Live in the Spirit of Prayer

I Timothy 2:8 I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.

God wants us to pray all the time and everywhere, announcing our dependence on him. I would like to quote our pastor, Clarence Sexton. (By the way, he himself is in much need of prayer. He has been very sick for three months without a clearly defined cause for his sickness.) “The most neglected part of our Christian life is prayer. We need God more than anything or anyone else. If we learn to pray, we can do anything that God calls us to do. We have access to God our heavenly Father through the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. He purchased this access for us. On his merit, we come to the throne of grace and find help in time of need.”

Paul writes to his son in the faith Timothy: I Timothy 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks may be made for all men. Notice the priority! Prayers of all sorts as well as thanksgiving are to made FIRST OF ALL. Notice also that they are to be made for ALL men. Paul goes on: I Timothy 2:2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honest. 3. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4. Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. How often we complain about those in authority without praying for them. Further we see that the will of God is that all men be saved. Do we pray as we should?

Pray everywhere:

God is everywhere. Our Lord Jesus Christ is everywhere with us. He is our access to God the Father: I Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man; the man Christ Jesus; 6. Who gave himself a ransom for all: to be testified in due time.

Furthermore, we should be in the spirit of prayer at all times. It is worth noting that Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. They were with him when he preached, healed, and did miracles, but they did not ask him to teach them to do so. But they were struck by His prayer life, and asked Him to teach them to pray. In Luke chapter 11, Jesus gives us a parable about prayer without giving up. In one parable, he describes a man who had nothing to feed a visitor who arrived at midnight. He goes to a friend to get help. At first, the friend will not arise, but the man continues to knock until his friend opens the door and gives him what he needs. Jesus goes on to say: Luke 11:9 And I say unto you: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10. For everyone who asketh receiveth, and he who seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. The verbs ask, seek, and knock are in the present tense in Greek, indicating that we are to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking.

We need to approach prayer with belief and trust (faith)

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him (God), for he that cometh to God must believe that he is (that is, that God really exists), and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. In John 14:14, Jesus promises: If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.

Lifting up holy hands:?

Many lift up their hands while praying, symbolizing reaching out to God with upstretched hands. Our hands should be holy; that is, that we should be living a holy life. Our hands stretching toward God are empty, symbolizing that we have nothing, but that God has everything, and requesting him to fill our empty hands. When Solomon dedicated the temple, he spread out his hands toward heaven (I Kings 8:22).?

We are to lift holy hands without wrath or doubting:?

In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus gave another parable about persistence in prayer in faith. Luke 18:1 And he spake a parable to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint. A widow was not receiving her rights from an enemy and went to a lawyer. The lawyer was described as a man who feared neither God nor man and did not want to help her. However, she persisted in faith, and the lawyer defended her so that she would no longer trouble him. Then Jesus said that if an ungodly lawyer could be won by a widow just by her persistent asking, how much more will God answer believers who ask him!

Conclusion:

As believers, we need to live a life of faith. We ultimately have nothing, but God has everything to enable us to live a godly productive life. We need to live a life in the spirit of prayer, living clean lives, believing in Him and praying without ceasing to Him.