Staff Writer – Carol Cato
To end my series on Spiritual Growth, I am going to talk about Prayer. Prayer should be at the centre of every Christian’s life.
As Christians we should realise that without prayer we cannot move things in the spiritual. Jesus did not need to pray, but in the scriptures we see that he prayed in order to show us what we need to do.
Before Jesus started in ministry and at the time of his baptism, Jesus was found praying, heaven was opened. Before making a critical decision, “…Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” (Luke 6:12) The next day he chose the 12 followers who became his apostles.
Perhaps you‘re not sure how to pray or what to pray about; you may think that nothing happens when you pray, so why bother. But how strong is your prayer life? Do you pray more than 30 minutes a day or do you just say a quick prayer each day looking for results?
We should make time each day, be it in the morning, or evening to spend quality time in prayer, focusing on what we want to get out of this Christian life, instead of just doing religion. Do you say to yourself ‘I don’t have time, I am busy’?
I’m sure if you found out you had a serious illness you would make time to pray. If you are not sure what to pray about try writing down prayer points before you start. In the back of some Bibles there are scripture notes on a variety of subjects, such as finance, children, marriage, which you can use as a guide for prayer. You can also just have a conversation with Him, just like if you were talking to one of your friends.
As you begin to pray you build a relationship with your Father, so take time to listen to the response. When you get used to communicating with Him you will know when the things you asked for have arrived as they sometimes don’t look like what you prayed for.
Your pray life is meant to be a way of life. As my pastor recently said, many of us go to Pastors and ask them to pray for us, but what makes them different from us, is that they have a strong relationship with God, but that is what Christianity is about – having a relationship with Him
In Exodus, Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill; Moses began to pray with his hands lifted high, as long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning the battle in the Valley, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.
Aaron and Hur realised it was Moses’ prayer and arms held high that was winning the battle and when his arms got tired, they helped him to continue praying by holding is hands up with a stone.
This is true for all our prayers, the battle could be our marriage, children, finance, health etc., we need to pray without ceasing, to our Father. Never stop praying even when circumstances change, when your marriage is healed, and your children have become adults and you’re financially debt free, we should continue praying for things to stay that way.
The devil doesn’t want you to pray and as soon as you stop he comes to take away your blessing, so you find that your illness has returned or you debt is worse than before. When you pray, you are keeping the devil away from your situation and circumstances, when you stop the devil is waiting to bounce right back. Five minutes of prayer is not going to cut it.
Take out your diary and make a date with God that every day at a particular time, He will meet you. God has never left or forsaken you, but He will not answer you unless you invite Him in.
