ForgottenWoman

We’ve Underestimated the Value!

Oh, friends; we know the Scripture verses – “Pray without ceasing,” “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” “If ye have faith and doubt not, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive.” “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him.” There are so many more and we’ll look at most if not all of them in the future. But read those again and ask yourself, “Do I believe that?”

“Lord, teach us to pray!”

Why is this such a little-discussed part of our Christian walk? Maybe you consider yourself a prayer warrior and rightly so. If so; stay with me, because even you may be challenged. Personally, I have for years considered prayer one of the most important things that I can do – not only the “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” prayers but the prayers for each of my people – those that I love. Mommas, Dads – most of us would say that we would give our lives for our spouses, for our children, hopefully for our parents, for extended family, and hopefully for dear friends. Back to Scripture where we are told to love as God loves, that true love lays down its life for its friends… I hope I may have your attention by now! Sadly, because of social media and our ability to see into the lives of others, we are too well acquainted with how little we love. Doubt me? I’m sure you’ve heard the old joke, “I love you so much I would die for you, but I won’t walk across the room to get you a drink.” or “I love you so much I would die for you but my parking spot is the priority – you need to just stay out of my way!” or “I’ve had a long day – you need to just be quiet and serve me now.” My question: do we love God’s way? My answer: no, most of the time we don’t.

– Anyway; we often believe and say that we love well. We think we know of someone we would lay our lives down for. And that’s a big thing – but this person or these people you would lay down your life for: are you praying for them? Really praying?

Again: Lord, teach us to pray.

I challenge you along with me this evening to consider a few thoughts. I’m just going to place them here and let you think – and then we’ll talk further in the future.

• *In Isaiah 59:16, God wondered that there was no one interceding… is He wondering that today?
• *Even Jesus; fully God when He came as a man; spent hours in prayer!
• *God has chosen to limit His power to the prayers of His children. How often in His Word do we read, “If ye ask, I will!”
• *Prayer is the greatest force on earth. When you and I feel that a situation is desperate and we can do nothing – we CAN pray! Nothing can stop us!
• *God commands us to pray –
• *Anything we do in our own power is worthless! Satan delights in workaholics who are attempting “God’s work” in our own strength.
• *Prayer is our greatest weapon and yet, we spend so little time doing it!

There is so much to be considered here and it will take several articles to really share what is on my heart – but I hope you will think about the above thoughts and then pull out your Bible and read the following verses of Scripture. These don’t even begin to scratch the surface of all that God has to say about the value of prayer – the Bible mentions prayer more than 650 times. I think it may be important! It is my hope that God will make us into true prayer warriors – fighting for those we love on our knees day in and day out. The battle for our loved ones is won – not by striving to live perfect lives, not by our lectures and speeches, not by working our fingers to the bones, but by fervent prayer. Do we really believe that?

• Philippians 4:6-7
• Colossians 4:2 
• James 5:16 
• Psalm 145: 18-19
• Colossians 4:2-4

E.M. Bounds wrote, “Prayer moves the Hand that moves the world!” Stop and think about this for just a moment. Does this apply to MY prayers? YES! Do God’s words regarding prayer apply to ME? YES! Do I desire to grab hold of the power in prayer? YES! How about you?