“Hear me, LORD, my plea is just; listen to my cry. Hear my prayer. It does not rise from deceitful lips. Let my vindication come from You; May Your eyes see what is right.”

Psalm 17:1-2

Without a doubt, prayer is the only means that God has established to change lives, families, nations, and continents. It is very normal in some families for the father figure to represent the provider or the figure of authority. The members of the family communicate their needs and have expectations that the father will take care of. Something similar happens in prayer. Many times we relate to God as our figure of authority figure and we see Him as our provider who just dispenses things to us. That is why we believe that we should pray to Him when we have a need. However, the life of prayer is much more about the way we relate to God, and true success comes from cultivating an intimate and permanent friendship with God.

The question is, “How do we reach the Father? How do we get close to Him?” Thank God for Jesus Christ; He is the only one Who can bridge our hearts to the Heavenly Father. “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life,” (1 John 5:12). We need to have the Son of God in our heart. The life of prayer is very important for each one of us, and it requires that we have a quiet place to spend uninterrupted time alone with God on a daily basis. Sometimes, I’ve just wanted to say a short prayer in order to calm my thoughts down, yet I ha’ve had to realize that this doesn’t really work. Instead, we need to take time to enter the presence of God, where we can see all the worry and anxiety disappear, as we surrender our lives to Him.

Prayer activates the angels of God to act in our favor. When Peter was in jail, he could see how an angel from the Lord freed him, (Acts 12:7). The angels really do act through prayer. True changes are experienced in the intimate moments of prayer, when you tell Jesus, “Lord, I need You. I want to be with You. I need Your guidance, Your help, and Your answer.” Many times we feel rage, resentment, and pain for some situation and we want to retaliate, but it is when we are in prayer that the Lord changes our resentment into forgiveness and our hatred into love. The Holy Spirit takes control of our emotions and gives us the victory over them.

The Psalmist said, “In You, LORD my God, I put my trust. I trust in You; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me,” (Psalm 25:1-2). Sometimes, we are afraid of failure but then after a time of prayer something happens inside of us. We start to be filled with security, authority and confidence because, in prayer, we are clothed with the anointing of the Holy Spirit and faith comes and takes us on to defeat every obstacle that present itself.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
I had just begun my life as a Christian when one night I found myself praying in my room. The place was dark. I generally approached God with fear, because in my mind, I had the concept that the Heavenly Father was a very austere person. I imagined Him sitting on a throne with a whip in His hand, ready to punish me for doing something wrong. Suddenly, I heard a voice that told me, “‘Who told you that God was like that? Don’t you know that He has His arms extended so that you can surrender to Him?”’ Immediately, in an act of faith, I threw myself into the arms of the Heavenly Father. Since then a deep assurance came to my life, and all of my emotional voids due to the lack of the love from my earthly father were supplied in full by Him.

TODAY’S DECLARATION
“All the emptiness that was in my heart was filled by my Father God, and now I enjoy His blessing.”

Today’s post is an excerpt from Pastor Cesar Castellanos’ book, Declarations of Power for 365 Days of the Year: Volume Three.

TODAY’S BIBLE READING

• Old Testament: Nehemiah 11; Proverbs 13:13-25
• New Testament: Luke 18:18-30; 2 Timothy 4