PRAYER IS THE KEY

BY EVANGELINE UNITY ESAABA FOLSON

1 THESSALONIANS 5:17

Pray Without Ceasing

LUKE 18:1

And He spoke a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and to faint.

These two verses encourage Christians or children of God to pray always and not to faint or get tired of praying. This is an indication that prayer is very important in our walk with the Lord. It is the key to a successful and fruitful life in Christ. If prayer is very important then how do we pray? And when do we pray? Let us search for the answers to these questions in the scriptures.

1) Jesus taught us how to pray in Mathew 6:9-13
2) Jesus also taught us to pray before we start the day’s activities. Mark 1:35.
3) Paul taught us to pray when we are in trouble or anxious Philippians 4:6-7
4) James taught us to pray when we are sick. James 5:14-15
5) David taught us to pray before we undertake anything we want to do Psalm 37:5.
6) Jesus taught us to pray before we start our ministry. Matthew 4:2
Acts 9:10-18

7) The apostles demonstrated that whenever anybody is appointed to do Gods work, leaders or ministers should lay hands & pray Acts 6:2-6

JESUS TAUGHT US HOW TO PRAY

Matthew 6:9-13

After this manner therefore pray ye: our father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is on heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever, Amen.
Mathew 6:9-13 is normally referred to as the Lord’s Prayer. It is a prayer all Christians should pray, but that is not the only prayer we should use. The Lord’s Prayer is more of a model for prayer. It shows us what a typical conversation with God should contain. It should not necessarily follow the same order but it should contain all the necessary elements.

Matthew 6:9-10
Our father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

These two verses shows that a prayer should start by or have the element of praise honoring and worshiping God.

Matthew 6:11
Give us this day our daily bread.
A prayer according to this verse should also have our requests or needs. We should tell God our needs and ask him to provide them.

Mathew 6:12

And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
Whenever we pray, we should remember to ask God to forgive us our sins. But there is a condition attached to this request. We will be forgiven as we have forgiven our debtors or those who wrong us.

Matthew 6:13

And deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever.

This verse teaches us to ask God for protection from evil because the whole world, the power and the glory belong to him.

From Matthew 6 we learn that a prayer or a talk with God should have the following elements

– Praising honouring and worshiping God
– Asking for our needs
– Asking for forgiveness of sins
– Asking for deliverance from evil

Not every prayer should have all these elements. There are times when we are in situations where we need a quick prayer. For example you are about to write an exam. You cannot go through all the elements listed. But when you have your special time with God, eg; during your morning devotion bible study time or a prayer and fasting time, then, you can go through all the elements and even add some if you can.

Jesus Taught Us to Pray before We Start the Day’s Activities

Mark 1:35

And in the morning, rising up a great will before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

Jesus knew that he will need the father’s assistance throughout the day, therefore He had to pray. Note, he went to a “Solitary place” a place where no one would disturb Him. We should do the same. Praying in a noisy crowded place is not effective. You can do that only when you have no other option.

Some people say, they are too busy and cannot find time to pray. I would say, it is when you have so much to do that you must pray. You would need the grace of God to complete all your assignments successfully.

Another important thing to note about Jesus’s action is that He rose up a great while before day, probably at dawn when most people were sleeping. The atmosphere is normally quiet and conducive for prayer at dawn. Try it. But if for some reason you cannot pray at dawn find another time that you can pray.

Paul Taught Us To Pray When We Are In Trouble Or Anxious.

Philippians 4:6-7

Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The verse (6) says we should be careful for nothing, that is, we should not worry about anything or be anxious. We should commit everything to God. Supplication means to ask humbly for something. So Paul is trying to teach us that when we come before God with our problems, we should ask humbly for this help and not demand things as if it was our right. God has promised to help us in
Isaiah 41:10:
Fear thou not for I am with thee: be not dismayed for I am your God, I will strengthen you, yea I will help thee; yea I will uphold, thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

This verse confirms that God has promised to help us but we should not demand things by force because He is God and He knows what is best for us.

What we are requesting might not be good enough for us. Let’s give God the free hand to do what he knows is best for us.

JAMES TAUGHT US TO PRAY WHEN WE ARE SICK

James 5:14-16

Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

Confess your faults one to another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

I will like to comment on the major things we need to do when we are sick. First we must call for the elders of the church, to pray and anoint us in the name of the Lord. Then we must also confess our sins to one another so we may be healed. It also assures us that the prayer of faith shall save the sick.

This does not mean that after the elders pray for the sick, the sick person and his friends and family should stop praying. They need to continue praying process is complete. The key verse-is “pray without ceasing”.

It is important to note that after the prayer of the elders, the sick person should not take his medication or continue his treatment. Medical and scientific knowledge is wisdom from God to help his children. The prayer will work better with the medication and treatment from doctors. It does not matter whether it is orthodox medicine or herbal medicine. Both are fine when it has no fetish or idol worship attached.

Use what your faith directs you to use.

David Thought Us To Pray Before We Undertake Any Venture Or Do Anything.

Psalm 37:5

Commit thy way unto the Lord; and he shall give thee the deserves of thine heart.

According to this verse, once you tell God about everything you do, He will grant you success in everything you do. Sometimes we think certain things are too trivial or small to bother God with. The truth is there is nothing too small or too big for God to handle.
Matthew 19:26 says:
But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

JESUS TAUGHT US TO PRAY BEFORE STARTING OUR MINISTRY

Matthew 4:2

And when he had fasted forty and forty nights, he was afterward and hungered.

Acts 9:17-20
And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hand on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou might receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost and immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been his scales; and he received sight forthwith and nose and was baptized.
Verse 20 (Mathew 9:20) and straight way he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the son of God.

In Mathew 4, Jesus went to the desert to fast forty days and forty nights. It can be assumed that he also prayed because you cannot fast without praying. You cannot complete a fast without prayer. You would break it before it ends especially it if is for a long time. Note, as soon as the fast ended, devil was there to tempt Him. It is likely that this happened to confirm whether Jesus was ready to start his Ministry. He passed the test and started his ministry fully after that.

We as Christians also need to fast and pray before we start our ministry. It does not have to be forty days like Jesus did. Do what the grace of God and your faith would allow you to do.

Apart from fasting and praying on your own, it is also good for a man of God to pray for you, like Ananias did for Saul (Later became Paul) Ananias prayed for Saul to cure him of blindness and to prepare him for his ministry. Saul started. Saul started his ministry soon after the prayer.

The Apostle Demonstrated That Whenever Anybody Appointed To Do God’s Work, Leader & Ministers Should Lay Hand & Pray.

Act 6:5-6

And the saying pleased the whole multitude; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochonurs and Nicanor and Timan and parmesan, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch

Whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

These two verses show that when people are chosen to work in church, the priest and the elders should pray for them. There are other examples in the bible where people chosen to do the work of God were prayed for. Jesus himself prayed for his disciples before sending them out to do the work of the God.

Matthew 10:1
And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Doing the work of God makes you the devils targets. He does not want the work of God to go on because he wants to win more people into his kingdom. Prayer is therefore very important for all Christians because they are God’s workers in reaping the harvest of souls.

CONCLUSION

In the write-up, I have given one example of how we are supposed to pray and about six examples of when we are to pray. However, there are several other examples in the bible we could also learn from like.

Another example of how to pray is in 1Samuel 12:1-10-Hannah’s prayer after she was blessed with a son and she gave him to the Lord. If we are to pray without ceasing then we have to pray about everything.

Remember, prayer is the master key to all the closed doors in your life. Do not fret or fear when you face uncountable challenges. Like Philippian 1:28
Says
In nothing terrified by you adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition but to you of salvation and that of God.

And Mathew 10:28 says and fear not them which kill body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and bod in hell.

Prayer is the key
Prayer is the master key
Jesus started with prayer and ended with prayer.
Prayer is the master key

REFERENCES

1. Internet Bible
2. King James Bible
3. Oxford English Mini-dictionary