The Power of Prayer

In scripture all the great men and women of God displayed an affinity for prayer. They prayed not as a last resort, but as the first act of righteousness. They prayed to find guidance, they prayed for healing (and, believing, they often received it miraculously), and they prayed to bare their souls to God. These righteous men and women brought their anguish and sorrow and fears and repentance and fury to God in prayer.

Why did they do this? Why did they pray?
Today’s pastors would have you believe that the purpose of prayer is to change us into better versions of ourselves. But this is merely new thought ideology speaking.

In the bible prayer was used to change the world and to deepen our relationship with God. Prayer and supplication from His servant is pleasing to God. A man declaring himself powerful is repugnant to God: ‘God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble’ (1 Peter 5:5). Prayer is always an act of humility, the evidence of a humble heart. For it is only when a man humbles himself that he prays. This is why prayer has gone out of vogue, as a humble spirit is today considered a backwards thing.
When Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, did he declare ‘I am awesome, I am wonderful, I have power over these lions?’ No, he would’ve gotten eaten if he had said those things. Lions don’t cower before man—but they do answer to God. Though the book of Daniel doesn’t say Daniel prayed in the den, it does say that God sent His angel to protect Daniel, and elsewhere in the book we see Daniel praying, even though it was declared illegal.

What did Jonah do in the whale? Well, he probably panicked, but Jonah 2:1 tells us that he prayed. What of David? We still have record of dozens of his prayers, where he pours out his anguish, fear, and fury to God.

In the greatest example in scripture we see our own Savior praying. Jesus prayed often, alone and among people, He prayed earnestly, fervently, and always with belief that His Father would answer. He taught us to pray. He showed us how to pray.

Today it has gone out of vogue. This is a tragedy. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Turn to God. Not just when times are hard, but always and with belief. Apart from God we can do nothing. The world is trying to convince us of the exact opposite. But we need God, everyday. Pray like your life and very soul depend on it—because they do. Prayer is vital to a believer’s life. Do you spend more time complaining than you do praying?

Go into your room, shut the door, switch off your devices, and pray. And then, be silent before God, and wait on Him.

The Christian Wears Christ

In a world of distractions it is easy for a Christian to forget to ‘put on Christ’ as Romans 13:14 says. To put on Christ means to live, breathe, and act as ambassadors of our Lord and Savior in this world. As we go about our business, we are called to remember that we are here to forge a righteous path, an honest, blameless method of living, so that everyone we interact with might see and learn and know Christ, or at least what it means for a soul to try and serve Him. To put on Christ is to make no provision for the flesh. The focus of our lives should not, therefore, be the accumulation of earthly treasures, the indulgence of fleshly desires (money, sex, popularity), but the service of our God: ‘to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself untainted from the world’ (James 1:27).
We are called to put our service to Him above all else. As the apostle Paul put it in Phil 1:21, ‘For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’ Reflect for a moment on that statement. What love for our Savior, must Paul have had to devote himself—heart and soul—to the service of Christ? He knew what mattered in this world. He understood his calling. He understood that the purpose-driven life is not compelled to gather riches or to attend the most church seminars, or to feel great about your awesome self, but to humbly serve the One who saved us from ourselves. And he lived out this sort of life by ‘putting on Christ’.
We are so busy these days that we often forget what it is we should be doing, that the purpose of a Christian is to share the love of Christ, to promote the gospel of peace, to realize—and act on this realization—that the people we encounter each day are in desperate need of the Savior we are privileged to know, and called to share. So as you go about your business today, don’t forget to put on Christ.
God bless!