What Is Prayer?

God is Spirit and only worshipped in spirit and in truth John 4:24, Although man has flesh inside him, there is a spirit that aids him to worship God. Therefore, prayer is the means by which God has given man to fellowship and communicate with Him.

When we pray, we are simply acknowledging the presence of God’s power. It is simply surrendering your will and power and allowing the will of God to prevail in your life. When we pray, we either give thanks, offer our supplications or petitions to God, engage in spiritual warfare, or intercede for someone else. We are going to learn how we can use prayer to intercede for someone else.

Jesus Christ said to His disciples that people will know that they are His disciples when they love one another. A new commandment “I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35

Loving one another involves praying for each other as you wish them well. This is regardless of whether they are our friends or enemies, we should love them equally and pray for them. Look at what Jesus taught his disciples. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Mathew 5:43-45.

Therefore, we can see that prayer can be used as a tool to help someone else who is in bondage or undergoing challenges in life. We do this because Jesus Christ has set for us a good example to emulate. During His earthly ministry, Christ could always spend time alone or with some of his disciples praying. I believe He wasn’t only praying for His needs alone but to the people, he was going to minister to.

The gospel written by John records a whole chapter that is chapter 17 where we see Jesus Christ praying for not only His disciples but also even those who had not yet received or believed in Him. “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. John 17:20-21.

Even after Christ accomplishing the work that His Father had sent Him to do here on earth, He didn’t stop praying for us. Apostle Paul records in his letter to the Romans that; “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” Romans 8:34

How does it feel to hear that Jesus Christ who is the Son of God that is seated at the right hand of the Father is constantly praying for us? This only should humble us and make us obey Him and His word that He spoke that we should love one another and pray for each other.

But sometimes you may find that our bodies are very weak to an extent that even we lack the strength to pray for ourselves let alone praying for someone else. A similar incident was witnessed in the garden of Gethsemane a time that Jesus Christ was in great agony and needed His disciples who He had walked with to pray at least one hour for Him. But the moment he could come back He could find His disciples sound asleep.

Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Mathew 26:40-41

The weakness in praying for ourselves comes because we are still in this flesh. Our spirit may be willing for us to pray but the weakness of our flesh tends to win the battle and this is the reason that Jesus Christ spoke to His disciples and promised them a Helper who was to come when He would have gone and left them alone to carry out His ministry.

“And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17.  We see this promise coming to fulfillment in the book of Acts during the day of Pentecost as the Spirit of God is poured out on all flesh.

Now the Spirit of God is our Helper to help us in our weakness just as Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Rome like this; “Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Romans 8:26

This means that when we acknowledge the power of the Holy Spirit and decide to walk according to Him, we can never fulfill the evil desires of the flesh Galatians 5:16. Walking by the guidance of the Holy Spirit gives us strength and makes us strong in faith.

The scripture records that “we then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbour for his good, leading to edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.” Romans 15:1-3

There are a lot of people suffering in sin and bondage and being held captive by the powers of darkness. These people are waiting for us who are strong to carry their burdens. The good news is that God doesn’t expect us to use our power or strength. He has already equipped us with the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, the same power that was used to raise Christ from the dead dwells in us. “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”  Romans 8:11

Look at the responsibility that Jesus Christ gave us, this is when He spoke to Peter, “and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19

Brethren, we have prayer as the greatest weapon that we have been given by God to help people around us. We have what it takes to set free those in bondage in this kingdom of heaven here on earth. We shouldn’t allow the devil to torment mankind while we have been given the power to pull him down. We should shift our focus from fighting each other and wage spiritual warfare.

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Apostle James gives us these last instructions; “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. and the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven” James 5:13-15

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