Being a Man of Prayer

I have been thinking about the importance of being a man of prayer in spite of all adverse situations that we may go through in life. There are times in which heaven itself be silent and feel as brass and our prayers do not bring any results immediately. This testing will be to our own faith in God. To remain in such situations as a man of prayer one must have a strong faith on God. In Psa 109:4, “In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.”

David the King had different problems and it will be very difficult to pray in such situations but he kept his prayer habit intact by not losing his faith on the living almighty God.
The heaven was silent and did not encouraged him to pray more by giving immediate answers but still he prayed to God continuously as in Psa 109:1, “O God, whom I praise, do not remain silent,”
The wicked people spoke against him to divert his attention from praying to God as in Psa 109:2, “for wicked and deceitful men have opened their mouths against me; they have spoken against me with lying tongues.”
People who can wound a heart with words of hate were surround him to wound him as in Psa 109:3, “With words of hatred they surround me;
People who came and attacked him had no valid reasons to do so but they did attack as in Psa 109:3, “…they attack me without cause.”
People could not return his friendship but they accused him as in Psa 109:4, “In return for my friendship they accuse me,
People pay evil for all the good they receive from him as in Psa 109:5, “They repay me evil for good,
People hate me after enjoying my friendship as in Psa 109:5, “and hatred for my friendship.”

In spite of all these adverse situations still he maintained his prayer life as in Psa 109:4, “…but I am a man of prayer.”

What helped him to keep the spirit of prayer?
Faith on God almighty alone can help us to continuously pray to God even if there is no immediate answer to all our prayers.
Without faith we cannot please God as in Heb 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
The deeds of faith need prayer as in James 2:19 & 20, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?”
Doubts will not allow us to receive any result from God nor continue our prayers as in James 1:6 & 7, “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;”

God wants us to continue our prayers until we get the answers as in Luke 18:1 to 8, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

May the Lord help each one of us to have a good faith on God and keep on pray without giving it up until we get the answers from the almighty God.

Psa 109:4, “In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.”

Further Bible Study:
Mat 9:28 & 29, “When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"
John 3:18, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.”

Luke 24:6, “He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:”
Commitment Prayer: Lord, help me to have more faith in you and your Word and that I may pray without any doubts- no wavering, and gain answers. I ask this prayer in the name of our lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Decision To Make
Prov 8:7 & 8, “My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness. All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse.”

Meeting Together and Praying

As a young man, my family went to church every time the doors were open. If there was a prayer meeting we were present and praying, at church or in homes, the place was not important to my parents. We also had family prayer and devotions. My mother and father prayed more than anyone I knew. There was something very powerful about coming together however and praying.

"They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus." Acts 1:14
Another passage that has been so meaningful is that of James 5:18
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
NKJV

In the NT, James was a converted, skeptical relative of Jesus. What a testimony that is to the transforming resurrection power of Jesus Christ, and to the power of prayer. I believe Jesus prayed for His family, and we ought to pray for our families. You can do something in prayer that you can't do when you are with your family in person. When you're there, you can say things and they'll quit hearing what you're saying because they don't want to hear it; but they can't stop what you pray! They can stop you from saying things, but they can't stop you from praying things. You can begin to pray, "Lord, I pray for my Aunt, Uncle, Son, Daughter, Grandchild (fill in the blank calling out their names), and I ask You, Lord, to give them a sudden desire for You." Prayer is a wonderful opportunity, anyone can do it. To pray you don’t need money, or a specific training or skill. As a missionary I tell people they don’t need an airline ticket, a passport or a visa to pray. You can enter King’s palaces, seats of governments and nations that others cannot go.

In the days of watching war being shown on the news we saw what was called precision bombing. It's a lot like what you would see if you were watching a bombing run or missile attack. You would watch the missiles being launched from a submarine hundreds of miles from the target in the middle of the sea. There can be three houses standing in a row with the middle house being the target, and the bomb will hit precisely the middle house. It is even designed so that the surrounding houses aren't harmed!

Prayer destroys spiritual strongholds that the enemy has in people's lives. The enemy has his bunker, and he's hunkered down in there terrorizing people... and then we start praying. "Lord, they're held captive by the enemy.” “Lord, would You please bring them to the place that they desire You?" The bomb's been launched, it hits its target, and your relatives don't even know what happened. God happened! The Lord happened! They think, "Why do I keep thinking about the Lord? Why do I think I might need Him? I need a Bible!" Wow! You've just got to pray and not stop. Prayer and intercession makes the difference.

When you have a couple of people praying with you (where two or three are gathered), you know what that does? Jesus says that He wants us to agree in prayer. Get several missiles launched, and see what prayer does. You see, God has chosen to work with us in prayer for the salvation of people. Use your weapons! Use your spiritual weapons.
In these last weeks of itenration, I have been so aware of the people in the pew not joining with God in His Mission, that none would perish, Go into all the world, Go make disciples of all nations and other instructions of our Lord. Our lives, our churches and our movement need to be on mission. Prayer is a vital part of this.

Verse of personal challenge:
Psalm 19, verses 1-3, "The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard."