Guigoz #7
C: Mike you told me that we can learn to pray but there are some Christians who say the exact opposite.
M: You can open your Bible and read in Luke 11:1-4 where you’ll see that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray as John taught his disciples. Jesus showed them how to pray
C: Oh yes! But I already know the “Lord’s Prayer” by heart and I recite it every morning
M: How long does it take you to recite it?
C: I think just one minute
M: Corrine, I would like you to understand that we are created in the image of God. When we pray our spirit is in communion with the Spirit of God. The heart of God longs for our prayers- just as you love to spend the most amount of time with the people closest to you so God loves to spend time with you in prayer.
C: How many minutes do I have to pray in order to satisfy God?
M: All that I know is that we should spend lots of time in His Presence. The quality of prayer counts more than the amount of time we pray. The important thing is to be in His Presence. If you read Matthew 26:40 you will see that Jesus wanted to spend time in prayer with His disciples. When he realized that they were sound asleep, he was astonished and said to Peter: “Couldn’t you watch with me for one hour?”
C: But how could someone ever spend an hour in prayer just reciting the Lord’s Prayer?
M: Well, you need to understand that the “Lord’s Prayer” is just an outline that Jesus used to show his disciples how to pray and that each line has deeper meaning behind it. For example, you notice that Jesus started by saying: “When you pray say: Father hallowed by your name”
C: Why did he start by saying that?
M: The Lord inhabits the praises of his people according to Psalms 22:4 and the Bible says in Psalms 100:4 that we must enter the courts of the Lord with praise and his gates with thanksgiving. We need to start our prayer time by praising the Lord and in glorifying his name. The Bible shows us in several passages that there is great power in praising God.
C: Can you give me an example in the Bible where God manifested His power because of praise?
M: Look up Acts 16:23-26 in the Bible where Paul and Silas are imprisoned for the Word of God. They are bound up by chains with a jailer and all the gates of the prison are tightly shut. Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing praises to the Lord while all the other prisoners were listening. The Bible says that suddenly there was a great earth-quake and the prison foundation was shaken as the doors flew open and the chains of all the prisoners came loose. Do you see how this power was manifested as the result of the praises of Paul and Silas?
C: And what do the chains signify that tied them up?
M: The chains and the foundations of the prison represent the power of the devil but as we praise the Lord no matter what is happening He will release power to open even the prison doors that were shut.
C: When should we fast?
M: As I told you the other day, every child of God needs to be lead by the Holy Spirit. Some people fast to get alone and spend time in prayer and other fast because they are in a situation where they feel blocked by the power of Satan.
C: I’ve always thought that every demon has to flee when we call on the name of Jesus?
M: You are absolutely right but not all demons operate in the same manner nor have the same strength. That is why one day the disciples weren’t able to drive out a demon and Jesus had to explain to them that this particular demon wouldn’t come out except by prayer and fasting. You can find this verse in Matthew 17:21
C: Why aren’t some prayers answered?
M: You will find out in Guigoz #8
