Obedience and Sacrifice in Prayer

7. OBEDIENCE AND SACRIFICE IN PRAYER

(See Discipline)

Effective prayer always accompanies obedience. Disobedience is sin, hence it hinders our prayers. Prayer and obedience go hand in hand. And by His grace, we must continue to obey God and keep our hearts free from sin.

Prayer is also like exercise. For example, when we exercise to make our physical body fit, it isn’t easy in the beginning. It needs to be done regularly to keep our muscles intact. If we are lazy we tend to loose shape as well as the interest to continue. Thus we must become sacrificial in our prayers till our bodies (our lives) are totally offered on the altar, till our offering is accepted and the fire of God falls on it. No sacrifice, no fire. Hence, obedience is a very important key to catch the revival fire in our lives.

Victory in prayer has more to do with obedience than planning. We must obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit and pray, instead of only planning but not obeying.

Prayer also generates the power to pray more, and hence the cycle continues by His grace. The only things that can stop this cycle of power praying are: giving in to temptation and sin that the enemy brings through our mind or flesh, or through different circumstances.

We must be careful to be filled with the knowledge of His will (Col 1:10-12), so that we may please him at all times by walking worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in His knowledge. Again, this is achieved by our complete dependence on the Lord when we abide in Him (John 15:1-8) and when we pray in the Spirit (Rom 8:26, 27), knowing that all things will work together for good in our lives because we love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Rom 8:28)

It is important to understand that discipline is the important key when persevering in prayer. Paul mentions that, “He disciplines his body and brings it to subjection. (1 Cor 9:27) NKJV. Indiscipline can open doors to the enemy’s schemes and shake us from our persistence in prayer.

Remember many servants of God have said “Prayer is the key to Revival”. If we pray faithfully (Rom 12:12), and can obey carefully, we are surely treading on the path to revival. Personal revival is very important before one can experience corporate revival. When we pray from our hearts, the fire of the Holy Spirit will fall on our lives first.

Just as in physical exercise, with our consistency, we can develop more muscles. So also, the prayer muscles grow as we pray consistently and faithfully. To develop good muscles in our body, it requires us to go beyond the normal. A bodybuilder or an athlete spends many hours, working out every day, to develop a good physique or skills. In the same way we must also work towards building our spiritual muscles and become excellent in spiritual skills, by spending more time in prayer.

At times, even when we know that God’s will for us is to pray, we become lazy, drowsy or sleepy just like the disciples; whose eyes were heavy with sleep when Jesus warned them to pray lest they fall into temptation. We see how Jesus prevailed in prayer and did not give up, but He persisted in prayer, which enabled him to go to the cross willingly in obedience to the Father (Matthew 26:37-43). In the same way, we too must not give up, but instead jump out of our beds and pray. Walking or exercising also can help to overcome our sleep and laziness.

Christ in us enables us to overcome as we depend upon Him. The Bible says, “The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead will also quicken our mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in us (Rom 8:11)

Different methods and different ways help us to concentrate and be free from every hindrance, until our lives are completely surrendered on the altar of God. Remember no altar, no sacrifice. If you have no sacrifice on the altar; no fire will fall on the altar. Our sacrifice on the altar should be pleasing to the Lord, only then the Lord will accept it, and God will answer it with His fire. This sacrificial prayer life will also lead us into knowing the will of God. It will help us to overcome sin and have hunger for God and His Word, hence we no longer conform to the world, but we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we not only know the will of God but embrace His will as good, acceptable, and perfect for our lives. (Rom 12:1, 2)

From "Catch the Glorious Fire" by Ps Paul Quadros.