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!
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
