Prayer Changes...errr Things?

Prayer Changes…errr Things?

By Daniel Criss

March 7, 2014

Prayer changes things. It’s been said and written so many times. And it really is true. I’ve seen too much evidence over the years to believe any differently.

What I believe is even more aptly stated however is that; prayer changes you!

 prayer changes you!

Simple statements such as the title of this article are just so general and really don’t give the Lord the glory due to His Name in my opinion. I believe if we are going to praise God in testimony or song we should be specific. I believe if we are going to speak on a subject, it should be specific. The statement ‘prayer changes things’, just doesn’t speak much faith into me, it never has.

 Once I learned how to get in touch with God in prayer, I quickly learned that the greatest affect daily prayer had, was on me. But it took the right kind or right type of praying for it to be effectual. Matthew chapter 6 is the lesson that Jesus taught on prayer. His first point in verse 9 was to acknowledge and glorify the Lord. And then the second point was in verse 10 which teaches us to be selfless by praying for the will of the Lord. You might pray every day, and it’s even possible that your prayers may be selfless. However, if your heart is not sincere enough to pray for the will of God, then it’s entirely possible that your prayers may be the cause of your soul to be lost. Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts. James 4: 3-4 (KJV) If you continue to pray amiss, you will eventually get it set in your mind that you’re soul is saved, just because you pray. 

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts. James 4:4

It is a biblical fact that prayers can be and are hindered. Hindered is found in 1 Peter 3:7 (KJV). The word means to be delayed, stalled, slowed down, held up, mired, stuck, caught up, over-involved. Now God is omniscient and omnipresent and I’m not saying that God doesn’t hear every prayer. What I am saying is that selfish prayers do not move God to mercy. Selfish prayers do not move God to change anything. And selfish prayers do not usher in the Holy Ghost which is the glorious presence of the Lord. The lack of a consistent, and humble, and selfless daily prayer life just proves that an individual is content with their own life as they want to live it.

The lack of a consistent, and humble, and selfless daily prayer life just proves that an individual is content with their own life as they want to live it.

Humility in prayer is an attribute that immediately gains the attention of the Lord. This can be seen with the prophet Isaiah in the book of Isaiah chapter 6. Here was a prophet of the Lord who describes his vision of seeing the Lord and the temple of the Lord, and though a prophet, Isaiah immediately recognized his unworthiness to be in the presence of a Holy, glorious, magnificent and marvelous God! Once Isaiah cried out to the Lord an immediate action took place that enabled Isaiah to get beyond his own inadequacies and answer to the call of God. God’s people were called to humble themselves in prayer in 2 Chronicles 7:14. This scripture still applies to us today; 

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

If you really want to see prayer change things, then you must resolve to allow the spirit of God to change you first. Once you humble yourself and selflessly begin to pray and read God’s word with prayer, and allow the Lord to speak to you through his word, then prayer will begin to change you. And then, you will begin to see that ‘prayer changes things.  

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16

Try it, test it, I challenge you to pray the will of the Lord with all of your heart.

 

Daniel Criss

 

President / Founder
Life Achievement Services, Inc.