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Essentials of Prayer - Part One:
Prayer and Entire Man (Being):
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NKJV).
Despair and anxiety have always been an intrinsic part of life on Earth. In times of darkness, Christians have sought the encouraging words of scripture to provide strength, wisdom, and guidance about the love and truth of God. We are reminded of this when we seek counsel and encouragement from the Bible. Despite the misfortunes we may experience, there is always an opportunity to choose love and rise above resentment and fear. The Bible was created to remind us of such truth and to encourage us to believe in the goodness of life and God. Prayer has to do with the entire person, however, prayer takes the individual in ones’s whole being: mind, body and soul. It takes the whole person to pray, in which prayer affects the entire man in its gracious results. As the whole nature of man enters into prayer, so also all that belongs to man is the beneficiary of prayer. All of man receives benefits from prayer, the whole person must be given to God when interceding and praying to the Lord. The whole man must be given to God when praying. Therefore, the largest results from praying come to those who give themselves, and all that belongs to them unto God. This is the secret of full consecration (a condition of successful praying) and the sort of praying that brings the largest fruits. The entire man must pray, the whole man: life, heart, temper, mind must all be it in.Everthing must join in the prayer exercise, in which doubt, double-mindedness and division of the affections are all foreign to the prayer closet. Character and conduct, undefiled, made whiter thatn snow are mighty potencies and are the most seemly beauties for the closet hour and for the struggles of prayer. True praying does not leave to the inspirtation of the hour what will be the requests of that hour. Praying is asking for something definite from God; the essential first step in prayer is a mental one. Prayer is far-reaching in its influence and in its gracious effects. It is an intense and profoundn business that deals with God and His plans and purpose. (E.M. Bounds ~ Essential of Prayer).
“Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know. For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain” 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5 (NKJV).