MATURING IN PRAYER

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

Prayer is the breathing of the soul. The soul cannot exist without prayer, It will gradually grow indifferent, it will die (spiritually). It is essential to the believer's life. The reason why many times we accomplish so little is that we do not walk with God. Our power comes from our spirituality, which grows out of personal intimacy with Christ. Prayer is the very lifeblood of our service to others.

Continual prayer was what characterized the practice of the first Christians. "They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers" (Acts 1:14). Jesus commanded to pray always. He himself was constantly in prayer. Paul told the Thessalonians to "pray continually" (1 Thess. 5:17). To live in God's presence is not a duty but a birthright. For people who are growing in prayer and holiness, this is as natural as breathing.

"But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen." [Matthew 6:6] Jesus underscored the importance of a consistent quiet time as the essential beginning point of our prayer lives. The truth is until we are serious about giving the Lord our undivided time and attention we will not be able to grow in our prayer lives or to mature in the experience of a personal relationship with Him. Nor will we see the rewards of a maturing, consistent prayer life that "asks, seeks and knocks" (Matthew 7:7-8). We don’t have to pray for a long period of time, for Jesus goes on to say, "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words" (Matthew 6:7-8). We need to be thoughtful in our prayers, concise and to the point. Jesus even gave us a pattern to follow in our prayers (Matthew 6:9-13).

The most important thing that Jesus taught us about prayer was spending time alone with God to come to know Him in a personal way. As He becomes increasingly real to us, we grow into people who can become powerful and effective prayers.

SEEKING THE HAND OF GOD (Praying only because of needs) John 6:2, 26

The lowest form of communication with God is praying only because of a personal need. This is considered "seeking the hand of God." During the earthly ministry of Jesus, multitudes of people sought out and followed Him, but very few of them were interesting in committing their lives to Him in real discipleship (Jn. 6:60, 66-68). To them, Jesus was not more than someone who could satisfy their needs. He could heal their sick bodies when they needed healing. He could give them food when they were hungry. Only a very few ever thought of Jesus as someone they could enjoy fellowship with, and who desires fellowship in return. Most believers, unfortunately, are living on this level of a relationship with Jesus. Their prayer life is almost non-existence until a serious problem arises. Then they know right where to go.

SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER (Survival Prayer) Matthew 26:40-41

The very minimum every Christian should pray in order to live a victorious life is at least one hour a day. That won't make you an intercessor or a prayer warrior, but it will probably be enough to maintain your present relationship with Jesus. This one hour a day is referred to as survival prayer. This describes the prayer life of most Christians. How many Christians pray at least one hour every day? You must pray one hour just to overcome temptation, but do you believe that revival will come because of this kind of praying? (Mark 14:37-38) If you are not regularly praying one hour, make this your first goal, but not your final goal. At least an hour of prayer every day is required in order to overcome temptation and to help us to live in a way that is acceptable to Jesus.

SEEKING THE FACE OF GOD (Revival praying) II Chronicles 7:14

You will notice that prayer and seeking God's face are listed separately in this scripture. Prayer is not necessarily seeking the face of God. It could be seeking the hand of God. It could be survival prayer, to keep what we already have in God. Seeking the face of God involves more than that!

SPIRITUAL WARFARE (Prayer from the throne of authority) II Corinthians 10:3-4; Ephesians 6:12

Whenever a person becomes a Spirit-filled believer, he acquires new enemies, Satan and his kingdom! Before we came to Jesus, we were a part of the “world system,” over which Satan rules (Ephesians 2:2-3). Some of us didn’t even know Satan existed until we became a believer. We were already involved in spiritual warfare before even being warned that there is such a thing.

No wonder the Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ (II Timothy 2:3), and “fight the good fight of faith” (I Timothy 6:12). Yes, we are in a battle, and to be successful we need proper knowledge concerning our enemy so that we can identify and defeat him! Seeking the face of God is a higher level of prayer than the one-hour prayer. It involves doing whatever it takes to get the answer! It involves humbling ourselves before God. It involves getting our relationship right with God.

INTERCESSORY PRAYER (Prayer before the throne for others) I Timothy 2:1, 3-4

Many people who sincerely seek the face of God continually will eventually become intercessors. An intercessor is a person who prays on behalf of others, he stands in the gap between God and men. We seek the face of God because of spiritual thirst. In seeking the face of God, we pray often to become more like Jesus and to become more useful in the kingdom of God. God's answer to these prayers is to fill us with His love, and a burden to pray for others. We become intercessors because of that burden and love.