The topic of
prayer is very important for a believer as it is our communication to God in
worship and supplication. The Greek word
for pray is:
proseuchomai
pros-yoo'-khom-ahee
From G4314
and G2172; to pray to
God, that is, supplicate, worship: - pray (X earnestly, for),
make prayer.
Believers
are instructed to:
Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
This represents a direct connection from an individual believer to
our heavenly Father in that we are in continuous communication with Him on a
daily basis. Unfortunately the subject
of prayer has been grossly perverted in the modern mainstream/denominational/evangelical system in
that they most often pray unbiblically by inviting in the unbelievers to
participate with believers, praying by a clock instead of being led by spirit ,
by using repetitious prayers, standing out in public view and one man praying
for all.
As we look to God’s Word for instruction we have Jesus telling us
this:
But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father
which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee
openly.
(Matthew 6:6)
Jesus lived out private prayer Himself and we hold to it keeping prayer a very private matter with God and ONLY other true saints we know and are united to.
And when He
had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.
Now when evening came, He was alone there. (Matthew 14:23)
Now in the morning, having
risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary
place; and there He prayed. (Mark 1:35)
Now in the
morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to
a solitary place; and there He prayed. (Luke 3:21)
So He Himself often
withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. (Luke 5:16)
Now it came to pass in those
days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in
prayer to God. (Luke 6:12)
And it happened, as He was
alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying,
“Who do the
crowds say that I am?”
(Luke 9:18)
And He was withdrawn from
them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed (Luke 22:41)
Then Jesus came with them to
a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray
over there. (Matthew 26:36)
And it came to pass about an eight days
after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a
mountain to pray. 29 And
as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was
white and glistering. 30 And,
behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: 31 Who appeared in glory, and
spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 But Peter and they that
were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his
glory, and the two men that stood with him.
(Luke 9:28-32)
That’s not to say
that true believers who know each others lives cannot pray together
as we see by God’s Word, they did and should…
And they
continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking
of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42)
These all continued with one
accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of
Jesus, and with his brethren. (Acts 1:14)
And when he had considered
the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was
Mark; where many were gathered together praying. (Acts 12:12)
But the difference we see in God’s Word, compared to the modern
denominational/evangelical system is that it is not one person being the spokesperson for
the group. Also, allowing the world in and non believers/those not born again to join in prayer is sinful! We see that prayer is an
individual communication from a true believer to God or with other true believers.
Indeed we see instructions of praying
on behalf of another...
John 17,
Matthew 11, Luke 22, Luke 23, Luke 11
Believers are to pray in the spirit.
Praying always with all
prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints (Ephesians 6:18)
But you, beloved, building
yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit (Jude 1:20)
1 Corinthians 14 shows us that we are to pray in the spirit (in the
proper way).
Jesus warned about vain repetition before He showed us an example of
how to pray, but sadly there are some denominational/evangelical organizations that have
taken that example of prayer and turned it into vain repetitious prayer.
We reject it out right.
But
when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that
they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father
knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. 9 After
this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy
name. 10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is
in heaven. 11 Give us
this day our daily bread. 12 And
forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, for ever. Amen. 14 For
if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men
their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:7-15)
The modern mainstream denominational/evangelical
organizations would have you believe that we are to schedule our prayers
and come together as a group on certain times for a specified length of time to
pray about a predetermined subject. The
modern prayer meetings and prayer rallies you see today are not biblical as
they are not in alignment with praying in the spirit but are instead praying by
man’s organized schedule. They also unite in sinful ways with unbelievers and those is false theology.
We must also
beware of the modern denominational insinuations that we must always pray as a
group when we gather. If it is not a
spirit led prayer then it is not a prayer we should offer to God. This mindset causes bondage to a believer in
that they feel they are not being obedient or are lacking in the spirit if they
do not feel led to group prayer. We must be spirit led per Romans 8:1
We do have to be very careful when speaking of praying in the spirit
because there are those out there who seem to ‘think’ that the more the merrier
and having many people pray at once, all together, is more powerful and will
manifest the Holy Spirit more. Quite
often those people will comment how they ‘felt the Holy Spirit moving
powerfully’ and in man-made systems, emotionalism is being used or taking over,
when we are to be led by God’s Spirit and not by our emotions and feelings. Scripture does not teach us that and such ill
theology must be refuted.
Believers also must be careful in assuming that when there were
multiple people gathered to pray that it was all vocal as prayer can be done as
a group through silent individual prayer.
We need to be sure we are not adding to, taking away or inferring to God’s
Word.
So what we see in scripture is that prayer is most often from a
believer to God on their own in private.
Along with that we see multiples of people praying ‘in one accord’ but
we see no direct instructions that one person is to physically speak the
prayers of others but instead to pray on their behalf.
As in all things we have to make sure we are following God’s Word,
what we see in Scripture and that we follow the apostolic model 2 Thess 2:15 and not being
swept away in man’s vain traditions.
(Mark 7)
Jesus said to worship in spirit and truth and obviously praying
should be done by those seeking spirit and in truth. John 4:24
****************************************************
See our resources below that will help you in the biblical faith.
Here is the biblical gospel:
Here is a 10 point biblical test:
Spirit and Truth Teaching Blog
Go here for audio teachings
Go here for video's:
