A Reason to pray.

[Rev.Anthony Ray Smith]

I have noticed that in today’s world of strife and confusion many Christians have lost the ability, reason, or the desire to pray.

“Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day:”
A supplication is an earnest prayer, a prayer that is not intended to advance a person financially or with power in this life but for the cause of righteousness within a person’s life. Many have prayed to the Lord for material belongings that would be used up by the individual, this is not a prayer that the Lord will hear or honour.

If we seek to consume those things that we ask for we are asking in our own lust and not by the will of the Lord. We saw this in the prayer of Solomon, who asked not for power, wealth or stature but simply for knowledge in the way of the Lord to rule Gods people. In doing so, the Lord granted His prayer and, wealth, power and stature.

The power of prayer has been over looked or forgotten. When a man prays in earnest the Lord knows the heart, and prayer will be answered, but remember we are told always pray in the will of God. Gods will is easily understood when a person reads and searches scripture, comparing scripture with scripture.

It is a fact that our outward man will perish with age or disease, but our inward man is renewed day by day, for as it is written the just shall live by faith. The more we pray to God the stronger we become within our spirit, for it is our spirit that is immortal and not our flesh. Sickness, illness and disease can be cured through prayer but we still must remember that in these end days many Christians faith will wane, and we still must look at the will of God concerning our lives, for the prophecy of the end days also state that the Lord shall shorten the days, so that the very elect shall not be deceived. Also concerning illness, the Lord tells us that many things that happen to us are common to man, in such circumstances we need not to look at our illness as an attack by Satan but as a common occurrence in us being human.

For we know by prophecy the afflictions of the Christians shall become almost unbearable in the end days. The spirit of anti-Christ is everywhere, growing stronger each day, false prophets, doctrines and false religions have started to dominate this world and its governments. Prayer has become the greatest weapon against deceivers and unjust laws written by men for their establishment of unrighteous behavior. Many times when laws are written they express the hatred of righteousness.

I have spoken to atheist that mock at prayer, they ask, is prayer now used as a weapon against those that hate Christianity and their God, and my answer was, yes, they are called recompensatory prayers. Jeremiah, David, Isaiah and Paul used these types of prayers for protection and deliverance from their enemies. We today use these types of prayers for only our deliverance from unrighteousness and persecution, we do not use them for any type of vengeance for as it is written; “vengeance is mine saith the Lord, I will repay.”

“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.”
Our use of prayer is ordained by God. Jesus taught us how to pray and the things to pray for. When we are unable to know what is to be prayed for, Gods word tells us that the Holy Spirit will pray for us as stated in; Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” We must remember that the Lord God is not made of gold, silver, wood or stone, which cannot be heard, reasoned with or approached. He was, is, and shall be forever more.

Let take a lesson from David, the King of Israel about the reason to pray; “Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee. My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me. My lovers and my friends stand ALOOF from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.”
When you know that the desires of your heart are already known by God, when you see your friends and family abandon you, when the members of your own household become your worst enemies, when you are in sickness, heartbroken and have become weak you know in your heart that God understands you and your prayers will not fall on deaf ears. Jesus promised us that if we ask anything in His name faith believing and without doubt, all according to Gods will, we shall receive what we have asked for.
We need not to look for a reason to pray but for a reason not to pray, and I have not found any.

Ars.
1Ki_8:28, Psa 139:7-8