Chapter 54: Prayer - Third Peter

Prayer is an important spiritual discipline that deepens our relationship with God. King David knew a lot about God. He wrote the following.

God has spoken plainly, and I have heard it many times: Power, O God, belongs to you; 12 unfailing love, O Lord, is yours...  Psalm 62:11–12 (NLT) —

Prayer is directly related to our knowing God as David did.

God wants us to know that he is loving and powerful enough to answer our prayers.

Just as a relationship between two people thrives when there is open and honest communication, a good prayer life includes speaking, listening, and honesty.

A good example comes from Acts when Peter received the vision of a sheet being lowered from heaven. (Acts 10:9-16) He saw the vision, heard God speak, and responded honestly. Then God spoke again. Peter did not immediately comprehend what God meant, but it quickly became apparent to him and guided his response to a very important request.

Our prayer life grows as we develop our ability to hear God’s voice clearly and accurately.

It is important for us to believe that God can and will speak to us in a way we can understand. Jesus said that we can hear his voice.

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;  John 10:27 (NASB95) —

Faith is a necessary component of an effective prayer life.

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 (NASB)

Faith makes us bold and persistent. We grow in confidence when we believe that God loves us and is predisposed to grant our requests. When we understand our Lord’s ways, it helps us to persevere until we receive what we requested.

God answers our prayers by granting them immediately, denying them, or delaying his response. Instead of reading his lack of immediate response negatively and giving up, God wants us to exercise our faith by being persistent.

Jesus used a parable of a persistent widow who repeatedly asked a judge to act in her behalf to encourage us to pray without giving up. (Luke 18:1-8) Jesus’ point was not that God responds to nagging. He is not an unrighteous judge. Instead, our Lord wants us to persist in the knowledge that he is loving, faithful, and eager to bless us, even if he delays his answer to our prayers.

There are reasons God may delay. Timing is a crucial element to God’s plan and is the part that we often do not understand.

God wants us to grow in patience as we confidently wait for the answer.

Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.  Hebrews 6:12 (NLT) —

By delaying his answer, our Lord may allow us to participate in spiritual warfare.

When Daniel persistently prayed and fasted for the nation of Israel, eventually an angel appeared and told him the following.

Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. 13 But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.  Daniel 10:12–13 (NLT) —

Admittedly, our prayers rarely, if ever, rise to the level of importance of Daniel’s, nevertheless, we may encounter spiritual resistance that must be overcome by faithful persistence.

Sometimes God accumulates prayers until a “tipping point” is reached, at which time he “pours out” his answer. This principle is revealed in the following verses.

When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.  Revelation 5:8 (NASB95) — 

Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.  Revelation 8:3–5 (NASB95) —

Our prayers accumulate until God’s chosen time to answer them.

If we give up before he provides the answer, it may rob us of participating in something glorious.

Our prayers precede the historical outworking of the answer; therefore, prayer, like prophecy, is always out in front of what we experience as the fulfillment.

Only people of faith can live in the tension created by persisting in prayer without seeing immediate fulfillment.

Prayer is also a clear measure of how dependent we are upon God. We often think that we can handle things on our own without turning to God first. It is sometimes only after failure and frustration that it occurs to us to pray.

Prayer reveals our reliance upon God for direction and assistance. Prayer does not provide us with an excuse not to act – far from it. As we listen in prayer, God will give us a better understanding of what we are to do and wisdom regarding how to best proceed. Prayer sharpens the ax, so to speak.

Using a dull ax requires great strength, so sharpen the blade. That’s the value of wisdom; it helps you succeed.  Ecclesiastes 10:10 (NLT) —

Prayer transitions us from self-reliance to God reliance.

The Lord wants prayer be one of our top priorities and a spiritual discipline that is well-established in our lives. Jesus gave us the example we are to follow, and Paul reinforced that example with his own life and these words.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18 (NIV)

There are various kinds of prayer – praise and thanksgiving, petitions, prophetic proclamations, intercession, and praying “in the Spirit.”

We can use each kind of prayer as appropriate to the situation in which we find ourselves, and always with faith.

Praise

Offering praise and thanksgiving is almost always the right thing to do. Paul wrote:

And you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20 (NLT)

Praise should be made in any and every situation since we believe that God is sovereign and is working all things, even the seemingly bad things, for our good and His glory.

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28 (NASB95) —

Prophetic Proclamations

Praise paves the way for prayers of faith. When we surrender to God afresh by giving Him the praise that is His due, despite what may be happening around us, we open our hearts to hear from Him concerning his perspective and what He wants to do. Once we gain this spiritual insight, we can make petitions based on his will and even declare prophetically what He will do.

Prophetic proclamations are possible when we have faith that God has shown us what He is wants to do.

The word of prophecy can release faith and the power of God into a situation. This all begins with our praise that comes from complete surrender to His will in our lives combined with the faith that he is at work for our good and his glory.

When we ask anything in faith that agrees with God’s will, we can be sure of receiving what we ask for.

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. 1 John 5:14-15 (NASB)

Petitions

Prayer is more than bringing a laundry list of petitions to God. It is coming before our Father and King to be with Him, listen to Him, and ask for what He desires to do as well as for what we need and want. It should be much more than a formalized ritual.

Prayer is based on a relationship with a real Person who governs the universe, loves us beyond comprehension, desires for us to be with him, and is predisposed to bless us.

We have every right, thanks to what Jesus did for us, to come boldly and confidently before the throne of grace with the expectation that our loving Abba Father will generously give us what we need.

Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 (NASB)

God wants us to bring our petitions to him. Even though he knows ahead of time what we need and want, there is something important about our asking him.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:6–7 (NLT) —

The asking reveals a lot about our relationship with him. If we believe he loves us, we should not be hesitant to ask for his help. If we think he is reluctant or too busy for us, it reveals that we do not yet know him as we should.

Intercession

Intercession is a type of prayer in which we petition God for someone else.

We use our privileged access to God’s presence for the benefit of others. Jesus continually intercedes for us; so, it is our privilege to do the same for others.

Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.  Hebrews 7:25 (NLT) —

We may be led to intercede when we begin to understand and perhaps even feel the burdens that others carry. We bring these burdens to God and make an exchange with Him – His peace for our burden.

Only God is strong enough to carry the heavy weight of the burdens of others. Prayer is our way of releasing to God what we cannot carry alone and receiving from Him the grace we need for joyful living.

Praying in the Spirit

Praying in the Spirit is when we allow the Holy Spirit to pray through us with words known only to God. (1 Corinthians 14:2)

When we pray “in tongues,” the Holy Spirit puts words in our mouths that are in perfect alignment with God’s will.

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; ²⁷and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27 (NASB)

Since only God knows exactly what each of us always needs, praying in the Spirit is often the most effective type of prayer we can make. While it may not always be appropriate to pray aloud in tongues, we can never go wrong by praying quietly in the Spirit.

The Prayer of Faith

James wrote that we are to pray in faith just as Elijah did.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.  James 5:16–18 (NASB95) —

God wants us to be unmovable in our faith. The alternative is to be what the Bible calls “double minded.”

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.  James 1:5–8 (NASB95) —

If we lack faith, we can ask the Lord to help us “in our unbelief.”

And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”  Mark 9:23–24 (NASB95) —

The Holy Spirit is the one who develops faith in our lives as a fruit. He wants to make us “full of faith” as a lifestyle. In the final analysis, all faith derives from God and is a gift.

Prayer is a way for us to ask for faith, exercise faith, and demonstrate faith.

The important thing is for us to pray. For many of us, prayer is difficult because we tend to want to “do” something instead of coming aside to talk to and be with God. Or maybe we do not really believe that God wants us to be comfortable in his presence. Perhaps we are still afraid of him for some reason or think he doesn’t have time for us. May God deliver us from every lie that seeks to rob us of knowing God more intimately!