Luke 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
Men ought always to pray was a statement made by Jesus to express how important prayer is for men and by men, we mean mankind – those created in the image of God. Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. In the same chapter of Genesis, we see that God said; let the waters bring forth creatures, then let the land bring forth beasts and creatures after its kind but when He had to make man He said; Let Us. This means the source of the cattle, creeping things on land is the earth and the source of the creatures in water is the water. Therefore the source of man is God. The source of a thing is its sustenance. The moment you take that thing away from its source, it loses its life. So take the fish out of the water and it dies. We can infer from this that once a human being(man) is living without God, they are dead because what gives them essence and life is their source who is God. The first person man saw was God because God breathed into his nostrils which suggests that the man saw God’s face first once that breath was put in him and he became a living soul.
This is what prayer originally means: To come toward or face to face with God.
Ever heard the phrase: ‘Seek His face’? This is the understanding behind it. So the real essence of the opening scripture is that the disposition of every man is to look to God because that is man’s source. That as long as you are human, you would need to pray. And that prayer has little to do with asking for material things. For the longest time, prayer has been made to look like an avenue for either asking God for things or destroying the devil. Yes, there is a dimension of prayer that deals with that but if the only reason you come to God is to ask, ask and ask or because you are going through an attack, then the day everything seems fine, you wouldn’t see the need for prayer. This explains why many wealthy people don’t see the need for God because according to them, they are doing fine without Him. The reason for this excerpt is to show the real purpose and original intent God has for prayer.
First, in Luke 11 when one of the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, let’s take a look at the sequence and priority in prayer. Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Before ‘give us our daily bread’ which represents asking for material things, there was ‘Your Kingdom come and Your will be done on earth’. Now remember in creation, God looked at what was already in heaven and made a copy on earth. So the earth was just like heaven until the devil took over. This means God’s purpose has always been to duplicate on earth what is already in heaven. So primarily prayer is for catching a blueprint in heaven that we must execute on earth. In Matthew 26:36-41 we see Jesus going to Gethsemane with his disciples to pray just before his crucifixion and that is where He prayed for God’s will. But He said in verse 41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He spoke about the flesh being weak. Weak in what sense? The flesh will oppose God’s will any day. So Jesus shows us here that there is a dimension of prayer where it’s not about physical things but strength for the journey ahead. Do you know what will happen in the future? It will take such prayers to be ready for the challenges ahead and that has nothing to do with having material things because we have heard people who looked like they had everything, one challenge came and they couldn’t bear it. Proverbs 24:10 If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. He didn’t say if you faint in adversity, it’s because you were poor or you didn’t have people.
Whether you stand or fall in crisis is a function of strength and that strength is from prayer.
Proverbs 18:14 The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, But who can bear a broken spirit? Strength for the body can be gotten from a gym but strength for our spirit is from a spiritual activity like prayer. No wonder Philippians 4:6-7 says Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Even peace of mind is not something your achievements can buy. If people knew this, they won’t say there is no need for prayer just because they have achieved some feat or made some money. I’m just trying to drive home the point that prayer is not just for collecting things that are physical. There are spiritual realities too. In explaining the parable of the sower, Jesus mentioned that; The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. So physical things can deceive us and make it look like all is well when really there is no life because we are disconnected from our source in our pursuit of wealth. That’s why in John 15, we are admonished to stay connected to the vine so we bear fruit. Any fruit borne outside of the vine is weed. See what 1 Chronicles 16:11 says; Look to the Lord and his strength, seek his face always. So when the Bible speaks of seeking God’s face, it’s not necessarily for something physical, it’s for strength. The final scripture to emphasize this point is Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Thus we are approaching God for mercy and grace. These are not physical things you can see and touch. This means when God is answering prayer, He doesn’t give you tangible things. He gives grace and mercy and by those you can get whatever it is.
In all of this, I’m not condemning physical things. Just showing from scripture what must come first in our prayer. So for instance, it would be unwise for me to be praying about getting wealth when I spend recklessly and keep borrowing. In this first part of the purpose of prayer, I have looked into the aspect of prayer that has to do with enforcing God’s will and then seeking God’s face for strength.
The Word In Clarity 