[ecko_quote source="1 Samuel 1:17-18"]Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him”. And she said, “Let your maidservant find favour in your sight” so the woman (Hannah) went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.[/ecko_quote]
I mentioned in our previous devotion that “one great difference between Christianity and all other religions is that the believer has a prayer hearing and a prayer answering God. There is absolutely no doubt about it, and His answering rate is always 100%. How do I know this with certainty – because in my Christian walk our God never disappointed me. His word says “call to me, and I will answer you” (Jeremiah 33:3).
However, I observed there are some misconceptions about prayer and also a very limited understanding of prayer in Christendom. We can see in our Churches/Fellowships as soon as prayer time starts, people either go out, show restlessness or even sleep during this time. Some people who have been attending services for a long time is reluctant to pray. I think they do not pray because they fear people, or perhaps have no understanding of the relevant provision that our Father provided to His dear children.
There are some genuine questions people have in relation to prayer. They often ask me why we should pray when God already knows our needs? Then, why should we tell Him when He already knows? These are some important questions, and I try to provide you with some insight in this devotion. I do believe and pray that Holy Spirit God will speak to you while you read this devotion and transform your prayer life.
Invitations:
Prayer is an invitation for God to come into our life. Without an invitation, our God never steps into our life because He has given us free will and freedom to choose or not to choose. He is a gentleman, He never trespass boundaries. Therefore, our invitation is essential for God to interfere in our situation. In James 4:2 says “ Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
Fellowship:
Once we invite our Heavenly Father, He will come into our situation, and we will have a fellowship with him (2 Corinthians 6:1). He talks to us, and we speak to him in prayer. In this process, a greater understanding will develop with our Heavenly Father. We could understand Him more and more as our fellowship with Him progresses.
Development:
In prayer, as we fellowship together we ask for certain things, and sometimes He may not provide it immediately, and there would be a delay. The delay will cause us to introspect and tune our life into His ways. The process would enable us to wait upon Him to renew our strength and facilitate to develop a great faith and Christian character in us.
Dependence:
Our Father has created us to depend upon Him in every matter. However, we choose to live independently. Our attitude of prayer will signify that we depend on Him. Our lives would be meaningful if we totally surrender everything and rely on Him entirely. Because, He knows everything. He has power, in fact, He is the power to accomplish the things we desire. Therefore, our Lord said, “ For apart from Me you able to do NOTHING” (John 15:5). He could do it without us, but we could not do it without Him.
God commanded us to pray (Matthew 7:7) and when we pray, our petitions should be made by faith (James 1:6) in the name of Jesus (John 14:13). If these simple rules are followed (prayer, faith and in Jesus name), we can rest assured our prayers are being heard (1 John 3:22; 5:14-15)
Dear ones, if we want to impact our families, our nation, and our world in these critical days, prayer is where it begins.
God knows what we need before we ask, but we are, specifically asked to pray and ask. We pray not impress him (with long, eloquent, excellent vocabulary) not inform Him (because He knows even before we ask Him) but to invite God. So that we might have that fellowship with Him. So that we might grow, and learn to depend on upon Him more. So let's start praying.
Image Source:
[http://www.wnctimes.com/images/copfirecrime/Knock.jpg]
