Prayer:   

Luke 11:1        One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.  When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. 

Learning to pray has been a desire of many people.  Prayer has always been an important way of communicating to God.  Prayer must be one of the basic pillars on which the church builds its work.  It is evident that God wants us to pray.  How do we pray?  First, pray according to God's character.  When we pray, it is God's plans we are concerned with.  After all, Kingdom work was His idea.  He is the one who includes us.  All prayer must be consistent with God's character.  This means that when He answers prayer, He is consistent with what He has always been.  A second factor in prayer is inner cleanliness or holiness.  We must be pure in order to approach a holy God.   Psalm 66:18 says "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." A third factor in effective praying is humility.  Humility is the only personal attribute that can look up to God.  Like love, humility cannot seek its own good.  Only humility seeks the greater good, the good that God sees in the big picture, and only humility knows how to accept God's will.  A fourth factor in effective praying is sincerity.  God pays no attention to anything that is not real.  A fifth factor is fervency.  Fervency is closely related to sincerity.  The church that prayed for Peter in prison was fervent.  A final factor Christians often ignore in their prayer lives is faith.  Faith is simply understanding God's goodness.  Faith is trusting God to keep His word and to keep His promises.  Prayer is a powerful tool.  Let us use it to the fullest.

                                      Danny Stalls