How important is prayer? Is it something that you should do everyday, only in emergencies, when you want something from God, or not at all?
First of all we should have a definition of prayer, so that we know what we are talking about. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, prayer is a reverent petition made to God or some other deity; the act of communion with God such as a confession, praise, or thanksgiving.
OK, now that we know what prayer is, we need to get some idea of how important prayer is. I did a search in the King James Bible to see how many times pray (or prayer) occurs in this Bible. I discovered that the word “pray” occurs 307 times, and the word “prayer” occurs 110 times! If pray/prayer occurs 407 times in the Bible, it must be important.
The subject of prayer was the topic of discussion at one of our Friday night Forum meetings. Although we did not record all the individual discussions and details, we are presenting the basic outline of that discussion for your edification. We are hoping that they will be of benefit to you in your prayer life. God bless you.
What is Prayer?
• Prayer is the greatest force in existence.
• Prayer is the reaching out with your hand to find that divine contact with God. If tinctured ever so slightly with the thought of “Thy Will Be Done”, prayers can return pure and undefiled.
• Prayer is not necessarily a thing of words, though words may clothe it with added power.
Your Prayers Should Not Be
• Meaningless, lifeless, habitual mutterings.
• Selfish and harmful (for your injury or even the injury of others).
• A cry of anguish, despair, and woe is me!
• Trying to change God’s laws to suit your own lusts, greed, and evil ways.
Your Prayers Should Be
• Your soul’s sincere desire, uttered or expressed.
• With feeling, released through that great force contained within the very depths of your own soul.
• Unselfish.
• Asking in the Spirit.
• Symphonies of selfless gratitude and praise.
Why Should You Pray?
• Because the Bible tells us to. It says, “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
• To give offerings of love to open up your soul to God’s divine Love and Light.
• To give tributes of love and devotion as required to purify your soul.
• To make the road you are traveling easier to tread.
The Consequences Of Not Praying
God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. As long as you desire your sin more than your desire to fulfill the laws of God, which are the eternal laws of your own progress, just so long will your own progress and happiness be stopped.
The Power Of Prayer
• Great prayers measure the depth of a man’s feelings, the fiber of his soul, the unselfishness of heart, and his love for God. No man is greater than his power of prayer.
• The power of prayer is in accordance with the individual’s contact with that inner Source of Love and Light in the very throne of God.
• Prayers released by that inner flame of devotion ascend, and with their Ascension they lift the sender. In his praying the self is forgotten and his soul finds its way to the very throne of God.
• Prayer, which rises from the center of you, is a song of ecstasy and thanksgiving.
• When singing gratitude and thanks and love and praise become the burden of your prayers then will your power mingle with the powers of heaven to help redeem a world.
How To Make Your Prayers More Effective
• Let your prayers of thanks be symphonies of selfless gratitude and praise and they will reach the HIGHEST without delay and from the highest realm will come the fulfillment of your joy.
• Forget and give up your personal desires, the self, your own individual misfortunes, and your personal wants, in a joy of loving, singing devotion that will banish the darkness.
• Pray that in your offering there might be the power to bring the great healing, yea the fullness of the Great Light of Christ.
• Offer yourself and your prayers upon the altar of complete surrender. And if you can find the greatness within to offer your very soul, if necessary, for the redemption of the world, it will not be in vain.
