{"id":166,"date":"2023-12-20T17:59:03","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T17:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mamachurchonline.org\/?p=166"},"modified":"2023-12-20T18:04:11","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T18:04:11","slug":"the-importance-of-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mamachurchonline.org\/?p=166","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Prayer\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Bobbie Jean Dicking<\/em>…….<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

May Our Father open our ears to the Word of God as we read these Words of Life. May the  Scriptures accomplish the purpose for which Our Father pinned it. May the enemy of our soul,  the devil, be rendered helpless in any attempt to block or prevent this word from being heard  and understood. Amen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Salvation (BORN AGAIN), Praying is the essential activity in which the people of God can  and must engage in especially during these last evil days and critical times. We are living in the  last days and God has poured out His Spirit as recorded in both the Old and the New  Testaments. (Joel 2:28-32 and Acts 2:17). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God has called us to revival! He told us what to do when the evil of the fallout of sin and  unrighteousness overcomes us. He said in 2nd <\/sup>Chronicles 7:14; \u201cif my people, which are called by  my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked  ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (KJV, ASV)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, I say again, \u201cPraying is important\u201d. I will dare to say that it is THE most important God  given resource in which to excel. It is obvious that praying is the one thing the devil does not  want believers to do. The devil has an arsenal of excuses and distractions to keep us from  praying. WE HAVE NOT, BECAUSE WE ASK NOT. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of us believe that we are too busy to pray. We leave it to those who we regard as prayer  warriors to pray for us. We want to leave it to the pastor to pray for us as if we are not allowed  to approach God or God only hears the pastor. Prayer is vital. Prayer is our lifeline to the Lord.  Prayer is the oil that secretes victory to the armor we are encouraged to put on to ward off the  constant attack and presence of the devil. We are told to put on the Whole Armor of God and  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

after putting it on we must Stand praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit  and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer IS vital. In these 80 years I have been on Earth, I have learned that God hears and  answers prayer. I really do not think I am telling many of us anything we do not know. The fact  that the devil works so hard to stop us from praying is evident; why? The devil knows that <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer is the lifeline to God. The enemy of prayers encourages us to cut down prayer time to fit  our schedule. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer is communication and communion with God. Prayer is talking to God and listening to Him  talk back to you. Yes, He does talk back to us. What kind of relationship is it when we do all the  talking and none of the listening. God does not cram himself into our idea of Him. He does  encourage us to get to know Him. \u201cStudy to show thyself approved unto God\u2026\u201d If any of you  lack wisdom, let him ask God..\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many times, Jesus prayed within earshot of the disciples. They listened, heard, and were  impressed with His conversations with His Father; so much so that they asked Him to teach  them how to pray. They said, \u201cMaster, teach us to pray\u201d. The prayer that He taught them to pray  can be found in the 6th <\/sup>chapter of Matthew, the 6th <\/sup>through the 15th <\/sup>verse and also in the 11th<\/sup> chapter of Luke verses 2 through 4. This prayer is called the Lord\u2019s Prayer traditionally by  theologians and other scholars. It is not the Lord\u2019s Prayer. The prayer that the Lord prayed for  Himself is in the 17th <\/sup>chapter of John. This prayer that we call the Lord\u2019s Prayer is the prayer that  Jesus taught His disciples to pray when they asked Him to teach them to pray. Both prayers are  vital to our understanding of God and what He wants us to have and know.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have heard others refer to this prayer as a child\u2019s prayer, that is, one who is young and just  beginning to learn to pray\u2026 a baby prayer. There are those who put it forth as a pattern for  prayer, not meant to be adhered to (word for word) as we grow in age and mature in the Lord.  Again, I refer to my age. I am a ripe old eighty, and I have found that this prayer is as simple and  profound as it appeared to be when it was taught to me when I was four and also when I repeat  it as I enter into my second childhood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew with this prayer and this prayer grew with me. Oh glory! Yes, it can stand alone, and Yes, it is filled with power and pattern, and Yes I still pray it today. The prayer that the Lord Jesus  taught to his adult disciples is simplicity buried in the complex and the complex buried in simplicity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Jesus taught us to say OUR FATHER. Here I meet the Love of God. I look for it in all the  dealing of His sheep who know His voice. He answered in response to the question, \u201cWhich is  the greatest law?\u2019 Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart all thy mind and all thy soul; and so I <\/p>\n\n\n\n

look for His love in all His dealings with us. I found it in this prayer in the words Jesus taught us when He said to approach Him as \u201d OUR\u201d Father.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems that we cannot pray for ourselves without praying for us all. The pronouns in this  prayer are inclusive. We are instructed to use inclusive pronouns throughout this prayer. Give us our <\/em><\/strong>daily bread, Lead us <\/em><\/strong>not into temptation. Forgive us our <\/em><\/strong>trespasses or ou<\/em><\/strong>r <\/em>debts those <\/em><\/strong>who  trespass against us<\/em><\/strong>. If we use these pronouns we cannot avoid praying for others as well as  ourselves. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just in these first words we see that God\u2019s love is for everyone as reflected in this prayer. It is  true that we are all God\u2019s children, even the stubborn hard-headed ones, and we pray for them  as we pray for ourselves. Is the love of God in our prayers. Of course it is.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are to address Him as Father<\/strong>. We have a Father who is ever present. He did not leave us.  Our Father is not a stepfather. Our Father is not an absentee father. Our Father is not a negligent  father. Our Father is not a poor father. Our Father is not an abusive father. Our Father is all  powerful, all knowing, and everywhere present. He is not a baby daddy. He is not behind in  child-support. His DNA is ours.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And an eye-opening revelation is since He is Our Father, then we are brothers and sisters. Some  of us may be in a far away country spending our inheritance on foolishness or ready to eat  swine food. Others of us may be right here in the house with Father, but out of relationship or fellowship, despising our work, but working ungrateful just waiting for our reward, not knowing  we are living in it right now. Thank you Father for the privilege of prayer. Thank you, for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We thank you Father for being our real Father. We thank you for your mercy and grace, for  your love and guidance, for your peace and patience, for you constant presence, for your son  who came to show us you, for your Holy written Word, for our comforter Holy Spirit, for your  gifts, for your guidance. We praise and honor you O Lord God, Our Father. Amen <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bobbie Jean Dicking……. May Our Father open our ears to the Word of God as we read these Words of Life. May the  Scriptures accomplish the purpose for which Our Father pinned it. May the enemy of our soul,  the devil, be rendered helpless in any attempt to block or prevent this word from being heard  and understood. Amen.  After Salvation (BORN AGAIN), Praying is the essential activity in which the people of God can  and must engage in especially during these last evil days and critical times. We are living in the  last days and God has poured out His Spirit as recorded in both the Old and the New  Testaments. (Joel 2:28-32 and Acts 2:17).  God has called us to revival! He told us what to do when the evil of the fallout of sin and  unrighteousness overcomes us. He said in 2nd Chronicles 7:14; \u201cif my<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamachurchonline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamachurchonline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamachurchonline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamachurchonline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamachurchonline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=166"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mamachurchonline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173,"href":"https:\/\/mamachurchonline.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions\/173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamachurchonline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamachurchonline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamachurchonline.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}