You Better Know How to Pray!

I can’t say enough how thankful I am to have Jesus as my Lord and Savior. There is so much going on in the world, and our individual lives. I can truly say that when trials and tribulations come, and I begin to feel the pressure around me, I know can pray and have peace concerning whatever may be going on. We’ve already been warned in the Word of God that trials and tribulation would come (John 16:33). So there is should be no surprises that hard time will come. This is why it is so important to know the Word of God so we can pray the Word. God hastens to perform His Word. I am so glad my mom took us to church and prayer services. I learned to develop my prayer life, my faith and my confident trust in God. Now this did not happen overnight - in fact it took years; maybe I was slow. I’m not saying that I don’t see or feel the things that are going on around me. I continue to remind myself that God is in control, that God’s Word works when I work it, that I am the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus. I win!

There is an enemy out there that is roaming around seeking whom he can devour (1 Peter 5:8). You better know how to pray. The enemy, the devil, has always attached families, but even the more so now – you better know how to pray! Cover your spouse and child(ren) in prayer everyday – as much as you can. The enemy is subtle, hard to detect, in his tactics. He’ll present himself as needy, helpless or as a child of the light. Matthew 10:16 states:

Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves; be [a]wary and wise as serpents, and be innocent (harmless, guileless, and [b]without falsity) as doves.

Before you or your family knows it you’ll be caught up in something you weren’t intending. You better know how to pray! The price of food, services and gas are increasing, but wages are staying pretty much the same – you better know how to pray! I don’t do a lot of unnecessary driving, but I am doing all I know to do watch wasting gas or food. Gas is ridiculous, but we all need it. I am not one for eating leftovers, but leftovers are becoming my favorite (smile). There is so much uncertainty in the world. These are indeed perilous times we are living in, but the Word has already informed us of these things (2 Timothy 3:1-3). Even with all these things going on, one thing remains the same – God! God never changes. He is the same today as He was yesterday (Hebrew 13:8). He is the only constant in our lives. People and jobs will come and go; food, service and gas will probably continue to increase, but God is the same, and He is or should be our ONLY source of supply. I thought God was my only source of supply at one time until there was no one working in my household. We looked more to that paycheck than we did to God – it’s the truth. Once I realized this, I changed that real quick. I prayed, studied the Word, and paid my tithes. It does rain of the just and the unjust alike, but the difference in the just and the unjust is that the just has the Word of God. We can pray and release our faith, standing on the Word of God, and see our situation change for the better. The just can pray during trials and tribulation and have peace. Isaiah 32:17 states:

And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever

We are the righteousness in God through Christ Jesus, and the effect of our righteousness is peace. We can have peace in the midst of the storm. But if you don’t know this passage of the Word of God, then you wouldn’t know to confess/pray this over you and your family. This is why it is so important that you study the Word of God for yourself at home in your own private time. It’s good to take your Bibles to church and read alone with the pastor, but that’s not enough – ouch hallelujah (it’s difficult for me to take notes like I use to because there’s a little person turning my pages). But this is the difference between the just and the unjust. Prayer is not hoping and a wishing. Prayer is a confident trust that the Word of God you’re confessing and proclaiming will come to pass; that God is indeed who the Word says that He is, and He can do the things the Word says He can do. And you have to settle in your heart that God can and will perform His Word for you. Sometimes we pray for other people stuff better than we do our own, not that you would be selfish, but that we sometimes believe that God would do it for someone else before He does it for us. He is no respecter of persons; if He did it for one, He can and will do it for you, but YOU have to believe it!

Now more than ever we need to make sure our relationship with Jesus is right. We must stop “playing church”, and began to do the Word of God. There are going to be good people who go to church every time the doors are open that are going to be left behind. It will be a sad day indeed. Good people go to church, but they kind-of-sort of go through life never having a relationship with Jesus. Going to church doesn’t mean you have a relationship with Jesus. They “know of” Him – the stories of healing, miracles and of His works, but they just never took the time to get to know Him. They never really strive to be like Him – saying what He said and doing what He did. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 states:

There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

Now is not the time to get lax – I’m talking to myself. Things are happening all around us that are prophesy filled to bring about the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. While we are waiting, lets get ready/prepare, and we all better know or learn how to pray and pray the Word of God.

Remember there's a sinner's prayer on this site. If you have back-slid or haven't tasted and seen that the Lord is Good, then say this prayer. You don't have to be in a church building to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. There is a moment that will happen, and it will happen in a twinkling of an eye (as fast as you can blink), and those who have confessed Jesus as Lord and have walked according to the Word of God will be raptured up to be with Him forever and ever. Yes, it sounds too fantastical to be real, but don't take the chance that it's not and be left behind. So don't put this off. No one knows the hour or the day when this will take place, but it is for us to be ready when it's time to go. The first step is to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. If you say this prayer, contact me; let me welcome you and personally encouraged you in your new life with Jesus!

Did you put your armor on today???

Be Encouraged Today!!!