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 Daily, written by Pastor E.A Adeboye
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