VITAL INGREDIENTS OF PRAYER
Memorise: And when ye stand praying, forgive if ye have
ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you
your trespasses. Mark 11:25
Read: Mark 11:22-26, (KJV) 22 And Jesus answering saith unto
them, Have faith in God.
23 For verily I say
unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be
thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe
that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever
he saith.
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire,
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
25 And when ye stand
praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is
in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if ye do not
forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
Bible in one year: Galatians 4-6, Psalms 18:1-19
MESSAGE
Our Lord Jesus Christ did not only give us an outline for
prayer in what is popularly called “The Lord’s Prayer” (Luke 11:2-4), He also
gave us some vital ingredients of prayer. The first in our consideration is
faith. The Almighty God demands that we have faith in Him. A man that prays
without faith cannot get anything substantial from the spiritual exercise of
prayer. When we pray, we should be assured that God is capable of doing
whatever our desires are. Doubt is a grievous offence before the Almighty God.
The children of Israel that doubted the capability of God were consumed by the
fiery anger of the God who had been erstwhile benevolent to them, however, as
many as believed in His Almightiness received great recompense for their faith.
“But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that
wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not
that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.”
James 1:6-7
Another vital ingredient of the prayer that God will answer
is forgiveness. This is a two-edged sword. Blessed is he that is forgiven, sin
a hindrance to prayer. Unless we are forgiven, our prayer cannot be answered.
This is why our Lord Jesus put an aspect of confession of sin in the prayer
outline (Luke 11:4). No matter how old we may be in the Lord, if we discover
any sin ranging from lying, outburst if unwarranted anger etc in our lives
while we are getting set to pray, we must confess that sin first. The Bible
says:
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1st John 1:8-9
On the other hand, our Lord Jesus Christ said:
“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught
against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your
trespasses.
Mark 11:25
Many of us come to the throne of mercy without the milk of
mercy in our hearts. We come for mercy while we are not merciful; we come for
forgiveness and we are not forgiving. What an irony? In Matthew 18:32-35, our
Lord told the parable of the wicked servant who jailed his fellow worker that
owed him a little after he himself had received pardon for a greater debt. His
forgiving spirit made him forfeit the pardon for the debt he earlier received.
Beloved, let us cultivate the habit of forgiving one another, at least for the
fact that our Father in Heaven forgives every of our sins.
Prayer Point
Father, please increase my faith and put in me the spirit
that freely forgive.
Open Heavens ckgod, written by Pastor E.A Adeboye
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