What is Prayer?
Prayer, in general, is a conversation with God about our needs, our wants, our concerns, and our desires. A secular dictionary defines prayer as “an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication”. I find it interesting and surprising that a secular dictionary defines prayer as distinctly and completely as it does or rather is it a complete definition by biblical standards? Let us see what the Bible has to say. The secular dictionary begins its definition by defining prayer as an invocation. An invocation is the action of summoning someone for assistance or as an authority or the calling of a deity or the supernatural. We as children of God call upon the Lord for, He is our help. We are told to call upon Him when in trouble (Psalm 50:15) as well as when giving honor and thanks to our Father (1 Chronicles 16:8). We should call upon the Lord for everything that takes place in our lives. The next point the secular dictionary mentions in its definition is that prayer seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship. Well, without going any further, we all know that the object of our prayer is God, our Father. But what is interesting in this statement is that prayer is used to “activate a rapport”. To build a rapport would be to build “a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups included understand each other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well”. The Lord calls us into relationship with him. However, like any relationship, it must be developed and strengthened. One way to develop and strengthen your relationship with God is through prayer. The Bible says, “The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them” (Psalm 145:18- 19). Prayer demonstrates your level of faith and your desire to follow God’s will for your life (1 John 5:14- 15). Finally, the secular definition states that prayers are delivered through “deliberate communication”. God wants us to be dependent upon him for everything “for in Him we live and move and have our being…” (Acts 17:28). The Bible says to “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God”. It appears the secular definition is pretty much supported by the Word of God. Based on our bible references, a more biblical definition would read as prayer being the deliberate act of summoning or the calling upon of God, our Father for all our needs, demonstrating our faith in God with the intention of building and strengthening our relationship with Him.
Why pray? The Word says that we should “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Praying should be like breathing; easier to do than not to do. It should not be seen as a means of getting God to do our will on earth, but rather as a means of doing God’s will on earth. For situations which we do not know God’s specific will, prayer is a means of discerning or understanding and recognizing His will.
Personal Prayer
The Bible teaches us that prayer should not be showy, and it shouldn’t include vain repetitions. We should go into our room and shut the door (Matthew 6:5-7). But He did give us a framework of the types of things to pray about. Jesus provided a model prayer for us in Matthew 6:5-13 and Luke 11:1-4. In general, the model prayer includes the following content:
- Praising and thanking God
- Praying for God’s Kingdom to come, and for His will and work to be done today.
- Requesting that our needs and the needs of others be met, whether healing, food, wisdom, or protection.
- Seeking forgiveness and the help to forgive others
- Asking for protection from temptation and the evil tempter. We should be humble when praying not as the Pharisee in Luke 18:10 but humble in heart and mind as the tax collector (Luke 18:10-14).
Corporate Prayer
However, there are times we need to pray in groups or pray corporately. Corporate prayer brings about certain benefits to the praying group, as a whole, such as the following:
- Encouragement – praying with others can encourage the members of the group about their situation. There may be someone in the group who is struggling with a certain situation. As they are upheld in prayer, the Holy Spirit will bring them encouragement and reassurance.
- Unity of purpose – Corporate prayer has the ability to knit a group together in a bond of fellowship and praise. People are edified and unified in common faith. As people pray together, they build love and concern for others and display their dependence on God for their healing and/or deliverance.
- Worship – Corporate prayer brings intimate communion with the Savior.
- Repentance – As people pray, the Holy Spirit brings conviction and draws His children to repentance.
People mistakenly think that by getting other people to pray with you about what you want from God that you are more likely to get what you want. This usually comes from the gross misinterpretation of the scripture that says, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Corporate prayer is not about getting enough people together to pray until God bends His will to our will. Instead, prayer (corporate and private) is about cooperating with God and abandoning our desires and submitting to God’s will. We should always remember that God loves us so much and understands what we are going through. That is why we can “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). However, we must be careful not to treat God as if He is some kind of “Cosmic Santa Claus”!
Remember, we must follow God’s will – not our own. In prayer, there is a time to speak and a time to listen. This is the balance of prayer. We talk and God responds. God talks and we have a discussion. Prayer is a great benefit and enjoyment…. if we, do it right. Let us all make a conscious effort to pray more – not for the benefit of receiving but for God’s glory, to worship Him and to discern His will – His plan for our lives.
Submitted By Sis. Shonna Washington
Discipleship
“Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples…”
Matthew 28:19 CEV
Anyone that types the word into their computer’s dictionary will get the definition for a disciple. The primary characteristic of a disciple is discipline. According to Dictionary.com, the definition for discipline is behavior that is in accordance with specific rules of conduct and order maintained by training and control. A disciple is a person who makes a conscious decision to devote their life to obeying the teachings of another person. The doctrine that we decide to obey determines our destiny, first on earth and ultimately for eternity. It is a decision that must be made today; “…choose you this day whom ye will serve” (Joshua 24:15 KJV). We should not wait until tomorrow when making this decision about our destiny (Hebrews 4:7). Tomorrow is not promised to us (Luke 12:20). There is no coming back to warn others (Luke 16:27-31). As a result of the pressing need to let others know about the amazing grace of God, we were given a directive to go out into the world and tell all people about the wonderful gift of salvation in the person of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus’ unselfish sacrifice on the cross gives all people in the world the opportunity to accept His gift freely. Discipleship requires that we have a reverent attitude for our Lord and study God’s Word every day; “…they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11 KJV). Discipleship requires that we be ready to tell others about Jesus; “…be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15 KJV). Discipleship requires that we have the ability to avoid foolish and thoughtless discussions since we know that they produce conflicts (2 Timothy 2:23). Discipleship requires that we share the doctrine of Jesus Christ with others while avoiding conversations that will lead people into worthless thinking and ungodly behavior (2 Timothy 2:16, Romans 1:28). Discipleship is most effective when we understand that once we plant the seed in people’s minds about the truth of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is the one that changes people on the inside; “I will put my spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:27 KJV). True disciples of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ know, that if people make a decision to reject the magnificent gift of salvation from our Savior, then we are free to move on and share the Gospel with other unbelievers; “If any place does not welcome you or listen to you, when you leave there, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them” (Mark 6:11 CSB). So, let us not let anything hinder us or slow us down from sharing the gift of Salvation with others. We must not get tired of fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives in spreading His Word. If we continue to obey our Lord in this effort, He will bring the harvest of eternal life at the right time. We must not give up.
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned”
Mark 16:15-16 KJV
Submitted by Trustee Stanley Ridley
Sooner or Later, Something Usually Breaks
“Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness…”
In the 1968 pilot for the Colombo crime series titled “Prescription: Murder”, Lieutenant Frank Columbo, played by actor Peter Falk, investigates a married psychiatrist who strangles his wife to death. The psychiatrist uses different schemes, lies, and tactics to hide his crime and asks his accomplice to the criminal act to keep it secret but Lt. Colombo makes a profound statement in the primetime drama; “Sooner or later, something usually breaks”. The psychiatrist was a highly intelligent and elusive man but, in the end, it was the psychiatrist’s own human nature that exposed his crime. Lt. Colombo noticed the psychiatrist’s human flaw very early in the show when he told a fellow police officer that he noticed that when the psychiatrist entered his apartment, he never called out to his wife to let her know that he was home. A friend of the doctor in the show stated that maybe it was because the husband and wife had a recent disagreement and he may have been upset with her but the behavior appeared to be consistent with the doctor’s attitude towards his wife, because earlier, in the show when the psychiatrist returned home from his office after visiting his mistress and knowing that his wife was home, he did not call out for her. Lt. Colombo rightly assumed that the doctor’s character flaw would sooner or later cause something in him to break.
In Romans 7, God tells us through the Apostle Paul that we all have a character flaw and if it is not fixed then we are destined for condemnation to eternal punishment. Our flaw is sin and if we say we have no sin then we are liars (1 John 1:8-10). God’s Word is what exposes our disobedience. Disobedience is sin. Sin is wanting something that does not belong to us. God’s Word is the only answer to sin. If it was not for God’s Word, then we would never have known that it was wrong to want something that did not belong to us. The Holy Bible says that Jesus Christ is God’s Word (Revelation 19:13). The teachings of Jesus Christ tell us that we are not to want what belongs to someone else. Lying, deception, bitterness, gossip, jealousy, murmuring, complaining, arguing, cheating, killing, abuse, stealing, etc. are all symptoms of one of three elements of our human flaw of wanting or lusting for something that doesn’t belong to us; “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16 KJV). The human flaw of wanting something that did not belong to them is what got Adam and Eve in trouble in the garden of Eden; “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” (Genesis 3:6 KJV). There is nothing we can say or do that will keep sin from sooner or later causing us to break. Sin always seems to find a way to manipulate and pervert what is true and right to make us want all kinds of things that are wrong. Even if we run down the list of the seven deadly sins and go through the hundreds of other egregious sins and see no evidence that we are guilty of any of them we are still in Apostle Paul’s words, ‘wretched’ (Romans 7:24), or according to the Prophet Isaiah’s words, ‘filthy dirty rags’ (Isaiah 64:6) …and those are terms and phrases that Saints used to describe themselves. Terms that are used to describe unbelievers include worthless (Judges 9:4), venomous snakes (Matthew 3:7), brute beasts (2 Peter 2:12), children of Belial (Deuteronomy 13:13), ravening wolves (Matthew 7:15), etc.
If we fall into the trap of thinking that we are good, humble, and righteous, then the Lord has no problem putting us to the test; “The young man saith unto him, all these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me”. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions” (Matthew 19:20-22 KJV). If we look at others and have the feeling that we are glad that we didn’t do what they did then our biggest problem becomes arrogance (Luke 18:11-12). Pride is one of the things that God hates most (Proverbs 16:18). Even if we live what the world would consider a perfect and prosperous life, we still fall short of what God requires (Luke 16:25). Sooner or later something usually breaks. God describes this dynamic as ‘slippery’; “But they won’t get by with it. They will find themselves on a slippery slope, careening into the darkness, somersaulting into the pitch-black dark. I’ll make them pay for their crimes” (Jeremiah 23:12 The Message). Even when we do things that we think are done in secret we forget that God sees that too and sooner or later the things we do in secret get revealed; “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14 KJV).
We must not be fooled and think we are getting away with our disobedience and wrongdoing, even if we do it in secret; “For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings” (Job 34:21 KJV). It may seem like we got away because nothing bad happened or there appeared to be no consequence for what we’ve done but God sees what’s done in secret; “…you can be sure that your sin will track you down” (Numbers 32:23 The Message). Nabal did not get away. He made an insult and paid for it later (1 Samuel 25:37-38). Shimei did not get away. He made insults and paid for it later (1 Kings 2:44). King Nebuchadnezzar didn’t get away; “While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee” (Daniel 4:31 KJV). King Manasseh didn’t get away; “The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they refused to listen. So, the Lord brought commanders from the king of Assyria’s army to attack Judah. These commanders captured Manasseh and made him their prisoner. They put hooks in him and brass chains on his hands and took him to the country of Babylon” (2 Chronicles 33:10-11 ERV). David thought he got away. He tried to manipulate Uriah so Uriah would sleep with his wife Bathsheba so they could claim that the baby belonged to Uriah. When that plan failed David eliminated Uriah without anyone knowing exactly what his personal motives were and the one that he committed adultery with, Bathsheba, kept it all a secret. But David did not get away with it (2 Samuel 12:8). We will not get away with it either. Every time we take communion, God gives us a chance to get ourselves right and immediate judgment comes at the time we eat the bread and drink the wine, if we lie and try to deceive, even about the secret things we did, then ultimately we pay the price (1 Corinthians 11:30).
Secret sin is like untreated cancer. Cancer that goes untreated slowly destroys the healthy cells of the body. Sooner or later something physically breaks. Unconfessed hidden sin is a slow deterioration similar to how cancer eats away at our visible bodies, sin eats away at our invisible spirits. Sooner or later something spiritually breaks. Just like cancer leads to the inability of the body to physically function normally, sin leads to the inability of the mind to think clearly in order to make the right decisions; “Sexual sins, strong drink, and new wine ruin a person’s ability to think straight” (Hosea 4:11 ERV). God provides us with spiritual medicine to help us avoid spiritual disease; “…when you are tempted, God will also give you a way to escape that temptation. Then you will be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13 ERV). For those sins and failures that we’ve done that no one else knows about, God tells us to find someone who we can trust and confess our sins to them, even the secret sins so that we can expose ourselves privately with those who truly love and care for us so we can allow God to heal us (James 5:16). One way or another our sins will be found out. The medicine is confession. We can confess them voluntarily or God will expose them involuntarily (1 Timothy 5:20). Involuntary exposure usually brings about shame which is a form of chastisement. Going through the motions does not please the Lord. Living a flawless life is nothing to God. True worship is demonstrated when our pride is shattered. We can break our pride by choice or have it broken against our will (1 Corinthians 5:5). Truly broken lives ready for God’s love don’t, for a moment, escape God’s notice; “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:17 KJV). Sooner or later something usually breaks so it is probably better than we are broken sooner than later to give the Lord time to repair us before it is too late.
Submitted by Trustee Stanley Ridley