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Be renewed in prayer

Grab to eternal life!

Jesus is the way,
 the truth, and the life

Chapter 3 -

Start to pray!

 

 

 

 

Before you can start to pray, you must first concentrate on it and -- most of all -- reserve time for it. David Wilkerson said in 1974 in his book The Vision that in the future the main sin among the Christians would be misuse of their free time, meaning that they would not spend time with God praying. Television and other unnecessary leisure activities would steal this time from the most important one.

   In order to prevent this from happening to you, you must reserve time for prayer. Give up unnecessary activities and start to pray, for example, for your neighbors and their salvation. It might seem difficult in the beginning if you are not used to praying, but certainly their salvation is more valuable than anything else here on Earth:

 

- (Rom 10:1) Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

 

Oswald J. Smith wrote about the problems we will face when we start to pray. He also spoke about the meaning of prayer, and how we might replace it by our own gifts, abilities, and acts. Permanent prayer alone can lead to what we cannot achieve through our natural abilities:

 

A Christian who starts to pray for other people goes through quite a different experience. Satan will do everything in his power to prevent and block the way. His presence and resistance will be noticeable.

   We might also get depressed. We might repeatedly feel ready to give up. No wonder that the Lord told the allegory of a friend who came to the house of his friends in the middle of the night. Persistence is one of the most important preconditions. We will pray for a certain time and not getting an answer straight away, be depressed and give up. This is how Satan uses one of his most successful weapons against us, and crushes our decision to start praying for others.

   When everything else has failed, Satan puts a workload on our shoulders. He would rather like to see us working than praying even for a moment. He knows perfectly well that working without prayer is powerless and useless. Therefore, if he can only make us so busy that we do not have the time to pray, he has achieved his goal. (…)

   Intercessory prayer is the most effective weapon the Christians have. Nothing rivals its power. It will make things happen when everything else has failed; and it seems strange that we turn to other resources to try to make such things happen that can only happen through prayer. God has given this great weapon to us, and He expects us to use it. How disappointed He must be when we put it aside and replace it by natural tools in doing spiritual work. (4)

 

WORK SHEETS

 

If it is difficult for you to pray for a longer time, work sheets can be useful. You can write down all your prayer issues and people you want to pray for, and then pray for each of them for 5–10 minutes, for example. When you have reached the end of the list, you can start from the beginning again and again or have a break in between.

   (The same method of a work sheet that can be distributed to the participants can be a good tool also in larger prayer meetings. For example, Yonggi Cho described in his book Kokemuksiani rukouksesta (DR. CHO’S PATTERNS OF PRAYER), p. 34, how this method is used in their meetings.)

   The prayer and worksheet can be drawn up, for instance, from the following issues:

 

- Salvation of one's relatives: spouse, children, sisters, parents, grandparents, grandchildren, cousins, aunts, uncles and their families.

- Salvation of neighbors and friends.

- Salvation of co-workers.

- Prayer for the leaders of your nation and city, so that they would also be saved. Pray also for the representatives of the media. Prayer for the authorities should be one of the most important prayer subjects:

 

- (Jer 29:7) And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray to the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall you have peace.

 

- (1 Tim 2:1-4) I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

2  For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

3  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior;

4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

 

- Pray for your neighboring countries, and that their people would be saved.

- Pray for missionary work.

- Pray for spiritual work, and the leaders of the congregation. For example, Paul wrote:

 

- (Col 4:2-4) Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;

3  With praying also for us, that God would open to us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:

4  That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.

 

- (Eph 6:18-20) Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

19  And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
20  For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

 

- (2 Thess 3:1) Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you

 

- Pray for those believers who have just found salvation so that they would grow in faith.

- Pray for your own personal needs and the needs of your family, guidance in spiritual and everyday issues.

 

 

 

 

Jari Iivanainen