Prayer: Our Duty, Our Mandate

We wish a Happy New Year to ALL our readers, our visitors and our friends.  We thank you wholeheartedly for your faithfulness, for your dedication, for your encouragement, for your continued support and for the constant sharing of your precious time.  This is a year of remarkable milestones, of tangible and sure accomplishments, of great developments and of decisive breakthroughs.  We are all expecting and we are ready for great and concrete manifestations.

Now that the festivities are fading away, this is the crucial time for serious introspection, for assessment and for prayer.  Job in the Bible would always sacrifice a burnt offering automatically in the morning for each of his children just in case they have “sinned and cursed God in their hearts” during their feasting and their celebration period (Job 1:4, 5). 

In our case, we offer our prayers to God not “just in case we sinned and messed up”, but as an automatic fact that, one way or another, either ourselves individually or members of our families may have sinned, may have displeased and offended God.  That is why we "willfully" and "deliberately" engage and commit ourselves to offer our prayers to God, for Him to forgive our sins, and to clear the way for His future blessings and His future trusting to come to our lives as we repent steadily, progressively and earnestly for all our wrongdoings.

Some cases of prayer and effective results in the Bible are listed below:

1.  After Peter finished praying, he turned toward the dead woman named Tabitha (Dorcas in Greek) and said “Tabitha, get up”.  She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up (Acts 9:36-42).
2. Jabez earnestly prayed, cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!  Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.”  And God granted his request (1 Chronicles 4:10).
3.  The moment Daniel began to pray, God did answer his request.  “Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.” (Daniel 10:12/Whole Chapter).
4.  King Hezekiah cried out to the LORD, prayed lamenting for his healing because he was scheduled to die.  God heard his prayer, healed him and added fifteen more years to his life (2 Kings 20:1-11).

In the light of the exemplary cases above, we , ourselves, pray to God for our deliverance from sins and “from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13).  We pray for healing and for cure for the sick, for strength for the weak, for provision for the needy and for “our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11).  We pray for Peace and for Prosperity of our nation and of the nations of the world.  We pray for steady growth and development, for sure and real accomplishments, for our Government, our Political Leaders and our Decision Makers, for clear vision, for effective and concrete solutions and for sound Governance.  

We pray for safety in our communities, for all those who are protecting and defending our lives, our streets, our communities, our nations and beyond.  We pray for divine intervention and divine protection, for our own personal lives, for our families, for each other, for our friends, for our workplaces, for our Management and our co-workers.  We pray for our Churches, our Pastors, our Spiritual Leaders.  We pray for the fundamental, the essential, the specific, and the list goes on.  God’s Glory must prevail in our Greater Society and in the Whole World. God’s Revelations shall convince the world for the Salvation of the Majority.

“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:19, 20).  Our God, Jesus Christ, is always with us as we decide to pray.

In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus taught His disciples how to pray in using the following words:

“Our Father in Heaven,

Hallowed be your name,

Your Kingdom come,

Your will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

As we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.”

Prayer is our direct and conscious communication with God.  It is done in full reverence, in absolute respect, as an act of thanksgiving, as an acknowledgement of God’s omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience, as an appreciation of God’s Love, as a petition, as an intercession, as a supplication, as a lamentation, as a request for specific purposes and towards specific goals, and for multiple other reasons and purposes. 

As a member of a powerful group of praying people, I, the writer of this blog, just completed a committed 21-day period of prayer and fasting under the Leadership of our Visionary and Senior Pastor "for our Own Specific and Corporate Purpose."  We got to do what we got to do.  It is very serious and it is very important to pray fervently for our projected results.  It is imperative, it is vital, and it is a must. We shall be conscious and mindful of its value, of its significance, of its impact, of its power, of its effectiveness.

We shall always be on the prayer mode, ready to trigger our prayers on a split-second leading, prompting, awareness and directing against sinful thoughts, against anger, sadness and pain, against temptation, against evil deeds, against evil influences, against defilement, against diminishing actions and behaviors, and also, for our repentance, for our obedience, for our appreciation, for our thanksgiving and for our acknowledgement to God.  God must be pleased with us in order for us to be “effective” for Him and “effectual” in His name in all our ways, in all our deeds, in our calling, and in all His plans for us being His representatives and His hands extended.

We thank God very much for all our readers, and we also pray for all those who are asking, seeking and knocking  (Matthew 7:7, 8; Luke 11:8-10).  They will receive enlightenment, they will find divine revelations and they will get open doors to greater knowledge and to the manifestation of our LORD Jesus Christ.  Their needs will be met, their prayer lives will be improved, their lives and their families will be fully blessed, joyful and transformed as they personally experience God’s Glory and as they share their experience, their encounter, the divine revelations and the divine manifestations with others.  Our world will be a better place as per God’s Sovereign Will through us who find Him, who accept Him, who invite Him into our lives, and who share Him largely and diligently with others and with all.

We also thank God very much and specially for Google™ that are spending and investing billions (of dollars and of other "international" currencies) in Research and Development, and that are innovating and creating innumerable, countless and mind-blowing programs, services, tools, resources and more, which are being made available for us to use and to utilize endlessly for free.  They are God’s hands extended to all of us who are serious, committed, motivated and willing to study, to learn, to explore, to search, to dig (to seek), to advance, to develop, to create, to innovate, to produce, to build, to share, to exchange, and more.  May God Continue to Bless Google™ Abundantly and to Prosper Them Profusely.

We have graciously and gratefully accepted our duty, our assignment, and we have fully embraced our mandate to pray, to share and to spread the Love of Jesus Christ in the lives that we encounter with great assurance, with total confidence and in absolute obedience.  May His name be glorified in all the Earth.
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Special Notes:

1. This blog is also optimized for smartphone and for mobile device reading format and convenience.  Thanks to Blogger.
2. A wonderful rendition of "The Lord's Prayer” by the 7-year-old Gospel singer Rhema Marvanne may be found on her website at: www.rhemamarvanne.com. (Reference used with Granted Permission).
3. The YouVersion Bible App for mobile device is downloadable for free at: www.youversion.com.  (This is our  voluntary publicity to say "Thank You" for the free Bible App.)
4. “We are Going Boldly into the www (world wide web) and into the world in accordance with GOD’s LOVE for the World.” Joseph Dubois.