Prayer. The shortest link between your heart and God s hands. MHwritesforHIM

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Nora Terry
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1 Prayer The shortest link between your heart and God s hands MHwritesforHIM

2 Foreword All of us would have experienced anxiety at some or the other time in our lives. We live our life with anxious thoughts. We worry about the course of our life. We worry about things that would happen after 10 years. We worry about the results at our school or college or workplace. We worry about our loved ones. The worry list would be a never ending scroll. Worrying will not get the things done. Being anxious will never take you closer to your target. So what are you supposed to do? There is an easier alternative to anxiety or worry that is just entrust your request to our Heavenly Father. You are asked to present your request to Him and he would take care of the rest. There is a saying, Those who leave everything in God s hands will see God s hands in everything. So give it to him and relax, He will work on your behalf. Prayer is talking about your worries to the Lord. When Nehemiah received the message about the wall of Israel, he immediately knelt down, fasted and prayed. During his mission he repeated the same again and again. Whenever there was a problem, a worry or a difficulty he took it to the Lord in prayer. In this techno world, are we alert to do this? In this world of technology, where do we update our worries? What do you gain from updating it on social media? Nothing but people s concern and pity. The Bible clearly says, when you pray to the Lord in your inner house, the answers are explicit. When Hannah poured out her heart in the presence of the Lord, her worry was taken away. Christians have to take their worries to the Lord rather than publicize them. This booklet will deal with unique aspects of prayer.

3 Prayer strategy Prayer whispers: Prayer is the shortest link between your heart and God s hands. To pray continually is the commandment mentioned in I Thessalonians 5:17.Through prayer we express the desires of our heart to God. God will work things according to His eternal will. Prayer whispers don t require you to kneel, bow down and close your eyes to pray but will arise from a sincere heart. Prayer whispers carry the prayer points from your longing heart to move the heart of God. This entire process can become systematic, when you automatically offer prayer whispers as and when you are reminded of prayer points. Prayer whispers are the best way to pray continually though the day. Prayer journal: When God answers each of our pray points instantly then we will be encourage to pray continually. But we know that there are three possible answers to any prayer: yes, no and wait. All our prayers will not be answered immediately. In this juncture, how do we pray continually? Here is what I learnt in this aspect. To pray continually one has to be organized and systematic. Documenting your prayer points is the best way to organize your prayer. One can use a prayer journal or a digital prayer log to document their prayer points. You can jot down the prayer points as and when you are prompted by the Holy Spirit. If you are planning to use a journal, choose one that is handy and can be carried anywhere. Such efforts will bring

4 reminders of prayer points during your other chores. Then you can immediately offer a prayer whisper to God. As Christians, you may pray for a whole list of people yourself, your family, your friends, you church, you country and the world. In that case your can have categories for you prayer points. Also another suggestion is that you include the date that you have raised each prayer point and also mention the date that God answered them.

5 Building prayer points For the past few days, I was prompted to pray about an issue in my life. I was reluctant to oblige as I was not sure if the prompt was from God. So I asked God to reveal the origin of that prompt. Here is the Bible passage for the same: Romans 8: After this I prayed for that issue and got the answer too. Read on to know more. God who knows our past, present and future can judge which is best for our life. But we humans lack foresight which is our weakness. We never know what we actually need rather ask for whatever we feel like. The best comparison for this would be shopping. When we shop at a super market without a shopping list I bet you would walk out of the store with a whole lot of stuff. Most of this stuff would be things that you though you would need sometime for some work. Only when you reach home you would realise that you have forgotten to buy sugar, salt, spices and oil which are the necessary commodities. Similarly when we pray we ask for unnecessary things. You might ask for a luxury car because your friend bought one. You might ask for a diamond neckpiece because your cousin bought one. You would ask for an international holiday because your friend recently posted pictures of her recent vacation. In the end we miss out on asking necessary things such as a living according to the will of God. In a previous blog, we have read about asking God to give you exactly what you need. (Proverbs 30:8) You are not bothered about asking the right thing because you have asked God to do the shopping on your behalf and you would just receive the shopping bag from Him. This prayer is for infants who can get away by saying God

6 to just give them what they need and God gives. This blog will teach you the next step. The Holy Spirit was sent to strengthen us in our weakness. (Roman 8:26) Our weakness is the lack of foresight. Here our infirmity is that we don t know what to pray for or ask for. So the Holy Spirit prompts the points that we need to pray for. The Holy Spirit highlights our need and prompts us to pray for them. When we agree to pray this prayer we will be praying according to the will of God. (Roman 8:27) As Christians, we should keep out prayer life intact for be fortified against the enemy. When we don t know what to pray for, then we can pray to God to give you exactly what you need. When the Holy Spirit identified our needs and prompts us to pray for an issue then we should pray about it fervently. Holy Spirit will point out our needs and the needs of others. When we make it a habit to pray we will be prompted on a regular basis. When we offer such prayers prompted by the Holy Spirit you will surely be praying according to God s will A prayer prompted by the Holy Spirit will help you pray according to the will of God.

7 Prayer to believe Help me overcome my unbelief! These words were spoken by the father who was pushed to the edge by his son s condition. In Mark 9: we read about the son who was deaf and dumb by an impure spirit. The father claims this condition prevailed since his birth and also explained that atrocities that he has undergone. The father requested Jesus to offer any kind of help. Read the above mentioned passage for a detailed background. This is the scenario and do we learn from this. To start with, the father had faith to bring him to Jesus and his disciples. We read here that this is his second attempt for his son s healing. First he had brought his son to the disciples who couldn t help him. Second, he brought his son to Jesus. This efforts of the father show the faith that he had on Jesus to heal his son. But he uttered this statement when his faith was confronted. We might have come across such situations in life. We hold on to faith when we start but through the journey we could lose faith. When we are pushed to the edge our faith can dwindle. The father was in a similar situation. His journey to find healing for his son had taken his faith for a ride. He was in the verge of breaking down. But he used the last opportunity to hold on the Jesus to supply the faith that he required. We should learn this from this father. As human beings it is common that our faith diminishes as we wait for long awaited blessing. (Proverbs 13:12) We need to make an attempt to hold our faith in shape

8 through the process till the point when we receive the promised blessing. If we feel that our faith might fall apart then we need to pray this prayer, Help me overcome my unbelief! God is sure to fill us with faith to look beyond the current situation. Faith gives u the assurance of things that we hope for and the conviction of unseen things. (Hebrews 11:1) So, remember to pray this single line prayer to save your faith and look towards the promised blessing. Pray this small prayer and hold on to your faith to receive the assured blessings.

9 Praying for spiritual well being Praying for the spiritual life is the best thing one could do. An example of such a prayer is dealt with in this blog. One could use this as a prayer for their own spiritual life or for a dear one. In the second epistle to Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 11 and 12 is a prayer for spiritual well being. Paul, Silas and Timothy pray this prayer for the believers in Thessalonica. First, pray for connection with the supernatural power of God. God is the ring master of their life and can control everything with His word. God is supreme over their life. God is sure enough to listen to this and touch their life. God s powerful light will shine upon those who are groping in the dark. When you pray, God will surely come upon their life with His might and power. The supernatural power of God can bash open iron doors, stone hearts, and fortified minds. To be more specific, all of these are possible only by the power of God. If not for the power of God, this person might drown in the sea on sin and lose his/her life. Second, pray for the grace of God. Let the grace of God abound in their life. The grace of God destroys the judgment against him/her and rewrites his life with the love of God. Grace is the power cable that connects them to the supernatural power of God. When we pray for grace, God is sure enough to drench them with His amazing grace. God will be gracious to their past life and strike out every sin. God is ready to wash them in the blood of Christ and sanctify them.

10 Third, pray for faith. Faith is the assurance that the grace of God and the power of God are able enough to save the life of this lost sinner. Faith in God is the open acceptance of God s grace to unpack the power of God in their life. Faith makes it possible for the believer to connect to the restored life that God has in store for this believer. Fourth, pray for the calling that God has predestined. God the Father has an eternal purpose for every human being on this earth. Every situation and occasion in our life is preplanned and instituted by God. Let us acknowledge the calling of God in their life. Fifth, pray for God s work to make them worthy of the calling in his/her life. Pray that the fellow believer be made suitable to fit exactly into the mould that God has for him/her. Sixth, pray for the life with fulfillment of every good action through the faith in Jesus Christ. Seventh, pray for accomplishment for God s calling. Let the fellow believer with God walk into the calling and live accordingly in his/her life. When you pray this prayer for yourself or a dear one, God is faithful enough to grant all that is prayer for. Grace of God opens the gate to enjoy the power of God and faith enacts the absolute control of God in the sanctification. God fits the person for the calling and allows him/her to accomplish the calling. Through this entire process, God is glorified through the person who accomplishes his/her predestined calling. When God is glorified the person involved also gets the glory. A life that glorifies God and glorified in God is the sign of spiritual well being. A spiritually sound life glorifies God and is glorified in Him.

11 Prayer heals the future Usually the birth of a child is considered to be a happy occasion. Naming of that child is even more joyous. When Jabez was born, his mother experienced a painful childbirth. So she named him Jabez meaning pain or sorrow. Jabez had a name which signified the bad omen around his birth. Jabez had a past. Yet his present was contrary to it. Jabez belongs to the pedigree of the tribe of Judah. Jabez sort after the perfect healer of his past. Yes, Jabez resorted to The Lord God of Israel. He cried to God that He would bless him. His only supplication to God, was to enlarge his territory. He pleaded that the hand of God be on him. He prayed to be far away from harm and free from pain. God granted his request. Our God is the Alpha and Omega. He transformed the past of Jabez and blessed his present. God directed him with His powerful hand to rise above his painful and depressing past. Jabez was raised above his family heritage of pain since he made a wise decision.

12 A unique prayer We ask for many things. At times during prayer our petitions outweighs our praises. We ask for luxury, comfort, money, riches for our kith and kin. In the book of Proverbs, I found a different prayer. Proverbs 30:8 says, give me neither poverty nor riches. I agree if people pray that Lord keep poverty away from me, but why prosperity too? The reason behind it is so practical. The author explains that both poverty and prosperity would breech him from God. If in poverty, one might despise or blasphemy against God due to his burden. Our inabilities could cripple us from walking in Godly ways. This is absolutely true and practically possible. Because it is difficult to hold on to God during a scarcity. On the contrary, luxury can carry you away from God. Amist prosperity one could forget to revere God. (Proverbs 30:9) Hence, the author prays this one line prayer. It sounded complete, moreover like an one stop shop flash prayer. Probably we can memorize this and use it several times during our day. This prayer is found in Proverbs 30:8, feed me with food convenient for me. This same verse in the Bible of my mother tongue is framed to give the following meaning, Lord grant me just what is enough for me. I have started to practise this prayer, hope the same with you.

13 Prayer of thanksgiving Hannah was the beloved wife of Elkannah. Yet God had closed her womb. Her family had gone to Shiloh to offer yearly sacrifices. She took time to pour her heart to God about the grief she was undergoing.(1 Samuel 1:10-11) Most preachings on Hannah s prayer would encircle around this prayer. There is another prayer which Hannah prayed after she fulfilled her promise with God. (1 Samuel 2:1-10). This prayer of thanksgiving is so different and caught my attention. This is when she leaves Samuel with Eli in the temple. This is no lesser than today s good byes on account of studies, work and commitment and so on. Each one of us would have experienced such a situation in life. Have you ever seen a parent especially the mother pronounce a goodbye without tears. I haven t! Most cases it is a blue occasion. Hannah s prayer dint reveal her sorrow at all. Hannah rejoices and boosts in the Lord for He has delivered her from her enemies. She glorifies God her rock for His holiness. She thanks God for the answered supplications. Her prayer depicts how God transforms the situation of people who pray. She also acknowledges the fate of those who oppose God. More or less this was a prayer of praising, thanking, adoring and acknowledging God s ways in her life. Prayer provides perception to acknowledge His ways

Lord Teach Us To Pray

Lord, Teach Us To Pray (Lesson 12) 1 Lord Teach Us To Pray "Praying for the Right Things" Lesson 12 INTRODUCTION: I. When you pray, what do you typically pray for? A. If we were to take a survey among