Our prayers are to be from our hearts; God desires us to make our petitions to him as a child petitions a parent. This is so important that the apostle Paul wrote about it in two separate epistles: For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father (Romans 8:15); And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father (Galatians 4:6). For those of us who are parents, we get a satisfaction from our children when they come to us and ask us, in sincere manner, to help them. It’s hard to turn them away, especially when the help they seek is in doing something, like teaching them to tie a shoe, helping them in using the bathroom, or brushing their teeth. What the apostle Paul wrote is that we should have that kind of true reverence and boldness to be able to ask God for our needs. This lesson is perfectly demonstrated throughout the book of Psalms – David prayed the contents of his heart! Yes, he boldly came to God and made his requests known; some of the requests are for protection, health, healing, and even worship. There are others that David calls for God’s judgment on his enemies. I personally believe that one of the reasons that David is considered as a man after God’s own heart (see Acts 13:22) is because David was not afraid to pray the contents of his heart and soul.
Another part of a healthy prayer life is prayer for others. One of the miracles recorded in the book of Acts is Peter’s deliverance from prison. There’s one verse that I always found interesting, Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him (Acts 12:5). In this one verse, the members of the local church in Jerusalem were making intercession on behalf of Peter – and they were making that intercession directly to the throne of God! Both the Old Testament and New Testament are filled with examples of praying for the needs of others. It is easy to adopt an attitude of “why should I pray for them when I am facing a trial of my own…” but there is no greater love we can show for God or for our fellow-man than to pray for their needs as we would pray for our own. Following the example of Jesus as recorded by the apostle John, Jesus prayed for the early church he was forming in Jerusalem: For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine (John 17:8-9). Want to see some real spiritual growth in your life and the life of your church? Pray for the needs of the church’s ministries, pray for the families, pray for the pastor, deacons, song leader, piano player, door greeters, and anyone else involved in the operations of the church.
In addition to prayer needing to be from the heart, include the needs of other, and to include heartfelt honor and praise, our prayers should be done in an attitude of belief. Now I am not saying that you should pray for a million dollars and begin to believe that its ok to go out and write a bunch of checks when your account is down to its last $12.00. What I am saying is that when we pray for our needs, we should adopt an attitude that God has heard our prayers and will deliver us from whatever it is we will face. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them (Matthew 22:26). When we pray and lack the faith to believe that God can answer our prayer, then we have not prayed out of the sincerity of our hearts. We pray after the flesh, believing that God will fail to hear us and by doing so, we pray for things that are contrary to God’s will. When we pray believing that God will provide, our prayers are being formed by our faith and often are being led by the Holy Spirit.
About this particular series of devotionals:
For some time, I have felt the Lord pulling me into the teaching ministry. By vocation, I teach history courses at a local community college and have always enjoyed the excitement of learning something new. What I am finding is that the more serious I get about my walk with the Lord Jesus Christ, the greater the want is to teach others about the Christian faith. I began working on this devotional back in January, feeling led to focus on the stumbling blocks that often keep us from spiritual growth. Next Friday, the devotional will cover another area that can cause difficulty for some Christians to spiritually mature.
