What is Prayer?

[BARNABY THE DOG.]

Excellent comments in this room, thanks!

For me John's words speak to intimacy in prayer with Jehovah: (1Jo 3:19-22; 4:16-19)

He and James also speaks of hypocrisy hindering our prayers, which can happen to any of us: (Jas 1:26, 27; 1Jo 4:20, 21)

Asking in faith for appropriate things, including asking for wisdom is essential: (Heb 11:6; Jas 1:5-8; Jo 5:13-15 )

And of course, these prayers should all center on magnification of Jehovah's name and that of his son through whom we pray, with much thanksgiving. Just as the Lord prayed (Mt 6:9-15; Col 3:17) In other words we should not be the center out our prayers except in relation to God's will through Christ . His concerns, his will, his purpose, his Kingship and Sovereignty and its expression on earth and in heaven is center to universal peace and righteousness. Sadly we can get bogged down in prayer when we focus to much on ourselves and our own needs. (Jas 4:1-6) Its happened to all of us at some point in time, that why its good to power read the apostles letters in the Greek scriptures to hear essential reminders of what God expects of us.

For all those here at the forum, I would say the time is approaching to continually pray that we may understand prophesies that have to do with "God's people" whether anointed or not. Asking Jah for wisdom in regard to the prophetic 3 1/2 years, for courage, faith and love for our brothers in imitation of Christ, as we are about to face perilous times, tests and perhaps even death. Praying that those who are true to Jehovah and Christ would find strength to endure and speak the truth about God and Christ fearlessly. That we would be gathered together in union with Christ. The following almost seems to urge us to do so before the seven trumpets are blown. Jah is listening!

“When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel, holding a golden incense vessel, arrived and stood at the altar, and a large quantity of incense was given him to offer it with the prayers of all the holy ones on the golden altar that was before the throne. The smoke of the incense from the hand of the angel ascended with the prayers of the holy ones before God. But right away the angel took the incense vessel, and he filled it with some of the fire of the altar and hurled it to the earth. And there were thunders and voices and flashes of lightning and an earthquake. And the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.” (Re 8:1-6)

A very informative and helpful reply Kevin. How does one centre prayer though on the magnification of Jehovah’s name? I ask myself, what sort of praise can I heap on Jehovah that makes any sense and has any value? This is where the content of prayer has to be questioned if it is to set us apart from the simpering tele-evangelism worshiping what they do not know. That is an issue for me at least, not to criticise the tele-evangelist so much, but in understanding what is of value. The question then is how do we worship what we do not know? We are even limited by our language to express what surely must be the case insofar as Jehovah is concerned.

Prayer for me is private, but I can share one point in how I address this issue in my conscience, and that is I have praise for His creation, His laws as the ‘maker of laws’ that govern the universe and nature, and of course, the inbuilt senses that we experience, those of love, justice, reasonableness, a sense of past, present and future, and our love of such things. I don’t understand how love can be expressed without understanding if it is to have any meaning or value, therefore this must have a bearing on the validity of prayer. Value is a critical issue because without it, we are neutered of any meaning in our appreciation of Jehovah. That then is a critical issue of offering, in that we express our understanding of what we know.

What we know then, is of value and can be scrutinised insofar as honesty in us is seen and understood. Jehovah reads the heart. What we do not know, is valueless and we can only bark at it. Unfortunately, at this late stage, we judge our values against those of others. Those who have gone before, especially Adam, knew Jehovah personally. Can you imagine meeting the very essence of Jehovah walking in His garden during the ‘breezy part of the day’. Jesus noted the difficulty for us in his reply to Thomas. “You have seen and have faith - greater faith have those who have not seen, yet believe.”

 

[BARNABY THE DOG.]

That is the wonderful thing. Prayer is proof that Jehovah sees value in us and wants to hear from us. What a rewarding endeavor it is to contemplate that we can “prepare“ our prayers like one would do with incense.

Psalm 141:2: “May my prayer be as incense prepared before you, My uplifted hands like the evening grain offering.”

There are many times Jehovah even communicated with faithful ones to say “I have heard your prayer”! What will it be like when Jehovah says that to you? It will happen to those who stay faithful because we see in the account of Adam and Eve that they talked with Jehovah and they knew he heard them and answered them.

Genesis 3:8-10: “Later they heard the voice of Jehovah God as he was walking in the garden about the breezy part of the day, and the man and his wife hid from the face of Jehovah God among the trees of the garden. And Jehovah God kept calling to the man and saying to him: “Where are you?” Finally he said: “I heard your voice in the garden, but I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself”

Unfortunately this account sadly tells the story of human failure but it also shows us that Jehovah’s original purpose for humans was to have meaningful communication with our Creator and once we are raised to perfection, Jehovah’s purpose will be fulfilled.

1 Corinthians 15:24-28: “Next, the end, when he hands over the Kingdom to his God and Father, when he has brought to nothing all government and all authority and power. For he must rule as king until God has put all enemies under his feet. And the last enemy, death, is to be brought to nothing. For God “subjected all things under his feet.” But when he says that ‘all things have been subjected,’ it is evident that this does not include the One who subjected all things to him. But when all things will have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also subject himself to the One who subjected all things to him, that God may be all things to everyone.”

Beautiful scriptures. Thanks.