faith: What is faith? This we can find in Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. As it states in Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligenty seek him. The best prayer comes from a heart that loves and trusts in God, God talks to us mainly through the Bible, dreams, visions, and other people, there are many ways the Lord talks to us. I know I pray to him daily and just talk to him whenever I feel the need to; wherever I am and whatever it may be about or to tell him what a nice day it is. (For more infomation on faith, go to the F. A. Q. page.)

     Another item here is Worship: We recognize that one of the highest esteems that we can have is to worship him; we worship God because he is the only one worth it; we learn from scripture to set our values high in accordance with God's perfect will; so why wouldn't we worship him in the reverent devotion that he deserves: worship is characterized by joy and thanksgiving because God's redemption in Christ; true worship occurred in the inspiration of God's Spirit. As it states in John 4:23, 24 But the hour cometh, and now is, when true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Also in Philippians 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

     Another item here is Praise: this is an act of acknowledgment by which the deed of another person are recognized and are exalted; the praise of one human being to another can often be beneficial; sometimes it can be a thorn in the side for someone. As we are told in Matthew 6:1-4 Take heed that you do not your alms before men, to be seen of them otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine arms, do not sound a trumpt before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right doeth. That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. Our praise to God is showing our joy and our thanks to God for all the things he has done for us; Praising God may be in different ways; song, prayer, individually, corporate prayer and they must come from your heart. It is as David said in Psalm 71:14 But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.

     Another item here is confession: A confession of sin to God is a very important part of our faith and prayer; we are aware of God's holiness in which we do not have; as scripture tells us in Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness’s are like filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. By doing sin we not only hurt ourselves and those closest to us; but worst of all, we sin and go against God's will! We sin against our Heavenly Father. We don't have to confess our sins to one another, but directly to God; who promises to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Scripture tells us in 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

     Another item here is being thankful. Are we really thankful to God for all of our blessings? I think most of us are because we realize that every thing we have came from Him. God is the creator of all things; we have to thank Him for all of these things.

     We as sinners are not people of the Lord; we have no claim to His mercy and grace that He gives to us so freely until we come to terms with Him; we have to hand over our lives to Him and let Him control it for us; after all, He forgave us for our sins through Jesus Christ and for this alone we should be thankful to Him; not to mention all the other blessings He bestows upon us. As in Colossians 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. And in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. God has been at work in our lives in countless ways; so in everything we do give thanks.

     Another item here is request. Part of our prayers will be for requests for things of our needs and for the needs of others. In prayer the things that we request is just that! A request, it is not a demand. Just because we request something doesn't mean that God will give it to us; for good reason God doesn't grant every request we ask for; several reasons are iniquity of the heart, don't believe in God's law, an estranged heart, sinful separation from God, praying to God as the Pharisees did, pride lack of faith, nonforgiving, and etc. How we lead our lives has allot to do with how God responds to our prayers. Some prayers He will answer right away, some in time to come, and other He doesn't answer at all. We as human beings do not understand how God's mind works; it is so far above ours that we cannot comprehend it; it is out of our ability to understand it. In His wisdom, God hears and answers in the way that He sees are best for us, even if we disagree with it.

     Another item here is humility. Humility is to be lowly and to know that it is a proper attitude of man toward God. It is a grateful and awareness that life is a gift from God and that we acknowledge our dependence upon Him. In the Old Testament the humble became a symbol of the righteousness along with justice and mercy: humility is a character trait rather than material poverty.

     Jesus took no thought of himself but lived a life of obedience and trust in God; Jesus show no pride and arrogance in himself; He warned his followers against pride and told them that the poor and oppressed would be first in his kingdom. Jesus took the role of a servant by washing the disciple’s feet to show humility even if he is God. Even the disciples gave up on status in the public eye, security of a job, or some successful business. It states in Philippians 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves.

     Another item here is honesty. It is always better to be honest than dishonest; honest dealings will reveal your good character, gets you a good upright standing anywhere anytime; honesty is necessary in order to inherit God's goodness. Honesty is truthful, right, fair, honorable, free from deception, and marked by integrity. God commands us to conduct our daily lives with complete honesty. As the scriptures tells us in 1 Timothy 2:2 For kings and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quite and peaceable life in all goodness and honesty.

     One more thing comes into play here is whenever we are praying, always close the prayer in Jesus's name. Jesus is our mediator between God the Father and us. We, ourselves, can't go directly to the Father; we need a mediator to do this for us. Scripture tells us in John 16:26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you. Also in Hebrews 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he liveth to make intercession for them.

     There are allot of Bible verses on prayer; here are just a few of them.

Psalm 29:13 If I reguard inquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.

Proverbs 28:9 He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law. even his prayer shall be abomination.

Isaiah 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.

Mark 11:25,26 And when ye stand praying, forgive, If ye have ought against any, that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

     Remember these things when you pray.

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