Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Effective prayer”
Our Bible verse for today: “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:18 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “God chooses to work through the prayers of His people.”
Have you ever wondered why we bother to pray at all? Why is prayer even necessary? Well first and foremost, prayer is intended to be an ongoing conversation between a Father and a child. Therefore prayer is a necessary and important part of establishing and maintaining a healthy relationship with God.
But another reason we are to pray is because God chooses to work in this world through the prayers of His people. Ephesians 6:18 is just one of numerous verses in the Bible where we are exhorted to pray about all things, and then to keep on praying. One of the most common and oft repeated themes in the Bible is of God’s people praying, and of God hearing, and then God acting based upon the prayers of His people. It really is true that when God’s people pray, things happen.
But why would God choose to work that way? Obviously, since He is all-powerful, He could easily do it without us.
One of the great joys of my life has been to be a father to my four children. They’re all adults now and therefore have lives of their own, but when they were small we were together constantly and we did things together all the time. And I loved it. I loved having them there with me, doing things together. I always tried to involve my children in as many of my activities as I could, especially yard work and simple construction and repair projects, etc. Although I could have done all of those things myself – faster and better, I derived deep joy from having my children do them with me. Those were activities that kept us involved in each others lives and our relationship was strengthened by doing them together.
So there you have another one of the answers to why we pray. Through our prayers God involves us in His activities, and it brings Him great joy to do so. In prayer not only are we talking through the issue with Him (just like I did with my children when they helped me), but then we are also handling the situation with our Father. Not only does that please Him and bring Him joy, but it’s also instructive for us and helps us to grow-up as Christians. Through our participation with Him in prayer we gain experience, spiritual wisdom and insight, and our faith grows stronger.
The more time you spend working through a tough issue together with God in prayer, the deeper and more developed your relationship with Him becomes. Those times of leading you through the complexities of dealing with the issue is satisfying and pleasing to Him, and of great benefit to your spiritual growth. For that reason, God chooses to work through the prayers of His people.
So, your Father in Heaven is waiting for you to come to Him in prayer. He wants you to talk through your issues with Him. Spend as much time as it takes, and enjoy your time with Him as together you figure things out and get them done.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 