Prayer Life Secrets
The Holy Bible contains many prayer life secrets that are written in the lives of saints of old and on the pages of each book.
You might ask why there are secrets. Prayer holds secrets from many that read and hear them because they simply don’t believe.
The testimony of the world around us…from the macro to the micro universe, from an unwavering stability of the universe in this dimension to the struggle within each of us to balance the forces of Light and darkness…should cause us to assent to the reality of Almighty God.
Then the Ancient Book delineates His design for human development, relationship and reconciliation within themselves.
The philosophy of prayer life secrets is that prayer ought to be part of, the very essence of the daily flow of our lives.
As children we were taught to say our prayers every night at bedtime. Once we learned the prayer formula it was mostly a monotone.
But one of the secrets is that prayer ought to be a continuous process not just at night or bedtime.
Some Old Testament believers prayed early in the morning(Psalm 63:1) while others prayed three times a day (Daniel 6:10).
The Lord Jesus Christ, we are told once prayed all night (Luke 6:12). The secret is to let prayer be like your heart beating...you can’t live without it.
Here are some guiding principles to acquiring prayer life secrets:
· Ask in Christ’s name…
John 14
As Jesus explained to His disciples that He must die and they were afraid, sad and troubled but Jesus comforted them. He gave them a new privilege in prayer…
”And whatever you shall ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in name, I will do it.”(John 14:13-14)
This is not a magical incantation that the believer should add at the end of his prayer to remind the Lord of what He promised.
The promise has a much deeper meaning…”in Jesus’ name” the name carries the meaning of all that He is; His person, His will and His purpose.
So, to pray in Jesus’ name requires the petitioner to be in agreement with Jesus. Please notice…”that the Father may be glorified in the Son”
· Ask in Faith
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen….. But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” (Heb.11:1; 6)
“Faith is a Rorschach word. Define it and you immediately say something about yourself and your theology. It is a term laypeople, pastors and professors frequently use without fully appreciating its meaning or the manner in which the meaning was ascertained.
As evangelicals we hold to the full and complete infallibility, inspiration and inerrancy of the sacred Scriptures. With this in mind, the precise meaning of the words contained in Scripture it vital, since they are the very words of God” (Fred Chay, John P. Correia/Chicago Statement of Inerrancy, 2008).
Faith (Pistis, Pisteuo, Pistikos) maybe defined as the system of gospel truth itself…assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity, and trustworthiness who are the first cousin of hope.
- Hope in faith--its object and the center of its expectation of the future; intimately bound up with faith...
- Faith is the assurance of things hoped for... (Heb. 11:1)
- Christianity is the only true faith... (Ephesians 4:5)
- Faith is hope in what is not seen... (Heb. II:1)
- Faith accompanies obedience to God... (Hebrews 11:1-12)
- Faith in essence means to trust, to have confidence. to be sure... (2 Co. 9:4; 11:17; Heb 3:14; 11:1+)
To put feet on the idea of prayer is simply to pray with a heart/mind of faith…
To pray we must...
Believe (we must believe the utterances, promises of Almighty God Our Father)
When we pray we must...
Trust (we must put our weight totally, our assurance on the veracity Of The Everlasting God Our Father)
Our prayers must be in...
Hope (we look & wait on Him, for His timing, His way, His purpose,His fulfillment)
Our actions must be in agreement with God...
Action (we are obedient through the power of the Holy Spirit to the Call of Our Gracious God to be holy)
· Ask in the Spirit…
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:18
Always line one’s prayer up with the Spirit, whether you are asking for the fulfillment of one of God’s promises or you don’t really know what or how God thinks on a certain issue…remember the Spirit makes prayers to the Father for us, according to the will of God.
Seek to know God’s ways and patterns of thinking based on His Word.
· Ask from a pure heart…
Finally, to be honest in knowing the prayer life secrets we need to pray from a pure heart…
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (Matt. 5:8)
We need to understand our own motives before going to the Father…
Being self-reflective on our sins, desires, motives, and asking ourselves how do we think God sees us based on the totality of our self-examination.
This gives us a moment to meditate in our hearts and be sure of petitions before calling on the name of the Father.
There are so many things we can overlook…the way we treat one another, our wives, our children, our parents…our enemies and our neighbors.
Referenced Information in this article:
Fred Chay, John P. Correia: “The Faith that Saves”, 2008
John MacArthur, “Lord, Teach Me to Pray” 2003
Ray C. Stedman, Talking with My Father” 1997
Osward Chambers, Christian Disciplines” 1936
Kenneth Boa, “Face to Face”, 1997
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