Prayer and Your Priesthood

Prayer is sometimes misunderstood by believers. This is because people tend to believe in the practice they see around instead of what they find in the place of studying the scriptures. As good as you observe the practice of prayer seen around,  it is necessary to understand what scriptures says about prayer.

The subject of prayer is best understood through two ways - Principle and Practice.

Jesus taught his disciples to pray. They had initially seen him praying and because it was so captivating, they decided to learn more about it. This explains further the Practice of prayer and the Principle of prayer (in scriptures). The disciples had seen Jesus pray by observation of his practice. However, they needed to learn the principles of prayers. This was why they asked Jesus to teach them to pray.

Prayer is usually described as a transaction. It is a communication between God and man. Far away from this, what basically constitutes prayer?

According to Matthew 6:9, Prayer is firstly the act of acknowledging who God is (usually by his name and identity to you), who you are in Him and your union with Him. By saying Our father who hath in heaven, you are attaching reference to God's personality, acknowledging Him as your father. This is the best way to acknowledge and greet God's identity by giving thanks to Him. Even your earthly father wouldn't refuse your requests so why would your heavenly father? When we further acknowledge God as gracious, kind, all powerful and many other beautiful adjectives, we turn Him on to speedily respond to our requests.

Read: How to Walk in the Spirit

 

When you call God by His name in acknowledgment, He reveals himself. That is when prayer begins. - (John 17, Philemon 6). Prayer is first by acknowledgement before anything else. One basic element of Prayer is acknowledgement and the proper way to acknowledge God is by thanksgiving (Acts 4:24-26)

 

Acknowledgement in prayer is necessary because the commitment of your faith in prayer is dependent on the eternal character of God. Acknowledging God is consistent with his eternal character. God never changes whether or not you receive answers to your prayers and yes, God is not a man that he should lie. 

 

Prayer doesn't have to be fancy and "religious"-sounding. You're entering into a love bond, not a religion. Simply ask God to reveal himself to you. Talk to him as you would a friend over coffee or like you would talk to a close friend. He already knows what you need, but he wants to hear from you. Ask him to open your heart and guide your understanding before you read. Tell him how much you want to know him. When you tell Him these things, expect a reply because He will definitely answer you as long as you wait to listen. Prayer is not a monologue where one person does all the talking. It is also not a ritual where we must say things in the right order or follow a specific process or protocol all the time. This is why it is a love-bond

 
You can only have a rich prayer life if you study scriptures well.  It is in scriptures that you deeply understand the eternal being of God. You can understand His eternal being first by revelation and then by experience. Prayer is thus, the privilege to experience God by acknowledgement. You can test confirm this by going to a secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. When you are there, be simply and modest as you best can and begin to pray by allowing the focus to shift from you to God. At this time, you begin to sense His grace and presence (Matthew 6:6). This is what acknowledging God does.

So many things believers say about God is defamation of character.  God does no evil. God is faithful. God is merciful, kind and gracious. God is a loving kind God (compassionate and gracious - John 17:6)

Praying Without Ceasing

Prayer has everything to do with the realities of life. Prayer is not meant to be pulled out of your wardrobe when things are tough. It should be a lifestyle. In 1st Thessalonians 5:17, God instructs us through Apostle Paul to pray without ceasing. Prayer is similar to everyday breathing and just as you can say Breathe without ceasing, a believer should learn to pray without ceasing. When a man stops breathing, he dies. In the same way, prayer can be likened to breathing in the spirit and the absence of prayer means a man is cut off from communication with God - that is spiritual death. You do not breathe when you feel like it and by research, the average man can only hold his breathe for as long as three minutes. In the same way, you must not pray only when you feel like it. It is a part of your priesthood as a believer and must be a constant part of your spiritual life.

 

Your body is the temple of God, and God says that His temple (His house) - shall be a house of prayer. This understanding opens the door to knowledge of priesthood as a believer in Christ.


Understand Psalm 23:1- the Lord is my shepherd
Psalm 27:1-end... The Lord is my light and salvation

The earth is the Lords

The strength in the prayers of the Psalmist was his ability to acknowledge God

Sometimes, a bad situation may seem to grow worse after you prayed. When this happens, do not be discouraged. Instead, you should take a cue from the life of Jairus whose daughter was sick but still alive until he called on Jesus. Then she died. From Jairus' life, we learn that true prayer never worsens a difficult situation. Instead, it  releases power that begins to work primarily behind the scenes. Hence, the complexity of a situation is not what matters but the superiority of who we pray to and what we receive in prayer.

When we acknowledge that Christ in us the answer of all the ages, we raise confidence to persist in prayer, while affirming that the word has worked no matter how things look. This is the faith of the results we have in God and that is proof of our priesthood in prayers.