I hope you liked the pic of Harry Potter and the Bible. It helps me illustrate something very important when it comes to prayer in the life of a believer. Some people believe that if you pray the right “incantations” in scripture then you can get what you want as long it was the right length, said with the right tone and said by the right person. Others don’t understand why people even pray because they think that God knows everything anyways so why tell him things he already knows. And still some believe that if you only pray enough then life will go right for you and nothing bad will happen to you. I think all of these definitions are incorrect.
To me prayer is more about reminding us and God of his promises and that we are basing our life off of the truths found in scripture and speaking those things over our lives. Just because a prayer has the right tone to someone and words to make sure that it is fighting the demonic realm at that perfect moment to have the maximum impact is saying that the FORM we use in prayer does something in the Spiritual realm. First of all, that is not Biblical. The Bible teaches the power of prayer is not in US but in Christ who is in us. Our part is to be obedient in praying and trust the results to God. Even though we say believe it is about God’s power we still pray as though we are the ones doing the work and that can get us into real trouble causing unmet expectations in our relationship with God. When we see prayer as a reminder to us, God and even the authority we have over the devil, we use it in a different way.
I am a person that needs reminders for everything. I want to let you in on a secret. Some people who know me say that I have an uncanny knack for remembering names. Although I do think I am natural at remembering people’s names, this doesn’t come without help. In my notes on my phone, I have a note called “names” where I type people’s names I just meet with some interesting piece of information or something that will help me remember them the next time I see them. It has saved me so many times with remembering people’s names that it is not even funny. Prayer is the same way! When I pray I am reminding myself of all the promises that God made to me in scripture and setting my day in a way that says, “God, I want your mind today and let me remember that even though I am trying to become more like you every day, that I ALREADY have all the things I need to be successful today because I follow and trust you.” That takes prayer from a laundry list of “what I need” to “I can do these things” as a reminder of the power of Christ in me.
I am blessed and highly favored in life not because of what I do BUT what I do is a reflection of Christ’s perfection in me. And when that reflection is not as “shinny” as it should be it is probably a reflection of my prayer life and time not spent with God. When I chose to pray I set my mind, heart and gaze for the day on higher things and not just on my earthly situation. Prayers that are REMINDER focused help me put my faith in Christ and his ability to do what he needs to do in me and through me. It also sets precedence with the devil and reminds him of his place in my world and my life. This is also important in when I get in a situation that seems overwhelming I use prayer as a reminder as to how BIG my God is and how little my problem is.
The other important thing to remember with prayer is that we need to not only speak and be obedient but also take time to listen! Prayer needs to be a two way street with God and not us just doing all the talking in the relationship. I truly believe that when we are obedient and spend time in prayer that God will share things with us. For me, as an example, God will just put people on my heart/mind to say a prayer for them. Sometimes I will text them or put it on Facebook to let them know they are getting prayer but sometimes I just pray and don’t say anything. This comes from just taking the time to slow down my day and listen.
When we stop thinking of prayer as a magic incantation and more of an act of obedience that sets our minds on higher things we will be less concerned about the outcome of our prayers and more focused on God’s perfect will in our life. And when we think of prayer as a time to listen as much as we talk then we begin to REALLY build the relationship that God wants us to ultimately have with him.
Holy Crap 