Prayer Week 1

Is prayer a brick or is it breathing?

The struggle many individuals and churches have with prayer is that it is viewed as an additional burden among so many other burdens.  It is an added brick among so many other bricks.

Prayer is not a brick or a burden.
To keep this illustration going, prayer is the wheelbarrow that carries our burdens and praises to the Lord.  

Prayer is like breathing.  Dependence upon God is evidence of a deep, necessary trust in God.
It needs to be constant and we are to be spiritual healthy.

In 1st Thessalonians 5:17, the Bible commands us to pray continually.  This continual prayer is a life of dependence on God.  Trusting that he saved us from our sins and continuing to call out to Him throughout our lives.    

As we think about how our lives should be marked by prayer, let us remember the 1st Adam and the 2nd Adam.

The first Adam, in Genesis 3:8, sinned and hide from God because of sin. 
Then he began the blameshifting.  "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." The first Adam sinned and then blamed the woman and God.

The second Adam in Mark 14:36 had no sin and humbly submitted to an undeserved death for the glory of God and good mankind. 

Our communication with God needs to be Christ-like, humbly asking and ultimately submitting to God's plan.

Friday night's post, after my Prayer workshop at the Church Ministries Conference (https://churchministriesconference.com/), will have more about the importance of corporate prayer.