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.