The topic of my Tuesday affirmation blog series is prayer. Our prayers to God are the currency of heaven. Prayers are the grease that lubricates the machinery of heaven. Nothing gets done in heaven or on earth without prayer. If you want to know how important prayer is to God just look at the life and 3 1/2 year ministry of Jesus Christ, the son of God. If you’ll notice, Jesus was always praying; and praying about everything. We’re talking about God the Son praying to God the Father. The life of Jesus Christ was meant to be an example to all men of how we should lead our lives. Jesus always prayed and so should we. Keep praying until God answers our prayers, no matter how long it takes to receive an answer, even if it takes twenty years. We’re not privy to God’s timeline so we just have to trust God because he loves us. God is glorified when we pray to God and also when he answers our prayers, but God’s not going to give us anything until we ask for it. One thing is certain; once we get to heaven you’ll never hear any saint say to you that they prayed to God too much on earth. Every believer in heaven will regret that they didn’t pray to God more often. It’s impossible to pray to God too much or too often.
PRAYER AFFIRMATION:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Psalm 5:11 – But let all those rejoice who put their trust in you; let them ever shout for joy, because you defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You.
Pslam 40:16 – Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified!”
MY AFFIRMATION:
Daily I will rejoice that the Lord is my God. For you have made me O Lord and saved me unto eternal life in heaven in your presence. I will pray without ceasing, giving you the praise of my lips for your love, mercy, and grace toward your servant. Lord, I thank you for your guardian angels who watch over me. My gladness and joy is complete because the Lord’s presence is inside me. Before the throne of grace, I will continually say, “The Lord be magnified always; ever forever.”
NOTE: One type of prayer believers rarely engage in is a prayer of rejoicing. Why is that? Most believers don’t know they should be rejoicing in the Lord and if they do know they don’t know how to go about rejoicing in the Lord. People tend to pray to God only when they want something from God or when they’re in trouble. It’s more important to pray to God to show your joy and love for the Lord. When we speak our feelings to God in this way it becomes a prayer of rejoicing. Take a step back and look at this logically. God made you and put you on this earth to live your life. Every heartbeat and every breath you take is because God wills it to be so. You were born on the road to perdition (hell) for all eternity but God in his love, mercy, and grace called you to salvation and pulled you up to heaven to be in his presence forever. The Lord will shower his children with love forever and give them honor, glory, and riches beyond our wildest imagination. It doesn’t get any better than that. We should be doing cartwheels before God. But the Lord will settle for a little rejoicing.
PRAYER AFFIRMATION:
1 Timothy 2:8 – I desire therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
Ephesians 6:18 – Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
MY AFFIRMATION:
In obedience to your word O Lord, I will pray often before the throne of grace. Early and often will I seek your face O Lord; seeking your wisdom and guidance. By the praise of my lips, I will worship the Lord my God every day, offering up love, honor, and glory to my King. Praise the Lord for his kindness toward his servant.
NOTE: God doesn’t hear the prayers of nonbelievers. That all changes once you are saved unto eternal life by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit changes the believer’s eternal destination from hell to heaven the instant they are saved and the Holy Spirit indwells our body forever as our helper. Even when we get to heaven the Holy Spirit stays with us. As believers, Jesus gave us the right to have an audience before God 24/7, so when we pray God listens. God tells us this in his word and God cannot lie. As believers, we are holy vessels with holy hands, and we are to pray everywhere and at all times. We are to never stop praying and God promises to answer our prayers at some point as long as we don’t doubt God will give us an answer to our prayers.
You can’t pray too much for God; the more we pray the better it is for us. To be effective all our prayers must be addressed to God the Father in Jesus’ name. In the Bible, God tells us how to approach the throne of grace in prayer and if you do it differently your prayers are falling on deaf ears and you’re sinning against God. That means you can’t pray to Mary, the mother of Jesus, because she’s just a human being like us and she can’t hear your prayers to God nor can she help you. You also can’t pray to a Pope, priest, or Catholic saint for the same reason. Our God is jealous of his glory, and he will not give his glory to another!
PRAYER AFFIRMATION:
Psalm 37:4 – Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
MY AFFIRMATION:
I delight myself in the Lord through prayer and he gives me the desires of my heart. I will work diligently in God’s harvest field to help save many lost souls for the kingdom of God through my witness for Christ. I desire to serve the Lord for forty years like God’s prophets of old; or until Jesus Christ comes to rapture me and all saints in the air to receive our glorified bodies before returning to heaven. I desire to please God by my “good works.” I desire to stand before the bema judgment seat of Jesus Christ on the last day and hear him say, “Well done good and faithful servant.” Help me Lord because I desire to save many nonbelievers for the kingdom of heaven.
NOTE: The word “rejoice” means to feel or show great joy. The word “delight” means to, “take great pleasure in doing something.” God wants believers to show the great joy they feel in their hearts through prayers of rejoicing to Almighty God. God wants believers to delight, or take great pleasure in, our prayers to God the Father. I take great pleasure in witnessing for Christ to save nonbelievers to the kingdom of heaven. I delight in my ministry of reconciliation given to me by the Holy Spirit, which is to study God’s word and give my testimony. God has said in his word that he’ll give us the desires of our hearts as expressed to God in our prayers to him if we continue in our prayers until God answers and we don’t doubt that God will answer us when he is ready.
PRAYER AFFIRMATION:
James 4:2 – Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss.
James 5:16 – The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
MY AFFIRMATION:
I pray that my witness for Christ will save many nonbelievers to the kingdom of heaven. I’m indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God and I ask my Helper to take my prayers before the throne of grace and present them to God the Father in such a way that my prayers are pleasing in his sight. I pray that Jesus Christ, my Mediator, will present my case before the court of heaven for a favorable decision. I pray that the Lord will answer my prayers and use the gospel seed I’ve cast before God to save many lost souls for heaven.
NOTE: I fear in the past that I’ve prayed too little to God and left meat on the bone. For a long time, I prayed that God would return to me one-tenth of one percent of the gospel seed I cast before the throne of grace. For every case of 1000 Christian tracts I sent to one of my seven prison ministries I was asking God to give me credit for one saved soul; to make one tract fall on good ground and save a soul to heaven or move the person along the path toward salvation. For every 1000 people who read my blog, I asked God to give me credit for one saved soul. I don’t do that anymore. God says we can have what we ask for and I came to the conclusion I was asking for too little.
I now pray for a 10% return on the gospel seed I cast before God in the form of my blog and Christian tracts. When I send out Bibles, Christian books, and gospel comics I ask God in prayer for a one-to-one return or credit for one saved soul for each gospel seed. In Isaiah 1:18, God says we should reason with him and that’s what I’m doing when I ask God to save many more nonbelievers by my hand. God is not offended by my asking for his help. God can always say no. It’s always better to ask for too much from God rather than too little because God just might give us what we ask for. I assure you God won’t get mad if we ask for too much because God wants all his creatures in heaven with him forever.