A Prayer Life Equals a Stronger Life

Prayer is an exalted form of communication.  When we thank our Heavenly Father for His blessings or come to Him with a request, we are the sender of the communication, and God is the Receiver.  Psalms 145:18:  The LORD is near to all them that call on him, to all that call on him in truth.

On January 16, 1942, Harold Dixon and his flight crew were on an anti-submarine mission over the Pacific. Harold was one of the three men who drifted for thirty-four days, a thousand miles in their rubber raft (eight feet by four), with no food and no water; he spoke of the prayer meetings which they held every night, stating: “There was a comfort in passing our burden to someone bigger than we in this empty vastness. Further, the common devotion drew us together.” After a number of days, he continued: “We no longer depended entirely upon each other, but could appeal simultaneously to a Fourth Person, Jesus Christ, whom we three held equally in reverence.”

That reference to a “Fourth” with them in that raft makes one think of those three Hebrew lads in the fiery furnace who prayed to God and put their trust in Him, and how, when Nebuchadnezzar came to look into the fiery furnace to see what had happened to them, he saw that they were unharmed by the flames, and lo, in the midst of them, he saw the form of a Fourth, like unto the Son of Man! One of the greatest blessings of prayer is that It puts the child of God into fellowship with a Fourth, God and Jesus, Who spilled His blood for your sins and mine, on Calvary.

Prayer needs to be daily in one’s life.  Bunyan wrote: “He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day.”  Yes, let us seek our Maker first-thing each morning and invite Him to Guide our lives throughout that day, for we should choose to be His servant!

There are different types of prayers.  Some are prayers of adoration, some thanksgiving, some petition, and some seeking forgiveness. The one seeking the blessing must believe in God, the Benefactor. Even Christ could do only a few miracles in one place because of a lack of faith on the part of the ones seeking the blessing. (Mark 6: 2-6) On another occasion, Christ’s Disciples could not heal a sick man because even they lacked faith. (Matthew 17: 17-21)

As Christ taught us in His model prayer of Matthew 6, we should ask that God’s will be done, not ours, for it is He Who knows all and knows what is best for us in the long view. “…Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Christ’s model prayer also teaches us that prayers may be brief and from the heart.  In many translations, Christ’s prayer of Matthew 6, is composed of only 66 words.  Although it is concise, it is comprehensive and inclusive; He is praying for all sinners!

It was Martin Luther who said, “…to have prayed well is to have studied well.”  Friend, why not make it a goal to pray at least once each day and read God’s word, the Bible, each day?

Until next week, may God richly bless you and yours.

Contact: fhevener@oilart.com; (434) 392-6255; www.guthriememorial.org.

©2017 by Fillmer Hevener