Title: What is Prayer? / Matt 7:7-11
Contents
What is prayer?
2003.6.1 Matthew 7:7-11
Introduction
As a commentator named Matthew Henry said, "Prayer is the nurse of faith."
This phrase includes the meaning that faith grows when we pray.
Even though they attend church diligently, those who are not diligent in prayer do not grow in their faith, their hardened hearts do not melt, and their closed hearts do not open.
Prayer is an essential factor in the growth of faith, a privilege, and a duty of the saints. Even though we are living a life of faith by constantly being in contact with prayer, we often experience cases in which we do not know the true meaning of prayer and therefore do not live our prayer life properly
Over the course of several weeks, I would like to share the grace of time and time by talking about prayer.
Main subject
1. Prayer is the fragrance of sacrifice offered to God
Exodus 8:30 says, “Moses left Pharaoh and went out to pray to the Lord.” In this verse, the word prayer is the Hebrew word for “atal,” and “atal” comes from the root of slaughtering for sacrifice. It means "fragrance".
Therefore, prayer is a fragrance offered to God.
Revelation 5:8 says, “And when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”
The incense filled with the golden bowl signifies the prayer of faith of the saints.
As we have seen above, prayer is the fragrance of sacrifice, so prayer comes with sacrifice.
We have to sacrifice time, we have to sacrifice our fatigue, and we have to sacrifice the work of the flesh to achieve victory in our prayer life.
The forefathers of faith who lived in the Old Testament era sacrificed sacrifices and burned them to offer incense to God, but believers in the New Testament era must offer the fragrance of prayer of faith to God.
2. Prayer is whispering tenderly to God.
The word prayer is the Hebrew word for “rakas”, which means to whisper affectionately in a whisper with God.
In Isaiah 26:16 it is said, “O LORD, the people longed for you in their troubles, and they prayed earnestly when your chastisement came upon them.” , the word whisper.
Therefore, prayer is a friendly whispered conversation with God.
We can confess this love and grant our wishes in a quiet place, just as we whisper tenderly with God as we whisper tenderly with our loved one. You can pray like this with meditation, and you can pray like this with a very low voice. In ordinary cases, you can pray like this.
3. Prayer is supplication, supplication, and exhortation to God.
In verse 7, Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
In this verse, “asking” means supplication, and “searching and knocking” means listening.
God is looking for those who cry out and ask for help.
Psalm 145:18
He said, "The Lord is near to all who ask him, to all who ask him in truth."
This prayer is for when you have a problem.
God also told us to pray out loud when we have problems
Psalm 50:15 says, "Call on me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, and you will glorify me."
In Psalm 107, it is recorded four times, “They cried to the Lord in their distress, and he delivered them from their affliction.”
Just like we naturally scream in a hurry when we meet a robber on the road or when there is a fire in our house, it is very natural to cry out and pray to our Father when we are faced with a difficult situation.
When you have a problem, if you cry out and pray without looking at your eyes or face, you can receive an answer quickly.
4. Prayer is a conversation with God.
In 1 Timothy 4:5, it is said that “they are sanctified by the word of God and prayer”.
Prayer is the believer's conversation with God
Just as people grow closer and closer through dialogue with their families and neighbors, so believers also pray with God.
Through this, you can get closer and understand the will of God.
Just as the parents who gave birth to us and raised us want to have a conversation with their children, God, our eternal spiritual Father in heaven, wants us to have a conversation with our spiritual children, believers.
A man named Clemens said, "Prayer is the conversation of God's children with their Father, God."
Therefore, believers must constantly communicate with God through prayer.
Just as things can be resolved between people through dialogue, believers can get everything resolved through dialogue with God.
5. Prayer is the spiritual breath of believers.
Marsh Henry said, "No one lives without breathing, and no one lives as a believer without prayer."
Just as people release harmful things in their body through breathing, so prayer is the breath of the soul, so when believers pray, they release harmful toxins out of the body (hate, envy, jealousy, resentment, complaint, irritability, anger, wounds, blood, anger, worries, worries, etc.)
If the lungs are damaged and breathing is not done properly, health is lost and life is short-lived. As a result, if a believer stops prayer, the breathing of the soul, he will become spiritually poor and eventually die spiritually.
When we look around us, we can see that those who pray earnestly look spiritually healthy, and when we look at those who do not pray, we can see that they are in poor condition.
6. Prayer is the key to omnipotence.
In James 5:17-18, Elijah has the same nature as ours, but he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.
The prayer of faith produces miracles.
conclusion
I pray that you will glorify God for comfort through your prayer life without ceasing, and pray for victory through courageous life of faith on earth.