While investigating the phrase “holy hour of adoration” on the web, I came across this beautiful description of prayer. Please click the link to read for yourself.
www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=2953
Bless God
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When you pray for others, do you pray about them or for them? Whether they are friend or foe, do you pray about them or for them?
When praying about someone, we usually focus on praying for ourselves in some way. Whether it is related to something positive or negative about the person for whom we are praying, the focus is usually on ourselves, not them. It is selfish rather than otherish.
The prayer about someone is usually focused on what we want from the other person. Whether it is their love, their appreciation, a change in their behavior or attitude, the prayer is for our benefit, not the other person or the Kingdom of God, though we may try to state the prayer in a way that appears to be focused on something else. These prayers are rooted in the world’s values as the Apostle John stated in 1st John 2:16, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” It is the prayer of a consumer not the prayer of a blesser.
Praying for someone is always praying for their benefit and theirs alone. It is a prayer rooted in love for them and seeks their highest interest. What we get out the deal is irrelevant. It is a prayer rooted in 1Corinthians 13:4-8, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
This is why Jesus said in Luke 11:5-10, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’ “Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs. “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” This is the essence of a prayer for someone; asking, seeking, and knocking for their benefit.
The Father is anxiously awaiting the prayers for those you would bring before Him. Go and pray your hearts out.
Bless God
John Pearson
If we want our work to be centered in God, our will, at least virtually, must remain in him. That is why we should from time to time renew our intention. Thus, face to face with God, or better still, heart to heart with Him, we repeat our complete purpose, we renew our spiritual forces, we assure God again, of our will to serve Him in everything and in everyone.
from “An hour with Jesus”
by Abbe Gaston Courtois
The real sermon is made in the closet. The man — God’s man — is made in the closet. His life and his profoundest convictions were born in his secret communion with God. The burdened and tearful agony of his spirit, his weightiest and sweetest messages were got when alone with God. Prayer makes the man; prayer makes the preacher; prayer makes the pastor.
Edward McKendree Bounds (1835-1913)
But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.
Luke 5:16
Enough said.
Bless God
I was recently speaking with a friend and mentioned this blog and my desire to start a prayer group in my home. He asked if the group would be a study group about prayer or a prayer group. It has been his experience that most prayer groups he has been a part of spend more time talking about prayer than they do praying.
Andrew Murray said, “Prayer is caught not taught.” I agree. We do not learn to pray by studying prayer, but by praying. This is just how the Kingdom works. The truth of the Kingdom is revealed to us when we do what Jesus taught. And the truth then sets us free.
We learn what prayer is when we pray.
Bless God
John Pearson
I remember very clearly the encounter with God when He first called me to do the work of intercession. I was sitting at Memorial Hall in Dayton, Ohio watching the christian rock band Vison perform. Billy Powell of Lynard Skynard had founded the band after their plane crash.
As I watched I sensed God’s Spirit nudging me to go to the counseling room and intercede. I resisted.
“God,” I said, “This is Billy Powell from Lynard Skynard.”
“So,” God replied. “Go pray.”
Finally, after Vision was done performing and the stage crew was setting up for Mylon Le Fevre I went down to the counseling room to intercede. Thus began the journey into this work of the Kingdom.
From “Power Through Prayer”, Chapter One, MEN OF PRAYER NEEDED.
What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use — men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men — men of prayer.
E. M. Bounds (1835-1913)
Dr. Larry Lea has a wonderful teaching on prayer based on the Lord’s prayer in the Gospels. To visit his website use the link below.
Welcome to Prayer Becomes U. We are excited to begin a new post for promoting the deepening of personal prayer in the lives of those who follow Jesus Christ, the Son of God.