A Life of Prayer
Matthew 6:5-6 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
This Weekly Word is going to break down what it is to live a life of prayer. Why it is so important and what we can expect when we do this. Jesus’ words make it so clear here in Matt. 6. He really lays out the ground rules for living a life of prayer. Obviously we are instructed many times throughout the scripture to pray with others, or be more visible with our prayers. But there is definitely a pattern defined in the new testament as to how Jesus often prayed. It says in Mark 1:35 that Jesus arose very early in the morning and went to a solitary places to pray. Mk. 6:45, Mk.14:32-34, Lk. 4:42, Lk. 5:16 and Lk. 6:12 are just a few more references to to Jesus withdrawing Himself to a place of just He and His Father.
1. What is a Life of Prayer
I believe Jesus is calling all of His people to a deeper life of prayer. One year ago I had no prayer life. Rarely would I even pray before dinner. That seems like the most obvious time to pray! If you can’t do it then, good luck making it a lifestyle. The truth is that I thought prayer was boring. I wasn’t seeing any fruit from my prayers. I don’t think I would have recognized even if there had been fruit because I didn’t recognize the voice of God. Just to recognize that you don’t recognize the voice of God is enough revelation to get you on your knees. It is enough to apprehend you to a life of prayer.
The Muslims have 3 set times per day that they all pray to their false God. They have set up a prayer culture. When you think of Buddhist Monks, is not the first thought that goes through your mind some dudes in robes doing that chanting noise, “Hummmmm….”. Well good for them! They have set up for themselves a wide spread reputation of being men of prayer. Maybe we need a few of them to convert to Christianity to show us what it is to live a life of prayer! See, a life of prayer isn’t just telling the Lord some things you want a few minutes before bed. Jesus was our example on how to live in prayer. A life of prayer is continually and intentionally drawing yourself away to seek the Lord. A life of prayer is daily setting aside time- or times if you are really spiritual ; ) - to build that relationship.
It is so equivalent to the relationship between husband and wife. Imagine that, Jesus really did have a deeper meaning by that whole bride/bride-groom stuff. The more time that we spend with each other the deeper our love will be. The more we will know each other. The more we will trust each other. The more we will experience joy together. We will be able to walk through rough times together and not just automatically opt for divorce. This is the exact same with Jesus. We are to be married to Him! We are to share that level or greater intimacy with Jesus than our spouse. So that when times of trouble come, we do not divorce Him. We need to be so at one with Christ that we ultimately share the same heart. The only way this can happen is if we live a life that is rooted in knowing Him. The only way we can know someone is through communication with them. Communication with God in His Word is called prayer.
2. Why is Prayer so Important
We have already touched on this a bit, and the answers are, to some, pretty familiar. I, personally, love to continue to ingrain in my heart why I pray. It builds faith. How do I ingrain in my heart why I pray? One huge way is to remind yourself of answered prayers. That will activate the faith to keep praying. Another way is to recite OUT LOUD scriptures that talk about the power of prayer. Paul says in 1 Thes. 5:17 “Pray continually.” That is all the verse says! Sure there is a context, but I think you could probably put that verse anywhere in the Bible and it would fit. As we can also put that verse anywhere in the context of our lives and it will fit. Joy or sorrow, pray continually!
It is also so vital that we pray in order to hear the voice of God. You can ask God for ears to hear, but if you don’t shut up your still not going to hear. There must be times of silence in your prayer time to hear the voice of God. Jesus could have withdrew to a busy intersection to pray, but he didn’t. He withdrew to lonely, quiet places. In the verse at the top Jesus says to “close the door” in your place of prayer. This is where I have learned what the voice of God sounds like. My deepest revelations have not come in corporate prayer times, or even at church, but in my 8x8 prayer room in my basement. Through these intimate times with Jesus, I have learned the voice and promptings of the Holy Spirit.
It is important to contend in prayer. This one jacks me up! I view it as a contest, a war! Thus we contend. Because this is exactly what it is! We need to raise up an army of prayer WARRIORS! Ones that go to battle in prayer against the darkness and corruptness of this world. Warriors that contend on the front lines in prayer. An army that doesn’t settle for sickness. An army that is not content with there being lost souls. An army that does not make peace with the wisdom of this age, but wars against it in prayer for the cause of Christ!
I love the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18. It says that God will bring about justice to His chosen ones. How? By crying out to Him day and night! This is one of the passages of scripture that I recite to myself to strengthen my heart in prayer. This one hits home. On March 9th of this year, actually it all started on the night of March 8th, Julia had an enemy attack launched against her. Julia is my wife for those who did not know. She describes this as a night she was not at peace to say the least. She said that night that she felt as if an elephant were sitting on her chest. She could not breath easily, she felt very anxious and was very disoriented. We recognized this immediately for what it was, An Attack! What do you do when you get attacked? You fight back! Remember, our weapons are not carnal. No, we have much more mighty weapons in God that are used to demolish strongholds! Come On!! Time to fight!
So we contended until about 3 am when she was finally able to fall asleep. Well she woke up still under attack. So then we went for re-enforcement. We took out the sword! I felt led to read Luke chapter 18. So at about 2 in the afternoon, after fighting in prayer and reading Luke 18 out loud, the enemy retreated! She was free! Praise Jesus!
3. What We Can Expect From a Life of Prayer
For one, we can expect answers to our prayers. As Jesus stated in the parable of the persistent widow, “Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will see that they get justice, and quickly.” God is our Father. He wants to bless us. He wants us to have abundant life, but we must pursue Him for this. He wants to answer our prayers probably more than we want Him to. When we open the door to His presence in our lives, He can do, as the word says, “immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine.” Rev. 3:20 says” Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Just accept His invitation to be intimate with Him!
We can expect an increase of power. God says that He will give the Holy Spirit without measure to those who ask. The Holy Spirit is our power source. That is the Spirit of God dwelling in us. We can have power over the chains of sin if we walk out a life of prayer. We can have the power to forgive. We can have the power to witness. As a matter of fact, the disciples did not even attempt to evangelize until the power of the Holy Spirit came upon them. What then is the fruit of Holy Spirit empowered evangelism? Matt. 10:8- We can lay hands on the sick and see them healed. We can raise the dead, both physically and spiritually. It then says that we can cleanse the lepers and drive out demons. That sounds like something I want! Don’t you!? We need this power, and it is available to us through that secret place. The place where we drop all of our worries of the day, close the door behind us, and get on our knees before God.
Lastly, we can expect change. A life dedicated to Jesus will produce change. Change can be slow, but change is inevitable. The pace of our change is in direct proportion to the amount of time that we spend in prayer. Pastor Rice Brooks says this, ” You can grow a year in a week, or a week in a year!” What a statement! It’s like this… If you meet someone new and you really want to get to know them better, have them over every night of the week. You will probably already have nicknames for each other by then. Or, you can see them where you see them once in a while, and maybe by your second or third month of seeing them you invite them over for dinner. And so on… What took you 3-4 months, could have been done in one week.
You may not even notice this change, but it is taking place. Just ask someone. It is easier for and outsider to see our change than it is for us. You will begin to produce the fruit of the Spirit. That fruit is evidence of change. David, in Psalm 1, says that we are like trees planted by living water that produce fruit in season. Weather we are in a season of rapid, visible change, or in a season of slow and seemingly dormant change. Just be assured that a changed life is one of the rewards of a life given to prayer.
To wrap this up, I challenge myself and everyone else to step up our prayer life. Open the door for the presence of God in your life. Pray with expectancy. James 5:16 says, ” The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” Lets give God the opportunity to do what He wants to do in our lives. Lets unleash the power of prayer.
Jarod
