Do you pray often? Do you pray enough? Why do you pray? Do you think of prayer as a time to get something you desire? Do you think of prayer as part of worship? What do your prayers look like? Let me tell you what God has taught me about how prayer brings hope.
I must confess that I struggle with following what the Bible teaches me about prayer in particular the verse that says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ESV) I struggle with it because I am not sure how I can do it. I believe this must be an attitude in which you are constantly connected to God. I believe it must be that because I, do not know how I can do it any other way. I cannot not be verbally praying and doing other things at the same time.
I have also found that my prayers must be more than asking God to give me something in fact I have learned from an acronym how to prayer more effectively. The men’s ministry at Grace Eden Prairie uses WAR Worship, Admit, Request. If you look at the model of prayer that Jesus gave us in the Sermon on the Mount it can be summarized with this acronym.
I have also found that we are commanded to intercede for others in prayer. “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James 5:16 (ESV) In fact in my own life I have found that when I pray for someone else I have more hope for myself. I also know that when I am interceding for someone that Jesus is also interceding for me. Romans 8:34 says, “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (ESV)
There is one last thing that is so important to me about prayer because when I am in a dark place struggling to pray because I do not even have the words to pray is that the Holy Spirit who dwells within me knows exactly what I need knows and He is communicating my needs to God the Father. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Romans 8:26 (ESV)
Do you want to learn more about prayer and how to gain hope with your prayers? A friend of mine named Julie Wright recently finished a series of podcasts on prayer it is worth listening to them.
I pray you will start turning to prayer unceasingly for nothing brings hope like a time in prayer It brings you hope because you are in direct connection with the only true source of hope. Hope because we know we will be blessed by Him always and hope because we know that His victory over the evil in the world will be complete. Understanding Jesus is the only source of true hope. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfied the penalty for my sins and yours as well. It satisfied all my sins from the past, in the present, and in the future. My penalty and yours were satisfied on the cross by the death of Jesus, God’s greatest act of love and wrath, who became sin for me and you. It was also God’s greatest act of faithfulness because “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV) Because wisdom shows us, we need to believe in Jesus. I hope that you join me in helping others to choose Jesus.
If you have not read my previous blogs, you can find them here. You can watch a book trailer about my book. You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here. eBook or Audiobook versions can be found at Westbow Press or Christianbook.com at Amazon or Google.
