Brendan Flannagan

After our full description of Christian prayer in the previous three articles, we may easily see how one may respond to the trials of life void of anxiety and filled with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving literally means an outpouring of praise, and uncontrollable outburst of joy. You see this concept further emphasize in Psalm [31:19], “how great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, who You have room for those who take refuge in you, before the sons of men!”

The Ultimate Peace

So, with thanksgiving you may pray to God knowing he hears you, understands your divine rights, and rejoices in all your blessings. This results “in the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension and is what guards your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:7).” The peace of God is wholeness and completeness- a joy found in God. This is a primary result of Prayer: we take joy in God's purposes. We find wholeness, completion, and peace in God's plan, despite the adverse circumstances and seemingly unbearable trials.

We understand all things that God designs are for good and so we have peace. Moreover, this peace in the trials of life, during hardships, and in struggles surpasses comprehension. Essentially the world cannot understand how the Christian can be at peace with his or her current circumstances. The world looks and says, “surely this person must be in fear anxious and worried?” But the Christian is none of these things because they draw their strength from the Lord.

Additionally, this understanding and comprehension serves to further guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ. Prayer and petition brings an understanding, which surpasses the wisdom of this world and allows the believer to be at peace in the most difficult times and hardest of circumstances. This understanding guards their hearts and minds because of the strength of Jesus Christ.

The Christian Identity

You may find a praying non-Christian but you will never find a non-praying Christian. Prayer and Christianity are synonymous. J. C. Ryle says this about prayer, “faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to Faith what breath is to the body. How a person can live and not breathe is past my comprehension. And how a person can believe and not pray is past my comprehension too!”

Prayer is not only an essential element of the Christian life it is the Christian Life. One cannot claim to be in a relationship without ever seeing, talking to, or caring about their partner. Often times in our relationships with God, he finds Himself on the end of an unanswered telephone.

A Two-Way Conversation

Christians must remember prayer is a conversation not a monologue. We are talking to God and He is listening, and in Holy Spirit-empowered, Word-directed prayer He is talking to us and we should be listening too. Fathers are you such men? Are you praying men? Men who listen to the word of God? Mothers do you pray? Do you cover your family in daily prayers? Is anxiety and worry far from you? Sons do you pray for your fathers? Do you care at all for the ones who love you? Daughters shall God recognize your voice on the final day? Saying, that sister prayed! One cannot hope to live as a Christian if he does not have his face perpetually turned to God, ever hoping the Father will provide the gifts he has previously promised.

The Desire to Pray

We must not guilt one another into prayer. Prayer is not the end; prayer is the means to a relationship with God. Guilt and legality are poor motivators to live a life pleasing to God- ask the Pharisees. Instead, we must find ourselves with a desire to love and praise God, a desire born not from within, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Only such a thing as this can produce the thanksgiving describe above.

I entrust you to God, if you have no desire to pray, if you are a weak vessel filled only with the ashes of fires past. I pray you may pray to God for a desire to pray! Only He can empower your prayer life, only He can establish you in faith, only He can give you a desire to love and serve Him for His glory forever.

The next article will attempt to kindle your desire to pray by looking at the life of Jesus Christ and watching how prayer informed every part of His powerful earthly ministry.