Prayer - what does it entail?

Prayer is communication with God that is a function of the relationship that we have with our heavenly Father in Christ. It is akin to communication between children and their parents. Some kids love to be with and chat endlessly with their parents, miss them when they are away, never want to upset them and are always checking in on them because they know that their parents love them, give them the proper training and correction for their profit, will sacrifice anything for them without asking them to first go and fast or sow a seed, cannot sleep when they are sick (even if the sickness is the child's fault) and will help them out of even troubles of their own making without giving them any terms and conditions for receiving. The kids know that they are loved unconditionally and as a result, never want to disappoint their parents.

But other kids can't get away from their parents fast enough! They only talk with their parents when they need something. They expect to be beaten if they make a mistake. They have to be reminded to call their parents. They expect that they will have to fast and sow seed before their parents will give them breakfast or buy them necessary or expensive gifts. They expect that their own parents will not hear their cry for healing and deliverance unless they do certain "trade by barter" activities as prescribed by outsiders who might not even be related to their parents. This is not representative of life in Christ.

How we see God determines our prayer life. How we see God is determined by the role that Christ is playing in our lives. Many churchgoers wrongly see God as an angry Taskmaster who is just waiting in the wings to punish you and let the devil have a go at you when you sin. Many wrongly see Him as a God that demands payment through "trade by barter" means before He can bless e.g. sow your car so you can get a jet. But who among us will ask our own broke and helpless little child to pay us or grovel for hours on hard concrete in the middle of the night repeating the same request over and over before he lives in our house and gets our care? How much more our Father in heaven!

In truth, God is love. He so loved the world that He gave His own Son to die our death and make us righteous in His sight. In Christ, we are His "little children" and He gives us all things freely, not because of anything we did but because of what Christ has done: Romans 8:32-

"He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"

Think what a loving mother wouldn't do for her beloved child. Think what you wouldn't do for your own children, even training them in the way they should go. In fact, a child's behaviour is a function of the kind of training that she receives from her parents. How much more our Father in heaven who gave His beloved Son to die for us and trains us in the way we should go? Our Daddy God who says to His children:

"Zion says, “The Lord has abandoned me;

 The Lord has forgotten me!”

15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,

 or lack compassion for the child of her womb?

 Even if these forget,

 yet I will not forget you.

 16 Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.""

Nursing mothers may abandon their children but our Daddy God will never leave us nor forsake us, not even when we sin which is our default mode apart from His saving Grace- Christ Himself. Those sins that you struggle with and which false preachers say are a barrier to our heavenly Father hearing your prayer, He sent His own beloved Son to save us from them all. Titus 2:14 says:

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Also Matthew 1:21- "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Christ says "There is none good but God." False doctrine preachers tell you that you can be good like God (be like God) by your own puny human effort at doing something. This is the same false doctrine that Satan preached to Eve in Eden. Let's take our blessed brains to church:

How can God who so loved us that He sent His own Son to free us from every kind of sin and to make us good (godly) turn around to use the same sins that He sent His beloved Son to save us from as an excuse for not saving us? This is akin to an oncologist dad refusing to care for his beloved child who has cancer...because the child has cancer.

Beloved of God, in Christ, our Abba Father's eyes burn at the cancer of sin but radiate perfect love for you. He sent His beloved Son to save you from those sins that you struggle with.

No one has to force or remind you to pray when you realise the Father's love for you and your utter need for Him. No one has to remind you to pray when you realise that for every demand that is made of you, Christ is the Supply. You will naturally want to tell Him every detail of your life because Christ is your life. But false preachers deceive churchgoers into thinking that man is the supply source, making many introspective and thus prone to depression and even suicide-

What do we think is the major cause of depression and suicide even among unbelievers? It is guilt for sins, fear, anxiety, hopelessness and sorrow in the heart for not measuring up to particular standards aka sin - no different from what happened to Judas who was full of remorse for his sin.

Sin is from the greek word Hamartia. It literally means “missing the mark.”

If you look to yourself and what you can do in order to be godly, hit your target or restore yourself before God, even seeing prayer as a work that you must do, like Peter who boasted in his arm of flesh (human effort) to not deny Jesus but fell flat on his face, you will ultimately come up empty; like Judas who trusted in his arm of flesh (human effort) to make things right and failed, depression and suicidal thoughts set in.

By Grace, never depend on yourself. Utterly look to Christ as your Righteousness and Strength, even in the area of prayer.

I've heard some preachers boast about how they prayed for 24 hours straight and then preach accusing and condemning messages about how some churchgoers "cannot even pray for two hours." Telling people to pray to a God that they think is ready to punish them at the slightest error and does not give unless He gets something in return is akin to telling someone to spend time with a mean boss who gives nothing for free and is always pointing out faults in his employees. It becomes like clocking in and clocking out of a job. This misrepresentation of God by some preachers is why many churchgoers find it hard to pray to God.

But where there is a revelation of God's love for us in Christ - infinitely much more than any earthly father could love his child - you don't have to remind Christians to pray. Prayer becomes the believer's default mode. We get to love to talk with our heavenly Father all the time. Informally too. We want to tell Him about every detail of our life, even details like what shirt to wear and that pimple on our face, just like kids whose parents show them love in spite of all their flaws and help them overcome said flaws.

When your believing is right, right living will follow, including telling our heavenly Father in Christ every detail of your life 24/7. You know He's always there for you. By Grace, believe right. You will live right.