Hosanna Restoration Church

I am sure that some have wondered how we could be doing message after message with words that start with the letter P and not yet talked about prayer. Well, I guess it is time we did just that. After all, it is a prayer that got us into a position with God in the first place. But let me say right from the start that I do not consider myself to be much of an authority when it comes to prayer. I pray of course, but I am certainly not an expert on the subject. I sometimes have long prayer sessions, but to be honest I find that praying often works best for me. I simply try to make sure that I am in communication with my friend Jesus.

Once in Russia I had an experience where the oppression of the enemy was like a large piano sitting on my shoulders. So I knelt by my bed in the motel and told God I could not stand it and asked him to take it. That was all I really needed at the time so I was done. Later there was a person who had felt the same thing but this person was more of a prayer warrior that I am and so she labored over it again and again. That was fine, until she basically began to condemn others in the group for not doing the same. I had to tell her that it was fine if she felt like she needed to keep doing it, but not to condemn others for not doing the same. Personally, I felt like God had answered my prayer and I was ready to rock.

You know, before we knew God He loved us. And I believe He put a prayer in our hearts that was just waiting to get out. Before I loved Him, I used to pray when things got desperate. I am sure you did too. Even people who claim they do not believe in God will at one time or another cry for God’s help. The truth is that prayer is what keeps all of the P’s in motion. Someone’s prayer stirs up the desire in someone else’s heart and opens their eyes to the need for a position with God. That leads to a prayer that asks God for a new life in Christ Jesus. That prayer may be very long covering all the bases, or may be as simple as telling God we can no longer do this life thing on our own and asking for His help. Which covers all the bases, by the way.

It is prayer that opens us up to God’s perspective on life and prayer that reveals the potential to see the glory of God in all of life’s situations. It is prayer that maintains our progress and it is prayer that enables us to possess the promises. It is prayer that keeps us and empowers us to preach in our lives as living examples of the power of God to change lives. And it is in prayer that we see that God has a plan that is greater than any plan we could ever imagine.

Yes, it makes sense to pray without ceasing. It makes sense to seek God constantly and to include Him in our decisions. Prayer really was never intended to be complicated. Yes there will be times when we labor in prayer, but we should labor when God wants us too. We should not make a labor out of it. And we certainly should not expect others to pray the same way we do. Jesus gave the disciples a simple answer when they asked about prayer. His example was one that must have revealed prayer as an enjoyable experience. I encourage you to pray and enjoy God’s presence. It is the mortar that keeps us securely on the rock of our Salvation.