Bible Reading: 2 Samuel 19, 20; Luke 18:1-22.
“And he spake a parable unto them to this end , that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;” – Luke 18:1 (KJVS)
Praying is making a request for help or showing appreciation to someone in a higher position. When you ask someone to give you money, you are praying to him. When you ask another to defend you, you are praying to him to come to your aid. Similarly, we pray to God asking for his help on various matters. Therefore anyone who does not pray to God is telling him that he can do without His help. And that could be interpreted to be pride.
Praying to God can be in different ways. It could be by thanking him for what he has done. It could also be by eulogising Him for who He is. This would be by praise and worship. Also prayer could be asking him for your need or the needs of others!Whichever approach you adopt, Jesus enjoins his followers to pray without ceasing. He recognised that human being needs help always and the only being that you can ask for help continuously without wearing him down is Jesus Christ. In fact communicating with him regularly will not only assure you a steady source of help but will also draw you closer to Him such that you get to know Him more intimately. No wonder Jesus admonished men in Luke 18:1 (KJVS), “And he spake a parable unto them to this end , that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;” Such help is incomparable with help from men because God is not limited in anyway. While men may not be able to render help because of their limitation, God is not limited by any resource. Sometimes you may ask a man for financial support because of your perception of his worth but he may be out of purse at that time for one reason or the other. Such cannot happen to the Almighty!
In addition, regular prayer to God makes you become a friend of God and He will reveal future things that you do not know to you. In Genesis 18:17 (KJVS), “And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;” In fact God recognises human’s limitation in knowledge and so he says in Jeremiah 33:3 (KJVS), “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Based on His limitless knowledge, your continuous prayer to Him makes Him accustomed to you such that before you call on Him, He will answer you because He knows your needs. This he stated in Isaiah 65:24 (KJVS), “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.”
God is a Spirit and so our spirit communicates with His Spirit. So you don’t need to speak loud or shout at all times when praying. You can also do it silently. So you can thank Him, praise Him, pray to Him, make supplications to Him in the language you understand or even in Holy Ghost! Apostle Paul said so much in 1 Corinthians 14:15 (KJVS), “What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.”
Action Point: Pray to God for thirty minutes thanking him, praising him and making request for what your associates need and thereafter your specific needs.
Bro. Biodun Oyapero