Warfare Prayers

The dictionary describes prayer as a reverent or devout petition to God, an entreaty. Certainly prayer is that. The simplest definition of prayer is the three letter word cry. In Romans 8:15, Paul says, “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’”

Prayer is a cry. When we pray, we are crying out to God.“Lord help me.”“Lord, give me wisdom.”“Lord, reveal yourself to me.”Prayer is a cry. Just as a little child cries to his parent, we cry to God.

A.W. Tozer reminds us, “When Peter was starting to sink under those waters of Galilee, he had no time to consult the margin of someone’s Bible to find out how he should pray. He just prayed out of his heart and out of his desperation, ‘Lord, save me!’”

But prayer is also a call. In Jeremiah 33:3, Jehovah’s words are “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”

Prayer is asking. Again, our Lord said in Luke 11:9, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

How to perform effective prayer

We often think prayer depends on us, but that’s not true. Prayer doesn’t hinge on our performance. The effectiveness of our prayers depends on Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. So, when you think about how to pray, remember, prayer is part of our relationship with God.

How to Pray With Jesus

 When we pray, it’s good to know we don’t pray alone. Jesus always prays with us and for us (Romans 8:34). We pray to the Father with Jesus. And the Holy Spirit helps us, too:

Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

How to Pray With the Bible

The Bible presents loads of examples of praying people, and we can learn much from their examples.

We may have to dig through the Scriptures for models. We don’t always find an obvious tip-off, such as, “Lord, teach us to pray…” (Luke 11:1, NIV) Instead, we can look for strengths and situations.

Many Bible figures showed courage and faith, but others found themselves in situations that brought out qualities they didn’t know they had, just as your situation can do today.

 How to Pray When Your Situation Is Desperate

What if you feel backed into a corner? Your job, finances, or marriage may be in trouble, and you wonder how to pray when danger threatens. David, a man after God’s own heart, knew that feeling, as King Saul pursued him across the hills of Israel, trying to kill him. The slayer of the giant Goliath, David understood where his strength came from:

“I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

Desperation seems more the norm than the exception in the Bible. The night before his death, Jesus told his confused and anxious disciples how to pray at such times:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”

When you feel desperate, trusting in God calls for an act of the will. You can pray to the Holy Spirit, who will help you overcome your emotions and put your trust in God instead. This is hard, but Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit as our Helper for times like these.

 How to Pray When Your Heart Is Broken

Despite our heartfelt prayers, things don’t always go the way we want. A loved one dies. You lose your job. The outcome is just the opposite of what you asked for. What then?

Jesus’ friend Martha was brokenhearted when her brother Lazarus died. She told Jesus so. God wants you to be honest with him. You can give him your anger and disappointment.

What Jesus told Martha applies to you today:

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Jesus may not raise our loved one from the dead, as he did Lazarus. But we should expect our believer to live eternally in heaven, as Jesus promised. God will mend all our broken hearts in heaven. And he will make right all the disappointments of this life.

Jesus promised in his Sermon on the Mount that God hears the prayers of the brokenhearted (Matthew 5:3-4, NIV). We pray best when we offer God our pain in humble sincerity, and Scripture tells us how our loving Father responds:

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

 How to Pray When You Are Ill

Clearly, God wants us to come to him with our physical and emotional illnesses. The Gospels, especially, are filled with accounts of people coming boldly to Jesus for healing. Not only did he encourage such faith, but he also delighted in it.

When a group of men couldn’t get their friend close enough to Jesus, they made a hole in the roof of the house where he was preaching and lowered the paralyzed man down to him. First Jesus forgave his sins, then he made him walk.

On another occasion, as Jesus was leaving Jericho, two blind men sitting by the roadside shouted at him. They didn’t whisper. They didn’t talk. They shouted! (Matthew 20:31)

Was the co-creator of the universe offended? Did he ignore them and keep walking?

“Jesus stopped and called them. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ he asked. ‘Lord,’ they answered, ‘we want our sight.’ Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.”

Have faith in God. Be bold. Be persistent. If for his own mysterious reasons, God does not heal your illness, you can be sure he will answer your prayer for supernatural strength to endure it.