Devotional Message

A PRAYING MAN NEEDS TO LISTEN

       We are continuing our discussion on prayer which began with last month’s issue.  I mentioned that in our prayers it is not just bringing to God a list of requests but it is also a moment where we allow God to talk with us just as Christ in moments of His prayer, listened to God the Father. God was in Jesus, if we read the Bible correctly. Jesus expressed via His earthly life in human terms that we can relate and understand who God is, what God is like, what are God’s plans for man, what is His love, how His love operates and how man is to respond to God.

       We see in the life of Christ on earth what prayer is and is not. Jesus set the pattern; He demonstrated in practical day-to-day life what God intended prayer to be. The need of prayer is too self-evident to be explained. That prayer is an important aspect of the Church and the Christian needs no assertion. The point is our attitude. This where many crucial, albeit innocent, mistakes are made, thus blocking many channels of blessing from God.

       What is your attitude in and toward prayer? We find in the life of Jesus, who is the personification of all that God is, three distinct and important elements concerning prayer.

       First, the attitude of praise constituted a large part of His prayer life. We see this in the “The Lord’s Prayer.” It starts and ends with praises to His Father. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name…For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory for ever…” Prayer is a time to sit quietly and honestly praise God. But most prayers—especially public prayers—are often just long lists of “requests.” There is very little praise if any.

       Second, Jesus taught the importance and power of group praying. He taught His disciples to go into the closet and pray. True also, He explained group prayer by stressing the dynamics of “togetherness” faith. Prayer power released by two or more gathered together in faith was His main theme on this aspect of prayer.

       Too little of any substance is shared among. Christians to pray about together. Is this not so? We often hear the phrase, “Let’s pray for one another,” but how can we pray for one another if we don’t know what to pray for? Prayer is the attitude of sharing with one another: sins committed, blunders made, shame befalling, blessings experienced, revelations understood, praises to share, trials of life, obstacles of living, victories tasted, God’s  name honored, honesty vindicated, sickness suffered, money problem, burdens for the lost. There is no end to the list. Prayer is a time to sit down with your Christian friends to share honestly, frankly and believe together in God’s will and His goodness and Christ’s righteousness.

       Third, the attitude of listening. The supreme test of prayer in Jesus’ life came in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was dark. All His disciples were sleeping. His earthly mission was ending shortly, His body was exhausted, His emotions exercised. His divine self clearly understood what was coming at Golgotha; His humanity craved for another type of “cup.” The troops guided by the traitor Judas Iscariot were approaching. It was time to pray. He asked God the Father—“My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by.”

       But His prayer was not yet completed. He paused and prayed, “Yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39). Here lies the most crucial dynamic of prayer power: listening to God. Prayer is a pause; a pause of mind ready to hear God’s voice, a pause of heart to feel God’s direction, a pause of life itself to come up above the traffic of life itself to come up above the traffic of daily life to reset the spiritual dial in tune with God’s plan. A pause to be encouraged, strengthened, chastised, admonished and cleansed—to be reborn daily.

       If Jesus had to listen to God, how much more of us. Rip away the oratorical ornament of prayer. Tear apart the galaxy of beautiful but meaningless phrases. Throw out the unmeant repetition of empty words. Pray to praise. Pray together. Pray to listen.
    
by: Pastor Elmer Manzo