PRAY AND LET GOD HANDLE IT! (Pt. II)

The gospel musician, J. Moss, shared a significant message with us: “Don’t Pray and Worry.”  In fact, his song is a musical echo of the admonition of Jesus Christ, “that men should always PRAY and not faint.” (Luke 18:1) As we begin today, allow me to recap yesterday’s Kingdom truths.  We learned that “worry is a tragic waste of time and energy.  It displaces our faith and nullifies our confidence, thereby cancelling our opportunities.  Worry is actually a destabilizing force, designed in hell to terrorize and paralyze the people of God.  Jesus Christ admonishes believers to nullify anxiety and fear by safely trusting in the sovereignty of God.” 

COVENANTAL PRAYER, i.e. the believer’s Word-Based Prayer-of-Faith, becomes the potent spiritual antidote for dispelling all fear, anxiety and worry.  Since prayer is so vital and since it infuses such spiritual inspiration, strength and vitality in all who regularly approach the throne of grace, the following question is begged: “WHY DO WE FAIL TO COMMIT TO CONSISTENT PARTICIPATION IN PRAYER?”

This is an important question.  Unfortunately, there are significant barriers to developing a systematic and sustained prayer life.  Some of these barriers are: 1) The erroneous belief that we have little available time or opportunity to pray, 2) The absence of a specific appointment and area for family prayer in our homes, 3) The aggressive satanic warfare that is strategically deployed to block our participation in prayer, 4) A common misconception that prayer is unimportant, uninteresting, or boring, 5) Our failure to pray until we are ushered into The Throne Room, i.e. into the presence of The True and Living God, 6) Our failure to faithfully Pray-The-Word, which results in unanswered petitions and frustrated participants, 7) Our failure to potentiate our faith, enthusiasm, expectations and outcomes by participating alongside other believers.

We overcome all obstacles when the simple motto of Nike is applied to prayer: “Just Do It.”

Prayer is a spiritual phenomenon that is fully embraced, empowered, enlightened and enhanced as we engage a systematic and sustained participation.  In other words, the more we pray…the more we want to pray!  For instance, on those occasions when I become lax or inconsistent about personal prayer time, I am always amazed afterwards.  How so?  Because once I re-enter the presence of the Lord, in which there is “fullness of joy,” I cannot (for the life of me) understand why I have allowed any time or distance to interfere or intervene. (Psalm 16:11)  And at such moments of epiphany, I ask myself “WHY?”

Consider this.  Wouldn’t we be totally thrilled to receive a gold-embossed invitation from The White House or from Buckingham Palace or from Pretoria Government House?  Unfortunately, we have to ‘wait’ on such invitations, and most of us will find ourselves waiting for a very, very long time.  Nevertheless, we can become personally proactive in obtaining the most important, highly coveted, divinely-royal audience available anywhere in the universe.  For of our own will and volition, without any invitations or restrictions, we are permitted to make a DAILY APPOINTMENT…with the KING OF KINGS and the LORD OF LORDS!  WOW!!!  And our prayer possibilities are endless and amazing.  In truth, they are absolutely astounding!

So why not set a definite time and place to commune and communicate with Christ?  Might I ask a personal question?  When is your next appointment?  Don’t tell anyone, but my wife and I have already set ours up for later this afternoon…and we are absolutely thrilled about it!  To paraphrase the words of Tamela Mann, ‘Take Us to The King!’  Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed and stay tuned…more to come tomorrow!