For the 2022 April edition of youth time-out, we looked at the topic - PRAYER
What is prayer? Why do we pray? If you ask an average Christian, what prayer is? He would tell you that prayer is communication with God which is true.
Prayer is intimacy with God through the Holy Spirit. It is the earthly license for heavenly intervention. Prayer is us having dialogue with God, speaking to Him and listening to Him. Many times we find out that in the place of prayer we are the only ones talking, we do not give a listening ear to what God is saying.
Sometimes we find that in the place of prayer, the only things we do are rattling of our wish list. We just say “Lord, I thank you for today for you are great and mighty. So this is what I want, I want money, a job etc” and I just imagine God looking down at us, shaking his head and saying “Do I look like a supermarket to you?”
Or we might come to the place of prayer and be like “Lord this is what I want to do, what do you think about it?” and we just leave immediately without waiting for Him to respond and He’s just looking at us saying “I thought I was supposed to talk now, where are you going?”.
A lot of us do these and more on a regularly basis and I think the best way for us to solve this is to know the purpose of prayer. Knowing this will make us understand what we are to do in the place of prayer. Why then do we pray?
- To develop intimacy with God: One of our definitions of prayer is intimacy with God through the Holy Spirit. God does not want to be a business partner or a supermarket to us. He wants a familial relationship with us, where He’s father and we are sons/daughters. He wants a relationship where we are able to share whatever it is with Him. He wants us to tell us about our day no matter how big or small. He wants to be able to gist with you. This is the primary reason for prayer and if our prayer life does not produce intimacy, then we must revisit it.
- To get revelation of God’s plan: God’s plan is revealed in the place of prayer. God is not going to tell his plan to someone who doesn’t communicate with Him. Look at Genesis 18:17 AMP, God said “Shall I keep secret from Abraham [My friend and servant] what I am going to do …“. God acknowledged that He should share His plans with Abraham because they had intimacy. The deeper your intimacy, the deeper then mysteries & plans revealed to you.
- Transformation: One other reason we pray, is that transformation happens in the place of prayer. This is where the Holy Spirit reveals to you what you’re to change, the next step to take and so on. In the place of prayer, there is direction, there is clarity and you begin to see that you progress from one stage to another.
Does this mean that we are not to pray for our needs? No! We can always come to God, baring our hearts out and telling Him what we need because He’s the one that provides all but we shouldn’t reduce Him to a store where we only come when we want something.
One important thing to note is that, prayer is not restricted to you locking yourself up and talking to God but it can be in the form of worship or praise, it can be a silent whisper, it can be you just talking loudly to God. It is not confined to a special place. As you’re walking, reading, cooking, with friends you can be praying. The Holy Spirit is always there 24/7 to be your gisting partner, your counselor and your confidante.
Let’s talk to God always. Our souls need intimacy with God.
Find pictures of the program here.
Note: If you have any question, please contact us at 09063365637,07036795299 or visit our office (No 122 Chief Melford Okilo, Road, Opp. State Fire Service) during counseling days: Wed & Fri (12pm – 4pm)
