This morning I read a post about a passionate call to pray by the church. I started thinking. The call to prayer is honest and sincere, but what about the prayer? What prayer is to be prayed? In the religious church (what I have called the matrix after the movie bearing the same name) a prescribed prayer is offered up. Is that the kind of prayer that needs to be prayed? In other denominations, prayers in the spirit—unknown dialect spoken by men and women—is this the kind of prayers to be offered? Some denominations offer prayers by requesting God’s will to be done, while others demand a certain course of action.
I bring this up to point out a couple of things. This thought process can be attributed to a close personal relationship with the godhead. I consider myself to be a person of prayer. Within the denominational structure, I was brought up in, I was considered an intercessor. I would lock myself away and spend hours crying out in prayer to God. There have been times that I had no idea what I was a prayer for, just that prayer must be made.
This is important to understand because when I read the post, I immediately rang out Amen! However, because of my own unexpected journey to a close personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, I have noticed a sensitivity to spiritual matters—such as prayer. I believe this to be a result of my journey opening my life to an awareness of the presence of the godhead in my world. Perhaps you have experienced such sensitivity. It isn’t anything weird, simply an awareness of the presence of God, followed by a perception regarding the matter at hand—you might call it a solution.
It is my desire that this website point a way for Christ-followers to get close to God.
The second reason for bringing this up is to focus on prayer. Jesus was very particular about who prayed with him. The New Testament stories regarding the Lord and prayer reveal him dismissing people, or allowing only certain people when it came to praying for people. This means that not everyone prays the same.
The Bible speaks of the importance of agreement in prayer. It speaks of unity in prayer, two or more agreeing, everyone praying with the same purpose. This is not to say that everyone was praying the same words, at the same time, with the same voice inflection. It means the focus was unified towards the God who answers prayer. It means that a belief and an assurance were present that God would both hear and respond to the prayer being made.
The third reason for bringing this up is the matter of what is being prayed for. In this instance, the matter is healing—from COVID-19. A serious matter, to be sure. The Bible clearly states in both the Old and New Testaments, that healing occurs because of the stripes, beating, bruising, thrashing, that Jesus endured while bound to the Roman whipping post.
In matters of healing, the New Testament speaks of oil being applied, and believing prayers being made over the sick in order for healing to come. This raises an interesting question. If healing is sure because of the price paid by Christ, then why isn’t it immediate, or accomplished without prayer?
The answer is belief. Believing that Jesus’s passion (or suffering) provided healing is important. Once the belief is present, asking is necessary. If something is yours, you do not need to beg for it, but simply ask for it. Think of it this way, it is in a safe to which your parents have the combination. When you need it, you only need to ask them to get it for you.
In like manner, when sickness is present, you only need to ask the Father to give it to you. Jesus secured it, the Father is holding it, and the Holy Spirit will release it.
It sounds simple, I know, and it is, and it isn’t. It is simple when you believe, and it is difficult when you do not—for how can you ask for something you do not believe you have?
A close personal relationship with the godhead is an interesting journey. As long as you are willing to place one foot in front of the other, and continue to believe that God will take care of you, no matter what, you will find an excitingly scary journey ahead of you.