WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE PRAY

What Happens When We Pray....                                Isaiah 6,  1 John 5

       "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask
         anything according to his will, He heareth us.  And if we know
         that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the
         petitions that we desired of Him."  1 John 5: 14, 15

 If we do not have a right view of the creator and ruler of the universe,
we will  not be able to  pray effectively.  In  addition to a  right view of  
God, we must also have knowledge of prayer and the benefits. Finally,  
we need more in-depth  knowledge of Scripture than most. With these 
things in mind, there is much yet  to be done  before starting a  prayer 
life or beginning effective communication with our God.  It is possible,
in our day,  given the  ignorance we exhibit about who  He is and  how 
to  relate to  Him,  attempts  at  prayer to our  Heavenly Father  might 
 be more harmful than beneficial.

    Consider the danger we risk when we take the Lord God too lightly:

  After Isaiah's vision of the Lord God, "High and Lifted Up," he said;
       "...Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean
          lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for
             mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts."

    One, who had a vision of  God was Isaiah.  He lived at  a time when
people of God did not  have a reverence for the worship of God.  They 
were  corrupt,  having turned  from  the living God,  to the worship of 
inanimate objects created from wood and stone.  This vision of  God’s 
majesty,  the  purifying  of  his  lips  and  the  message  of   impending 
destruction of the nation Israel prompted Isaiah to volunteer to warn 
his  people.  As  we  have  today,   Israel  had  turned  their  collective 
backs on  the Lord,  perverted  His  worship,  neglected  true worship, 
giving God left-overs of life.  Our Lord  would not accept this worship 
and  although reckoning was  delayed,  it  was/is  sure.  The  Children 
of  Israel  were God’s  chosen.  He  chastened  them  severely for  lap-
ses into  idolatry and  evil practices learned from their neighbors. 

       "Then said I, 'Lord, how long?' And He answered me, 'Until the
         cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man
           and the land be utterly desolate."  Isaiah 6: 11

If  you and I have a correct view of God, His power majesty and righ-
teousness, we will  along with Isaiah, take the message of impending 
doom to a  perverse and foolish generation.

 "Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, 'Whom shall I send and
    who will go for us?' Then said I, Here am I; send me."  Isaiah 6:8

     We live in the midst of the most blessed people who have inhabited 
this planet.  We take for granted the best of life as our birth right. We 
take credit for our blessings and absolutely refuse to admit that God's
Divine Providence is  a  factor in  our prolonged  prosperity.  You may 
ask, “What  has this to do with prayer?”

    First, if we are to become prayer warriors,  we must see God as holy, 
powerful,  fierce,  righteous and  indomitable.  No one can stand up to 
such an  implacable  Sovereign.  He will  not be put  off when  the time 
comes for Divine retribution.  Second, we must make use of the chan-
nel through which we may reach out to Him and He will  heed. 

   Finally,  we must have a  passionate desire to accomplish the goals 
He has placed within us if we are serious about prayer.  This is by no 
means meant to be a comprehensive treatment of the preparation for  
effectual prayer; simply, a warning.  

      Prayer is not an activity  into which we may enter lightly.  We do  
not  dare to pray  until  the Lord  has  invited  us  through  His Holy 
Spirit, and puts the prayer on our minds, hearts and lips.   In every-
thing the Spirit filled Child of  God does,  it  is  God  doing it  in and  
through us.   It  is  not some  religious spasm we have that prompts 
us to Spiritual activity.  The Lord even quickens,  brings to life, our
dead spirits in order to have  us do His will.  Can a dead  man make 
a  decision?   We also  see  as  soon  as  we  come to Him  in  confes-
sion and repentance of our lost and sinful state,  He commands us 
to die  to self,  in  order for  Christ to live  through us.  There seems 
to  be no  initiative on our  part.  We  become  beneficiaries  of  His 
offer of grace and mercy.  This is essential to avoid dependence on 
our personal “works of the flesh” and boasting.  He is all and in all  
or He is not in  it at all.  Here, we  finally come to the place to begin 
considering our subject;  "What Happens When we Pray?"
   
           In  response to the earnest  petition from  His Child,  
          our God will move heaven and earth to answer in the 
          affirmative, because of His great love for us based on 
          who He is; not our relative merit.    PRAISE GOD!!!         

                                            donporter 9-3-12, edited 11.28.14, .01.17


     To find our Lord's view of prayer, preparation for prayer, and read 
his example of prayer;  see Matthew 6: 5 - 15.