The Privilege of Prayer
Samuel Smith
23 Jan'19
5
THE PRIVILEGE OF PRAYER
The most effulgent and martial weapon of the Christian is prayer. Prayer simply is a communication between the Christian and God. It is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend. In prayer, the Christian faithfully articulate his/her praises, thanksgiving, cares, woes, sorrows, and petitions. This solemn hour is the only time that the burdens of secret sins and all manner of iniquities are lifted before God and from that, forgiveness and relief become possible. If so, then prayer should be a lifestyle and not a friend only at a time of need.What a privilege it is, to ascend before the Creator and omniscient God in prayer. Indeed, this is an unmerited favour but hardly do we utilize this unpremeditated opportunity of approaching our generous father in prayer. We sometimes feel so burdened or overtaken by the cares of this world that we neglect prayer. We mostly rely on the trivial and ineffective support of feeble men and hardly go to seek for the able help of God. You cannot burden God with the load of your needs or will He turn you down because of who you are. Our heavenly Father is ever ready to attend to our needs and bestow on us His blessings. Don’t be hooked to movies, sports, phone calls, friends, sin or any desire of the flesh and neglect prayer.
Prayer is a conscious act and its effectiveness is not embedded in our eloquence or our sanctimonious lifestyle. It is not related to vain repetition, babbling, long speech or frivolous talks. Prayer also is not a combat show or acrobatics that you need a field, a camp, mountain top or a prayer guru to aid you on. As to how to pray, it is the Holy Spirit that helps us in our infirmities and makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
We should also understand that, prevailing prayer is not based on any complementary object (water, oil, rosary, salt, statues etc.) or person (Pastor, Mary, or any of the Apostles). The very basis of a prevailing prayer is FAITH. This kind of faith is not your mum’s faith, daddy’s faith or your pastor’s faith, but your faith.
Every prayer we offer is always answered. We need to understand that our God is too wise to err and too good to withhold any good thing from us. We may quickly receive what we prayed for because it is appropriate and timely. Our requests may sometimes seem delayed because our own time may not be in sync with God’s timing. Sometimes too we may not receive exactly what we prayed for because they may not be beneficial at that time but we should understand that God’s time is the best, and still trust in His providence.
Are you downhearted and feel the need of a helper? Are you saying you don’t know how to pray or you can’t pray? Do you feel that you are too evil to pray or that God will not hear you? Just relax and believe in the mercies of God. To go through the exercise of prayer, just be in the mood; Adore God, Confess your sins, Thank Him for forgiven you and then put all your supplications before Him. (
Pr. Nicholas Obeng Agyekum
