Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Prayer Connection

Sam Adeyemi
James 5: 13-18

The simple definition of prayer is communication with God. There are several dimensions to prayer – worship is a primary dimension where we praise Him for His worth, others are consecration, intercession and petition. Prayer is a dialogue not a monologue, a conversation between us and God; we speak and He listens, we, too, must learn to listen to God because He has things He wants to say to us as well. Listening is a significant factor in communication. The effectiveness of prayer is not based primarily on the technique but in the quality of our relationship with God. God is more interested in the state of our heart and our relationship with Him, therefore, in prayer, we should focus on our relationship with God because God deals with our conscience. Not every prayer is acceptable to God; He's not interested in the prayer of the wicked, it's an abomination to Him. Enoch had the best testimony ever - that He pleased God. Enoch pleased God because he had faith in Him. Without faith, it's impossible to please God, for anyone who comes to God must first believe that He exists as the Ultimate. Faith is the reality of believing in an invisible God to the extent that you do all to please Him. The time has come for true worshippers to seek God in spirit and in truth, not merely seeking gifts but a relationship with God. He rewards those that diligently seek Him, not those who diligently seek gifts! Seek the Giver not the gifts. The first commandment is to love God with all your heart and mind, when we do this, God becomes real to us and we experience boundless possibilities. Consider David in the bible, some bible scholars feel he was born out of an adulterous relationship and relegated to the back in his family, yet when God needed a king to lead His people, He chose him because his heart panted after God, developed an intimate relationship with Him and became a man after God's heart. When last did you express to God how much you need to know Him? It's time to build an intimate relationship with God; it's the foundation for prayer. Our greatest aspiration should be to walk with God not to work for God.

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