benefit of prayer

BENEFITS OF PRAYER

IMPROVES SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: Prayer impacts our spiritual practice at three levels, action, thought and attitude:

ACTION: All actions that are preceded by prayer for spiritual benefit are performed with spiritual emotion; hence fewer errors are committed. Thus by praying, various actions in one’s spiritual practice (e.g. chanting, satsang, satsēvā, etc.) occur as per the way God or Guru (The Guiding principle of God) would like them to happen.

THOUGHT: So long as the mind is active, thoughts will continue. They pose an obstacle to the dissolution of the mind. Useless thoughts also cause wastage of energy. Prayer is an extremely useful tool to prevent this waste. Prayer reduces worry and enhances contemplation.

ATTITUDE: A prayer done with spiritual emotion initiates the process of contemplation within a seeker, and this assists him in becoming introverted.

Enhances the potency of chanting the Name of God: A seeker chants the Name of God with the aim of realizing God. Only if accompanied by intense motivation for God realization and spiritual emotion will the Name repeated (chanted) be truly effective. One Saint would be so engrossed in chanting the Name of God that He would become oblivious to the world. One rarely finds someone who can chant the Name of God with such intense spiritual emotion. However, repeated prayers about being graced with quality chanting, along with chanting the Name of God, helps in generation of spiritual emotion and makes our chanting reach God.

Divine help in spiritual practice: When a seeker sincerely prays to God to get a particular action/thought/attitude pertaining to his spiritual practice, done through him (the seeker), a seemingly impossible task is easily accomplished by the Guru’s grace.

Receiving forgiveness for mistakes: Having committed a mistake, if one makes a prayer and surrenders unto God or the Guru, then God or Guru forgives one for the mistake. However the prayer and surrender have to be commensurate in intensity with the mistake committed.

REDUCING THE EGO: While praying we plead before God; it is therefore the place where pride is abandoned and we humbly admit our need/human frailty as well as our dependence upon God. It therefore helps to reduce the ego faster. Refer to importance of prayer.

PROTECTION FROM GHOSTS: Prayer is a powerful tool that helps protect one from ghosts (demons, devils, negative energies, etc.) and creates armour around oneself.

Increase in faith: When a prayer gets answered, faith in God or the Guru increases. Faith is the only currency on our spiritual journey.

the power of prayer

HOW TO PRAY WITH POWER

Jonathon Goforth was a man of powerful prayer. It is said of him that once he felt assured of God's will in prayer, he would continue in the power of prayer until the thing was accomplished.

Andrew Murray, too, was a great prayer warrior. He wrote in The Praying Christian: "The Christian needs strength. This we all know. The Christian has no strength of his own. This is also true."

Where strength may be obtained? Notice the answer: "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." (Ephesians 6:10)

Paul had spoken of this power in the earlier part of his epistle to the Ephesians (1:18-20). He had prayed to God to give them the Spirit that they might know the exceeding greatness of His power according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.

This is the literal truth: The greatness of His power, which raised Christ from the dead, works in every believer. In me and you, my reader. We hardly believe it, and still less do we experience it.

That is why Paul prays, and we must pray with Him, that God through His Spirit would teach us to believe in His almighty power. Pray with all your heart: "Father, grant me the Spirit of wisdom, that I may experience this power in my life."

Pray for God's Spirit to enlighten your eyes. Believe in the divine power working within you. Pray that the Holy Spirit may reveal it to you, and appropriate the promise that God will manifest His power in your heart, supplying all your needs.

Do you not begin to realize that time is needed -- much time in fellowship with the Father and Son, if you would experience the power of God within you?

Power for Answered Prayer

Read Acts 12:5-18.

 How did Peter's fellow Christians respond to his imprisonment? (Verse 5)

 What was God's answer to their prayer? (Verses 6-11)

 What was their response to God's answer? (Verses 13-16)

 How does seeing God answer your prayers in a powerful way change your feelings about prayer?

What do the following Bible references tell you about the qualities God demands in a person for powerful prayer? (Hebrews 11:1,6, Romans 12:1,2, Mark 11:25, I John 3:22, Ephesians 5:18)

Conditions to Answered Prayer

Why is it necessary to ask in accordance with the will of God? (I John 5:14-15)

Write out John 15:7 in your own words and state what it teaches about conditions to answered prayer.

What is the value of several Christians praying for something as opposed to just one? (Matthew 18:19)

Prevailing Prayer

During his lifetime, George Mueller recorded more than 50,000 answers to prayer. He prayed for two men daily for more than 60 years. One of these men was converted shortly before Mueller's death and the other about a year later. As in Mueller's experience, we do not always see the answer to our prayers. We must leave the results to God.

One of the great needs of today is for men and women who will begin to pray for things and then pray repeatedly until they obtain what they seek from the Lord.

How long do you think we should pray for someone or something? (Luke 18:1-8)

 Why do you think God honors prevailing prayer?

 What part do our feelings play in prevailing prayer?

What did the following men accomplish through prayer?

 Moses (Exodus 15:22-25)

 Samson (Judges 16:28-30)

 Peter (Acts 9:36-41)

 Elijah (James 5:17-18)

How do these examples help you gain greater confidence to pray? Give an example of what God has done for you or someone you know as the result of prevailing prayer.

  Life Application

Examine your prayer life in light of the conditions for answered prayer. What conditions are lacking for you to have open communication with God? How much do you really believe and trust God when you pray?

Write down one prayer request for which you are having to exercise "prevailing prayer."

List two Scripture verses that you can claim in relation to this prayer request.