THE DEPTH OF PRAYER

For all of us who love the Lord, we know there are times when it is not always easy to pray or be confident that God hears us.  But the truth is, that God does many things beyond our knowledge, when we pray. And we know this is true when we look back and consider what God did as a result of our prayers, even if we were clueless to what was happening behind the scenes at the time. The Lord hears our sincere prayers. But He decides how He answers, not us.

• Psalms 6:9 The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.

 

• Proverbs 15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.

 
Prayer replaces the plans of the devil with the plans of God, and changes what happens in the spiritual world. As we read in Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” This spiritual war is continuous and never stops, we must fight the good fight of faith relentlessly, and prayer is one of the most important parts of it. Prayer brings light in the darkness, and God's kingdom into the natural world from the spiritual world.
 
True, sincere prayer changes the spiritual atmosphere, casts out demons and destroys evil. Why? Because when we pray in faith and trust that God hears us and stand on the authority that we have in Jesus Christ, the kingdom of darkness loses its power. We are more than conquerors in Jesus and because of who He is in us and who we are in Him our prayers are effective and efficient. If we only knew how powerful sincere prayers are! It does not matter how thick or heavy the darkness is, if we pray fervently, God’s light will start to dissipate the darkness, and the Holy Spirit will give us the revelation we need.
 
Prayer affects, impacts and changes things even if in the natural everything seems to be the same at the time. The power of prayer is not in how much we pray, or in vain repetitions, but rather in how much our prayers are in accordance with the Holy Spirit and God's principles.  
 
In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, we are urged to “pray without ceasing.” Is it because God does not care about our prayers, after all, He is sovereign, and He only does what He wants, or because He has given us the powerful weapon of prayer so that we can bring His will on earth and live victorious lives in Him? Yes, God is sovereign, but His permissive will can be changed through prayer, and He wants us to call upon Him. He wants us to seek His will and long to live for Him so much, that He gladly gives us the desires of our hearts.
 
We must realize that prayer does not change what God in His sovereignty has determined as His will about certain things, so prayer is meant to achieve what God has already pre-purposed or for-ordained. But for it all to happen, we must pray. If we do not pray, the change that God wants to bring in our lives, our area or even nation, may not happen. Because God has given us free will, He withholds many of His desires and plans due to a lack of prayer, waiting until someone prays.
 
Prayer is not all about us, just asking God for all we need and want! The effective prayers that get the best results are the ones that ask God to fulfill His desires rather than ours! God has not given us the institution of prayer so that we can merely pray for our own purposes, but He has given it to us so that He can accomplish His plans and purposes through our prayers. Through prayer God allows us to receive His wisdom and guidance. This does not mean we should not ask the Lord to supply our needs, but we should not stop there. We need to follow God’s direction as He knows everything and can lead us the best, and when we follow Him step by step, then we have real success and live the best lives. We do not always have to know the impact of our prayers, but we must believe that we do not pray in vain and that God will answer and His timing and responses are the best.
 
We often do not know what we are asking for when we pray for God’s will to be done. But we can know for sure that His will is always the best for us. When we pray for God’s will and His answer surprises us, we might think it is something we do not like or want, but for sure we will benefit from it, because He loves us.
 
Prayer can be considered spiritual warfare as we ask God to overthrow the devil’s plans and implement His. The evil one will always try to stop us and if he cannot, he will do his best to discourage us to continue praying. He might come with thoughts like: “Don’t you see that God does not care? You’ve prayed for so long and nothing has happened yet. Your prayer is just a waste of time.” But no matter how the enemy tries to stop us, we must keep praying and not doubt. If the enemy succeeds in making us doubt that God cares and hears our prayers, even if we continue to pray, we must remember that doubtful prayers are in vain. The prayers of faith are the ones that receive results.

• James 5:16b The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 

 
When we pray, we must recognize that we as humans are weak and depend upon God’s omnipotence. We must realize that we can do nothing in our own strength, and we trust that our Almighty God wants to listen and answer our payers, acting in our behalf. Leonard Ravenhill once said, “A man who is intimate with God is not intimidated by man. A man may study because his brain is hungry for knowledge, even Bible knowledge. But he prays because his soul is hungry for God.” While there are so many reasons to fear in the world we live in, it is good to know that a close relationship with God is the antidote for fear. And while we feel driven to pray we know our hearts are hungry for more of God, and when we don’t, we need to get back to where we should be.
 
In prayer we need to stop being self-focused and surrender everything to the Lord. Through prayer and relationship with God we change. We start to love God’s Word and desire what God desires. As a result, we start to think according to God’s truth, we stop following the desires of our carnal nature and we start to see life from a more biblical perspective. The first form of spiritual warfare begins inside of us as we start to rule over our carnal nature, which is only possible with God's help. True prayer is done through the Holy Spirit, who holds the answers to all our questions and problems we can ever have.

• Jude 1:20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

 
In conclusion, prayer is the essence of spiritual living and is like our spiritual breath. Our spirit cannot breathe if we do not pray. It is communication with The One who is our everything and we know we cannot make it without spending time with Him. How could we belong to God and not have a relationship with Him? And prayer draws us close to Him. Prayer is not only asking, but it is also thanksgiving, praising, honoring and adoring our Father. Prayer is not something we can live without as Christians, nor something that we should do as a duty. Prayer should be an intrinsic part of our lives all the time, and we pray because we desire to communicate with our Lord. Just by telling the Lord that we love Him, thanking Him for His goodness and love, we pray. The more we seek Him, the deeper our prayers are and the more we enjoy God’s presence and love. Thank You Lord for the communication we have with You through prayer and for the truth of Your Word, as both reveal more of who You are and who we are in You.
 

Carmen Pușcaș