"Prayer As Communion"

Luke 10. 38-42…Spending time in prayer is BETTER than busy-ness.

God loves to have us approach Him as His children, expecting Him to hear and to answer, and He loves to have us call Him our Father. It makes the relationship more real in our minds. He gives us the privilege of calling the infinite God our Father. This name, spoken to Him and of Him, is a sign of our love and trust toward Him, and a pledge of His regard and relationship to us. Spoken when asking His favor or blessing, it is as music to His ears.

Luke 11. 5-13…in this parable of the selfish neighbor Christ presents powerful prayer principles:

    1. The importance of the true spirit of prayer.

    2. The need for perseverance.

    3. We are to ask from Him that we may give to others.

    4. This changes our hearts and brings us into harmony with God. God is the greatest Giver, and He wants us to learn from Him HOW we too can give in love to others.

    5. In addition, "when we make requests of Him, He may see that it is necessary for us to search our hearts and repent of sin. Therefore He takes us through test and trial, He brings us through humiliation, that we may see what hinders the working of His Holy Spirit through us." (Christ Object Lessons, p. 143).

    6. We need to have far less confidence in what man can do and far more confidence in what God can do for every believing soul. He longs to have you reach after Him by faith. He longs to have you expect great things from Him.

The primary purpose for this powerful gift is to develop a relationship of sweet communion with God. But there are things that hinder this communication process. These "prayer hindrances" help us fine tune our hearts for sweeter communion. Don’t be discouraged when your prayers aren’t very "effective" because this may be God telling you to grow.

Hindrances… (taken from an article by Mel Winger in Pray Magazine, Feb ’99)

A. 1 Peter 3.7 … speaks of "Prayer Hindrances" But what are they?

Why does God allow hindrances?

1. To preserve the purpose: the purpose for prayer is relationship. Relationship with God and our fellow man. Jesus separated the 10 Commandments into these two categories. When our prayers aren’t answered God gets our attention. Then He can speak words of correction so our relationships will be healthy, happy, and holy.

    1. To protect this gift of prayer. Prayer is the most powerful force ever entrusted to humanity, and we have a tendency to abuse power. Notice James 4.3. So these hindrances keep us within healthy boundaries and protect us from using prayer wrongly.

    2. Here is a list of actions and attitudes that diminish our prayer authority…

    1. Rejecting truth (Prov 28.0)

    2. Pride (2 Chron 7.14)

    3. Hard-heartedness (Zech 7.12-13)

    4. Lack of compassion ((Prov 21.14)

    5. Unconfessed sin (Ps. 66.18)

    6. Wrong motives (James 4.3)

    7. Unbelief (Matt 17.20-21)

    8. Not seriously asking (James 4.2)

    9. Broken relationships (1Pet 3.7)

    10. Sinful lifestyle (Isiah 59.2)

    11. Vain repetitions (Matt 6.7)

    12. Lack of forgiveness (Matt 6.14-15)

    13. Hypocrisy (Luke 18. 9-14)

    14. Double-Mindedness (James 1.5-8)

    15. Idolatry (Ezekiel 14.3)

How do we keep the line of communication open?

Psalm 139. 23-24 … Next time you sense a blockage in your prayer life, pray Psalm 139.23-24. If something is revealed to you from this list, confess it to the Lord. Make amends if possible, and try to correct the response.

God’s simple plan: confess and respond with the opposite attitude. Our ability to enter God’s presence is never dependent upon our perfection. But how we live affects our prayers just as much as how we pray affects how we live.

Our heavenly Father cherishes our prayer relationship. Prayer hindrances were never intended to keep us from Him, they are safeguards designed to enhance our relationship with Him and our fellow man.

Prayer hindrances are mentioned in the Bible so we can know those things that interrupt our relationship with God and that intimacy can be restored.

How do we carry out the resolution to pray more?

  1. Using the Lord’s Prayer as a model. (Matthew 6.9-13)…(Luke 11. 1-4)

  2. Use a journal. Write your prayers out.

  3. Pray as you go about your daily activities.

  4. Begin and end each prayer with praise. Use the Psalms as a guide. Take a different Psalm each day and praise God for what you see in that Psalm.

  5. God changes us as we spend time in His presence.

  6. Romans 8. 26,27…His Holy Spirit transforms us as we pray.

Things to remember about your prayer life:

  1. As we seek for God’s will in our prayers, we will find that through His power we will achieve our purposes, as He responds to our desires in His infinitely better way. He knows how to provide a better answer than we could ever possibly imagine. The Lord never answers our prayers because we force Him to, but He responds only our of His loving and free grace. It is a love that seeks to give more than we could ever possibly think to ask.

  2. No prayer is ever wasted. God takes into account every prayer ever offered and is forever involved with us in charting the course of history – our history. Even the prayers that we might have felt from our limited perspective went unheard had their answer in His own and perfect way.

  3. Every true prayer exposes the kingdom of Satan and helps establish the kingdom of God. Prayer presses back the forces of darkness. It battles back evil and error.

  4. The more we pray, the more our horizons expand and the more we will come to expect from a supernatural, miracle-working God. But to ignore prayer leaves our life and our impact on our world with only a secular or humanistic framework. We deny ourselves access to God’s divine power and guidance in our lives. As God’s last kids, we must tap His infinite power.

Conclusion:

"Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend" suggests that God welcomes any contact we make with Him. How might a conscious decision to view God as your friend encourage you to meet with Him and speak to Him more often?

God accepts prayer from anyone at any place, at any time. Have you stopped praying because you did something wrong? Would God listen to a prayer from you immediately after you have sinned? What kind of prayer might be appropriate at that moment?

Probably the greatest key to a successful prayer life is our understanding of the character of God. Accept the fact that He loves you and wants to enjoy sweet communion with you right now!
   

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