"They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" Acts 2:42.
Prayer is our means of communication with the Father, and it delights His heart when we talk to Him (Proverbs 15:8). Prayer is absolutely essential to the Christian walk, for through prayer we come to know God more intimately and to discover His purpose for our lives. True prayer knows no limitations - it changes lives, circumstances, and the history of nations.
God wants us to experience the excitement of answered prayer. And so He invites us to personal, private prayer in the secret place.
"When you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you" Matthew 6:6.
Prayer is simply talking to God. As we express our feelings and burdens in coversation with God, the prayer may be in the form of adoration, confession, request, or giving of thanks (1 Timothy 2:1). Many times we don't know how to pray, but God has provided special "prayer-help" from the Holy Spirit Himself.
"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express" Romans 8:26.
This promise from Jesus reveals the power that is released when two people join together in prayer:
Two praying in tandem provides some very real advantages:
"Two are better than one, because they have good return for their work" (Ecclesiastes 4:9 (read also verses 10-12).
The two people praying must be in complete harmony. In prayer and worship God always stresses the importance of people being in relationship (Matthew 5:23-24).
Such is God's desire for His children to learn unity in prayer that He has put no limitations of the scope of this prayer. He has invited us into the creative realm of miracles through prayer.
"Jesus said to him, 'If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes'" Mark 9:23 (NKJB).
We have been given authority in prayer to ask boldly (Hebrews 4:16). James 4:2 says, "...you do not have because you do not ask" (NKJB). Jesus Himself gave the promise:
"If you ask anything in my name, I will do it" John 14:14 (NKJB).
God's response to the unity of two people praying in agreement is given by Jesus as a certainty.
"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him" 1 John 5:14-15 (see also John 15:7).
"After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly...With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all" Acts 4:31,33.
Today God is calling His people to prayer! The Church's mission is to change individual lives, families, communities, cities and nations through prayer (1 Timothy 2:1-4; 2 Chronicles 7:14).
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Unless otherwise stated, all scriptures quoted in these studies are from the New International Version of the Bible, © New York International Bible Society, used by permission. Other versions referred to are: KJV (King James Version), NKJB (New King James Bible), TLB (The Living Bible), Amp (The Amplified Bible) and The Message. All versions used by permission.
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