1- Prayer is the Turning of the Human Soul to the Living God
Psalm 24:1--"Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul."
There might be times when the lips do not utter words--prayer can be an inward thought. Depending on circumstances, this reaching out to God might amount to a painful wrenching of the heart, an inarticulate moan or groan. God will accept any or all of these as prayer.
Prayer, then, is communion with God
2- Prayer is Communion with God
Psalm 54:2--"O Thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come".
Adam communed with God"in the cool of the day",(Gen.3:8), in the Garden of Eden. The two of them communicated with each other. Fellowship is another word for communing or communication. When you are in fellowship with another person, you are keeping the lines of communication open.
So, prayer is relating to and communing with God. When you are in a position to commune with God, you do not fear Him. You don't approach Him to accuse Him, but to love Him through fellowship with Him. This communion, this communication, this fellowship with God, is prayer.
3- Prayer is a Heart Study
It is a school of superb learning. Through prayer we learn truth unavailable elsewhere.
Prayer is a heart study because, in prayer, your heart is revealed to you as God sees it. Prayer is a school in which we learn truth that is not available anywhere else. When I don't have the answer to a problem or issue, instead of wasting a lot of time worrying, I pray. As I pray, God reveals to me the decision or the answer to the situation that I need.
4- Prayer Is a Compass
Prayer is to the Christian what a compass is to a navigator. Prayer will pinpoint our spiritual integrity and show us our weaknesses. Prayer will clarify our positional relationship with God. Even as a compass points the navigator to the North Pole, prayer always points us to our Heavenly Father. Prayer is the most powerful force in the universe. And when a Christian begins to realize the importance, the wonder, the excitement, and the effectiveness of prayer, he will no more divest himself of his regular daily prayer than a navigator would set out on a flight or trip without his compass. 5- Prayer is Helping God A- Isaish 59:16--"And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness, it sustained him". If you are elderly and can't get out much, you can still be an integral part of God's kingdom. By accepting this opportunity you can proudly say, "I am God's personal assistant. I assist God through prayer." And now there are other ways to help in prayer with the computers and internet. There are many prayer groups to join and pray for the people. (I belong to one of these groups called Annie's Email Encouragers. You can find this on Annie's Homepage---
http://www.annieshomepage.com/
She has many good pages besides the Encouragers. She has a place where you can join the EEs also. ) But even if you don't have a computer, you can still pray for others. B- Isaiah 64:5--"And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold me; therefore, mine own arm brought salvation unto me, and my fury, it upheld me". Here, God needed someone to stand in the gap. God sought men to"uphold", to stand for Him, to stand with Him, to be an intercessor; but "there was no one to uphold". Not only do you and I need to pray in our own behalf. You and I are God's hands. We are His voice. We are His witnesses. We are His intercessors. So when we pray, we are working with God. C- Ezekiel 22:30--"And I sought for a man among them, that should make up hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, and I should not destroy it; but I found none". Here again, God needed someone to stand in the gap. Someone to pray. But apparently He sought in vain--there was no one to labor with Him. I know something about how He felt. There have been times in my life where I was faced with needs or tasks to be done, something that was greater than I could handle. And I looked for someone to stand with me, beside me, but there seemed to be nobody--nobody at all. At times like this I felt like I was standing alone with a whole battalion of enemy soldiers. Such a position should never come to a Christian. God tells us to pray for one another. When we help a brother or sister in prayer, we help God's cause, because we are standing with God against the enemy of our souls. And then there are other times when I have a friend to pray with me. The Bible says that one can send one thousand to flight (the enemy or his demons), but two praying together can send 10,000 to flight. This encourages us to press on in prayer--to continue to pray with others and agree with them in prayer. This is in Matthew 18:10--the prayer of agreement which we will discuess in another lesson. Join with me in telling God, "Lord, You won't ever have to stand alone again. I will stand in the gap with You!" 6- Prayer is the Deepest Sympathy In prayer man disrobes himself of ALL artificiality and pretense. He knows that God knows. God know when you are sincere. And when you are not sincere, He does NOT answer prayer. Aoo of the great men and women of prayer that I have known or read about have been those with whom prayer was serious business. There was no trivolity, no lightness, no joking about this matter of approaching the King of this universe. 7- Prayer is Divine Reverence John 4:23-24--"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. v.24- God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth:. If we are to be effective in our prayer, we must come before our Father in divine reverence. In today's world, it seems that irreverence is the order of the day. Around us we see irrevernce for our country, for our flag, for our leaders, even for God Himself. If we are to become mighty in prayer, we cannot allow a spirit of irreverence to overtake us. If you desire to learn the secrets of prayer and become a man or woman of prayer, you must learn to reverence the One to whom yu direct your petitions. Please click the next button to go to the next page for more.
