The importance of prayer
Sun, 2nd Feb 2014
Gary Iddon
Psalm 55
Summary:
David had his troubles but he realised that he had a privilege in his life. He could cast his burdens on the Lord. It is our privilege too, we can come before God and pray. God wants us to pray and talk to him. He already knows what we think but he wants us to call to him. Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. David prayed morning, noon and night. His early psalms are about his troubles and the later psalms are about praising God.
We neglect prayer at our peril. Worship the God who does listen, who is not made from stone.
If we are honest we realise that we are unclean. It is only through the blood of Jesus that we can talk to God. We can communicate because of Jesus' sacrifice. God can do even more than we think he can do. Sometimes we are so busy we can neglect prayer and miss out on the blessings that talking to God gives us. God is always willing to listen, he is approachable. We are told to approach him boldly. He is waiting for us to come before him. God listens to our complaints. Lets make it a habit for this year to call on the Lord.
Our motive should be that the answers to our prayer should glorify God first.
Prayer is available to all believers. It is just talking to God as you would talk to other people. Worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.
Sometimes prayer comes from the most unexpected places. Pray for other people. We can be encouraged when others pray for us. We all need prayers and we all need each other.
Hannah in the bible prayed for a child because she was childless. You don't have to be a pastor to get Gods attention. The dying thief on the cross prayed "Lord remember me"
Prayer inspiration:- Start at home, pray for our family members
Pray for our church and churches
Pray for our neighbours
There are hundreds of things we can pray for.
We need to exercise prayer, god goes before us when we pray. Sometimes we have not because we ask not. God does answer. Don't put off prayer, we shouldn't go silent on God, we shouldn't be silent in prayer. We need faith to believe that our prayers will be answered. We cant please God without faith.
Elijah was a man of God but he had faults and failings. God did mighty things through Elijah. Abraham prayed for his nephew Lot. He saw he was in trouble and asked God to spare him. Abraham never gave up on Lot. We need to love one another!
All things are possible to he who believes. People might reject our words but they cant reject our prayers when we pray to God to reveal himself to them.
What’s on this week
Sun, 21st Oct 2018
