By Josephine Lim
Recently I learnt about prayer afresh even after many years of praying. We are definitely growing and learning new things each and every day and what else is more important than prayer. It’s the most powerful act anyone could do for themselves and for others. Who is the brilliant mind behind prayer? It is none other than God Himself who is full of love for mankind and wanting to bless and honour us when we pray.
For a few months I prayed for a very close friend of mine to be blessed with a good position in a good company at a strategic location. I’ve been praying for months for breakthrough until recently I received a fresh revelation of prayer that on that morning of my friend’s second interview that I prayed with truth and sincerity of heart. Praise the Lord on that same afternoon my friend was offered the job!
I thought I’ve learnt the secrets of effective prayer and that is declaration of blessings and words spoken in faith according to the promises in His word until the LORD taught me that a prayer that is real is equally powerful and more honourable than any kind of prayer. A prayer that is real is when we pray to God with truth and sincerity of heart without pretence or doing it as a duty (1 Samuel 1:10-20, Genesis 32:24-29, 1 Chronicles 4:9-10) but come to Him just as we are, knowing that the Lord is listening and is present to answer. We acknowledge that He is a real God who loves and cares enough for us to treat our prayers with great importance and urgency, surely He will grant the best possible answer to our request.
Sometimes we take prayer for granted. Sometimes we pray because we have to pray in the morning just in case we meet with unpleasant situation later in the day so better cover ourselves in prayer. Sometimes we pray because we are being told to do so without having the revelation of what prayer is all about. Sometimes we pray so that hopefully bad things will not happen. Sometimes we pray because we are Christian and so this is what Christians do but mind you other people with different religion also pray. Sometimes we pray because we want to please God to show Him that we honour Him so He better honour us by answering our prayers in order for us to continue trusting Him. Sometimes we pray hopefully He hears and will be kind enough to answer us.
No matter how we pray, the fact is that He hears but He delights and bless those who trust and place their hope in Him when praying (Jeremiah 17:7). Are you real when praying? Are you trying to impress Him to bless you or you humbly come before Him trusting that He is listening and drawing near to you to comfort and provide answers to your prayer? We are not just believing in prayer but we believe in a God who can deliver the answers to our prayers. When you start praying in realness and truth with the revelation of prayer, a deep sense of comfort, peace and confident trust will overwhelm your heart. You are conscious that your prayers are now in the dependable, reliable and mighty hands of God who will not fail you because He is so in love with you and has your best interest at heart. He’ll bless you with the BEST more than what you could possibly imagine or expect (Ephesians 3:20).
The illustration is the same for those who read a thousand and one books on self-development and improvement but if they don’t apply or put into practice what they’ve learnt they will not see any result or improvement. The same goes for prayer. If you pray often but if you don’t have the revelation that God is listening and He is handling the situation on your behalf, then you are just mumbling some words and it’s just another prayer to get by each day but if you pray with revelation conscious that a real God is listening to your every word and He is now on the case, you’ll see miracles that you prayed for, for the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED" (Romans 10:11).
So let us be truthful and real when we pray having the revelation that our God will see to it that we receive the miracles we hope for.
Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him
