How was your prayer life?
How strong is your prayer life?
I ask these questions because so many believers will pray today and stop praying tomorrow, discouraged and defeated thinking.
God has not answered their prayer while there may be a time when God answers prayers quickly.
I believe that sometimes we need to pray.
Often, we need to pray consistently before we can see the hand of God move in our lives.
Now, the amplified translation for James five verse 16 says, therefore, confess your sins to one another, your false steps, your offenses and pray for one another that you may be healed and restored.
The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man or believer can accomplish much when put into action and made effective by God.
It is dynamic and can have tremendous power allow me to highlight a few words that jump out to me concerning prayer and myself as a believer.
Firstly, my prayers ought to be heartfelt.
They need to come from a deep place within me that longs for the Lord.
Secondly, my prayers need to be persistent.
They should be frequent, not just a prayer here and a prayer there, but there has to be a level of consistency about my prayer life.
And finally, I need to be practicing righteousness.
I need Jesus Christ to help me become a righteous person, a righteous believer.
So from James five verse 16, I want you to take away three things concerning your prayer life.
Your prayers should be heartfelt, your prayers should be persistent and you need to be striving to chase and pursue the righteousness of God.
Now, I’d like to encourage you from the book of Nehemiah.
In chapter eight, the latter part of verse 10 says, do not sorrow for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
We can stand strong because of the great joy we have in Christ.
We can be at peace knowing that no matter the outcome of our situation, we have eternal hope in Jesus.
We have great assurance that even when things seem uncertain, the Lord is always looking out for our best interest.
Isaiah 40 verse 31 says, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
All throughout the Bible. We see these beautiful promises, promises that God will give us strength in our time of need.
Promises that our heartfelt and persistent prayers will be heard by God promises that we should not sorrow.
Because through the joy of the Lord, we have strength over and over, we are reminded that no matter what we face there is hope.
We are heard by the Lord. We should not rely on ourselves for strength.
But instead we should understand that our strength comes from Jesus.
So it’s not about how hard we try or our ability to fight. It’s all about Jesus.
Now let us pray. Heavenly Father, your mercies are new every morning and your faithfulness is unmatched.
Lord, we’re so grateful with the life that you’ve blessed us with. Help us to pray.
Lord, help us to pray consistently, help us to pray without ceasing psalm.
31 verse 20 says, you shall hide them in the secret place of your presence from the plots of man.
You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
Keep us hidden in the secret place of your presence.
Master, your presence protects us from every evil plot. It shields us from all negative words spoken against us.
There is power in your presence, almighty God and we desire that power to be upon our lives.
So my prayer today is that you would hide us in the secret place of your presence where no evil can approach, but where we are blessed to be in fellowship with you, we are in your care master.
We look to you, we rely on you and we trust in you.
Your word tells us in Proverbs three verse six, in all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.
Holy Spirit, help us to acknowledge the Lord in all my ways so that you can direct my steps.
I pray that the Holy Spirit would remind me that I am no longer a slave to fear, but a child of God.
And as such, I can already claim the victory over my trials and temptations. Lord.
We look to you for provision when we are in need and I declare your word in Psalm 37 verse 25 which says once I was young and now I am old yet I have never seen the Godly abandoned or their Children begging for bread.
We claim this promise over every need in our lives today, Lord.
And we trust that you will not forsake us as we seek peace and direction from you.
And while we do not know what is ahead or what tomorrow holds, we are thankful that we are under the care of the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.
We’re grateful that we know you the one who holds the future.
And I can be confident in my heart that all is well, since you are on the throne, guide us in all of our ways and do not allow us to deviate from your will teach us to pray Holy Spirit so that we will not fall into temptation even though our flesh is weak, strengthen us, empower us to fight and pray put within me hunger and thirst to seek after God’s presence.
Give me the right attitude, put a fire within my soul to be persistent in prayer.
As I seek the presence of the Lord Lord, we desire your presence.
We are praying and seeking your presence.
I pray that the Holy Spirit would teach us the importance of prayer.
I pray that the Holy Spirit would teach us to be diligent in prayer.
I bless your precious and holy name, King Jesus.
Amen.