I have this discussion alot, centered around this question, "how do I pray under the New Covenant." We must remember that in Christ we are complete, he has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness and all his promises are yes and amen. We are not asking God to give us something we don't already have in Christ. Prayer should be from the perspective to have our hearts and eyes enlightened to see and experience what is already ours in Christ.
Do you believe in angels? Do you believe in demons? Do you believe in ghosts? Do you think they are active in the world today? Christians have the capacity to distinguish between spirits and discover the truth. Jesus promised His spirit would come to live inside us and testify of Him when we are born again. His spirit inside us helps us not to be led astray by lying and deceiving spirits. Join us today and learn how to keep your hope anchored in Jesus and not be led astray by messages from the other side.
Quantum Mechanics has shown us that there seems to be a different set of laws of physics at the quantum level. At that level, matter appears to respond to human observation rather than continuing along a deterministic course. From this understanding, we can glean insight into the power of prayer and how our prayer is powerful. Like the Centurion soldier healed by Jesus sending the word, we are connected by an unseen field that can manifest the will of God through prayer.
Have you ever felt like prayer doesn’t make much of a difference? Over the years people have confessed to me they don’t pray much. They don’t pray much because they feel like it doesn’t do much. People know they’re “supposed” to pray as Christians but often feel like it doesn’t change anything. Ever been there?
We pray and then carry on as if we don’t expect anything to change. That may sound a little harsh but if you’re honest with yourself, you know it’s true. You have probably felt this way at times. I want to give you some good news about prayer. Whether you understand it or not, something is happening when you pray. You might not see immediate results, you may never see results, but if you believe what you pray, something is definitely happening.
I’m thankful for the Bible, aren’t you?! The written word is a collection of historical records, poetry, prophecy and doctrine. I personally love getting to peek into the minds and hearts of the authors. The Apostle Paul is an interesting person to study. We get to see his before and after Christ life, what a dramatic conversion! Of course Paul’s writings are where we get most of our New Covenant theology, but there is a specific aspect of his letters that are rich with insight, his prayers.
From time to time I like to look beyond doctrine into the human aspects of the people in the Bible, including Jesus. There are a few interesting things I noticed when looking at all the prayers of Paul, here is a complete collection of the prayers of the Apostle Paul.
Prayer changes things. Prayer changes us, it changes the world around us, it changes people, but it doesn’t change God. Prayer doesn’t cause God to respond and give you what you want. God doesn’t have anything else to give to you. The only thing God has left to give you is wisdom, revelation and guidance on how to live within everything he’s already given you.
If you’re like me, the importance of prayer in your life comes and goes. I’m always communing with God in my heart but specific, directed prayer comes and goes. I’d like to give you some profound, mystical reason why I flow in and out of directed prayer but I think I just get busy and don’t take the time. However, there are times where I do feel the leading of the Lord to pray in the spirit, or with specific words, over a specific matter.
Recently I felt the Lord give me some instruction on prayer. It was more what to think than what to pray, what to think while praying to be more specific. It started with something James said, “the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
The first thing I did was look up “availeth.” I moved on to look up all the words in James’ statement. Here’s what I found…
Prayer... What is it? Why should believers do it? Why do you pray? How do you pray?
These are all good questions. While the answers may seem obvious, many Christians do not have an active and effective prayer life. I think the reasons most Christians only pray when something is wrong is because we don't understand our role as ambassadors. Pray has very little to do with asking God to meet a need and much more to do with applying God's provision.
