Reading through one of Max Lucado’s devotional materials recently, “The Power of Simple Prayer”, and a couple of lines in the scriptures, I discovered that we all need a proper understanding of how to pray and the secret behind reaping the fruits of prayer. Prayer is communication with God Almighty, the father of all, and it implies that it is useless to rehearse communicating with your father. A child does not have to cram the proper way of speaking with his own dad; to impress Him about what? The truth is that, understanding your Identity as a child matters at this point. Romans 8:15 “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” The relationship God desires to have with you is father to son/daughter, but this truth is only a reality to those that believe and have faith in Him. A deficiency of this truth is a calamity and tragedy to the life of any man or woman, who is looks unto God, believing Him for a cordial relationship that translates into eternity.
Hypocritical communication with God is also a not-how-to-do-it factor in walking with God. There is no need wanting to show-off to somebody that you know how to talk to your father. Luke 18:10-14 “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” The above passage of the scriptures is narration of two men praying and one focused on God and expressed his reliance on Him for forgiveness and help and the other, showing off his good behaviours and righteousness before God.
The Lord sees your heart, and He treats you according to the status of your heart and how you present yourself before Him. For you to prevail in prayers, and for the blessings of God to be evident in your life, you need to be simple in presenting your request before God, the omnipotent being, and not a systematic way to speak large vocabularies to impress your neighbour, showing-off that you are more spiritual.
As a human being, there are natural tendencies to feel guilty and downcast when you sin, but your status of sonship in Christ Jesus has qualified you to be a son forever. You have the DNA of God and there is nothing anybody can do about that, than to accept that truth. 1 Peter 1:18-19 “Knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ Jesus.” The truth above has given you access to the throne of Grace as many times as possible, as long as you remain at the centre of God’s will. But the devil, as described by John in Revelations 12:10b “…..for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” The direct implication of the devil’s activities is that you feel unqualified to approach God, your father, boldly and to communicate, thereby affecting the flow of your relationship with Him.
It is therefore established now that whatever your situation is at the moment does not remove your irrevocable identity of sonship with God, who you can always call “Abba Father”. Your life has been redeemed and kept in Him at the point when you confessed Him as your Lord and Saviour. So all you need do now is to make confessions and declarations of what you require of God, your father, in the name of His son, Jesus, and all shall be granted.
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