Make Time To Pray 
by Tom Smith, Wooddale Church of Christ

1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing. 

Do you feel guilty because you aren't able to spend long periods of time each day in prayer?

Perhaps you have a regular but brief time when you read the Bible and pray, but you lack a sense of God's presence in your life.

You feel you aren't communicating enough with your heavenly Father.

That's a problem that plagues individuals whose lives are incessantly busy.

Here is some helpful advice for Christians from the 17th-century French writer Francois Fénelon.

"Learn," he counsels, "to make good use of chance moments: When waiting for someone, when going from place to place, or when in society where to be a good listener is all that is required, at such times it is easy to lift the heart to God and thereby gain fresh strength for further duties . . . . One moment will suffice to place yourself in God's presence to love and worship Him, to offer all you are doing or bearing, and to still all your heart's emotions at His feet."

We can train ourselves to maintain an awareness of the Lord's presence with us throughout the day and to talk with Him as we are able.

That's how we can obey the apostle's command to "pray without ceasing".
To make the most of your time, take time to pray.

Topic(s): Prayer
 Todd Clippard

Yours is a very difficult question. All men do indeed possess free moral agency. But I'm not sure how praying for an individual would supplant or interfere in the exercise thereof. For example, when I pray, I pray for what is best for an individual. At the same time I pray for God's will to be done in all things. I think it best to pray that an individual will act in accordance with God's will, instead of praying for a specific course of action.

So long as we pray for what is best for an individual, and pray for understanding and the courage to accept God's will, I believe we ought to pray for others. In 1 Timothy 2:1-5, we are commanded to pray for our leaders that we might live quiet and peaceable lives. I don't think this is an attempt to usurp their free moral agency, any more than praying for myself is an attempt to have God intervene without my personal exercise of free moral agency.

Part of the difficulty is not knowing HOW God works in the lives of men. I believe prayer changes things, and I believe God works in the lives of men. However, it is difficult, if not impossible, for me to immediately point to any specific event and say, "This is the providence of God." An older, wiser, preacher-friend of mine once told me, "Always wait at least 15 years before crediting God with anything." What he meant was that sometimes we give God credit for things that end up hurting us in the long run, when our own poor decisions are the cause of the difficulty.

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I Need Patience to be Patient
by J. Raymond Pecoraro

Bob Prichard
Topic(s): Christian Life, Prayer

Foremost in prayer we must recognize the sovereign power of God. 

He hears prayer and forgives sin. 
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).  

Confession of sin is more than just admitting the sin. 

In confessing sin to God, we agree with Him about the nature and effects of sin. He knows what we have done, so in confession we acknowledge that He as Lord has the power to forgive us and cleanse us of unrighteousness. 

We should not fear confessing sin to God, because His matchless love for us is demonstrated by the cross of Christ. 

In recognizing with God the nature and effect of sin, we realize the inherent need to make restitution to others for our sin. 

The Philippian jailer made restitution for the harsh treatment of Paul and Silas: He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway (Acts 16:33).

As He prepared to face the cross, Jesus prayed, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done (Luke 22:42). 

Effective prayer must be marked by this attitude, not my will, but thine, be done. 

We must pray according to God's will. 
We may not always know fully what the will of God is, but we will know that His will is always consistent with the scriptures. 
The better we know His written word, the better we will be able to keep our prayers and our lives in tune with His will. 

James lamented that some chose not to pray according to God's will: Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (James 4:3). 
We must pray according to His will, and do all that we can to let His will be done.

Even though the disciples were religious, and had prayed all of their lives, they knew that Jesus was different, so one said, Lord, teach us to pray (Luke 11:1). 

In response, Jesus gave a model prayer. 

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 
Thy kingdom come. 
Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 
Give us day by day our daily bread. 
And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. 
And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil (Luke 11:2-4). 

He immediately then told a parable about persistence as a man begged for help from a friend. The friend helped, not because of friendship, but because of his importunity, or persistence in asking (Luke 11:8). 

Christ then pointed out that God will give to His children as any good father will, but He expects importunity, or persistence in prayer.

Fervency is another characteristic of effective prayer. 

God's people have always prayed with forceful sincerity. 

Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months (James 5:17). 

We read of Christ; And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground (Luke 22:44). 

The formalism of many prayers needs to be replaced with the fervency of real belief in God and in His promise to hear and respond to our prayers.

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