PRAYER IS A LANGUAGE IN ITSELF
“We give thanks to God always for all of you,
(The First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians 1: 2A-5 NASB)
making mention of you in our prayers;
constantly bearing in mind your work of faith
and labor of love
and steadfastness of hope
in our Lord Jesus Christ
in the presence of our God and Father,
knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you;
for our gospel did not come to you in word only,
but also in power
and in the Holy Spirit
and with full conviction;
just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.”
- Have we ever considered the powerful prayer of one of God’s saints?
- Have we felt so compelled to pray, that it really did not matter where, when, or who saw us praying?
Yesterday, I shared lunch with three beautiful ladies, Spanish speaking, each one, with the odd one—me—the non-Spanish speaker in the group. Two ladies are professors of Spanish and the third was a professor of music, and all three spoke a different language, one I could only hear and admire. Throughout our time together, their bi-lingual gift became intertwined as both English and Spanish words graced our lunch table.
PRAYER IS A LANGUAGE IN ITSELF.
Consider how unique praying Christians must seem to an unbelieving individual.
Sure, everyone believes in prayer (or at least, they say they do), but when an unbeliever sees the TRUE POWER of GOD DISPLAYED THROUGH A FAITHFUL BELIEVER’S PRAYER, it is a holy event to behold for the Creator of the universe reveals HIMSELF to the watching world.
Amazingly, our Father allows us to become part of this moment by guiding us to pray.
PRAYER IS A LANGUAGE IN ITSELF—ONE THAT PROVIDES THE BELIEVER DIRECT ACCESS INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
WOW!
Truly, just consider how unique we must seem to an unbelieving individual when we bow our heads to pray. So, yesterday, when one of the ladies came late to our table after we had already begun eating, it was not strange at all when she voiced: “I’m going to pray.” She did, and we paused in our eating to join her.
- Have we ever considered the powerful prayer of one of God’s saints? &
- Have we felt so compelled to pray, that it really did not matter where, when, or who saw us praying?
The apostle Paul writes to Greeks who live in Thessaloniki (Thessalonica), and if we look closely at his salutation in the letter, we will see something unique.
Pause. Go back to re-read the verses.
- Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy prayed for the believers living in Thessaloniki.
- They noticed how the believers living in that Greek city worked out their faith as a “labor of love and steadfastness.”
- Our Father & Our Savior Jesus are present always with us.
- Christ-followers are “beloved by God, His choice.” Let that thought sink in deeply.
- When they (the recipients of Paul’s letter) first believed, the Holy Spirit filled them with the power of God.
- Paul mentions how these believers knew they too (Paul, Silvanus, & Timothy) were also filled with the Gospel of God’s Amazing Grace.
“We give thanks to God always for all of you,
(The First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians 1: 2 NASB)
making mention of you in our prayers; . . .”
- What gives a person the ‘right’ to pray, to call upon the Creator of the universe? &
- What allows a person to receive ‘access’ to pray, to enter a heavenly conversation with the Father?
The apostle Peter provides us the answer in his first letter to the Christians—
“To those who reside as aliens,
(The First Letter of Peter 1: 1b-2b NASB)
scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
who are chosen
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
by the sanctifying work of the Spirit,
to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: . . .”
What gives a person the ‘right’ to pray, to call upon the Creator of the universe?
- We have been chosen by God who in His Almightiness foreknew He wanted us to become His children.
GOD WANTS THIS FOR ALL PEOPLE!
What allows a person to receive ‘access’ to pray, to enter a heavenly conversation with the Father?
- We have received access to call upon our Father because it is “the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: . . .”
GOD SENT HIS ONLY SON BECAUSE HE WANTS THIS FOR ALL PEOPLE!
TRULY, PRAYER IS A LANGUAGE IN ITSELF—ONE THAT PROVIDES THE BELIEVER DIRECT ACCESS INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
When unbelievers experience the prayers lifted, spoken aloud by the saints of God, those who do not yet know Jesus as their Savior may hear our words but listen as if hearing a foreign language. They may only hear sound as the words are spoken, not fully understanding the conversation occurring between God & His child. However, for the believers who are praying, we hear the prayer & we understand the beauty of the communication experience between God and one of His children.
LET US PRAY & PRAY & PRAY & PRAY & PRAY & PRAY & PRAY & (get the picture?) . . . because even though the listening unbelievers may not understand the POWER found within the words spoken during a prayer, they will experience the POWER of GOD when the prayer is answered.
Therefore, It is our job (the believer’s job) to share the answers of our prayers as well as the prayers with the lost, for how will they know if we keep the answered prayers to ourselves?
Thus—
Let us end with a Psalm of David who reminds us of pleasing sounds of the meditations of our hearts lifted to our Father. &
Let us always invite those near us to join us in prayer (whether they are believers or not yet).
“Let the words of my mouth and
(The Psalms 19: 14 NASB)
the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”