Devotions with Pastor Jerry Schmid

ASPECTS OF PRAYER AND WHY IT IS IMPORTANT FOR US IN OUR LIFE
 
Session 5: PRAY ALWAYS AND EXPECT RESULTS
 
PRAY ALWAYS
Jesus said that, "...men ought always to pray, and not to faint." (Luke 18:1)
God speaks to us through Bible reading, but we speak to Him through prayer. We need that special time alone with God, just one-on-one in prayer. Jesus realized the need to pull away for a while and get alone with His Father in prayer. Mark 1:35 says: "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed."
 
In our fast-paced society this is sometimes hard, but it is both necessary and we will find it to be worth the effort.  Society was the same in Jesus’s time as it is in our time. The words “it’s hard to find time” seems to be the universal excuse we use and it’s no surprise to find it was the same for the disciples in the Garden.
 
If your source of food for each day is your local grocery store, you’d go there each day to meet your need for sustenance. Then, by the same need to sustain life, it should be natural for us to go to God in prayer for our daily needs, the needs of others and make our petitions known.
 
I Thessalonians 5:16-22 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil...
 
If we pray ALWAYS, we'll never become over-loaded with problems. That does not imply all our problems will just vanish, rather that He wants us to carry a LIGHT load. Jesus said, "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:30). The Lord will sustain us, carry our load and see us through; only if we pray, turn over the burden to Him by faith believing He WILL. PS: Don’t give your burdens to Him and then pick them up once again to carry by yourself. Give-m and Leave-m.
 
EXPECT RESULTS
Now that we have emphasized the need to pray always, we must confront the deeper question; do we really have a positive expectation regarding what God can and will do in response to our prayers?
 
If I were to plug in an electrical cord to an outlet that would carry 220 volts of electricity, expose the wires and ask you to grab the ends you would expect that power to set you free, (or something like that) right?
 
Prayer taps into the overflowing power of the Holy Spirit; flowing down from a living God. God’s Word demands that we have Great Expectations about His response to prayer! His Word says that unbelief will hinder our prayers!
James 1:8 says: “a double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”According to James, if we ask God for things in prayer, doubting that God is able to deliver, it is like expecting to receive nothing from the Lord”!
 
Prayers are powerful, if we expect them to be! 
 
Jesus believed it - Matthew 17:20 If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
James 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up;
 
So, pray without ceasing (this is keeping Jesus in your thoughts all day long) and by faith, and the power of the Holy Spirit, expect God to move (remembering He will respond in His wisdom, His will and His Way, not our own. Thank You Lord!)

Remember: Pray Always and Expect Results!

Yours in Christ, Rev. Jerry Schmid