” The Privilege of Prayer. ”
We are geared to live in the moment. That fact can be quite convenient for the enemy of our souls. If the enemy can make us think that nothing is more important than being able to do what feels right, he can derail us from doing what’s important for eternity.
Do you have a “whatever” (apathetic) attitude when it comes to the things of God? It is a spirit that tries to attach itself to all of us at one time or another. We can shake that attitude off in prayer and ask God to help us establish spiritual disciplines that will help us.
If you have trouble praying and reading the Bible in the morning before starting your day, go to bed ten minutes earlier and then set your alarm to get up ten minutes earlier to pray and read. Start doing something and go from there, but by all means, start!
If we are faithful with our daily devotions, we will eventually draw closer to God and desire more. As that happens, He will help us do more. But if we never learn to pray and read God’s Word consistently, we will be weak and frustrated in our walk with God. We can sincerely ask God to help us in this devotion to Him. He will hear and He will answer.
Mike Macintosh’s book, Falling in Love with Prayer states this:
“The Apostle Paul said: “If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (I Timothy 6:8). In our society, with its wealth and free-enterprise system, we can work to obtain nearly anything. If the material world has a draw for us then we can work hard and accumulate all kinds of toys and luxuries. But in societies with more oppressive forms of rule and less abundance, acquiring “goodies” is not even an option. Christians in that kind of situation are free to pray because they love God, not because they view prayer as a catalog to present to the “great Santa Claus” in the sky.
The bottom line is this: Prayer really does pay off for us personally, but it depends largely on what payoff we are expecting. If we are expecting a new car, a new house, a new wardrobe and other such new “stuff”, we may not get that kind of payoff. But if we are expecting joy and contentment, we can count on those things.”
I have found prayer to be liberating, exhilarating, and tremendously adventurous! I didn’t start out feeling that way. As a young woman, I desired to pray more because I honored God and knew I should pray. It was just my duty, period. As I began my prayer journey the enemy of my soul attacked me from all sides. I was unaware of the spiritual ramifications of prayer at this point. I thought of myself as a nobody. Not realizing that as a child of God, His indwelling spirit within me was making the devil tremble.
Satan made prayer seem unattainable and hard. What a difference in how I feel about prayer now that I have broken through that erroneous picture the enemy had painted for me!
When one discovers firsthand what prayer can do for the well-being of their mind, body, and spirit and they experience their prayers making a difference in the lives of others, that changes everything, including how you see prayer.
We have this express privilege, as a child of God, to influence eternity. Through prayer, we can help our family, friends, and those we haven’t even met. Prayers reach around our homes, neighborhood, city, nation, and the world. They work now and will continue to work in the future.
Invest in prayer … the dividends are out of this world!
Kathy Brott
Guest Writer
(Information from: Prayer Connect – World Network of Prayer – floshaw@wnop-upci.ccsend.com)