Dear friends.
For the past few months we have been dealing with a very unique and personal topic (ABIDING IN HIM)
And last time we took a look at the importance of waiting in our Christian life. I know from my little personal experience most especially as a missionary in a different nation how God uses the practice of waiting to prune and shape our calling and Vision. It’s amazing how this same subject of waiting also applies to our love life in the area of patience.
This waiting has helped me to personally grow in my relationship with God. More and more during these past few months, Jesus has challenged me to develop the habit of listening to what He has to say, instead of the many words that I felt I needed to say; thus pointing me to what has result to our article for this week. ‘’Developing a Lifestyle of prayer’’

PRAYER:
Prayer is one of the subjects that have caused so much conflict and division in the Christian family for decades today. And while the problem remains unsolved, each church and Christian groups seems to believe their method or belief system on this idea is the best, leading to what I Term the QUESTION AGE OF THE CHURCH HISTORY.
This is the practical life of the church today, even though some may say they do not have problem with the subject of prayer, the question remains; WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO PRAY? For the past couple of weeks, God started bring up this need in my heart and shared with me how heavy His heart has been as we use the concept of prayer to describe the person of God.
For centuries past, the idea of prayer has always been debated mostly not because of the act of prayer itself, but because of our concept of the person of God. By seeing prayers in this way, people turn to express the act of prayer as mystical and very sacred, therefore only people who are highly spiritual will obtain the privileges of God’s response to their prayers. This concept and mindset sees God as a mysterious person that cannot be predicted and MUST be feared most especially when in the church, thereby making it difficult for others to trust the loving and caring person of God in His Character and Nature.
This concept creates doubt in God’s ability to feel the personal emotions of human beings. Since He is mysterious and strange, the act of prayer then becomes a religious practice by the standard and pattern of our church doctrine and not a personal expression of one’s feelings to our Most Loving and Caring Father who desires personal intimate relationship with us, His people who are created in His image and likeness for this very purpose.
I remember few weeks ago during my time of prayer which is mostly just listening to what God has in His heart. This was on a Sunday morning and the LORD brought a picture of one man in the church my wife and I attend here. This man walked with the help of crutches and bends over on his back and his legs are tied with some kind of plastic to enable him use the crutches, even at that he needs the help of others to sit down every morning at church. I have personally noticed this man with this painful situation, but it seems to be normal after a period of time. Then this Sunday morning, the LORD told me to pray for the man and He will heal him, so after the service that day, my wife and I walked up to him and requested to pray for his legs and he agreed. The following week he came to church without his crutches and walking around without the help of anyone. Yet when he saw me, his words were “I still do not know what you did with my legs that day when you prayed” This leads to the next mindset I want to touch on.

THE GREAT AND POWERFUL PRAYER vs The Prayer Warrior:

This is a concept by which the person, who prays, is seen as the primary reason for which God answered the prayers and even if God was not willing to answer, the man with a great and powerful prayer will compel Him to do so even beyond His will because this person is a great prayer warrior.
Therefore for your prayers to be answered, you will need these men and women of great and powerful prayer.
This is one of the saddest ignorances of the church life that is common with the church Pastors, leadership board, elders, deacons, Bishops, prophets, apostle, evangelist and teachers of the Bible.
The mindset has glorified the person that prayed more than the one that answers the prayers. It also exalts the highly theological or spirit filled people above those who are just church members.With this mindset, people who do not have the gift of praying great and mighty prayers, suffer the consequences of their inability to obtain such a gift through some form of higher faith from some theological experiences or by doing some spiritual activities which will lead to that level of prayer.

However, the bible has this to say:‘’But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Likewise 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 groaning’s which cannot be uttered.’(Romans 8:25-27)’ this text reveals something very significant to our Christian life. WE CANNOT. But God Can. And we are told that God will do this through us by the Holy Spirit and not us by our great and mighty prayers. We need to accept this truth with all humility of heart

When we start recognizing the greatness of the one who prays above the one who answers the prayers, we make the gift more important to us than the GIVER, thus making it difficult for others to know the true character and nature of the GIVER. I will talk more on this when we look at the Holy Spirit and gift of the Spirit. Most times, people confuse the gift of the Spirit and the act of prayer and end up blaming themselves for not having the kind of faith that others have, thereby giving up the hope of God’s faithfulness in their lives.

God is calling us to believe in His ability to answer us by making those things which are humanly impossible to be possible, not in the amount of prayers we can pray and how constructive our vocabularies are in the process of praying, but in our weak and powerless inability to pray, we just believe in His faithfulness; that He hears and He cares and Loves us and will answer. Jesus addresses this mindset when speaking to His disciples on how to pray. Mat 6:5-21.
The concept of going into your house and praying without the hearing of others is the expression of personal relationship with God, just like any good parents will do with their children, they prefer talking about family issues in the house rather than in the public and in the hearing of everyone passing by. By saying this, Jesus creates in His disciples a new mindset; God is their Father and should be seen in this way also during prayers.

Furthermore, the act of prayer is never to be done for public recognition or enticed people with good and constructive words to praise for being a great prayer warrior, but rather a personal expression of one’s desires, emotions, or frustrations to our heavenly Father who already knows what we need even before we ask. This concept of knowing what we need before we ask, is that of intimacy with God and confidence in His faithfulness. Jesus was in other words teaching His disciples not focus on the words of their prayers, but rather on the person of God.

I will strongly recommend that you take time to dwell on these passages for the whole of this month and reflect on your personal life. Start by asking yourself some questions such as:
What is my concept of prayer?
What is the origin of my concept of prayer and why?
How do I see the person of God?
How can I develop an intimate prayer life base on these scriptures?
Are they some mindset I have that conflict with these scriptures and my willing to replay those with the teachings of the scriptures?
Have I accepted the Love of God in my life through Jesus and agree that He loves me and do not need my works of righteousness to call me His child?
As you ask yourself these questions, I believe God will speak to you and reveal to your heart and mind the answers.

Finally, I encourage you to response to God from your heart and ask Him to reveal more of Himself to you, so that you will have a deeper understanding of His Character and Nature and His Love that cannot be measured. Psalms 103.

Please send your questions, prayer request and comments to ndecheckj@yahoo.com
To those of you who sent in your prayer request, know that we have been standing with you and believe God’s word for your life. Remember, HE IS ALWAYS FAITHUL.

With love and God’s blessings.

Jackson and Anneke Ndecheck