You are what you pray!
Mathew 6:19-21; Mathew 12:34
Jesus says how and what you speak is a revelation of what fills your heart. Robert Murray McCheyene put it this way "What a man is alone with God, that is what he is. Nothing more, nothing less." Proverbs 23:7 says, *For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.*James 5:16 says "The effevtual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Only in Christ do we become "righteous". 2 Corinthians 5:21To be in Christ means having a heart that is completely lost in satisfying Him.Praying takes it tone and vigour from the life of the man or the woman excercising it. Prayer and sinning can not keep company with each other. One, or the other, must, of necessity , stop." Who you are presently, at this stage of your precious walk with Christ Jesus, directly affects how you are now praying. You are what you pray!
Prayer and your Conduct
In 1 John3:22 notice that there is a definite relationship between your conduct and answered prayer. R.A.Torrey spoke candidly about "corner-cutting christians" when he said "A true child of God does not demand a specific command. We are not making it the study of our lives to know what would please our Father, and so our prayers are not answered." Godly living is the fruit of Godly praying. Prayer rules conduct. Does your conduct affect your praying? Yes! And does your praying affect your conduct? Yes!
Prayer and your desires
As you continue to seek God with all your heart, the desires of your heart change and become more pleasing and acceptable to Him. Here are 4 things that a mature christian should desire:
1) Genuine delight in the Lord.- Psalm 37:4, Psalm 51:12
E.M. Bounds wrote, "Alas for us! The fire burns altogether too low. True prayer, must be aflame. Our hearts need much to be worked over, not only to get the evil out of them, but to get the good into them." Do you have a burning desire for intimate fellowship with God, for continous Holy Spirit revelation and power, for all the fullness of Jesus Christ? Prayer, which is fellowship with God, is intended to be both joyous and intimate. Victorious, Spirit filled living is simply impossible without the relationship to God you will obtain through intimate prayer. Being in harmony with the Holy Spirit enables you to hear His promptings and His desires at any time. The leadership of the Holy Spirit delivers you from rote, canned, mimicked praying and introduces you to joyful communion with the Father. Delight-filled prayer is not something out of your reach. Confess your lack of true delight in the Lord and settle it in your heart to spend more time in His presence.
2) Increase Faith- Matthew 7:7, James 5:15, 1John 5:4
In our time of need, you and I have turned to everyone and everything before turning to God in prayer. We return quickly to medicines that have worked in the past, but we are slow to remember the God who has never failed us. We behave this way because of our unbelief that God is who He says He is, and that God will do what He says He will do. When your situation looks impossible, Satan still asks the old question he used in the garden, "Indeed, has God said...?" The devil wants your lack of faith in the integrity of God and His word so that he can tempt you away from prayer. It issatan's voice that tells you prayer will do no good.Don't listen to the father of lies! Put your trust in the promises of God, for He neither lies nor fails!
3) Right Motive- John 14:13, James 4:3
You must be honest with God and honest with yourself about your purpose when you pray. Admittedly, it is difficult to understand your own motives because your heart is"decietful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9) Ask for God's spirit to fill your heart with pure motives. Your prayers probably give you the most accurate look at your heart. What you choose to speak about alone with God reveals your strongest intincts, desires, and priorities. You are never more honest than when you are in humble prayer to God.Have you often tried to tell God what you think He wants to hear, so that He will give you what you want? Does the thought of God receiving glory in your prayers even enter your mind? Sincerely pray Pslam 139:23: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts."The glory of the Father must become your motive when you pray- not some of the time, but all of the time. Motive is not something you can work up when it is time to pray. It is a matter of the heart. It is a matter of living for the glory of God. You will need the power of Jesus to accomplish this. Andrew Murraywrote:" Only the presence and rule of the Lord Jesus in our hearts can cast out all self-glorification, replacing it with His own God-glorifying life and Spirit.
4) Discipline and sincerity-Joshua 24:14, Matthew 15:8, Mark 12:29-30
If you lack discipline or persistence when it comes to making time for prayer, look with God at your lack of sincerity.O God, bring us to the place in our fellowship with You where we can sincerly say:"Did not our hearts burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptues?"(luke 24:32). Once again it is time to search your heart- this time, for a laodicean lukewarmness toward God that is causing your prayers to be anything but red hot. You must want more than anything, to be on firefor God.You must desire His fullness and His companionship more than you crave your favorite foods when you are physically hungry. Prayer must become more than a wish and a hope. Focus on your sincerity, and the disciplines of prayer will follow because the God who knows your heart will provide.
Prayer and repentance
You can not go to the next level of prayer if there is unconfessed, unrepented sin in your life right now. You will first need to repent of those sins.Repentance occurs when you evaluate your sin by looking at God's holiness rather than at your desire to satisfy fleshly appetites. By God's grace, the view of sin changes from fun to filthiness. The attitude toward sin changes from "nobody's perfect" to "woe is me, for I am undone." The condition of the heart changes from rebellious to broken. This soul-searching process brings deep sorrow and mourning, and a hatred and abandonment of sin.This is not something you can do for yourself. You will not wakeup one morning and suddenly decide to abandon your favorite sin. Simply deiding to turn over a new leaf or to make a new start is not repentance. Most of us are full of good intentions concerning how we should be living. You will make a decision to repent only as the Holy Spirit does His convicting work in your heart. With all brokenness and sincerity, pray that the Father will reveal to you by His Spirit everything in your life that dishonors Him.Prayerfully read through the following scriptures that may reveal areas of unrepented sin. Romans 1:28-32, Galatians 5:16-21, Colossians 3: 8-9, 2Timothy 3: 1-5. True biblical repentance results in a turning away from known sin and a change of mind regarding the necessity of forsaking sin. Spiritual awakening begins with the realization that you have indeed moved far enough away from God to require repentance.
The subject of repentance is not often mentioned today for several reasons. First, people do not want to be made uncomfortable by an examination of their lives before a Holy God. Second, to many preachers assume there will be negative consequences affecting them personally if they speak directly concerning sin.Third, people today view sin as just a part of life, a part of human nature, and therefore noting to be alarmed about. And fourth, a large number of christians associate the word repentance with an action required only of lost people who desire to be saved. But, biblical repentance is not a one time act never to be repeated after we have been saved. The truth is, the longer we walk humbly with a holy God, you will see things in your life that are filthy and undone that must be abandoned. Finally, you must understand that repentance is not a negative experience, Nicham, the Hebrew word for repent means to take comfort. When God desires to clean you up so that He can bless you beyond your hopes and dreams, you are about to have a positive experience. Turn from your sin, receive His wonderful forgiveness, and God can bring you to amazing new heights in your relationship to Him.
Prayer and His Provision
Jeremiah 33:3, Matthew 7:7, James 4:2
His provision is Himself- as the vine. In reality, branches do not strive to be connected to the vine; they just are.Your Lord Jesu has told you that you are already a branch(John15:5)- you don't have to strive to be a branch. You need only to remember that Jesus is the vine and that you are one with Him, with all His fullness. And whaat is the purpose of being joined to the intercessor if we do not intercede? Once you realize, believe, and act upon the fact that you are a part of Him, He will provide you great freedom and power in the life of prayer. Your new life in Christ must be maintained. Oswald Chambers once said: "You may not need to pray, but Jesus Christ within you does. Jesus is the only one who can take you from where you are in your prayer life, to where you need to be. You are already in living union with the vine. Allow His thoughts, His desires, His purposes, His priorities, His affection to flow into the branch. Then your prayers will be, in accuality, Jesus praying in and through you.
Your prayers really do expose your heart. You are what you pray!
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