Prayer Life
A LIFE OF PRAYER
The Holy Spirit has come to lead us into a life of prayer.
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.(Romans 8:26).
Consider what Paul is saying about the Holy Spirit’s role in our prayer life.
We get so confused about prayer, making it seem so complicated.
Go into any Christian bookstore and you’ll find countless books on the subject, replete with detailed formulas on how to pray.
These many theories can raise all kinds of questions about prayer:
* When does prayer become intercession?
* Is intercession measured by fervency, loudness, or the amount of time I
spend on my knees?
* I’m instructed to pray according to God’s will, but how do I know his
will?
* And how do I go about praying? Do mental prayers count?
* What, exactly, do I pray for?
Such confusion can be so overwhelming that it causes many to avoid praying.
*Never has there been a time when the prayers of God’s people are needed more than now.
*We live in a world gone mad. As global events worsen, conspiring to
rob people of peace, societies everywhere are looking for a source of comfort.
*But they’re not finding it in psychotherapy, in dead religion, in causes, or even in charity.
The Bible has told us, “The world does not know Christ and they will not
receive him. BUT you know him” (see John 14:17).
One of our greatest concerns should be that we maintain a prayer life. When we
neglect prayer, we grieve the Spirit of God.
Yes, it is possible for us to grieve the Holy Spirit. Paul writes as much when he says, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God” (Ephesians 4:30).
Indeed, the Spirit shares God’s grief over his people’s unbelief and
prayerlessness. Consider just these few powerful ways the Holy Spirit plays a
role in our prayers:
* Through prayer the Holy Ghost manifests the presence of Christ in us.
* Through prayer the Spirit seals God’s promises in our hearts.
* Through prayer the Comforter speaks hope to us.
* Through prayer the Spirit releases his rivers of comfort, peace and rest in
our souls.
The tremendous spiritual letdown that follows a mountaintop experience of
blessing or victory is common to every follower of Jesus. We call these
experiences “dry spells” but they seem like a deep plunge into spiritual
darkness, an immersion into great testing after we have known a special touch of God.
We can find these dry spells plaguing the lives of godly men and women
throughout the Bible. This low period in the spirit comes mostly to those whom
God intends to use!
Indeed, it is common to everyone he trains to go deeper and further in his ways.
As you look back on your own dry experience, ask yourself if such a period
followed a renewal of the Spirit in your life??
Maybe you had experienced a
fresh awakening, an earnest prayer, asking the Lord, “Touch me, Jesus. I feel
lukewarm. I know my service to you isn’t moving forward as it should. I’m
hungry to have more of you than I have ever known. And I want zeal to do your
work—to pray for the sick, save the lost, bring hope to the hopeless. Renew
me, Lord. I want to be used for your kingdom in greater measure.”
Because you got serious with God, your prayers began to get answers and you
started to hear God’s voice clearly. Intimacy with him was wonderful, your
zeal was increasing, and you sensed his movement in your life so strongly.
Then one day, you woke up and the heavens seemed as brass. You were cast down and didn’t know why. Prayer seemed like agony, and you didn’t hear God’s voice as you once did. Your feelings began to seem dead, your spirit dry and empty. You had to live only by faith.
If this has happened to you, do not panic! And don’t beat yourself
up. I know this kind of plunge personally, from the mountaintop to the lowest pit, seemingly in an instant. Peter speaks of it specifically, advising us not to think some strange thing is happening to us:
“Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice, in as much as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings” (1 Peter 4:12-13).
*The Lord allows our dry spells because HE is after something in our lives.
* So rejoice and praise him, even though you may not feel like it!
2 Corinthians 12: 9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
*GOOD NEWS! In what areas we are weak, God will make us strong in those areas of our life and faith.
* “I worked harder than any, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians. 15:10)
Lord, I thank you for being my comforter, always being their when my heart is heavy. Times like this I have to think on You and begin to praise and worship You and You bring Comfort to my soul. I thank You Lord for giving me Strength to make it through this day. I thank you Lord for giving me Peace your peace Lord that no matter what happens today you will keep me in perfect peace. I thank you Lord and I look to you, I will keep my Eyes on you, I will keep my Hope in you and I Trust you Lord in ALL things in my life. In Jesus name I pray. Amen