20 Facts About Prayer

A lot has been said about prayer as the main means by which Christians interact with God. 

I'm not going to repeat so much of what has been said, but I share below a few quick-fire facts about this important subject in Christendom; 

1. God answers prayer. If you believe He does, He will; but if you as well believe that He doesn't, He won't. Answered prayer is the evidence of God's will coming alive in our lives; it's therefore more about what we pray for than whether God is faithful in answering prayer or not. 

2. God only answers prayers made in His will according to His Word. So ANYONE who believes in Him and prays this way will be answered. Christian or not. It is faith in this God that justifies the answer, because a prayer of faith in God's Word makes such a person a believer. The times of receiving answers may vary, but He will surely answer. 

Deuteronomy 4:29 says "But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul." 

3. God is the God of everyone, so prayer to this God by anyone is authentic. All you need to do is invoke the name of Jesus while praying, and this God becomes your God as well. That's why by faith we are saved and through confession we are delivered. This is a free gift to everyone, not only Christians. The Bible says, "and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Acts 2:21). It's everyone's gift. 

4. God doesn't answer all prayers. God doesn't answer selfish prayers. God doesn't answer prayers that justify or gratify our sinfulness. God does not support evil. That's the devil's work. So all prayers for evil are answered by the devil, not God. Remember the devil has power given to him by God for such occasions. (Ephesians 2:2). 

5. The devil supports all evil prayers and that's why evil prospers because it has the least opposition from him. That's why it's easy to be evil than to be good. 

6. The devil and his agents (people and fallen angels) are against God answering our prayers so they'll do anything to ensure that you and I don't align to God's will and way of answering prayers. That's why answers to prayers are delayed or postponed. (Daniel 10:12-14). 

7. It's true the devil doesn't normally save people from trouble, but if it suites his future agenda, he may. The devil can allow you to get away with a minor sin as he plans for your major fall. Not all winning is orchestrated by God. Not all victories are from God. Not all spirits are the Spirit of God. Use discernment. To prosper in evil is not to be with God. 

1 John 4:1 (ESV) Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 

8. When someone with a sinful life in popular culture says, "ni maombi na God tu", don't take it literally. There are many gods. If they prosper in their sinful agenda and mention God, just know they're talking about the god of this world (the devil). God is not an orchestrator of evil deeds and intentions. At least not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Not that one. 

2 Corinthians 4:4 (ESV) In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

9. Sometimes God answers prayers we don't even know to pray about, things we have never prayed for. Sometimes He answers prayers we have never even prayed about. Our prayer lives cannot outdo God's power and intentions for our lives. God's sovereign will is way above what we can pray for. With our limited knowledge of things, our prayers only tend to scratch the surface or many underlying issues. That's why we receive blessings we don't even perceive were meant for us, not because we prayed, but because we serve a faithful God who knows what we need and when we need it. This is the beauty of belonging to God. 

10. Prayerfulness is not equal to great life results. Results are determined by God. Our work is to pray and perform all righteousness. His work is to fulfill that which is important in His agenda for us. Our attitude towards prayer should not be "I'm praying, therefore God must answer it my way" but "I'm praying, let God's will be done". Prayer should conform us to God's will and likeness, and not the other way round. 

11. Prayer is personal. We may pray for you, but you need to address your God all by yourself. He desires to have a relationship with you. There are things only your knees will solve for you. So get personal with God. 

12. PUSH (pray until something happens) is actually one of Christendom's greatest misconceptions about prayer. It implies that the more we pray, the more we're likely to get OUR answers under OUR own terms. Actually, sometimes, nothing is supposed to happen.

I'd rather we change it to: pray the Word of God, by the Holy Spirit, through Jesus, until you see things the way God does. Because some prayers are never meant to be answered OUR way. True story. 

13. Pray more that the Will of God will be fulfilled in your life and that you'll be willing to accept and perform it, than that what you think you deserve will be attained. This is where people claim prayer doesn't work because we're used to having life OUR way and forcing God into it. You can't force God's hand into doing what He understands isn't good for you. No, you can't. 

14. Emotionalizing prayer through chants, forged tongues and crying doesn't make it more "prayerful". Praying the Word of God by the Holy Spirit, through Jesus makes it more prayerful. That's spiritual prayer. That's enough. 

15. When you invest in good relationships with people, they'll pray for you without you asking. Investing in good spiritual relationships has a lot of advantage when it comes to corporate intentional prayer. You'll sometimes be held by prayers from saints - prayers you even don't have an idea you need. 

16. Here are prayers that can never be answered (at least not by God); 

(a) Prayers prayed wishing harm on others or so that so-called "enemies" may be silenced. 

(b) Prayers for your own selfish gratification. 

(c) Prayers that are likely to make others suffer as you celebrate. 

(d) Prayers that lack the Word of Knowledge (prayers made in ignorance). 

James 4:3 (ESV) says "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions."

17. In many cases, the devil isn't even trying to oppose our prayers - he allows us to pray useless prayers for hours and days - because they are prayed in ignorance and he knows this Bible verse about ignorance: Acts 17:30 "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent..." 

In this era of new dimensions, our foolish prayers can't be tolerated anymore. We're either praying in wisdom or wandering in darkness. 

18. The most wonderful prayers - which never go unanswered - are prayers for wisdom, for power and strength to accomplish all righteousness. If you want God to always answer on time, pray for all His righteousness to be fulfilled in your life. Pray to become more like Jesus. You'll receive instant answers.

19. The most important thing about prayer is that we should never stop praying. Keep the line to heaven open at all times. Even so-called foolish prayers are useful so long us they are directed to a true God. 

20. Instead of always whining and complaining before God for everything not going right, try praising Him. Try thanksgiving. Try praying for another person in the same status and situation. There's so much fulfillment when we pray for others and approach God with a thankful heart than when we're always seeing what He has not done. 

1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 (ESV) 

pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

May we have a prayerful Easter weekend, and may we pray more earnestly that God's will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. 🙏

Morris 2.0

How to Pray: Spending One Hour in Prayer

When it comes to prayer, it is true that, 

1. Only Christ through the Holy Spirit can teach us how to pray (what to say, when to say it and how to say it) and therefore there may be no reason for me to write this post.

2. There's already a good example of how we ought to pray in Matthew 6:9-13 and tweeting and posting it here and there on the webosphere would help guys to somehow get it on how prayer works and how it should be done, and,
3. I am not a prayer guru, and there's therefore no need to try to do stuff I'm also trying to learn.

That said, it is also a good thing to remind us of the truth in the following two statements. That,

1. Very few of us actually pray. Why? Because it terrifies us. We need someone to encourage us that prayer isn't that complicated, and,
2. Some of us need convincing that someone can actually sit before God and they'd be chatting for an hour or two; and that prayer is not boring at all.

I think this is necessary. I think it's necessary to encourage people to pray by simplifying the whole process. Making it adaptable.
You get it? Good. If you get it, know that this is why I'm writing this post.

And I'll go straight to the point;

Prayer, because it is communication involving a Holy God and an unholy man justified through faith, it has some few requirements before we engage in it. 

They are:
1. We need to get an isolated or secluded place with minimal interference for our dedicated times of prayer. We should remove obstructions (phones, TV, friends, kids, gadgets etc)
2. We need, at such moments (and actually always), to search our hearts and be attentive to hear from God.
3. We need to be conscious of what we are saying before God in order not to blabber empty and meaningless words. (Unless the Holy Spirit has blessed us, in such moments, with tongues and we're now flowing in that beautiful language, we should remain conscious that it is God we are talking to, and sensible words are required.)
4. We need to come to the place of prayer with a predetermined mind: I want to spend at least one hour or two with God today. (It isn't a bad thing if we use a stop watch for this. It will ensure we are uninterrupted and keen with what we are doing.)

So, this morning, as I overheard Benny Hinn (please, for now, put aside all the dumb things you believe about him because he had a good point here) teach on how prayer is more important than power, it led me to thinking deeply on how we as Christians should not underestimate the effectiveness of prayer.

As the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) puts it so well, prayer helps us in various ways. Prayer,

1. Connects us with God. We connect with Him through praising Him and inviting Him yo take control of our lives.
2. Drives out demons, paralyses the work of the devil and helps us move away from temptation.
3. Is an avenue for miracles and all kinds of provision from God.
4. Connects us with fellow Christians through sincere love.

So, if you think you're too busy for prayer or that it is unnecessary yet you're a Christian, you're losing it and you may want to reconsider your stand.

After saying all that stuff up there, here's a simple 10 step model on how to spend our time with God. You will find below it a summarised infographic that you may download as a photo or as a document.

Note: I'm only giving this as a model, not a rule, thus you may be required to change time allocated for every part of this model as the Spirit will allow you every other time when you come to pray...
This model was acquired from my Church so it's originally not mine...

1. Praise God for all He has done, who He is, what He is doing and what He's going to do. (Psalms 63:3-4). This will take around 5 minutes.

2. Wait on God in prayer. Be silent and allow Him to speak to your heart. (Psalms 46:10). This will take around 5 minutes.

3. Confess & repent of your sins. (Psalms 139:23). This should take around 3 minutes.

4. Submit to Jesus all that you are: your thoughts, plans, strengths and desires (James 4:7). This may take around 2 minutes.

5. Read the Word (Psalms 119:105). This can take upto 15 minutes.

6. Pray to be a doer of God's Word. (James 1:22). This can take around 5 minutes.

7. Meditate on what you read for about 5 minutes (Joshua 1:9).

8. Petition (pray for yourself and your needs) (Matthew 7:7). This can take around 5 minutes.

9. Intercession (pray for other people around you and their needs) for about 10 minutes. (1 Tim 2:1-2, Psalms 122:6).

10. Thanksgiving (glorify God for all He is and for answered prayer) (1 Thesa 5:18, 1 John 5:14). This may take around 5 minutes.

I hope the above prayer model will encourage you to pray more. Share it with a friend.

Here are the two downloads that you may print and keep a copy for personal or group use:

1. How to Pray: Spending One Hour in Prayer (Word document - 35kb)
2. How to Pray: Spending One Hour in Prayer (JPEG image - 76kb).

God bless.

Bonface Morris.