Prayer

​There is no greater privilege for anyone than being able to personally talk with and speak into the ears of Almighty God. I love the stickers that are around our church that say, “Pray, You Never Stand Taller Than When You Are on Your Knees.” 

​No church program, religious event, political effort, or humanitarian cause can trump the awesome power of what God can do in response to the prayers of His people. I love the verse found in 2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  If ever we needed this verse, it is now! It is for our community, our state, our nation, and the entire world.

I can teach you about prayer, and that is what we are looking at in this week’s message. The most important thing about prayer is your fulfillment in prayer, and your fruitfulness in prayer will be dependent not on how much you know about prayer, but on how much you know about God. The more you understand God, the better your prayers are going to be, the more effective they will be, the more fulfilled they will be, and  the more satisfying your prayer life will be. It is not about learning all about prayer. That is important, but more important than that is understanding God, and it starts with the fact that God is a multidimensional God.

Multidimensional God means that “He is not just one dimension,” and when you start looking, you can see this in many different ways. Romans 1:20 NIV, “since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

Just think, God created you. God uses his Word, people, and circumstances to mold us. All three are indispensable for character development. God’s Word provides the truth we need to grow; God’s people provide the support we need to grow, and circumstances provide the environment to practice Christlikeness.

How is your prayer life? It is a simple question, but it can be tough to answer. It sounds like, “How has your talking to God been lately?”  Emotionally it might feel like, “Sum up your relationship with God at this point in your life.”  Bible reading, by comparison, is clearer and more “objective.”  How many pages? How far along is your plan? Which books have you been reading? What have you learned? Prayer does not fit into an Excel sheet quite so easily.

God means for your life — married or unmarried, student or employee, young or old — to run on the power of prayer. Prayer fuels the engine of your heart and mind. It is not coffee, or Chipotle, or social media buzz; it is prayer. You need God in and through prayer more than you need anything else. We will not do anything of any real and lasting value without God, which means we will not do anything of any real and lasting value without prayer.

When looking at the Bible, is there a verse that tells us to pray? 1 Thessalonians 5:17 NLT, “Never stop praying.”  We are encouraged to pray all the time. The results of this mean we should never be far from the attitude or action of talking and listening to God. Prayer should be a natural part of our thinking. Not just in our worship but in our work. Not just in quiet moments but also in our chaos. We pray because He is there. We pray because He’s God. We pray because He cares. We pray because He is a good God. 

Make Every Day Count!

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