The Armor Of God: Prayer

I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:24 (ESV)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Philippians 4:6 (ESV)

Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Romans 8L26 (ESV)

Regarding prayer, I’m fully convicted of several things, including:

  1. The absolute importance of prayer.

  2. Our prayers must be real and passionate. (Mechanical prayer is meaningless--or worse, It disrespects our Father’s time.)

  3. Private prayer was our Teacher’s custom.

Actors, models, and talent for life:

Prayer gives a supernatural strength you will surely need in your crucial roles.

Consider some remarks about prayer from other extraordinary people. Each left this Earth with a grand legacy:

  • “Gentlemen, I have lived a long time and am convinced that God governs in the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? I move that prayer imploring the assistance of Heaven be held every morning before we proceed to business.” Benjamin Franklin

  • “Whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the Kingdom. If you may have everything by asking in His Name, and nothing without asking, I beg you to see how absolutely vital prayer is.” Charles Spurgeon

  • “If you are strangers to prayer, you are strangers to power.” Billy Sunday

  • “I know that when I pray, something wonderful happens. Not just to the person or persons for whom I'm praying, but also something wonderful happens to me.” Maya Angelou

  • “Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer.” D.L. Moody

  • “God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. They outlive the lives of those who uttered them.” E.M. Bounds

  • “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” Dr. Martin Luther King

  • “Prayer is of transcendent importance. Prayer is the mightiest agent to advance God's work... Prayer succeeds when all else fails.” E.M. Bounds

  • “I know of no better thermometer to your spiritual temperature than this, the measure of the intensity of your prayer... It is that burning lava of prayer that finds its way to God. No prayer ever reaches God's Heart which does not come from our hearts.” Charles Spurgeon

  • “True prayer is measured by weight, not by length. A single groan before God may have more fullness of prayer than a fine oration of great length.” Charles Spurgeon

  • “Flamed desires, impassioned, unwearied insistence delight Heaven. God would have His children incorrigibly in earnest and persistently bold in their efforts. Heaven is too busy to listen to half-hearted prayers or to respond to pop-calls. Our whole being must be in our praying.” E.M. Bounds

  • “Methinks every true Christian should be exceedingly earnest in prayer concerning the souls of the ungodly; and when they are so, how abundantly God blesses them and how the church prospers!” Charles Spurgeon

  • “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” Corrie Ten Boom

  • “I firmly believe a great many prayers are not answered because we are not willing to forgive someone.” D.L. Moody

  • “Neglect of private prayer is the locust which devours the strength of the church.” Charles Spurgeon

  • “Prayer does not mean that I am to bring God down to my thoughts and my purposes, and bend His government according to my foolish, silly, and sometimes sinful notions. Prayer means that I am to be raised up into feeling, into union and design with Him; that I am to enter into His counsel and carry out His purpose fully.” D.L. Moody

    For every good reason, prayer is an essential success strategy. Get intense. Pray without ceasing, but make it real.

The Armor Of God: Prayer (Part 10) *

* Largely reprinted from a 2018 Carey Lewis Devotion

NOTE: God is my Ghostwriter. If anything I write is on point and agrees with His Word, it’s not from me. You may see notes to 'Actors, Models & Talent for Christ.' If you think you're not in show business, think again. Shakespeare said, 'All the world's a stage and all its men and women merely players. Mostly true. But you're not merely players. You are messengers and ambassadors for the King of kings.

Carey Arban