We Must Pray!

03 Mar We Must Pray!

March 3, 2024

We Must Pray!

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:12-13 NIV

Prayer addresses our Heavenly Father in adoration, thanksgiving, confession, and requesting. It’s talking to God, communication. Prayer should be heartfelt and deliberate in an honorable, humble, sincere manner. The size or complexity of the situation does not matter from the joy of your first child, getting a new place to live. From a headache to heart surgery from bus fare to the budget for a country, take it to Jesus!

Ephesians 6:18 “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;” The one thing that has been a constant demand in my spirit is that “We Must Pray.” There was a comedy skit with the two older men in the box seats, and something happened. One said, “I think we better pray, and the other said has it come to that.” It was meant to be funny, but yes, it has come to that; as a matter of fact, it is and always will be a time for prayer. That “has it come to that “statement stuck with me for years, maybe because I have been guilty of it. Praying just in times of need, but God wants and expects more. 

This has been a very different season in many ways. The last couple of years have been so unlike any other time. We have experienced the joys of life, the hurt and disappointment, and the changes it brings. Just recently, with the weather, in 24 hours in our area, we have experienced summer-like temperatures (74 degrees), hail, thunderstorms, tornado warnings, snow, and emergency alerts that said, move to the basement or a safe place now. We Must Pray.

The Call to Pray

I post watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they should keep praying all day and all night. You who pray to the LORD, don’t be silent! Isaiah 62:6 Net Bible

A call to prayer is a demand, plea an appeal for us to take action and go before God to intercede. Don’t you hear the voice of God saying come unto Me, come now, come often? The need for prayer is all around us. In just the past week, we have received calls for one heart attack, one kidney failure that required dialysis, and one hip replacement. Two people were wrapping up chemotherapy. Also, a few people with some strain of the flu and two deaths where someone called and said to pray for us/the family. We Must Pray

You alone are enough.

Isaiah 59:16- “And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.”

God seeks intercessors who will also pray beyond their families and personal needs for others. For example, God wanted someone to stand up and make a wall for Israel, who had sinned, so He would not destroy it. In Ezekiel 22:30, “I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for [the sake of] the land, that I would not destroy it, but I found no one [not even one]. God could not find anyone, so judgment came. Oh, prayer can change things. There are many examples of how just one or a few people praying in the Bible and around you can change things.

David at Ziglag in 1 Samuel 30, Jesus at Lazarus’s tomb in John 11. Elisha for his servant’s eyes to be opened in 2 Kings 6:17-20. In I Samuel 14:6, Jonathan and the soldier who carried his weapons (Prayer is a weapon) talked as they went toward the Philistine camp. “It’s just the two of us against all those godless men,” Jonathan said. “But the Lord can help a few soldiers win a battle just as easily as he can help a whole army. Maybe the Lord will help us win this battle.” God did. 

Where do we fit in?

There was an old saying, “Get in where you fit in.” If the opportunity to pray comes into your heart or across your path, take that as an assignment and pray. Some of us have made it a habit not to say we will pray but to do it then and there less; we get distracted and forget, not on purpose, but it happens. Pray for new ways to do your old job or how to listen when there is nothing being said (you’ll get that one next week). Pray for increase and that God would bless. When you see things in your community, on the news, and worldwide that you don’t like (I hate injustice). Pray about things that don’t align with God’s Word or His best for people and our world. We Must Pray for Everything!

• Pray to the Father in the Name of Jesus – John 14: 12-14
• Believe that God hears your prayer – 1 John 5:14-15
• Pray/ Study the Word of God – Psalms 119
• If God gives instructions, do what he tells you – James 1:22–25.
• Expect it to come to pass. Matthew 7:7-8

 

Quick Exercise

Stop now and recall five examples in which God answered your personal prayers and add two more for when you prayed for others or something else. This may be the answer to a direct prayer or the result of praying in the heavenly language or your praying Psalm 91 daily for protection. Thank God for your prayers, they change things, shift the atmosphere around you, so don’t take them lightly praying to the Father in the Name of Jesus works!

Start a prayer journal, too. That way, you can capture what God is saying in prayer, what you want to submit to Him, and keep a log of the praise reports and victories. Remember, the effective prayer of a righteous person has great power. Prayer is a lifestyle like the oxygen needed to breathe and live. We Must Pray! 💕

Theresa Woodard