The Lord has been pressing upon my heart the importance of prayer. Paul admonished us to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17), but what does that mean? The challenge, I believe, is taking prayer as the "window dressing" of a church or self to a place of a lifestyle.
When Jesus was teaching His disciples on how to pray, in Luke 11 has the "Lord's prayer", but what I was intrigued with was the passage that follows:
Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.' Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. " Luke 11:5-8 NKJV
Jesus, in teaching His disciples how to pray, teaches them to "stand in the gap" for the "friend" mentioned, and because of the man's persistence, his request is honored. The text that follows is goes as follows:
So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke 11:9-10 NKJV
We have not because we ask not. I wonder how many of my struggles are a result of not asking. Prayer is the key which unlocks the doors of heaven. When we come into agreement with God in prayer, things begin to change and move.
"Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." Matthew 18:18-20
"...the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:18-19
I'm still pondering these scriptures. I am coming to a place of truly understanding more clearly how prayer brings us into a place of agreement with Him...not the other way around. As the scripture says, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face...[I will] heal their land." Power is in prayer - that is why Paul said to pray without ceasing - it gets us in tune with the heart of the Father.
