Neville Turley

“…The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”  James 5:16 (NIV)

People of prayer, like long distance runners, can hit a wall. A mental barrier which has them believing their heartfelt prayers are of no effect and are merely dissipating into the ether. When that happens it’s time to rethink one’s attitude towards prayer.

Prayer is talking to an ever present God, praising and honouring him, listening to what he has to say through his Holy Spirit who reveals his word to us. Only through prayer are we able to share our specific needs with him and seek forgiveness for our sins.

Whenever we pray, we should always pray in Jesus name. It gives us a guaranteed line of communication to Almighty God. Righteous men in ancient times were very much aware of the holiness of God and lived in awesome fear of him.

Isaiah had a vision of the holiness of God (Isaiah 6:1-8). It shattered him.  He realised just how unworthy he was to be in the presence of the Almighty God. Then one of God’s seraphim’s touched Isaiah with a live coal and said: “See this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

This is what happened to you and me at Golgotha. Our Lord, by his sacrifice, ushered in a new dispensation for humankind. Thanks to Jesus we are able to pray through him to Almighty God and address God as Father. A father who is willing and eager to hear and listen to us.

Many Christians follow the example of Jesus and pray through the Psalms, the prayer book of the Bible. The 150 Psalms incorporate prayers of adoration, thanksgiving, despair, anger, guilt, confession and petition.  In as much as we are able, we should memorise prayers from the Psalms. Jesus did. His last words on the cross were prayers from Psalm 22:1 and Psalm 31:5.

Praying through the Psalms will put muscle in your prayers and enable you to draw on the power of the word of God for strength and comfort in all situations.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for your great love from which nothing can separate us.  May your Holy Spirit help us to walk in your light and live in obedience to your will:  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen