The Importance of Prayer

Prayer enables us to fight the battle successfully. We cannot fight the battle by our own power but only through the power and strength of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Prayer enables us to tap into God’s power. Prayer is the power for victory.

Paul teaches us how to pray if we are to defeat Satan and his demonic clan:

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak” Ephesians 6:18-20.

First of all, we are to pray always. “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) essentially says “Always be in communion with God. When we are in constant communion with God our hearts are right and we are open vessels in which God can work. When we fall out of communion with God the devil is then able to attack and tempt us. Secondly, we are to pray with “all prayer and supplication”. Supplication is an appeal made to somebody in authority. It is a humble and sincere appeal to somebody who has the power and authority to grant a request. The only person that has such power is God himself. We are instructed in the Bible to pray: to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. It is through the Spirit’s power alone that we can pray for the will of God. Outside of praying for the will of God our motives are selfish and impure. We are to watch when we pray. The word watching means keeping alert. We are to always be on alert for any wickedness that tries to creep into our lives. We watch for the devils schemes lest we fall for them, but we also watch to see where God is working. We are to persevere in our prayer life. Just when we feel like giving up we mustn’t until we hear from God. We might not like his answers to our prayers but they are always the right answers. God may answer our prayers with a “Yes”, “No”, or even a “not now”, but God always answers us! Finally, we are to pray for all the saints. The Lord’s Prayer begins “Our Father” not “My Father”. We are to pray for each other so we can support one another in Christ Jesus and lift each of our burdens up before the Lord. A great example of this is when Aaron lifted Moses’ arms up during a battle because he was too weak do keep them up himself. (Exodus 17:12). We too are to lift one another up. We shouldn’t fight the good fight alone but with the help of all the saints, standing in battle together, battling the enemy together through prayer and petitions with thanksgiving making our request known to God (Philippians 4: 6-7).

Dear Father in heaven, May I never have to speak “Lord, I come into Thy presence” because I never want to leave Your presence. I want to commune with You always because I love you and I love to taste Your sweetness. I love fellowshipping with you and rejoice in Your wonderful, merciful works.