LESSON ONE – PRAYER

Col. 4:2 — Persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving.

Eph. 6:18 — By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints.

THE MEANING OF PRAYER

A real prayer is the mutual contact between God and man. Prayer is not just man contacting God, but also God contacting man. If in prayer man does not touch or contact God, and God does not touch or contact man, that prayer is below the proper standard. (Lessons on Prayer, pp. 12, 14-15)

PERSEVERING IN PRAYER

In Colossians 4:2 Paul charges us to persevere in prayer. This means that we should not merely continue in prayer, but we should strive to continue. Almost everything in our environment is contrary to prayer. In order to pray, we must go against the tide, the current, of our environment. If we fail to pray, we shall be swept downstream. Only prayer can enable us to go against the current. Therefore, we need to persevere in prayer, to pray persistently. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 252-253)

A VOW CONCERNING OUR PRAYER LIFE

Before you try to persevere in prayer, you should first make a deal with the Lord concerning your prayer life. Pray to Him in a definite way and say, “Lord, I mean business with You about this matter of prayer.  I call heaven and earth to witness that from this time forth I will have a life of prayer.   I will not be a prayerless person. Rather, I will be a praying person.” If you do not have such a prayer to the Lord, you will not be able to persevere in prayer. We need to say to Him, “Lord, I am desperate about this.   I offer myself to You  so that I may have   a prayer life. Lord, keep me in the spirit of prayer. If I forget this or neglect this, I know that You will not forget it. Remind me again and again about prayer.” This kind of prayer may be regarded as a vow made to the Lord. We all need to make a vow to Him concerning our prayer life. We should tell the Lord, “Lord, I know that if I forget this vow, You will not forget it. From the very beginning, Lord, I want to clearly hand the responsibility over to You. Lord, don’t let me go. Remind me to pray.”

SETTING ASIDE DEFINITE TIMES

After we make such a deal with the Lord concerning prayer, we should set aside definite times for prayer. For instance, you may reserve ten minutes every morning. During this time, prayer must be the top priority. Our attitude should be that prayer is our most important business and that nothing should be allowed to interfere with it. If we do not have this attitude, we shall not be able to have a successful prayer life. No matter how many things we have to do each day, we can reserve at least a few minutes here and there for prayer. We may pray a little in the morning. Then again at noon, after work, and in the evening we may have other times for prayer. By setting aside definite times during the day, we may be able to have a half hour reserved for prayer. (pp. 579-580)

References: Lessons on Prayer, ch. 1; Life- study of Colossians, msgs. 30, 65

PRAY TO FELLOWSHIP WITH JESUS

Prayer—Fellowship with the Lord – 784

• Pray to fellowship with Jesus,
  In the spirit seek His face;
  Ask and listen in His presence,
  Waiting in the secret place.

Pray to fellowship with Jesus,
In the spirit seek His face;
Ask and listen in His presence,
Waiting in the secret place.

• Pray to fellowship with Jesus,
  Fully opened from within,
  With thy face unveiled, beholding,
  Single, pure, and genuine.

• Pray to fellowship with Jesus,
  Seeking Him in confidence;
  Learn to touch Him as the Spirit,
  Looking up in reverence.

• Pray to fellowship with Jesus,
  Speaking nothing in pretense;
  Ask according to the spirit,
  Praying by the inner sense.

• Pray to fellowship with Jesus,
  List’ning earnestly to Him;
  Be impressed with His intentions,
  Yielding to Him from within.

• Pray to fellowship with Jesus,
  Bathing in His countenance;
  Saturated with His beauty,
  Radiate His excellence.