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1 Thessalonians 1:2
2 We give thanks [eucharisteo] to God [theos] always [pantote] for [peri] you [humon] all, [pas] making [poieo] mention [mneia] of you [humon] in [epi] our [hemon] prayers; [proseuche] KJV-Interlinear
2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; NASB
When times are good, prayers are as absent as rains in the desert. And when times grow worse, then prayers are as empty clouds in the middle of a famine.
This is due to the lack of knowledge, the lack of understanding, and the lack of wisdom in people who have failed in their spiritual lives.
When times are good, the spiritual learning process should be intensified such that the bad times will be avoided or postponed. And then when times grow worse, then prayers will cause a flood of relief, shortening the bad times and restoring the good.
One of the missing links in the spiritual lives of most folks, is their prayer abilities. Failing to learn Bible doctrine, means failing to develop prayer skills. And failing to learn prayer skills, means a short-circuited spiritual life.
All prayer must be offered while one is in fellowship. The fellowship status exists when you confess your sins to God the Father. Any prayers offered while out of fellowship is like an empty rain cloud. No benefit comes from it.
All prayer must be directed to God the Father. He is the only authorized recipient of prayer. Prayers are never offered to Jesus, never offered to any human being. Certainly never offered to Mary, or Joseph, or ancestors, or angels, or animals, or fish, or birds, or natures forces, or suns, or moons, or planets, or anything else.
All prayer must be consistent with Bible doctrine. You cannot be disobedient in doctrine, and expect answers to prayers. Repeat, you cannot be disobedient in doctrine, and expect answers to prayers. God has roles for us all, and in those roles, we must look first to Gods will, and not our own.
When your eyes are on your own ideas, when your eyes are on your own prejudices, when your eyes are on human enticements, human controls, human endeavors, human desires, then your prayers will be empty and useless.
You must first seek God. And you accomplish that by pursuing a daily Bible study, by learning Bible doctrine, by applying doctrine to your daily life, by understanding Gods principles, and by coming into possession of Gods wisdom through that learning process. You must learn Gods purpose for your life, and the role He has set out for you in your life. Charting your own course will get you nothing but disaster.
One of your mandates from God is to pray. Prayer is the artillery of the spiritual life. Without artillery fire from a distance, no enemy can be defeated when in close. And anything that lacks Bible doctrine is the enemy of God, and the enemy of your spiritual life.
Man is but a speck of dust, and dust cannot defeat anything. However God gave us prayer, and through prayer, everything can be accomplished through the power of God.
Now the most important aspect of prayer. It must be offered through Christ. We have no access to the Father except through Christ, and therefore, only believers have the right to prayer, and only believers in fellowship will be heard.
Your prayer life is the ship that remains afloat in troubled seas, and this life is trouble from birth until death.
Therefore, prayer must be daily and nightly and as often as you can muster your thoughts. Prayers do not have to be lengthy, nor even in writing, nor even voiced into spoken words. The best and most powerful of prayers are those which are spoken from the heart in the silence of your own thoughts. People do not need to hear your prayers. Only God needs to hear them.
We had a study some time ago regarding Moses holding up his arms. When the arms were held high, the battle went well for the Israelites. When his arms became weary and began to fall, the battle did not go so well. Your prayers are your arms held high. Pray and pray often and keep on praying while in fellowship and while in obedience to Gods will for your life, and your spiritual life and your life will go well. Slip away from this practice and your life will slip into difficult times if not defeat.
