Faith in your Prayers

Sometimes we may wonder if our prayers are ever heard by God, if we do not receive an answer by the next day then we begin to doubt, after all God is all powerful, why do I have to wait? But there are those who believe that praying is just a waste of time and there are those who have placed their trust in their prayer life. So, what is praying and why?

To a believer in Jesus, then their prayer life is very important because it is the exercise of one’s faith, trust, belief and worship to our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a way that we communicate to the one we serve and the one who has redeemed us by his blood. When we are praying then we are worshipping God in the spirit and the truth because God is a Spirit and God is the truth.

When a person who is full of the Holy Ghost then the Spirit of God that dwells inside of our body prays for things that we are unaware of but it’s our soul and God’s Spirit that joins together when we are praying. A strong prayer life makes a strong person in Christ and it increases and builds a stronger faith and desire to stay true to our Lord. A strong prayer life removes the fears that are in this world and it gives meaning to the “whole armour of God” that the Apostle Paul talked about. The more that we pray then the closer we get to Jesus and the closer we get to Jesus then the stronger we get because it is the inward man that must become strong. One’s prayer life is liken unto food and water that feeds the inward man and that gives the cool drink of water to the soul.

So, what takes place when one is praying? The first thing to remember is that we are in this physical world and when a person knells at his bed and begins to pray, they first see all of the physical furniture in the room, they are surrounded by the walls of their bedroom and sometimes a person might think that their words are falling on deaf ears but there is more to this scene. The physical is like a curtain because in that room is the physical curtain of time which is everything that you can see. We pray in the physical world, but the words of our prayer become spiritual and the spiritual words penetrate that curtain of time and enter the Spiritual realm of God. Consider this, by faith you knell down at your bed and on the other side of your bed, the Lord Jesus Christ is standing and listening to your prayers. You are knelling at your bed in the physical world, and the bed is the curtain of time and on the other side of the bed is the spiritual world and there stands Jesus.

Our prayers and worship are always heard, and Jesus takes notes on our needs and he is always faithful, and it is a true saying that Jesus will never leave us, but he is always beside us and walks with us, even when we are unaware of his present, but he is there.

Sometimes we get upset when our prayers are not answered within the time that we think that they should be answered. But everything has a reason and everything that we do is because of a reason. If a prayer goes by unanswered then there is a reason why. A woman was praying for her son and she was faithful in her prayer life and years went by and she was still praying and then things began to take place in the life of her son. The pleasure of sin that he enjoyed began to turn against him. The friends that he hanged out with began to forsake him and the hardship of life turned against him, then one day he went to church with his mother and gave his life to Jesus. But why did it take so long and what was the reason behind answering her prayer. The woman prayed and by faith she placed her trust in Jesus, but her prayers was a battle cry against the spirit of darkness that held her son in the prison of bondage of sin. An unseen spiritual battle had its beginning for the soul of her son and this battle was between the demons of hell and the angels of God.

In this battle the most important issue was the “free-will” of each soul in choosing who they will serve and that choice to her son was based upon the life style that he chose to live. Satan and his demons will give the illusion of happiness to the bondage of sin but when the pleasure of sin turn against him and then his friends turned against him then that illusion disappears. When hardship fell upon him then he considered all the wasted years that he had gave to the bondage of Satan. The most important event that took place was his “freewill” in turning to Jesus. The mother prayed with faith and never gave up and God sent his angels to fight the battle for the soul of her son. There is always a reason, just as in Exodus 14, where God could have destroyed the army of Egypt with fire from heaven. What was the reason, God wanted the people of Egypt to know that the God of Israel was the only God and God wanted to teach the Nation of Israel to place their trust and faith in Him? Behind every prayer and the answer to that prayer there is always a reason why.

When we pray we need to understand what we are praying for. There was a story of a young pastor of a church and he was have a great deal of problems and so he went to the Lord in prayer. In Heaven his prayers were received, and the angel said to Jesus, Peter is praying for help with his problems and the Lord said, go down and help him. About a month later the angel came to Jesus and said, Peter is praying and asking for help with his problems and the Lord said, go down and help him. About a month later the angel said, Peter is praying again for help. Jesus asked what he is praying for and the angel said, he’s praying for victory. The Lord told the angel to go down and tell Peter that he should have prayed for victory the first time, now go and give him victory over all his problems. It is important to understand what we are praying for and our prayers should always be for victory. Victory over sickness, victory in healing, victory for the lost souls, victory for the House of God, victory over the hardship in life, victory over Satan and his demons. Always pray for victory and nothing short of total victory.

What about a group prayer gathering and is there more power when several people are praying for the same results. In Acts 12, there was a group of Saints praying for Peter who was in prison, how long or how many days were they praying, the scripture does not say, only that they were praying for Peter and God sent an angel and delivered Peter from prison. A group of Saints praying is indeed powerful. Consider this, if you take one small stick you can break it easily but if you add more small sticks to that one stick then the bundle of sticks becomes strong and unbreakable. Consider those who have the baptism of the Holy Ghost and one enters the Church House, now if that person has the Spirit of God dwelling inside of their body then when they enter the building they are bringing the Spirit of God into the Church House. As more Spirit filled Saints enters the Church, then stronger is the Spirit within their midst. There was a Church that I attended, and they had a prayer group gathering and they prayed for one another and for other people. Now when you look at them all that you can see is a group of people praying but what really is taking place. We can look at things with eyes of flesh and only see the physical but if we use eyes that are spiritual then we can see beyond the physical. Their prayers are like a fire and their praying and worshiping God was like placing wood upon the fire and the flames became bigger. Then I realized that those flames were the Spirit of the Prayers of the Saints and they were directed towards each soul that needed help or a soul that was lost. The glow of each flame was the beginning of the battle for victory. The prayers of the Saints are real and powerful. If we believe the scripture where it said, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” then we must realize that the prayers of the Saints are indeed powerful.

I find it interesting to read Mark 5, in this chapter I can find no one asking Jesus to go to the other side of the sea and cast out these demons. So, what was taking place here and what had happened for Jesus to go to the other side. I can only think of one thing and that is, “the cry of someone praying”. Was it the prayers from a mother for her son or was it the prayers of a father for his son or was it a just a friend who was praying for him. Was this demon possessed person able to utter a prayer for deliverance? One thing is for sure and that is the cry for this soul was carried on the wings of the Spirit to the ears of Jesus and He went to the other side and a soul was set free. The cry of prayers is real, and have you ever felt the need to pray but you have no idea of who or what you are praying for.

Maybe a lost soul is calling out to God and the battle for that soul began and your prayers are needed even if you have no idea of who or what you are praying for. One person put it this way, I was busy in trying to deliver souls from the prison of Satan and there before me were these lost souls all held in their chains of bondage and as I was breaking their chains then I look around and I saw the demons who had surrounded me. How could I fight against them and Satan but I could not forsake these souls and I called upon God for help and then above me in the sky I could see flames of fire bursting in the air as bombs and the demons began to flee and I called out to God and said what are these flames of fire that burst in the air and the answer came, “these are the prayers of the Saints”. When you pray and know not what for, then you could be praying for a soul to be set free from the bondage of sin.

Sometimes we are always praying for things that we need or problems that we are going through but there is a different in the type of prayers that we pray. Have you notice the difference when you pray and just let all your words to be words of worship, honoring and glorifying the Lamb of God and thanking Jesus for all that he has done for you? A prayer of worship is a prayer that uplifts the soul before God. Is it not written in Revelation 5:8, “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints” and in Revelation 8:3-4, “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand”. All our prayers are precious before God.

Written by:

Johnny Clay