Christian life cannot be successful if the prayer life of a Christian is not successful.
For your Christian life to grow, you have to grow,
and mature in your prayer life. In this video I want to look at five reasons why every Christian
needs to pray. Maybe you have excuses. You're too busy, or perhaps you don't know what to say in
prayer or whatever the reasons that have kept you from prayer. I hope that after you finish
watching this video, you will get fresh fire to go into prayer. And to keep a great prayer life
because this will help you to grow as a Christian. Jesus is our example. Jesus
is the high priest. When He was on this earth, He prayed. When He went to heaven He prayed that
the Holy Spirit will come. He also continues to pray according to Hebrews 7:25. It says:
So Jesus is still praying. Prayer is something He invites us into as well. The first reason,
and also the benefit of prayer is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Let's look at how it happened with Jesus. In Luke 3:21-22 :
And this is the first time we see this mighty manifestation of heavens opening. We see the Holy
Spirit coming. And guess what Jesus was doing? While He was praying. So other people were trying
to, you know, close their nose as they're going into water. Focus, make sure water doesn't get
into their nose and make sure they don't die under water. Other people are thinking about their sins.
But Jesus is sinless. He's perfect. He's getting baptized in obedience to the Father's instructions,
because John is saying you shouldn't get baptized. And while He's getting baptized, He's praying.
I love this about Jesus's prayer because it's a prayer that was birthed out of obedience.
Prayer is not a substitute for a life of obedience. Prayer comes along with a life
of obedience. And as He is living in obedience, as He is praying in obedience something happens.
The Holy Spirit comes upon Him. See this is one of the reasons every Christian needs to pray, because
you and I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We leak every single day. When we are filled with
the Holy Spirit something happens. Heaven is open. We can live under open heaven. We can live under:
Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. That means we can be ambassadors
of Christ on this earth. We can live in response to heaven instead of in reaction to the earth.
And then the Bible says the voice of God comes. I love this about prayer. I love this about Jesus's
prayer and I love this about the prayers that we can enjoy today. Is when we are praying out of
obedience. When we're living a life of obedience and then on the top of that we're praying. When
we are experiencing the filling of the Holy Spirit and when we are experiencing open heaven,
we're also able to have a conversation. We're able to actually have a dialogue with God. We're able
to hear His voice. The Bible says at the time as Jesus is praying, God is saying. Man I love
this. Trinity is involved. As Jesus is getting baptized and praying. God the Father is speaking,
the Spirit of God descending. Do you know that this can happen in your prayer room as well.
Do you know that this can happen in your prayer closet or prayer garden or mountain or woods. You
can actually hear God speak to you, through His Word and by His Spirit. You can experience open
heaven. You can experience the feeling of the Holy Spirit upon you, as you live your life in prayer.
So the first reason of prayer is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The second reason of prayer is to
work through grief. Now after John the baptist was killed. Beheaded. The Bible says this,
"When Jesus heard it." So it's talking about John the baptist's death."He departed from there by the
boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it they followed Him on the foot
from the cities." Matthew 14:13. And then we know Jesus feeds the 5 000 people and then after that,
we see a little bit later that:
I want you to notice that after Jesus learned that
His cousin John the baptist was beheaded, He went away by Himself. Yes even the Son of God,
grieved. But Jesus didn't process His grieving through drinking. He didn't process His grieving
through abusing alcohol. He didn't process His grieving by shutting Himself off. He's trying
to go to the mountain to spend time with His Father. And the Bible says that people found
out where He's at and they're just pretty much infiltrated His space. And Jesus stops you know,
His grieving process and He's ministering to the people. And then afterwards when He's done
feeding the multitudes, He's setting His disciples further. He's like, "Hey guys go ahead of Me and
then I'm going to go to the mountain." I mean imagine He's tired. It's been a few days,
He's exhausted. But Jesus knows, I need to process this grief because it's my cousin. It's also
the messenger who was sent before Me. And He's going and He spends all night with the Father.
I believe in therapy. I believe in counseling. I believe in medicine. All of that has its place,
but have you ever tried to take your grief, your anxiety, to prayer. The Bible says,
"Dont be anxious for anything, but in everything by thanksgiving, by prayer,
by supplication. Let your request be known to God
and then the peace of God will rules your hearts through Christ Jesus." So many of us are carrying
burdens that could we could unburden in prayer. Worry flourishes in the place that prayerlessness
creates. Take your anxiety, take your fear, take your grief, take what you're going through to
prayer. Let it out before God. Process it with God and you will see God's peace that passes
understanding, will rule and control and lead your life. Right after that prayer time Jesus walked on
water. I mean how cool is that. And I believe that if you process what you're going through
in prayer, you will be able to be unstoppable. You will soar with wings like eagles, you will
run and not get weary. You will walk and not get tired. You will walk on water. Not literally.
But you will walk above the storm, in Jesus name. Reason number three for prayer. Why Jesus prayed.
He prayed before making a very important decision. Now we see that in the scriptures:
So before choosing His disciples Jesus spends all night in prayer. I wonder what would happen with
our decisions, the quality of our decisions. If they would have been birthed out of prayer.
So many times we consult friends, we consult business partners. So many times we do thorough,
very important research that we still need to do. But we fail to approach God in prayer.
We fail to linger, to stay longer in prayer and have God give us His mind and His direction
and His guidance on particular topic. Whether it comes to where should you move? What, where
should you work? Which college should you go to? Who should you marry? Take your major decisions,
small decisions to prayer. Develop a prayer life where you will bring to God your goals,
your dreams, your needs, your fears, your anxieties. Everything. Because if Jesus did it,
you and I should as well. Number four is that Jesus prayed to focus on His assignment.
In this verse we see that the day before it was the Sabbath. Jesus healed the sick. Jesus had
a powerful revival. People brought so much sick people. People brought so much demonized people
but Jesus was also tired, okay. If you've had a long service. Next day you're trying
to sleep in. But the Bible tells us that very early in the morning, Jesus is not sleeping in.
On Sunday morning before anybody wakes up, He's going into a deserted place, into a quiet place.
Into a place where nobody can bother Him and He's doing that early in the morning.
We saw in the previous verses He did it at night, but in here, He does it
early in the morning before anybody wakes up. And then the crowd comes in and they're like,
"Hey can we have a second meeting? Can we like extend this revival to like second night?" And
Jesus says, "No." Why? "Because I received new instructions. I must go to other cities."
I cannot tell you how many times prayer in my life has been a catalyst in guiding me where to go,
which meetings to take, which trips to take, which not to take. Which projects to begin and which to
shut down. Who to invite and who not to invite. Because prayer helps you to realign yourself to
God's priorities and God's agenda. And if you're not spending time in prayer, you will just kind
of you know, do everything and anything. And there will be no fulfillment because your life
will lack sense of purpose. Number five Jesus prayed in the times of suffering and distress.
So in the time of crucifixion, in that week of passion. Right before Jesus is being captured
the Bible says that He goes to the garden. So we see Him praying in the wilderness.
We see Him praying on the mountain but here we see Him praying in the garden.
He is praying to get through this difficult time. Now He is sinless. He is God. Like you can look at
Jesus and say He doesn't need to pray. But I love that Jesus gives us this example. And Jesus shows
us the humanity because all of us will go through struggles. All of us will go through suffering.
All of us will go through death. All of us will go through pain, through sickness. And sometimes when
we're going through suffering it's easy to begin to give up on prayer, and saying you know what,
I got it on my own. I'm gonna just figure this out and then come back you know. And disciples,
they slept instead of praying. Jesus was going through the most difficult thing He
ever went through, but so were disciples. They were going through temptation. They were about
to be tempted to deny Jesus. And because they did not pray, they fell into that temptation.
And Jesus warns them. He says, "Pray lest you enter into temptation." My friend if you don't
want your trial to become your temptation you need to pray. If you don't pray, you will stray.
You will go back to your past life. Peter did. In fact Jesus rebuked Peter and said, "Simon. Simon."
Now that's interesting because Peter's name, Jesus changed from Simon to Peter. Meaning, you know,
Peter means like a rock and Simon means unstable. You know like shaky, wobbly. And Jesus changed his
name and now Jesus says, "Simon. Simon." Why? Because see anytime you opt to prayerlessness,
you will resurrect your past. You will begin to relive your past temptations and past sins. And
Peter just found himself in a temptation. You know in prayer, he should have been praying but he was
sleeping. And now when he's supposed to keep his mouth shut, when the slave girl was asking him,
"Hey, aren't you the guy who's been with Jesus?" And Peter should have been either
quiet or just walking away. Peter started to deny Jesus Christ and Peter even started to curse. Did
you know why Jesus had the power not to say a word in front of His accusers, instead of
defending Himself? Because He spent time opening His mouth to God in prayer. See when you pray,
God will give you the strength to overcome your trials, your tests, and your temptations. It's
through prayer that you're empowered. Then when the temptation comes in, to be triumphant. When
the trial comes in, not to deny your God. When the difficulty comes in, not to drop the towel,
not to forsake Christ, not to forsake the Holy Spirit. So I want to invite you today. May Jesus
be the example for all of us to pray again. If you have forsaken your prayer life this is a
sign. If you've been waiting for a sign, I am your sign. God is waiting for you. He is inviting you.
Your destiny is too great. There are decisions you're about to make, that could be wise decisions
or foolish decisions. There's a calling that you're about to miss or you're about to walk into,
if you're going to pray. Holy Spirit wants to fill you afresh. God wants to open the heavens for you.
God also wants to help you in trials, tests and tribulations in life. He says, "Son,
daughter. Come pray with me." Jesus told His disciples when He was praying in the garden,
and He says, "Couldn't you pray for an hour?" Come and sit and pray with Me. The invitation
stands. In fact let's pray together. Father God we approach your throne in the name of Jesus.
We ask you by the help of the Holy Spirit. Help my brothers and sisters who are watching this video
right now, who are struggling to find motivation to find time to beat busyness, laziness, to pray.
Give them that inner motivation. Give them that inner drive from you,
to seek your face. Because you will reward those who seek you Lord. And because you will answer the
prayers of the righteous and because you will give strength to those who pray. I bless them
right now Lord. Release your grace into their life, to live a life of prayer, in Jesus name.
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