PRAYER Part 1:
Prayer Basics
by
Tim Greenwood
To Whom Do You Pray?
John 16:23 (KJV) And in that day you shall
ask me (Jesus) nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever you
shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you.
To whom do you pray?
Always ask Father God - in the Name of Jesus, the name above every name
that is named.
Now that does not mean
that you cannot talk to Jesus or His Holy Spirit, but Jesus said here
that requests currently go directly to the Father. And of course you
can always call on the Name of Jesus.
Where And How Do You Pray?
Matthew 6:6 (KJV) says, "But thou, when thou
prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray
to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret
shall reward thee openly."
There are those that have
used this scripture to restrict prayer to a cramped, stuffy, dark
clothes closet. However, if you read the entire passage (vs. 1-6) you
will see that Jesus is saying that your prayers would be more
effective, even while in hiding in the dark than are the daily public
prayer performances of the Pharisees.
In short, you can pray any
place and at any time. Jesus just does not want you trying to show off
to others how pious you think you are under the pretense of prayer.
Personally, I believe
that God and I have had our best fellowship during walks around the
neighborhood.
But, I pray or talk with
God wherever I am. And by the way, you don't have to assume any special
posture or position or do anything special with your hands when you
pray. Again, just run up and begin talking to your heavenly Daddy.
Prayer And Good Faith
The words pray and prayer are not used much
any more outside of a
religious context. In King James English of the 1600s, which is not
really used any more, the term was used such as, "Tell me, I pray, how
is your family and his worship?" Which only means, "How's the family
and (your dad) His Honor the Mayor?"
Now days, prayer almost
exclusively refers to some type of communication between God and man
and more often than not it is man's attempt to speak in some way to God.
The Greek root of the word
for communication is "commune", which simply means to talk things over
or have a discussion. Father God, like any good father, wants to
commune with His children and spend time with them.
He wants you to tell Him
about your hopes and dreams for the future, your wants and needs for
the now and your understanding and memories of the past. Yes, He
already knows, but He desires to hear it from you and feel and
experience it with you or through you. This is why we should not come
to God all the time with some kind of shopping or to-do lists. With God
it is all about relationship and fellowship.
I encourage you not to
picture yourself as an adult coming to account before the boss, but
rather see yourself as God sees you.
Run to Him as His child;
climb up on His lap; snuggle into His arms; lay your head on His chest;
ask Him anything you want to know and tell Him everything on your heart
and mind. And expect, watch and listen for His responses.
The ways that He responds
are too varied to list but may include: dreams, visions, a knowing, an
impulse to look up a scripture, or even hearing the voice of God.
We can use our words - to
stop talking the
problem, and call in the solution, by the authority of the living
Jesus. Don't wait another hour to start! " TGM
The Authority
Of The Believer
Do you know the authority
that has been vested in you?
Too few Christians grasp the authority that we've been given and even fewer are walking in that authority.
Before Jesus returns there will be an entire army of believers who will rise up with the authority that is theirs.
Get ready now through this 2 CD series
Available NOW
from the TGM Resource Center:
www.tgm.org/store
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