How Prayer Benefits the Lord
We stand to benefit so much through prayer that it sometimes seems like we have everything to gain and nothing to give-but that’s not the way the Lord looks at it at all! It’s true that we need Him for all these things, but the marvelous thing is that He also needs and wants and is in love with us. Time and again, the Bible refers to us as His Bride,1 and nothing could better describe the relationship He wants to have with us. So what does the Lord want and need from you?-Much the same things a husband needs from his wife.
He desires loving fellowship and heart-to-heart communication most of all. He wants to know that He has first place in your heart, and the way you show Him that is by spending time with Him in prayer and reading His Word.
He loves to hear you tell Him how wonderful He is and how much you love Him, how you adore Him. He loves for you to praise Him.
He wants to hear you tell Him how much you need Him. Just like a loving husband would, He lives to supply your every need and knows what you need even better than you do.1 Still, He likes for you to bring your requests to Him, because that shows you are depending on Him. Even He needs to feel needed! And of course once He has supplied your need, He loves for you to thank Him, to show appreciation.
He needs your service. He wants to use you as one of His instruments to help accomplish His will “on Earth as it is in Heaven.” He especially needs you to point others to Him and spread His love by being a sample of His loving ways to them. But in order to know specifically what He wants you to do and how to do it, you need to spend time with Him, receiving His directions.
Making Time
It takes time to communicate. There’s no way around it! Considering everything else you need to do, it will probably seem like a sacrifice at first to take a few minutes with the Lord before your day begins. It may also seem like an awkward and unwelcome interruption to stop other things later to talk with the Lord. It’s a mistake, though, to look at time spent in prayer as time that could have been better used to get things done, because as busy as you may be, if you take time to pray, you’ll be able to get a lot more done than you ever would otherwise. It’s an investment, but once you start reaping the benefits, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it. Here are a few tips to help get you started:
Make a conscious effort. Like any new habit, this will take conscious effort over a period of time. You have to really work at it at first. It usually involves a lot of forgetting and some remembering, but in time you’ll find you’re remembering to pray more and more, and forgetting less.
Make it a priority. You always have time for the things you consider most important.
Set aside specific times for prayer in your daily routine. King David wrote in the Book of Psalms, “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray … and He shall hear my voice.”1 If you wait till everything else is taken care of, it will never happen. If you find that one time of day doesn’t work well for you, try another.
Find a time and place where you can get quiet, and where you won’t be distracted by other things going on around you.
Set attainable goals for yourself-perhaps five or ten minutes once a day to start, and then try to up it to twice a day or more. Prayers don’t need to be long. When Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, the model prayer He taught them-now known as the Lord’s Prayer-was only sixty-six words.2 It’s not how long you pray that counts, but how much you believe, how earnest and sincere you are.
Take advantage of spare moments during the day for a short pick-me-up prayers. You can do it during a coffee break, when stuck in traffic, while waiting for an appointment, while cooking, while taking a shower, while waiting for the baby to drift off to sleep, while walking the dog-almost any time, really. Just focus your thoughts on the Lord and let Him refresh you and give you strength and inspiration to carry on.3
Even after you get in the habit of praying while you’re doing other things, you still need quiet times when you can give your full attention to the Lord and what He has to say to you.
If you miss your appointed times one day, don’t give up! Try again the next day.
How Prayer Benefits Others
Your prayers can not only change things for yourself, but they can significantly improve the lives of others. It has been said that praying for others is not the least you can do for them, but the most. Your prayers move the heart and hand of God to take action on their behalf.
Through your prayers others can receive most of the same benefits that you receive when you pray for the same things for yourself-including comfort, protection, freedom from anxiety and fear, healing, material supply, and more.
Because you pray you are also in a better position to help others directly. The Lord often uses people as His agents on Earth, so it could very well be that He wants to use you to help bring about the answers to your own prayers. The very fact you pray for others shows that you’re concerned about their happiness and well-being, and this puts you in a position to better understand His loving plan for their lives and how you can help bring it to pass. When you pray for someone who is sick, for example, He may show you how you can help stir their slumbering faith and thereby help accomplish His dual purpose for the affliction: to heal them as a testimony to them and others of His miracle-working power, and to cause their relationship with Him to blossom.
When you spend time with the Lord in prayer, He fills you with the fruits of the Spirit, which include love, joy, peace, longsuffering, temperance, faith, gentleness, meekness and goodness. As you receive more of His Spirit, others will see the Lord and His gifts reflected in your everyday life. “We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
How Prayer Benefits You
There are so many benefits to spending time with the Lord that you really can’t afford not to! He can help you solve every problem, answer your every question, heal all your heartaches, comfort you when you’re sorrowful, give you joy, and bring you closer to Heaven. The list is endless.
Prayer changes things! It’s one means by which God gives His children what they need or want, as long as it’s good for them and others. “Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
You will be made stronger in spirit. Time spent in quiet reflection and listening builds inner strength that will get you through life’s toughest times. “In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul.”
You will find rest and renewal when your spirit is sagging and your mind is troubled. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
You will have a more positive outlook on life, because you will be better able to see things through the eyes of faith. Once you have committed a matter to God in prayer, you can then have the assurance that He will take care of it in accordance with His will. That helps you fight against worry and view things more optimistically. “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God.”2 “We walk by faith, not by sight.”
You will find comfort in times of sadness and grief, reassurance when you’re down and out, and courage to go on when you think you can’t. Jesus will help you see your troubles in proper perspective, as He sees them, and give you peace of mind. “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” “In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.”
As you receive and apply the things the Lord shows you, you will become wiser. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
Jesus will guide you through the maze of life. He will help you know what to do when you face problems and tough decisions. He has promised to instruct you, establish your thoughts, and guide your steps. “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.”
He will inspire you with good ideas. “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
Jesus will prevent some problems from happening by warning you in advance, and give you solutions to others. “Whoever listens to Me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil.”
You can be healed physically. “The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.”
You can be forgiven for wrongdoing. “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”
You will gain insight into the natural world as well as the spiritual realm. “As it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.’”
Prayer draws on the power of God, so you will be able to accomplish more, and do so more easily. “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. … Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
You will have greater peace of mind. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
You can claim God’s supply of your material needs. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
Jesus will open to you the treasures of His Word if you will pray, as King David did: “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.”
You can get the Lord’s help even when you don’t know what to ask for. “The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
Prayer Is Communication
Like any deep and lasting friendship, your relationship with Jesus will be strengthened by
frequent honest, open communication. That’s really what prayer is all about: communicating heart-to-heart with the Lord.
But just how do you communicate with the Lord? Believe it or not, it’s quite simple.
To get started, try sitting down in a quiet spot and picture Jesus there next to you. Then talk to Him just like you would to a good friend. You can talk to Him aloud or in your mind. The exact words you say aren’t what matter-just tell Him what’s on your heart.
Actually, you can pray anywhere, at anytime. You don’t have to be either sitting or standing. You don’t have to be in a church, a religious building, or any special place. Prayer connects your heart with God’s heart, regardless of your surroundings.
Many people associate prayer with asking God for things. But that’s only a part of prayer. Of course He wants you to tell Him your needs, but He also wants you to just spend time with Him telling Him about how things are going in your life. Tell the Lord how much you love Him and how thankful you are for all the good things He sends your way. Tell Him all about your dreams and desires, problems and questions, and He will give you strength, inspiration, reassurance and answers you need.
Jesus is at your beck and call-just a prayer away-and He’s always happy to lend an ear and a helping hand. He’s interested in you and what you’re going through, and He’s happy to hear and answer your requests.
But there’s more to prayer than that.
Jesus also wants to communicate with you, to talk to you. He wants to give you personal words of love and encouragement, and He wants to help you with your problems. He has all the answers, but how can He give them to you if you don’t listen? You need to learn to recognize His voice when He speaks to your spirit and puts thoughts in your mind.
Jesus will also speak to you through His written Word, the Bible, but to get the most out of it you need to pray and listen to Him as you read. Then He can explain how what you’re reading applies to you and today’s world. He will fill in gaps and provide added detail to the often rather general answers in His Word. But again, the key is listening.
Whether it’s your turn to listen or your turn to talk, you can communicate with the Lord at the speed of thought! It’s not like communicating by letter, where you write to someone via the postal system and then have to wait days or weeks to receive their reply.-Or even like sending e-mail via the Internet, where you can get an answer back from the other side of the world in minutes. Your prayers actually reach His ear before they leave your mouth, and you can get immediate answers. He may not always be able to give you a complete answer or bring about the final result you desire right away, but at the least He will tell you that He’s heard your prayer and He’s working on it. That assurance alone can give you peace of mind and help problems that seem like mountains melt away. And as you later bring the matter again in prayer before Him, He will continue to work on your behalf and show you what you can do to help work His will in the matter and bring it to a happy, fruitful conclusion.
Making the Connection
God’s idea of prayer is not a ritual, but loving and lively communication between the best of friends.
But sad to say, most people think they can’t talk to God like that. Some think they’re not religious enough, not righteous enough, or not spiritual enough. Some think He’s too big-too far above them. Some think He’s too busy to be concerned about them and their problems, which they think must seem awfully petty to Him. Some feel unworthy, not good enough. Some feel guilty or ashamed about things they’ve done. Some are even afraid of Him. If only they understood how differently God sees it!
God wants to have a personal relationship with each of us, and He wants it to be the deepest, most meaningful, most fulfilling and rewarding, most natural part of our lives. Now that’s not to say He wants to take away from the other relationships and activities that we enjoy and consider important. To the contrary-He wants to be a part of all that. He wants to make our day-to-day living easier, He wants to give the things we experience greater meaning, and He wants to enjoy them with us. In a word, He wants to make our lives better. He wants to add a wonderful new dimension to all that we do - the dimension of His loving presence.
How do we establish such a relationship, especially when we feel small and unspiritual and unworthy? How do we make that connection? Simple: through His Son, Jesus!
None of us can really grasp how great and wonderful God our Father is, because He and His Spirit are greater than the whole universe. He’s so beyond our comprehension that He had to send us Someone who could show us His love, Someone we could experience, Someone who could bring God down to the level of our limited human understanding. So He sent His Son, Jesus.
Jesus lived for thirty-three years on Earth in human form and experienced the joy and sorrows that we as humans experience.1 Jesus has been here, so He can understand us and be the link between us and God.2
We can get personal with Jesus. He even told us to ask Him into our hearts: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”3 He’s the One we can have direct, personal contact with. He is the One we can approach God through.
The Best Thing You Can Do for Others
God has His reasons for allowing problems in life, and one of the main reasons is to teach us to pray. He lets us come to the end of our rope, the end of our strength and what we think we can do to solve the problem at hand, so we will realize that He is the One who has got to do it and then pray for Him to work, by His power.
If there's something we can do to help the situation and we ask Him what that is and how to go about it, He will show us and help us do it. But in the end, the thing that will help more than anything and without which all our labors are incomplete is prayer--to pray for Him to do the work in the spirit.
He's the only One who can change hearts and minds. He's the only One who can bring people to the point where they're willing to change or do whatever's necessary to make progress or fix the problem. So the best thing we can do to help people in problem situations is to pray for them. We can't do the miracle that's needed, but the Lord can. Our prayers move His hand and make things happen in the spiritual realm that change things in our physical realm. Praying for the person or situation not only helps to set things up for the miracle to happen, but it gives us peace of mind that we've done the best thing we could possibly do. When we commit things to the Lord in prayer, then we can trust that whatever happens is in His hands and under His control.
Prayer is a very mysterious spiritual phenomenon. It's impossible to fully understand how the Lord chooses to work, how He chooses to answer prayer, why some prayers are answered quicker than others, or why He does an obvious miracle in one situation and not in another. We can't expect to know everything about God's business, but we can be sure that we have His ear and that our prayers have a big effect.
If there's something we can do to help the situation and we ask Him what that is and how to go about it, He will show us and help us do it. But in the end, the thing that will help more than anything and without which all our labors are incomplete is prayer--to pray for Him to do the work in the spirit.
He's the only One who can change hearts and minds. He's the only One who can bring people to the point where they're willing to change or do whatever's necessary to make progress or fix the problem. So the best thing we can do to help people in problem situations is to pray for them. We can't do the miracle that's needed, but the Lord can. Our prayers move His hand and make things happen in the spiritual realm that change things in our physical realm. Praying for the person or situation not only helps to set things up for the miracle to happen, but it gives us peace of mind that we've done the best thing we could possibly do. When we commit things to the Lord in prayer, then we can trust that whatever happens is in His hands and under His control.
People don't fully realize how important prayer is!
People don't fully realize how important prayer is, especially people who are by nature accomplishment oriented. It's all the harder for them to pray and not always be trying to do something in the physical. We need to understand and believe that only God can work in the spirit to change people and situations, and the best thing we can do to help God help others is to pray for them. If we don't pray, He often has to wait before He can bring about the needed change. His Word says, "You do not have because you do not ask" (James 4:2).Prayer is a very mysterious spiritual phenomenon. It's impossible to fully understand how the Lord chooses to work, how He chooses to answer prayer, why some prayers are answered quicker than others, or why He does an obvious miracle in one situation and not in another. We can't expect to know everything about God's business, but we can be sure that we have His ear and that our prayers have a big effect.
Fixed Determination
For years I nearly always closed my Meditation Moments radio show with the words "God is still on the throne, and prayer changes things!" Someone wrote in and said, "I don't find those words in the Bible."
No, they're not in the Bible, but they're certainly Scriptural and express an important truth.
If prayer doesn't change things, then let's quit praying. But if prayer does change things, then we ought to devote more time to prayer, for all around us there are many things that need changing. If prayer does change things, then let's get busy praying and change the things that need changing! Just think what could happen if you really believe that! Jesus said, "If you can believe, all things are possible" (Mark 9:23). If you've prayed and things haven't changed, then this little talk is just for you.
Years ago a common expression amongst Christians was "praying through." Praying through meant that you kept praying until you had received a definite assurance that God had heard the prayer and would take action. Perhaps you've felt that assurance at times--that you didn't need to pray any more, because you were sure that God had heard your prayer, the matter was in His hands now, and He would work it out as He knew best.
The Bible is full of accounts of those who prayed through, particularly King David in the book of Psalms. I get a thrill in my soul whenever David emerges from prayer and comes out with a bold expression of assurance: "The Lord has heard my prayer!"
At the beginning of one psalm, when David began to pray, he was almost in despair over some great trouble, but it wasn't long before he came away declaring, "Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplications! My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices" (Psalm 28:6-7).
Another time David was discouraged about himself almost to the point of despair, but he poured out his heart to the Lord and came away with the sweet assurance: "The Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord will receive my prayer" (Psalm 6:8-9). And another time David comes away from prayer with the words, "Certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer" (Psalm 66:19).
How badly do you want your prayer answered?
That assurance became so fixed in David's heart and mind that he began one psalm with the words, "I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live" (Psalm 116:1-2). He knew God was going to hear and answer even before he prayed.
Years ago I was injured in a terrible accident, which left me a total invalid. Paralyzed from the waist down, I was mostly confined to bed for five years. I also had life-threatening heart and lung problems, and suffered various other side effects from numerous unsuccessful operations to try to restore the use of my legs. It was this fixed determination--this praying through--that brought the fullness of faith for the great deliverance, the miracle healing, that I needed.
Through Jesus Christ you too can have your prayers answered just as wonderfully. Hold on to His promises. "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it" (John 14:14). "Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you" (John 16:23). Have this fixed determination. "I'm going to hold on until the answer comes." Don't give up!
How badly do you want your prayer answered? Are you willing to meet this condition, this fixed determination, or will you let delays discourage you and cause you to give up, or allow obstacles to block your way to victory, or let others' doubts frustrate and foil your faith? There are many ways of meeting a crisis, but only one way guarantees victory, and that is to pray straight through it.
The Bible says, "Let us not grow weary while doing good"--in this case, praying for an important need--"for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart" (Galatians 6:9).
May your faith be strengthened as you think of King David and others in the Bible who through this fixed determination brought down the walls of Jericho, marched through the Red Sea as by dry ground, and wrought many other miracles. (Hebrews chapter 11 contains quite a list!)
Take God's promises and march straight through any difficulty, saying like the saints of old, "I'm determined that nothing shall cheat me out of what God has promised me in His Word!"
Pray through, my friend, with this fixed determination that you're not going to give up. There are many reasons why God does not always answer immediately or in the way we expect, but He does eventually answer every prayer that's prayed in full faith. Do you want your prayers answered badly enough to keep praying until God assures you He's going to answer? Then you won't be disappointed, because God is still on the throne, and prayer does change things!