The Importance Of Prayer

"Prayer is a privilege purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. Christ died for this and it cost Him the shedding of His blood, so that we, through Him, might have entrance to theThrone of Grace." John Preston

Enlarge ImageI recently took part in a Christian camp where sad to say little prayer took place. I was very surprised and somewhat shocked by this. I could see from the beginning that much time spent in the power of prayer was going to be needed for the Holy Spirit to reach the hearts of these children.

The first time I saw their faces I thought to myself these children have already lost their characteristic innocence. Their faces were hard and as time went by I could see that many of their "hearts" also had a "hard layer covering this organ." A few hours after the children arrived, a sister in Christ was sharing a Bible story with them, and I noticed that the attitudes portrayed on their faces were uncaring.

I knew the sincerity of prayer would reach the hearts of these children but the ones I worked with apparently didn’t see the importance of prayer. I left that week realizing that without prayer the presence and power of the Holy Spirit is barely there.

There is a spiritual war continually around us that we can not see with our physical eyes. This war is between God and Satan for the lives of people. Prayer is a powerful tool that can bind Satan. We have to spend time in prayer though.

There once was a man on a plane, his name was Jay Kesler and he was sitting next to a younger man while lunch was in the process of being served. The younger man declined the lunch. While Mr. Kesler was eating his, he noticed that the younger had his head bowed in prayer. During the meal, this younger man continued in prayer.

Mr. Kesler asked the younger if he was Christian because it looked like he was fasting. The younger replied, "I am a Satan worshiper and the members of my church have agreed to fast every Friday at noon. During that time we pray that the leaders of the Christian world will fall. We pray that they will fall into sexual sin, and that their family life would crumble."

How much time do we spend on our knees for the leaders of our church? How many of them and brothers and sisters in Christ have fallen into sexual immorality? How many families in your church have been torn apart with divorce? How many more? Do we pray for them or become their judge and think we have the right to condemn them? We are not the only ones praying. Just as God has children, Satan does too.

His presence was strong in the lives of these children but how was he to be driven out without the power of prayer?

Most of the time, when I am with others it is like the doors of Heaven open. Sometimes I feel like there is a wall between my prayer and God. I have learnt that wall is sin. When we pray, we are opening our hearts to a Holy God who can not hear us if there is sin between Him and us. Only the action of asking for forgiveness of sin which afterwards the cleansing power of Christ’s blood washes away our sin where we can enter into the presence of Holy God. When I pray I want it to come from a heart of truthfulness, sincerity, and honesty; I don’t want my prayers to be just words coming from my thoughts. I want to be on my knees in a spirit of meekness and quietness with an attitude of humbleness.

Satan’s attack on God’s ultimate creation is to render it ineffective by removing its ability to be a threat to him. As God’s children, we are threat to Satan when we our on our knees. He will do everything within his power to keep us off of our knees. I believe he trembles when prayer warriors are on their knees. Satan may be powerful, but it is nothing compared to God’s who his Creator is.

Can the creature overpower its Creator? Satan’s "heartbeat" is to destroy and erode God’s children of their morality. Ephesians 6:10 Prayer is the enemy of our own personal sin; it overpowers it and takes a rein on it. In prayer, God can reveal our heart to us to see it as He sees it; we fool ourselves if we are looking at our hearts without letting God open them for us; He can show us what is hiding inside.

The question is: are we ready to see our hearts the way God sees them? Are we ready to see what is inside and will we ask Him to open our eyes or will we continue to lie to ourselves? Will we let God clean our hearts and give them to Him?
By Claudia Miclaus