Prayer is simply making one’s request and need known to the Father. It is a way of communicating with the Father. It is not only bringing our request and problems to God but also having a communication with the Father, this is why we need to pray directly to the Father.
Prayer is a good thing for every Christian. It builds a strong relationship between man and his Creator; God. It also makes it possible for us to give thanks for all that He has done for us, for our loved ones and friends.
There is no need asking for Holy Mary to pray on our behalf. Besides, she is dead and the dead cannot talk so how is it possible that she will pray on our behalf. It is impossible for her to speak on her own behalf to talk to others.
Prayer being a communication between man and God does not mean one should have a repetitive recitation that we keep saying always. That is not the mood of prayer recommended for Christians. It is recommended of a good Christian to open his mouth and pour out whatever is on his or her heart to God in prayers.
God already knows our heart desires, he knows our needs and wants already, so there is no need repeating something over and over again.
So, it is in vain to be praying in a repetitive manner. God is merciful, kind hearted and ready to listen to our prayers. Therefore, we just need to come to him with a clean heart and request for our needs through prayers and supplications.
Prayer is supposed to be said always. It needs to be part and parcel of every good Christian because the Bible commands us to pray without seizing. We are to pray in the morning, in the afternoon, evening, midnight etc. We are to pray before taking our meals, give thanks for the meal, in fact pray anytime the opportunity arises.
Unfortunately, some pray only on their birthdays, when they are in trouble, in hardship, or difficult times arise. They only pray when they find themselves in uncomfortable situations. Some also pray occasionally, once a month or even a year.
This is not what the Bible tells us to do. We should also pray in good times too. We should pray in all situations to God. In every circumstance, we should pray to God. That way He knows we are not just after the things but we are ready to serve Him in every circumstance. This was what the parable of Jesus in the book Luke 18:1 teaches us to do.
Luke 18:1
Man out to pray always without fading.
Just saying a prayer too does not guarantee that it has reached the Heavens. There are certain conditions that need to be met for our prayers to be heard by God. We first need to have a clean heart. A heart clean from all sorts of sins. A heart that is forgiving. For our prayers to be heard by God we first need to make things right with ourselves and with our fellow men. We must make sure that we have first forgiven all those that have wronged us in any way. For without forgiveness our prayers won’t be heard by God because we are all sinners and God forgave us so we should also make it a point to forgive others. This was clearly highlighted in the Book of Luke 11: 2-4 when Jesus was teaching the disciples how to pray and I quote “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
How can we achieve this state of being clean so that our prayers can easily reach the Heavens for God to answer them? This can only happen when we avail ourselves to the word of God. Through the Word of God, we can get to know what is required of us to do as a child of God. The word of God will direct our path in the ways of God. So allowing the word of God to enter us will transform us totally. It will make us new creations because we will now be led by the spirit of God and the laws of God.
We need to allow the word of God to enter into our hearts. There might be all kinds of miracles happening in our churches but are we learning the word of God? Let's take a look at what is written in the book of 1 Peter 1:22….
1 Peter 1:22
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently
The purification of the heart is being obedient to the word of God. We need not only listen to the word of God but it should transform our lives. We need to receive it with an open heart so that it can work on it. This will make us doers of the word without us even noticing it.
2 Timothy 2:19
Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity
Hence we should not harken our hearts to the word of God because that is the only thing that can bring a transformation into the life of a sinner and every us Christians. Our hearts become clean through this.
In a nutshell, prayer is good for every Christian but for our prayers to reach our Heaven Father, we need to make sure our hearts are purified in every possible way. It is only through the purification of the heart that our prayers can be heard for it to be answered. This is where I draw the curtains on what I learnt from this past Thursday indoctrination program.
Thank You.