How To Pray 1

There are no laws on how to pray but the Bible encourages us to pray without ceasing (Thessalonians 5:16-18).
The followings are steps that will guide you on how to pray;

1. Invite the Holy Spirit: 
1 Corinthians 12:3 tells us no one can say Jesus is Lord except the Holy Spirit is in Him. The Holy Spirit helps us to pray according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27 explains: "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through".

The invitation of the Holy Spirit is surrendering, to acknowledge He is in you and should take control. There is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and then there is the manifested presence of the Holy Spirit. When we come together for worship we are seeking to glorify the Lord and to experience His presence moving amongst us and in us. 

2. Acknowledge God is King:
One night I woke up from my sofa to pray but I was so sleepy, I stood up but instead of going on my knees in front of the Altar in my room to pray, I decided to lay on the bed close to the Altar to pray but the Spirit of the Lord urged me to lift up my pillow before laying down, I could not understand His reasons but I lifted the pillow and I saw a scorpion on my bed, before I could recover from the shock it stingy me.

I worshiped the Lord that night though in pains. The Spirit of the Lord led me to an anointing oil in the room which I applied on the sore finger, after prayer, I went back to sleep and the next morning, I was completely healed. Glory to God! But I asked the Holy Spirit; why was I bitten by a scorpion and where did it come from.


He said to me; If you will honour  the president of your country why can't you honour God. If you will kneel before your President or leader why would you lay down to serve the Creator of the Universe.


Those who serve the Lord must serve Him in truth and in Spirit. Not subdued by the flesh but in Spirit. "For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding"-Psalm 47:7. We must acknowledge the sovereignty and kingship of God in prayer.


Furthermore, it is in this knowledge we are awaken, to come into His presence with thanksgiving and songs of exhortation. Praising the King for all He has done and for who He is. Jesus is Lord.

"Know ye that the Lord he is God..." (Ps. 100:3). The psalmists not only praise God as the glorious King, but they praise Him for the manifestation of His great power. God is indeed the Ruler. His wondrous power is displayed everywhere. Songs of Praise and words of exhortation express gratitude to God for His greatness.


Renowned Pastor, Bishop Dale C. Bronner said; seeds of discouragement cannot grow in a thankful heart!

A thankful heart builds your faith for God and propels you to go into His presence with boldness, knowing He will answer you.

3. Brokenness/ Mercy:
A plea to God for mercy is asking Him to withhold the judgment we deserve and instead grant to us the forgiveness we in no way have earned.

Peter was confident he will never betray Jesus when the Lord told him, he will deny the Lord three times(Luke 22:54-62). We must understand that God knows us more than we know ourselves because He formed us in our mother womb by Himself. There are things we do not know about ourselves that only Him knows. Therefore when we come to the throne of grace we must come into His presence with the knowledge that He knows all, our unspoken words, thoughts and spoken words. 

Who can be right with God? Lets examine Luke 18:10-14 - Jesus said;
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

In this parable Jesus implies; No one can achieve a relationship with God through their morality and their spirituality and their religiosity.

4. Relationship
Christianity is not about religious rites and standards, its a relationship with God. No one can satisfy the human heart expect the one who made it. God created man for fellowship.

Colossians 1:16 -“All things were created by him and for him.”God created us for one reason: to know Him and love Him and have fellowship with Him.The Bible states in the book of Genesis that God often visited Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden(Gen. 3:8). This fellowship was broken when Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan.

But God created Man with a free will—that is, with the ability to either love Him or reject Him. He did not want human robots unable to choose to love God. Therefore it is necessary to state that in prayer, we come to Jesus to know Jesus not just to acquire stuffs.

To be continue in Part 2.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog