The Principles of Prayer

Today happens to be like most except it's not. It's unique in it's own right. A day that God put thought and effort in throughout every minute. Today I found myself receiving lots of great advice by my friends in Christ. Sometimes, I find myself wondering if my prayers ever get answered and I can rest assured that they are, I just might not like the answers I get.

I am the person who for the longest time was your typical pessimist. I always planned for the worst case scenario. Forget the game, I was the maker of those ideas. I never wanted to be caught off guard without knowing what to do. I hate panic and anxiety. Don’t we always want to have a back up plan, or a back up plan for our back up plan. Sometimes God allows us to have no options and no back up plan. There is no safety nets and if God doesn’t get you through it, 'party’s over'. God likes to do that from time to time. Where only God can turn it around.

Read Acts 12: 1-5. It is when James has just be killed and since Herod is receiving so much great pleasure and praise from the people because of it, he decides to arrest Peter and plans to do the same for him. While Peter is sitting in prison an amazing thing happens. The people begin to pray for him. Despite all the odds against Peter, 4 guards watching over him, a heavily walled prison cell, chains on his hands, and virtually no way of getting out, an angel awakens Peter. He tells Peter to get up and get dressed. It's time to go. The guards are not disturbed, the chains fall off of Peter and the prison doors open on their own. Think God can't do the impossible in our lives?

We are going to pay attention to the last part of verse 5 in Acts 12:, “but the church was earnestly praying to God for him”. Constant prayer was offered even though all other doors were closed except for the door to heaven.

Here are the 4 Principles of Prayer.

1. The prayer that has power is prayer that is offered to God.

Constant prayer was offered to God, back to verse 5, isn’t all prayer offered to God? Not always, did you know that it is entirely possible to pray with no thought of God? You can go through the motions, sometimes in prayer we are thinking more of how we sound or look when we pray to God. This is better than any prayer I ever have prayed, God is never a part of it. Have you ever looked around when people are praying? You don’t have to close your eyes or fold your hands, sometimes we focus too much on the look rather than keeping our will in alignment with God’s! How do you discover God’s will? Read His word. You will know the heart and mind of God! You need to bend yourself God’s way not try to bend God your way.


2. They prayed with passion and perseverance.

Constant prayer or earnest prayer, is the same prayer that Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane when he sweated blood. This wasn’t a casual flippant prayer, like God please like pray for Peter or whatever, like a teenager would. Do we pray this way because it doesn’t concern us especially when praying for others, and then now it’s back to you? If you don’t put any heart in your prayer than you shouldn’t expect God to put much heart into answering your prayer. God promises to answer the prayer of the person that searches for Him with all their heart. Persistent prayer, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. God isn’t getting bugged by your prayer, so we pray once or twice and if we don’t get an answer, we move on. This didn’t happen in Acts 12:1-5. They were praying persistently! They were praying that Peter wouldn’t get killed like James.

We also have to remember that God will answer a prayer in one of three ways. (1) Yes, which we love to hear; (2) No, we don't like it, but at least it is an answer; and (3) Wait, which is the most frustrating for us.

When we don't like how long it takes God to answer a prayer, we feel the need to help Him out. The result is that sometimes we can mess things up. Remember that slow means to grow.

3. They prayed together.

There is power in prayer when people come together united to pray for God's will. Together we are stronger than one person praying alone. As long as our prayers are in accordance with God's will. Sometimes people wonder why they don't get what they want, like the winning lotto numbers, well because what you are asking for isn't God's will for your life.

4. They prayed without doubt.

God can still intervene with a weak prayer. Sometimes there are only things God can do and sometimes our part in it, is to be disciplined and obey.

Man has his will but God will always have His way.

Here are my daily things for today that I am grateful for:

I am grateful for the fact that today we have clouds in the piercing blue sky and the hope that rain might be on the way. I am thankful that my husband, even though he is home upstairs sleeping, due to working graveyards, is home. I think home is way better than a hotel any day. If I can just keep our noise level way down. I am thankful for warm clothes out of a dryer and the fact that we have a working dryer! I am thankful that my brother has worked out the details of Steven's hotel stay for the next two days since snow may keep him from coming home tomorrow.

Most of all I am thankful that God continues not to give up on me, a work in progress!