9781638713449-eBook by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-07-14T05:42:39+00:00

11

Teach Us How to Pray

A young minister was scheduled to bring the intercessory prayer at the culmination of a two-week camp meeting, where a well-known evangelist was the main speaker of the event. Wanting to impress the evangelist, when it was time to pray, the young pastor gave an impassioned performance that gave worshippers an idea of how Noah must have sounded when God had asked Noah to warn the antediluvian world of His pending judgment. The young pastor’s prayer was sprinkled with flowery catchphrases and memorized Bible texts, and at times, he would move the audience to high ecstasy. In his opening remarks, the evangelist said, “My, my. I just don’t know where Pastor Handy learned to preach a prayer like that.”

Prayer comes in different forms and should suit the occasion for which a prayer is being said. Some people could pray very well because they had spent much time with God and have become quite familiar with Him; they have experienced answered prayers and would follow the examples in the Bible when a prayer was made. Others believe that because they were unable to pray in the manner that another person or some pastor on the radio or TV would pray, they could not pray. Once, an ordinary mother was asked to pray at meeting, and while the mother was praying, a person next to me whispered, “Where did she learn to pray like that?” She was praying with such ease and was expressing herself very coherently. She sounded like a person who had spent much time before with the Lord. I replied to the person who had asked me the question, “She’s bringing up several children by herself.” I was thinking that there were times when God had made a way for her when there seemed to be no way. She would go to God in prayer and had come to know Him, and all that did not happen overnight.

What did Paul mean when he said that we must come boldly before the throne of God? It was most likely that we must come without hesitation and not presumptuously. If we were praying for a congregation, we must pray audibly in order that the congregation could say amen to what we have prayed about. We have to strike a balance—pray loud while maintaining reverence before God and cling to the fruit of the spirit as is found in Galatians 5:22–23.

One reason why it seems difficult to pray is that often, our prayers are self-centered. Jesus commented on two men who went up to the temple to pray: one a lowly publican, the other a lofty Pharisee.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

I fast twice during the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.