Friday, June 26, 2015

Effective Prayer is Habitual in Practice

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. Daniel 6:10
Since we have been focusing on prayer this week, we are going to wrap up the week with a great example from one of the most amazing characters in the Bible we can learn from, Daniel. 
In this brief excerpt from the life of Daniel, we see the essential ingredients of a strong prayer life.  If you want to build an effective prayer life, you need to follow the practices of Daniel.

When Daniel heard the decree of the king, the Scriptures say that he went to pray "as he did aforetime."  Daniel's prayer life was not just an emergency measure.  It was not something that he did when problems greater than he could handle arose.  Prayer was a long-established habit of his life.  He was simply doing what he had been doing all along.  Prayer was his way of dealing with life.
A crucial question for every believer is this: How will I handle life and its problems?  Our life is not to be lived at the mercy of moods, pressures, or crises.  It is to be lived in complete dependence upon God.  So we too should make prayer the habit of our lives.  The Christian's motto ought to be: "Life is precious; handle it with prayer."  Our first inclination ought to be to pray.
You cannot overestimate the importance of good spiritual habits in your life.  We are all creatures of habit, so we need to establish some good ones.  When we think about habits, we usually think of bad ones that we need to break.  However, there are some good habits that we need to establish.  
Every great servant of God including Jesus has had good spiritual habits. The Scriptures say concerning Jesus, "And, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day" (Luke 4:16). Going to worship was a habit in the life of Jesus as well as discussing the Word of God.  Prayer was certainly a habit in lives of the prophets and apostles.  What are the spiritual habits of your life?  Do you know what it is to have a time and a place of prayer like Daniel? 
  • Martin Luther said, "Prayer is a powerful thing, for God has linked himself thereto." 
  • Alfred Lord Tennyson said, "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." 
You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you can't do more than pray until after you have prayed.  If prayer is not a regular habit in your life, then I urge you to begin now.  It is a key to spiritual growth.

Please pray for our Breaking Free Youth Choir today as they are performing a concert and participating in service at Noonday Ministries Shelter in Albuquerque, NM.  They will be traveling home this evening and tomorrow so pray for safe travels as well.


Scripture to Claim:

Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, and He will hear my voice.  He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me, for they are many who strive with me.  Psalms 55:17-18

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