PRAYER

PRAYER AT 9.30AM THURSDAY MORNINGS AT THE CHURCH

What is Prayer?
Prayer is simply but divinely, talking to Jesus as you talk to a friend…Jesus is our friend and confidante, who brings us close to the heart of God. “When we pray we can be confident that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us”. (1 John 5:14). Prayer is about discovering that you can build a relationship with Jesus that can grow and develop with your experiences. While you cannot see Jesus, but you can feel His divine presence as you pray!😊

How do we Pray?
Simply start talking and sharing your thoughts and whatever is on your mind to Jesus. It may be a whisper, it may be through tears, or just simply speaking out loud what is on your mind or in your heart, or your innermost thoughts. You can “pour out your heart to God for He is a refuge for us.” Psalm 62:8

You can pray anywhere, anytime! You may like to celebrate the dawn of a new day with time alone with God or close the day in prayer before you go to bed. “When you pray go into your room, and shut the door, and the Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:6 The secret of praying is praying in secret. A sinning man will stop praying, and a praying man will stop sinning! You may start praying at first with just 5-10 minutes to pray to get started and then bingo, you will be wanting to have more time to pray!

Does God Answer Prayer?
Yes! Jeremiah the Prophet cried out to God when he was in the courtyard prison after unfairly treated. Yet God answered his desperate prayer and said to him, “Call unto Me, and I will answer You and show you great and mighty things” Jeremiah 33:3 As a result of his prayers to be rescued Jeremiah life was saved and he survived the ordeal and God gave him promises of restoration for the future for Israel. Ask God to show you the secret things that are on His heart for you.

Does God speak to us? How do we hear God speak?
Yes God will speak to your heart if you tune into His voice and allow the Spirit to speak to your heart. We simply, quietly still ourselves…and listen intentationaly for His voice. The sweet voice of the Saviour. Remember “be still and know that know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10. “Jesus is our Good Shepherd and He promises that His sheep hear His voice and He knows them by name.” John 10:27-28 Let Him hold you in His arms as a Shepherd would hold a lamb and hear His whispers. How precious! However, you will hear what you need to hear, not necessarily always what you want to hear!

Feeling Anxious or Afraid?
The anti-dote for being anxious or afraid is “Don’t worry about anything instead PRAY about everything, tell God your need and don’t forget to thank Him for the answer. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace.” Philippians 4: 6-7. My daughter when she was about 12 years old did a cross-stitch of an angel holding a heavenly sign as though from heaven with these comforting words, “Before you go to bed, give your troubles to God, He will be up all night anyway”

The Most Precious Prayer of All!
This is called the ‘Salvation Prayer’ where you humbly surrender your heart and life to Jesus and believe that He died for you. Ask Jesus into your heart for Him to be your Saviour and to forgive your sins and give you a fresh start and new life in Christ. (John 3:16) How wonderful! John Wesley wrote “God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” Therefore prayer is not an option to choose occasionally, but to pray consistently!

Prayer for the Church

Leonard Ravenhill

Leonard Ravenhill a 20th century British evangelist used the metaphor that “prayer is boiler room of the church.” This emphasizes that prayer is the source of spiritual fervour, passion, warmth and revival, so the church can be “aglow and burning with the Spirit” Romans 12:11. An old style boiler room refers to a basement room with coal fired boilers for heating the building. Ravenhill compares the prayer meeting of the church to a boiler room that heats the entire building. He stated that “if the fires go out, the church will still look smart, clean and impressive, but it will be cold and lifeless, lacking spiritual passion.” The “heat” from the prayers of the saints are needed to bring spiritual warmth, fervour and revival to the church. Don’t allow the fires to go out in the boiler room of your church! Constantly stoke the fire for your church through prayer, so the flickering flames can warm the coldest heart and bring them close to the heart of God. Keep stoking the fire, keep the church warm, keep the flame of your church glowing brightly and the flames burning brightly with the constant fuel of your prayers. Ravenhill said “No man is greater than his prayer life.”

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon a 19th Century English preacher used a similar metaphor saying, that the prayer meeting was the “most important meeting of the week” as “prayer was the engine room and powerhouse of the church.” An old style engine room refers to a basement room of a building with the machinery of engines, generators and air compressors providing the vital power source for factories and houses. Likewise prayer is the essential spiritual engine room that powers the church. When visitors would ask Spurgeon the secret of his successful ministry, he would lead them to the basement of the church and show the prayer room filled with people praying and would say, “This is my engine room.” He believed prayer was the powerhouse of the church, the source of generating spiritual life and energy for the church to function effectively.

Ravenhill’s analogy of the boiler room heating the entire building and Spurgeon’s analogy of the engine room providing the powerful machinery, helps us visualise how both heating and power in the basement of buildings, encourages us to pray passionately, fervently in the prayer rooms of our church for the sake of the Kingdom.

Praying Scripture: Check out Supercharge Tips for Praying Psalm 23 by Mode of Still