The Power of Simple Prayer: How to Talk With God About Everything Read online

  Just as the Bible instructs us to praise God and to worship Him, it also gives us reasons to thank Him and teaches us how to offer our gratitude to Him, as shown in the scriptures below:

  • “We give praise and thanks to You, O God, we praise and give thanks; Your wondrous works declare that Your Name is near and they who invoke Your Name rehearse Your wonders” (Psalm 75:1).

  • “It is a good and delightful thing to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises [with musical accompaniment] to Your name, O Most High” (Psalm 92:1).

  • “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise!” (Psalm 95:2).

  • “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!” (Psalm 100:4).

  It’s God’s Will

  Most Christians want to know God’s will. Over the years in ministry, I have observed that a large number of people really are eager to know His will—His will for their personal lives, His will for their families, His will for their ministries or careers. Sometimes people treat God’s will like the world’s most complicated mystery and say things like, “Well, if I only knew God’s will, I would obey” or “I really want to follow God; I’m just not sure what His will is.”

  I can give you one absolutely certain way to know and obey God’s will for your life: be thankful.

  Let me share with you what at least a portion of God’s will is. I cannot tell you whether or not His will is for you to move to Minneapolis or where you are to send your children to school or whether you are supposed to get the lead role in the Easter play at church. But I can give you one absolutely certain way to know and obey God’s will for your life: be thankful. Be thankful—all the time, no matter what you go through. That’s right; just keep a grateful heart in every circumstance. Sometimes thanksgiving comes easily and sometimes it is difficult, but if you will develop and maintain an attitude of thanksgiving, you’ll be in God’s will. How can I be so certain? Because I have read 1 Thessalonians 5:18, which says, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (NKJV).

  Now, notice that the verse does not instruct us to be thankful for everything; it tells us to be thankful in everything. For example, let’s say you open the refrigerator one day and see that the light is out and your food is not as cold as it should be. You don’t have to start saying, “Oh, God, I thank You that this refrigerator is broken! Father, thank You that our milk has spoiled. Lord, it’s such a blessing that the refrigerator went out and I just thank You for that.” No, that would be ridiculous, but being thankful in every circumstance means being thankful that you have a refrigerator and that you have food to put in it. It means being thankful that it can be repaired and keeping a grateful heart while you are waiting for it to be fixed. That’s what it means to give thanks in everything—and that’s God’s will. Live that way and you’ll be in God’s will.

  Giving thanks in everything also means to be aware of the common, everyday blessings God gives us—our health, our freedom, our ability to get in the car and go somewhere. We should also thank God all the time for the people that He puts in our lives. He gives us people to support us and do things for us, people to laugh with, people who challenge us, people to impart wisdom, and people with whom to enjoy life.

  For example, there is a young woman who travels with Dave and me, and she feels called to a specific ministry that really helps us. We are on the road so much and I like to take everything I even think I might want while we are away from home. This lady arrives at our destination several hours ahead of us, gets our luggage (which is sent ahead of us by truck), unpacks for us, and does everything she can to make our hotel room feel like home. When we arrive, our clothes are hanging neatly in the closet and everything is just the way we like it.

  If you don’t travel much, you may not understand what a blessing this is. If you stay home most of the time, just think about how wonderful it would be for someone to come into your house every few days and put everything away, give you some fresh flowers, and make sure you had everything you needed. If you do spend a great deal of time on the road, you can really understand and appreciate how nice it is to have this young woman on our team. Even though she is called and gifted to help us in this way, and I know she really enjoys it, I found myself thanking God for her not long ago. As I thought about everything she does to serve us and make our lives easier, my heart was filled with gratitude. I said, “Oh, God, thank You for those who help us. God, I’m so thankful! Lord, You’ve blessed us and helped us so much by giving us good people on the team. I’m so grateful for Your provision in that way.”

  We need to learn to exercise the privilege of simple prayer in every situation and one way we can do that is to thank God for the people that He puts in our lives. We need to receive and enjoy what He provides, but we should never take for granted the blessings He gives us. Instead, we should always appreciate what He does and make sure that a continual flow of thanksgiving is part of our everyday routines.

  CLOSE THE DOOR ON COMPLAINING

  E. M. Bounds writes that “gratitude and thanksgiving forever stand opposed to all murmuring at God’s dealings with us, and all complaining at our lot.. . .True prayer corrects complaining and promotes gratitude and thanksgiving.”2 When we maintain an attitude of thanksgiving, we close the door to complaining—which seems to be an ever-present temptation in our lives. I never had to develop a complaining attitude; I was born with one. On the other hand, I did have to develop and nurture a thankful attitude. I learned from Scripture that complaining is evil in God’s ears and allows the devil to bring destruction into our lives. Thankfulness opens the door for God to bless us, and complaining opens the door for the devil to curse us.

  If we stay busy praising, worshiping, and thanking God, there will be no room for complaining, faultfinding, and murmuring. The Bible says in Philippians 2:14: “Do all things without grumbling and faultfinding and complaining.. . .#8221; And it says in 1 Corinthians 10:9–10: “We should not tempt the Lord [try His patience, become a trial to Him, critically appraise Him, and exploit His goodness] as some of them did—and were killed by poisonous serpents. Nor discontentedly complain as some of them did—and were put out of the way entirely by the destroyer (death).”

  A Key to Prayer

  Giving thanks is so important to prayer because, like praise and worship, it is something God responds to. It’s something God loves, something that warms His heart. Anytime we give God pleasure like that, our intimacy with Him increases—and that makes for a better prayer life.

  Also, when we are thankful, we are in a position to receive more from the Lord. If we are not thankful for what we have, why should God give us something else to murmur about? On the other hand, when God sees that we genuinely appreciate and are thankful for the big and little things, He is inclined to bless us even more. Philippians 4:6 says: “Do not fret or have anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.” According to this verse, everything we ask God for should be preceded and accompanied by thanksgiving—and after that, we should thank Him for hearing us and answering our prayers! No matter what we pray for, thanksgiving should always go with it. A good habit to develop is starting all of our prayers with thanksgiving. An example of this would be: “Thank You for all you have done in my life, You are awesome and I really love and appreciate You.”

  Everything we ask God for should be preceded and accompanied by thanksgiving—and after that, we should thank Him for hearing us and answering our prayers!

  I encourage you to examine your life, to pay attention to your thoughts and your words, and to see how much thanksgiving you express. Do you gripe and complain about things? Or are you thankful? If you want a challenge, just try to get through an entire day without u
ttering one word of complaint. I like what Madame Guyon said, which was basically that “even a sigh indicates we are unhappy with our lives.” Develop an attitude of thanksgiving in every situation. In fact, just become outrageously thankful—and watch as your intimacy with God increases and as He pours out greater blessings than ever before.

  SUMMARY

  Praise, worship, and thanksgiving are some of the simplest prayers we can pray, and yet they are powerful spiritual dynamics. They are types of prayer because they are expressions of our hearts toward the Lord. When we praise, worship, or give thanks, we are talking to God—and that’s all prayer really is.

  Praise, worship, and thanksgiving enhance and empower our prayer lives because they keep our hearts focused on the Lord instead of on ourselves. They allow us to connect with God in passionate ways and to encounter His presence in our everyday lives. We do not need to wait for a church service or a corporate gathering in order to experience or express praise, worship, and thanksgiving; we can incorporate them into everything we do, all day long.

  Prayer Points

  • Praise, worship, and thanksgiving are types of prayer because they are all ways in which we communicate with God.

  • Simply stated, praise is our response to God for what He has done, is doing, and will do; worship is our response to who God is. Thanksgiving is a grateful acknowledgment of both God’s character and of all the things He has done, is doing, and will do.

  • Praise releases power in the spiritual realm and it is a form of spiritual warfare that always leads to victory.

  • The Bible never defines worship, but it does show us how worship works. We worship God when we pour out our hearts to Him in a deep, personal, intimate way that reflects our passionate devotion, gratitude, and love for Him.

  • Worship is more than singing songs; it is a condition and a posture of the heart.

  • Complaining, faultfinding, grumbling, and murmuring are dangerous because they open a door for the devil to work in our lives. But thank God, praise keeps that door closed.

  • The Lord is always doing awesome things for us and He is always faithful. We need to be thankful people, continually expressing our gratitude to Him in every situation.

  6

  Consecration and Commitment

  As you have already read, Ephesians 6:18 says, “Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty.” We have addressed praying at all times; we have looked at what it means to pray in the Spirit; and we are now in the midst of several chapters on different types of prayer, or as Paul refers to them, “all manner of prayer.”

  If we pray at all times in the Spirit, we will soon realize that the Holy Spirit will take us through various seasons in our prayer lives; and there are different types of prayer for those seasons. Praise, worship, and thanksgiving are types of prayer that we offer daily, as well as on specific occasions. They are very valuable as spiritual warfare against the devil as a means of keeping our own spirits light and free. Praise prevents heaviness or depression and discouragement. Praise and worship do honor God, but there are times we need to engage in other kinds of prayer for other reasons. I want to continue now by sharing with you about prayers of consecration and commitment, which might also be called “hands-off” prayers because they result in giving our selves to God (in the prayer of consecration) and giving our situations to God (in the prayer of commitment).

  THE PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

  I love to lift up my hands in the morning and pray the prayer of consecration found in Psalm 25:1, which says, “Unto You, O Lord, do I bring my life.” Those words really define consecration—-complete, voluntary surrender to the Lord. In a prayer of consecration, you are saying to Him: “Here I am, God. I give myself to You. Not just my money, but myself. Not just one hour on Sunday morning, but myself. Not just a portion of my day, but myself. Not just my relationships with my ’church friends,’ but myself. Unto You, O Lord, do I bring my entire life. I lay it on Your altar. Do what You want to do with me. Speak through me today. Touch people through me today. Go places on my feet today. Make a difference in my world through me today. Here’s everything about me; here are all the resources You have loaned me; I am not an owner; I’m a steward. Whatever You have let me use, God, really belongs to You, and if You need any of it back, I want to make it all available to You today.” That is what we mean when we say, “Unto You, O Lord, do I bring my life.” That is what we mean by consecration.

  When we consecrate something, we set it apart for God’s use. Therefore, when we consecrate our lives, we turn our backs on our fleshly desires, worldly values, carnal thinking, undisciplined living, bad habits, and on everything else that does not agree with God’s Word. We intentionally put distance between ourselves and ungodly things so that we are prepared and available for God to use us. E. M. Bounds defines consecration as “the voluntary set dedication of oneself to God, an offering definitely made, and made without any reservation whatsoever. It is the setting apart of all we are, all we have, and all we expect to have or be, to God first of all.”1 Consecration is not easy, but it is worth the discipline and the sacrifice.

  When we consecrate something, we set it apart for God’s use.

  When we consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we should be conscious of giving Him everything that we are, but we should also know that we are giving Him everything that we are not. God shows Himself strong and often most effective in our weaknesses, so we do not need to feel that we must hide them from Him. He knows everything about us and loves us unconditionally, so hold nothing back from Him, not even your weaknesses. Let go of everything as an offering to your Lord and you will be amazed at how free you will feel.

  It’s Serious Business

  Before we go any further with the idea of consecration, I want to make sure you understand that consecrating or dedicating your life to God is not something to be taken lightly. The prayer of consecration is a serious prayer and when it comes from a serious heart, there are serious results. What I mean by “serious results” is that when we say to God, “Take everything about me and do what You want to do in my life,” God goes to work. As we know, we all have weaknesses in our lives; so when we consecrate ourselves, God begins to deal with those things. You see, what we give to God belongs to God, and if He is going to use us, He will need to do a work on the inside of us—and we have to let Him do it.

  Consecration is a process and it takes time. The prayer of consecration is simply an invitation for God to change, rearrange, and purify us. When God prepares us for His use, He often starts by cleansing us of the things that do not honor Him, such as improper thought patterns or bad attitudes or habits.

  For example, we all know people who have trouble keeping their mouths shut. I can write about this, because I used to be one of them! When those people pray a heartfelt prayer of consecration, God may begin to deal with them in the area of their speech. They will discover that they cannot get away with saying things they once said. They will find themselves more aware of their words so that they can be more careful about what they say. Over time, they will learn to speak in ways that edify and encourage others and honor God. Other people have other problems, and God deals with whatever He needs to deal with in order to make us ready to be used for His purposes.

  One way God may need to deal with us is to separate us from some of the people in our lives. For example, we may depend on a friend too much, so much in fact that we do not lean on the Lord as we should. If we cannot maintain balance in relationships, then God will sever them so that we may belong to Him entirely.

  Another area in which He may deal with us might be when we have a job or a position at church or in the community, a position that makes us feel important and secure. God wants us to be rooted in Him, not in our positions. He wants us to know we are valuable because He loves us, not because we have a certain title or role to play. God will remove things we cannot keep in balance.

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nbsp; Having friends or positions is not wrong. In fact, God desires that we enjoy both, but He does not want us to depend on them too much. Everything in this world can be shaken and changed in a moment of time, only God never changes. He wants us to depend first and foremost on Him so that we don’t get hurt and disappointed by people and things if they should change when we least expect it.

  I had a personal experience that is a perfect example of what I am trying to say: I once had a group of friends who meant a great deal to me. I thought they would always be faithful and never hurt me. I also had a staff position at a church, where I taught Bible college and weekly Bible classes. I was well-known in that church and was an integral part of all the inner workings of that organization. I had my little group of friends and my position and I felt good about myself because of them. I did not realize I was overly dependent on them or that I was getting my worth and value from them until suddenly I lost both.