I have subscribed to many YouTube channels but there is this particular channel on investing that has held me quite spellbound. I have notifications turned on, especially at the peak of the covid pandemic of 2020 because I just couldn’t afford to miss out on regular updates. I had to be up to speed with the best investment opportunities out there.
Why and what has this got to do with prayer you may be wondering. A lot actually: Just as I had to subscribe to the channel and check out any new updates and videos so I do not miss out so is the art of prayer and why it is a must-do part of our daily lives.
Prayer is communicating with God our heavenly father. He created us and has a purpose and a plan for us. but then how do we get to know what God’s plan for us is if we do not talk to him?
The benefits of prayer
- The mind of God is communicated to you
- You receive grace to live the Christian life
- Answers to our desire
- you get to know the mind of God for your life
How often should you pray?
Scripture does not give specific numbers as to how many times to pray say in a day. Ah! That sounds great, now we can rest our minds.
Well not so fast. It would have been great if scripture had given some specific number, it gets a little more complicated than that.
The Bible says to pray without ceasing.
“Pray without ceasing,” Paul said; “in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit.” (1 Thes. 5:17–19.)
So there we go, no specific times and hours but we are not left off the hook. And we must understand that prayer is really important that is why we are told to pray always.
Jesus puts it this way, “men ought always to pray and not faint(Luke 18:1).
Let’s unpack that with practical examples because obviously, we cannot pray 24 hours nonstop. We have examples in scripture of people who prayed different kinds of prayer
DIFFERENT KINDS OF PRAYER
The bible urges us to pray different kinds of prayers and we have examples in scripture to buttress this point
- Praying for long hours- we see this exemplified in the life of JESUS himself. He woke up very early in the mornings so he could spent considerable time praying. This is a good model for us to follow.
MARK 1:35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. - Praying fervently- fervent prayers carry tremendous power to move mountains and change the cause of nature itself. This is seen in the life of Elijah who prayed and continued in prayer seven times till he saw his prayers answered
16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righte we ous man has great power to prevail. 17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth yielded its crops. - With these examples above we can study our personal lives and schedule time for our personal prayer journey.