May I ask you some honest questions? Do you pray regularly? No, I'm not talking about just once a day, I mean, throughout the course of a day? Do you wake up with God; and end your day with God in prayer? Maybe a better question to ask is, "Did you pray today?"
Okay, you've probably figured out what I'm going to talk about today: Prayer. All I ask, is that you read my message with patience, and an open mind. Prayer is quite painless, really. Try and think of prayer as the “direct line” to God. It connects us spiritually with Him!
To start with, here are some interesting statistics about prayer: 20% of Americans, 45 or older, who are somewhat religious, cite prayer as their most satisfying spiritual or religious experience. (Foster Letter, 2/05).
An Ellis Research survey for Facts & Trends finds just 16% of pastors are very satisfied with their personal prayer lives, 47% are somewhat satisfied, 30% somewhat dissatisfied and 7% very dissatisfied. Their median amount of prayer time per day is 30 minutes. During that time, a typical pastor spends 12 minutes with prayer requests, 8 in quiet time, 7 giving thanks, 7 more in praise, and 5 confessing sin. The top 5 things they pray for are individual congregation member’s needs, congregation’s spiritual health, wisdom in leading church, spiritual growth for church, and personal spiritual growth. (Facts & Trends 5/6/05).
U.S. News and the internet site Beliefnet.com funded a poll to learn more about why, how, where and when people pray. Here is a summary of the findings:
· 75% percent were Christian.
· 64% say they pray more than once a day.
· 56% say they most often pray for family members, with 3.3% saying that they pray for strangers.
· A little over 38% say that the most important purpose of prayer is intimacy with God.
· 41% say that their prayers are answered often.
· 1.5% say that their prayers are never answered.
· Over 73% say when their prayers are not answered, the most important reason is because they did not fit God’s plan.
· 5% say that they pray most often in a house of worship.
· 79% say that they pray most often at home.
· 67% say that in the past six months, their prayers have related to continually giving thanks to God. (Pastor's Weekly Briefing, 12/24/04)
Prayer is a major point of emphasis in Scripture. Moses climbed to the top of a mountain to pray to God that his troops would be successful in battle, and as long as his arms were held high in prayer, all went well (Exodus 17:8-13). One of the best passages of scripture to show the power of God when we pray is found in 1 Kings 18:36-38. Prayer has power! Of course, not every prayer is going to be answered by God this way, but the power is there nonetheless.
Certainly, prayer is a "necessity" for anyone who believes in God. Prayer connects us to God.We are commanded to pray unceasingly and our prayers are indeed powerful. Whatever is in your life, whether it might be blessings or trials, give them all to God in prayer. Do this, and you will see God’s handy-work when you pray.
Prayer is expressing one’s self to God, most often conversationally. Jesus spoke constantly with his Father, and he is the single best example of a prayerful person. From his youth it was his custom to go to the synagogue to pray, and he regularly prayed by reading Scripture and singing Psalms. He also accompanied his parents to Jerusalem at Passover each year to pray in the Temple. It's crystal clear that prayer penetrated every part of Jesus’ entire life and ministry.
In fact, Jesus exemplifies prayer. He prayed by a river, in the desert, on a mountain, and in a garden; which means that we can pray outdoors. He prayed in solitude which means that we should pray by ourselves privately. He also prayed every Sabbath in the synagogue or in the temple; which means that we should go to church every week to pray with other people. He prayed with scripture, so we should read the Bible; he sang Psalms, so we can pray by singing hymns or other sacred music; and he prayed in his own words, which means that we ought to spend time chatting with God as if we were talking to our best friend.
Jesus prayed at every crucial point of his life! Which means, we should pray especially hard any time we need to make a major decision or transition. Jesus prayed as a child, so we should begin to pray at an early age, and he prayed from the cross, so we should pray non-stop throughout our entire lives up to our final breath. Praying should not be something we do out of duty and routine. We should look at it this way. Prayer is talking and listening to our loving, all knowing, heavenly Father.
During the course of our busy, daily lives, let's remember how much we need God; and need prayer. Make prayer a daily practice; and our first resort instead of our last.
Scripture: John 15:7; Philippians 4:6; James 5:16; Luke 11:9; Colossians 4:2; 1 Timothy 2:8; Jeremiah 29:12
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for this day. Sometimes I feel as if prayer does no good, and I am talking to no one. Sometimes I feel all alone. Please let me feel your presence and know you are there. Amen
Give praise to Him!
Melissa
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