Our Only Option

…men ought always to pray, and not to faint; (Luke 18:1b)

             Whenever we try to pray, our old nature says, “Don’t pray, you don’t need to pray. You can make it on your own. You can work it out.” Our old nature says, “You don’t need God, you can do it yourself.” However, prayer brings God’s power to us. We do need to pray; we cannot make it on our own. The Bible gives us several reasons why we should pray:

Because the Devil Is Real

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:10-12)

             We should pray because Satan is real, and we are not going to win the victory against him without prayer. When we do not pray, we leave the door open for the Devil to enter. 1 Peter 5:8 warns us to “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” He will walk by our door a thousand times to find it open once. All Satan is looking for is the moment of his greatest temptation and the moment of our greatest weakness to come together.

             Man does not sin without the will (or desire) to sin; therefore, he must be strengthened to exercise his will against the Devil. When our Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He said, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13). Temptation is not a sin; yielding to temptation is sin. We should ask the Lord to keep us from temptation. There are places we should not go and things we should not listen to or look upon because Satan will use our weaknesses.

             All of us are studied by Satan and his demons, especially those of us who are trying to serve God and do His will. We should depend upon God as helpless babies because the Devil is real.

To Confess Sins

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

            To confess our sins means to say the same thing about them that God says. As God’s children, we should not harbor unconfessed sins in our lives. We need to keep short accounts with God. We must go to God in prayer every day to confess our sins and find forgiveness and cleansing in Him.

To Receive Things from God

Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. (James 4:2)

             We should pray because this is the way God has designed for us to receive things from Him. Our God in Heaven has everything we need. God can do all things, He owns all things, and He can provide all things. He says the way to get things from Him is through prayer. He might not give us everything we request, but we’ll never know until we ask Him. Prayer is asking.

To Deal with Worries and Cares

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

             This is a precious promise. We should pray because our worries and cares can be done away with through prayer. We are so anxious about things, and most of the things we get anxious about never come to pass. We live such worrisome lives. The reason for this is not our personalities or our upbringing. The reason we live such anxious lives is our prayerlessness. We should pray because this is the only way to deal with our worries and cares.

For God to Meet Our Needs

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16)

             In time of need, we should come before the Lord; He has made a way to meet our needs.

             There are two things we are constantly dealing with all our lives. One is lust. Every one of us has lust in his heart. We all have lust: the desire to have, the desire to do, or the desire to be. All of us must deal with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

             We must also deal with lures. The world and the Devil make sure something is always dangling in front of us. People say, “I never had such a hard time until I decided I was going to live for God.” When we decide to give our lives to Christ, the Devil does everything in his power to destroy us. The Devil gets much credit that he does not deserve; the world is out there luring us also.

             In a time of need, we can go to the throne of grace. Praying is God’s way of meeting our needs.

Because Christ Is Praying for Us

             The Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry was the great work of redemption. On Calvary, He bled and died; He was buried in a borrowed tomb and came forth from the grave, alive forevermore. The great work of Christ, at this moment, is the work of interceding. He is interceding for us. Has He heard from us lately?

             In the book of Hebrews, we see the great Interceder. Hebrews 7:25 says, Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

              Jesus Christ ever liveth to make intercession for us. In I Timothy 2:5 the Bible says, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

             We should pray because Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father ever living to make intercession for us.

In Conclusion…

             We pray or we fail. We pray or we worry ourselves sick. We pray or we live defeated lives. We pray or we dishonor God. We pray or we struggle through life, drifting aimlessly. We pray or the Devil is the victor. There is no middle ground.

             May God work in our lives until we get to the place where prayer is the only option.

Please click here if you’d like to read more of what the Bible says about prayer.

On the third Wednesday of every month, we have a churchwide prayer meeting at the beginning our the service; we hope to see you there! Please click here for our service times.

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