Everything that defines christianity is prayer. The word of God makes that so clear to us when Jesus said ‘My house shall be called the house of prayer’. In spite of this, churches today have been greatly influenced by prosperity sermons rather than the art of prayer! Slowly and steadily, we loose the youths of today to the power of darkness and flesh because of prayerlesness! If Revival must come, the church must pray! Yes! We must pray in sincerity like never before! In wisdom and understanding.
Isaiah 40:30-31
"Even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall:
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
What is Prayer?
The Hebrew word for prayer is ‘Tefilah’ which is pronounced ‘Taphillah’. It signifies supplication and intercession. But that could not be all there’s to prayer. How broad is prayer that even the root word for Prayer cannot define it’s fullness.
Experientially and Biblically, I have come to know prayer as a system whereby the ‘freewill system’ of a man is influenced, jointed, threaded and knitted in accordance to the good pleasure of his ‘will’ to the Praise of the glory of his grace.
HOW DOES PRAYER INFLUENCE MAN’S FREE WILL?
Well, the big question here’s ‘if prayer influences man’s freewill then what’s the essence of our Will’. Intellect, will and emotions are all found in our soul. So, it’s from the soul we generate wills and emotions. Just as Adam had the right to choose between every tree in Eden and the tree of life and death, so do you and I today.
Well, few times I love to ask myself some rhetoric questions, so I pray you bear with me! “Why did God ever had to give man a freewill? Couldn’t our will been influenced by God since the beginning?” Yeah! It’s funny! Why go through the stress of making choices. However, I later discovered that we were created in God’s very image. The word ‘image ‘ is pronounced as ‘tselem’ in Hebrew which meant “resemblance”. So, God created us in the figure of his personality. This means if God make choices, then we should make choices. But his wills and intellects are perfect and much accurate. In spite of this, he gives us the opportunity to make decisions and make choices.
However, since we were made out of dust and never perfect because of our sinful nature, we would need a lot more superior power to lead us and help us, The Holyspirit!. The Bible speaking in Jeremiah 29:11 promises us of the good thoughts and wills Jesus has concerning us, which are of peace and not of evil.
Hence, prayer only can help us thread God’s supreme and perfect will with ours! This can only be done through Prayer! It’s a place of better alignment and discernment. The call for prayer is not to just to gain power to heal the sick and raise the dead. No? It’s a call for intimacy with the Holyspirit. Where we would die to self and gain full alignment with God.
Genesis 5:24 "And E'noch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
Genesis 17:24 "...the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the almighty God; walk before me and be thou perfect."
