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"Be careful for nothing; but
in every thing by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."
Philippians 4:6
Effectual Prayer
God is eager to hear our prayer requests, but
they are to be accompanied "with thanksgiving." God,
Creator of all, invites us, His children, to pray, and
He assures us He will hear. He is holy, separate from
sinners and undefiled, and we are rebellious and
sinful, but as a Father, He invites us to ask favors
and promises help. "Ask and it shall be given to
you . . . for everyone that asketh receiveth . . . If
you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more shall your Father who is
in heaven give good things to them that ask him"
(Matthew 7:7-11).
Prayer changes things. The Bible says, "The
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails
much" (James 5:16). Prayer for the sick is not a
substitute for medicine; prayer for daily bread is not
a substitute for work; and prayer for the lost is no
substitute for the gospel, but those things are no
substitute for prayer either. Because Christians pray,
some are well who would still be sick, some are alive
who would be dead (James 4:15), souls are saved that
would be lost (Romans 10:1), doors of opportunity are
open that would still be closed (Colossians 4:3), some
are wiser than they were (James 1:5). More things are
wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. And many
more things yet would be wrought by it, if we prayed
more. "You have not, because you ask not"
(James 4:2).
God commands us to pray. "Pray without ceasing"
(1Thessolonians 5:17). "Continue in prayer and
watch in the same with thanksgiving" (Colossians
4:2). "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your
requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6).
The greatest of all privileges is not only allowed,
but is even enjoined upon us. To let us pray would be
marvelous, but He commands us!
God urges us to be persistent in prayer. If at first
we do not get what we ask for, we are to keep asking.
If God, who hears all things, appears deaf to our
cries, we are to cry longer. Jesus told a parable
about an unjust and uncaring judge, who finally ruled
in favor of a poor widow simply because she wore him
out with her persistent pleas. He told that parable,
He said, to teach us that we "ought always to pray
and not give up" (Luke 18:1). God is not unjust
and uncaring, like that judge, but we are to be
persistent, like that widow. God never wearies of our
asking, even when it appears He is not hearing.
We are invited to pray and God has promised to hear.
Great things happen because of prayer. We are
commanded to pray by the One who loves us, and
reminded that we show Him our love by keeping His
commandments. We can "come boldly unto the throne
of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to
help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). Yet,
believing all of that, many of us pray so little.
Perhaps we should ask ourselves, "Why?"
Is effectual prayer a daily habit in your life?
Remember, it is not the arithmetic of our prayers, how
many they are; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how
eloquent they may be; nor the geometry of our prayers,
how long they be; nor the logic of our prayers, how
argumentative they may be; nor the method of our
prayers, how orderly they may be. Yet it is fervency
of spirit which availeth much!
May the Lord bless you with a prayerful LIFE!
"Lord Dictated Them"
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Jimmy's Safe Harbor
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