A Church Devoted to the Power of Prayer
If you could ask the Lord Jesus Christ for anything you wanted, what would you ask?
The disciples asked: “Lord, teach us to pray.” Listen to the Lord’s answer.
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8
The Sin of Unoffered Prayer
The greatest problem you have in your life is not unanswered prayer; it is unoffered prayer. “You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2b).
Not to pray is not only to miss a blessing; it is rebellious. Our Lord has commanded us to pray.
There is no substitute for prayer—not enthusiasm, not eloquence, not energy. The reason why many of us are poverty-stricken in our spiritual lives is that we have never learned to pray.
Why Does God Ask Us to Pray?
Isn’t God good? Doesn’t God want to do good things? And doesn’t God know everything? “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8b).
That begs the question: why should we ask?
*We do not pray to impress God. Jesus said, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:7).
*We do not pray to inform God. There is nothing you can tell God that He does not already know.
*We do not pray to instruct God. Prayer is not some way of bending God’s will to fit yours.
*We pray to invite God—so that we can delight ourselves in the Lord. God gives us the privilege of participating in His kingdom work, through prayer.
God can work without our prayers, but we cannot work without God. Prayer causes us to depend upon Him. Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7).
Pray, Pray, Pray
Robbie