In his book, “Prayer, Asking and Receiving,” John r. Rice says, that real prayer is asking and answered prayer is receiving what we ask for, in the will of God. I agree with his premise for the most part, but as we enter into our prayer time, it is more than just asking, it is communion with the Lord. It should be a precious time of conversing with the Lord. I know the the Lord will speak to us primarily through His Word, however there is that still small voice that speaks to our heart that is unmistakably, the voice of God speaking to our situation.
Luke 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
I don’t believe that any real Christians is completely satisfied with their prayer life. We pray too short, or we don’t focus in prayer, we fall asleep during prayer time, or we don’t really have a prayer “life.” There is an interest, but a lack of commitment. Prayer is hard work. It takes great concentration, time and effort to really pray.
Colossians 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
Eaphras was a man the worked in prayer for the church of Colossi. Are we laboring in prayer over anything? Are there burdens on our hearts heavy enough for us to commit time and energy into real prayer? The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Matthew 26:40-41 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
The night before Jesus went to the cross, He went to the garden to pray with His disciples. They had no idea what was about to transpire, even though Jesus had told them that He would be crucified. They fell asleep when they should have been praying. We are no different than Jesus’ disciples, our attention span and our flesh will cause us to sleep when we should be praying.
In order for us to have a walk with the Lord, we need to commit ourselves to prayer. We can’t allow our weakness of flesh to keep us from the work that needs to be done in prayer. Let’s get committed to becomming people of prayer, ask and receive, seek and find, knock and see doors open in our lives. Commit to communing with the Lord!