The Importance of Prayer

The importance of prayer has really been hitting me anew lately.  

Jesus prayed a lot when we was here on earth.  If He, who was perfect, prayed that much, how much more should we be praying?

Last week one evening we listened to a sermon by Joe Rigney called Why Pray If God Knows Everything and Has Planned Everything?.  It was very good and gave me even more of a conviction that prayer is so important.  God responds to the persistent prayers of His people.  Prayer has great power.  Something that is always good to be reminded of and encouraged in. 

"Yes, if you cry out for discernment, and life up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.  For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; He guards the paths of justice, and preserves the way of His saints." ~ Proverbs 2:3-8

And then a few mornings after that, the next chapter in my Bible reading plan was Luke 11:

"And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'?  I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.  "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit  to those who ask Him!" ~ Luke 11:5-13

This past Sunday, our pastor gave a sermon about casting our cares on the Lord.

"Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved." ~ Psalm 55:22

"casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." ~ 1 Peter 5:7

  He shared this acronym with us:

C = Commit it
A = Ask ~ for wisdom, strength, and guidance
S = Surrender
T = Trust ~ Begin acting as if it's all taken care of.

He also talked about how when we cast our cares over to the Lord we should not reel them back in, but cut the string.  

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." ~ Philippians 4:6-7

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 is says: "pray without ceasing,"  What a blessing that we can come "boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)  He tells us to pray persistently, to seek, to cry out.....prayer is important....we need His wisdom.  Do we want to be as effective as possible in this life for His glory?  We must pray!  And there constantly seems to be friends and loved ones who are in need of prayer!  What a blessing it is to be able to bring these dear ones before the throne of grace...may we be consistent at it and not forget to pray for them.  It is a battle, because Satan knows just how powerful prayer is...and he does a good job at trying to distract us, but we must fight against that, we must be vigilant, we must gird up the loins of our mind, and be sober.  We must focus on what is truly important in this life....and one of those things is prayer.....it was important to Jesus...it needs to be important to us.

(Participating in Mrs. Line's Encourage One Another link-up)