“And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive it, if you have faith.”
— Matthew 21:22
Prayer is a two-way conversation; it is our talking to God, and Him talking to us. As a Christian, you have a heavenly Father who hears and answers prayer. Jesus said, “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Every man or woman whose life has counted for the church and the Kingdom of God has been a person of prayer. You cannot afford to be too busy to pray. A prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian. Jesus Christ spent many hours in prayer. Sometimes He spent the night on a mountaintop in solitary communion with God the Father. If He felt that He had to pray, how much more do we need to pray! (Billy Graham)
I love to read church signs and over the past several weeks one has caught my eye. The sign simply said, “Is Prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” This question helps us to see how we approach prayer in our own personal prayer time. Is God our resource only in an emergency or is He the one who drives our ship. Many times, we feel we are self-sufficient, and we can handle anything that comes our way and then we are reminded that we are totally dependent on God. Many times, we make our plans, and our prayer is that God will bless our plans. Remember the passage in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” We must seek God’s plan (will) for our lives and follow His plan.
Prayer is not just our emergency resource. As a Christian it is our lifeline. It is our source of strength for daily living. Prayer is how God reveals His plan to us for our lives. As we look at our situations today there is no shortage of things that we need to pray for. I hope that you will make prayer a priority and make it the first thing you do.
“If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
— 2 Chronicles 7:14
Pastor Dan Harrison