Can we be honest? Truth is, many of us, myself included, have a bad habit of
waiting until we “need God” to
pray. As long as everything is going well, there’s no doctors reports to make
us cry out, no bills that are making us nervous about what we’re going to do
next etc…we’re good. We can
talk to God but not so often and even then quite briefly. Which is why I’m
fully persuaded God allows a lot of the stuff we endure to come our way,
because it sends us running right back to the prayer phone to dial up heaven
again! At least in trouble He gets to hear our voice! But should this really be the only time He hears from us? When we're in
trouble? And He's the last lifeline left?
Well, at the end of a passage on spiritual warfare
and defeating our enemy, the Bible says in Ephesians 6:18 "…pray
in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests."
(NIV). It's prayer all day,
every day, at any time of the day! Reminds me a lot of the admonishment of 1 Thessalonians 5:17 "Pray without ceasing." In a
nutshell: It's staying in contact with the Lord at; "All occasions, with all kinds of prayers, and all kinds of
requests."
Notice, we’re charged and
challenged to pray all the time, for everyone, because prayer is essential!
We’re to always pray, never stop praying and pray all the time! That sounds a
lot like prayer being more than just “I’m in trouble Lord, HELP!” Or praying
because we have a few moments to spare. The sad thing
however, about us as believers is that we tend to have a prayer compartment in our life. We
pray in the morning, or maybe in the evening, or over meals. We have prayer
meetings. But I think God wants us to take prayer out of that compartment and
learn prayer as a lifestyle, not
just as an occasional appointment.
The Spirit may be trying to prompt you in that way
many times. It's not a little child. It's the Holy Spirit that's saying, "Let's pray. Let's pray." He's
trying to initiate it. Pray in the Spirit. But we're so busy! We're running on
our list, our schedule, our program and our agenda. We can't hear His
promptings. However, we need to be real careful about being so busy that we
ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit to pray and even to intercede for
others!
Think about this: Can you imagine how differently
Peter’s story may have turned out, if people ignored the prompting to pray? Listen: James had just been executed and Herod was planning to kill Peter in the morning. Now, you’d
think Peter would have been up
all night praying, but he wasn’t.
The Bible says he was SLEEPING! (Acts
12:6, “Then the time came for Herod to bring him out for the kill. That night,
even though shackled to two soldiers, one on either side, PETER SLEPT LIKE A
BABY” MSG). So where did Peter get such faith? The Bible says: “Peter therefore was kept in prison: BUT
PRAYER WAS MADE WITHOUT CEASING OF THE CHURCH UNTO GOD FOR HIM” (Acts 12:5).
But you have to see how these
intercessors REALLY PRAYED for Peter: The
Amplified Bible says, “…FERVENT
PRAYER for him was PERSISTENTLY made…”; The Message Bible says, “All the time …Peter was under heavy
guard…the church prayed for him MOST STRENUOUSLY “While Peter was being kept in jail, the church NEVER STOPPED PRAYING
to God for him.”
We must MAKE time to pray
to God on our own behalf, but never forget your brothers and sisters, and even
those who are unsaved! They all need your prayers of intercession at all times!
Your Unceasing Prayers Are Vital to You and Others! So Never Stop Praying! Who
knows who will be saved, delivered, healed, and made whole, just because of
your prayers? Who knows who may be encouraged, inspired and empowered because
of your prayers? Who knows who may finally get right because of your prayers?
Your Prayers Are Powerful! Make Them Your Lifestyle, Not Just a Lifeline for
When You’re in Trouble!
Blessings
J.P. Olson
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