Learn to Pray

(2 Tim. 2:1) “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;” One of the greatest privileges we have as Christians is the privelege of prayer. In the above verse, the Apostle Paul is reminding us that we need to first of all to learn to pray. 1) Learn the importance of prayer. Little prayer = little power, and no prayer = no power. The Early church learned that when they prayed God answered, and the more they prayed the more powerful and unified they became. 2) Learn the importunity of prayer. Importunity means persistence. That is precisely what Paul meant by supplication. We need to learn that God loves it when we are persistent in prayer, and the more we pray the more He is persuaded to answer. This is what God meant by His command to A-S-K, (Ask, Seek, Knock). A Christian that is determined to get an answer from God is promised that he will, if he keeps asking. 1) Learn the imperativeness of prayer. This is the urgency of prayer. In the above verse Paul wants us to learn to practice intercession. To pray for the souls and lives of others,  for leadership and authority, and to learn to give thanks more than we complain. The more we begin to pray for others and see God work, the more we will begin see how imperative intercession is.

“To war a good warfare.”

“Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:” In (1 Tim. 1: 18) The Apostle Paul also instructed Timothy, “To war a good warfare.”  Paul wanted Timothy to understand that the Christian life is a battle. After we’re saved we go to war with Sin, with Satan, and with Self, which by the way is our most dangerous adversary. If we can learn how to control the flesh, Satan cannot harm us. Satan doesn’t bother Christians who are undisciplined in the Word, he knows that their lack of self-control and disobedience will destroy them sooner or later. Therefore we must learn two important things. 1) Faith.  Faith demands that we hold God’s Word up like a shield. It’s not enough to just believe it, we must learn to stand upon it and hide behind it.  When our flesh operates independent of God’s Word there is no protection, but when in submission to it, there is. 2) Good Conscience. When the conscience is tender toward the things of God, that’s good, but when it’s not, that’s bad. An undisciplined Christian doesn’t feel guilty when in disobedience, but a disciplined Christian does.  So discipline your flesh, obey the Word, and develop a good conscience !