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&In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths&

"The Privilege of Prayer"

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I once heard what is considered by many to be a truly great preacher say something that really touched my heart.  He said, "I have people coming up to me all the time saying, preacher, put me on your prayer list".  He went on to say, "I say to myself, Fat chance".  Now, I don't know exactly what this man had on his heart when he made that statement, but he was referring to the amount of people he comes in contact with.  I've heard this man preach, and he is indeed a truly great preacher.  He's been called a preacher's preacher.  It has been my prayer ever since I heard that statement that the Lord will never let me get big enough to consider a prayer request anything but a privilege.

I believe in prayer and I believe that there is no greater power given to man than that of sincere earnest prayer.  Prayer is never to be taken lightly nor should it be taken for granted.  Prayer should never ever be considered a burden.  I believe that every child of God should use this privilege to the very best of his or her ability in a ministry of intercession.  There is no other act that a man or woman of God can do that will have equal impact upon another persons' life than that of calling that persons name before God.  Friends, I believe that with all my heart.  The only thing that the Lord has given His children that is more far reaching than prayer is that of intercession.  One may say that the two are the same, but I beg to differ with them there.  It is true that all intercession is prayer, but all prayer is not intercession.  Intercession can be defined as love on it's knees. 

The very first thing that I personally noticed different in my life after the Lord saved me was the fact that people who I had not even told that the Lord had saved me suddenly started coming up to me and asking me to pray for them or to pray for someone they knew.  As I said, I had not told these people that the Lord had saved me and these people had never asked me to pray for them before.  Now, the Word of God says that men ought always to pray and when I consider the price paid for me to have that privilege, I cannot  see it as a duty, but as the privilege that it is.  You see, the price paid for the privilege for me to pray is the same price that was paid for my sins.  The Bible says, "Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost".  Matthew 27:50.  That's when the Lord had finished His work upon the cross in making an at-one-ment for my sins with His life.  Now, that's when I was saved and that happened about 2000 years ago, but I only came to accept that sacrifice on Friday the 13th of November in 1992.  If you will notice though, the very next verse says, "And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent".  Matthew 27:51.  The veil of the temple was a covering where only the high priest could enter in those days to make intercession for the people of God.  The people themselves could not approach the throne of God's grace on their own, so they had to have the high priest to approach it for them.  Now, once my High Priest had given up the ghost, that veil was rent.  Notice, it wasn't rent from the bottom to the top.  God in His infinite wisdom made it clear that it was rent from the top to the bottom and He didn't just happen to do that.  No, He did it so that we could see and be sure that it was nothing that we had done or ever could do, but it was from God.  With that knowledge, how in the world could I ever consider it to be anything but a privilege to approach that throne of grace.

I've been to a lot of revival meetings where the man who led me to the Lord was preaching and in several of those meetings he has asked me to lead in the opening prayer and each time I have considered this both a privilege and an honor, but none of these compare to when he would walk up to me and say, "Pray for Myrtice".  Myrtice is his wifes' name and she has had a lot of health problems.  Now it would be very easy to see why I would consider it an honor and a privilege for this man to ask me to pray for his wife or for himself, but I consider it just as much an honor and privilege for anyone to ask me to pray for them.

You may say, "Now that I see what an honor and a privilege it is to pray for others or have a ministry of intercession, who all should I pray for?".  First and foremost, we should pray for our marriage partner.  Then, we should pray for our children.  Then, we should pray for all the other members of our family.  Then, we should pray for our church and our preacher and his family.  Then, we should pray for all our friends that God has given us.  In all of these we should give thanks for them first of all.  After all these are all prayed up there are those who request our prayers, never neglecting or rejecting any one of them, but giving thanks for the requests.  After that, there are others we see around us that though for one reason or another don't request our prayers, but the Lord will burden our hearts to pray for.  I realize that these are indeed a lot to be praying for and some may think that if they pray for all those people they won't have time to pray about all their own needs and desires.  Well, if the Lord so blesses us with such an extensive prayer list, this could very well be true, but I've got a secret that really is no secret.  If we pray for all those we know to need our prayers we really will have time to pray for ourselves, because we will notice that our needs are already being met.  Isn't that something?  There is a very good and logical reason for this.  A couple of them really.  The first reason is because we already have the very best intercessor of all.  Romans 8:26-27 says, "Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God."  Besides this reason, when we are truly busy praying for the needs of others, the Lord will burden the hearts of others to be praying for us. 

I hope and pray that all who will read this little article will gain a new perspective of just what the Lord gave us when He rent that veil from the top to the bottom and that you will not only rejoice in the fact that it truly is a privilege to just go to Him in prayer any time of the night or day, but that you will also be able to grasp the magnitude of the three little words, "Pray for me".  And whoever you are, please rest assured that if you ever are in the need for someone to pray for you, which I believe we all always are, if you can contact me, I will not only be pleased to pray for you, but it will be considered a privilege and an honor.

Once, a family went on vacation to England.  While on a tour, they passed by the Royal palace and was told by the tour guide that this was where the king lived.  Well, this really intrigued the little boy in the family, so the first chance he got, he slipped away from his parents and the tour.  The little boy went back to where the palace was.  He walked up to the entrance of the palace, but was quickly and forcefully turned away by the host of guards at the entrance.  This little boy really had his heart set on going into that palace and meeting this king.  After being turned away, he just went back out to the street and sat on the sidewalk and began to cry.  Moments later, another little boy, just a little older than he came by and saw him sitting there weeping.  The older boy asked him what was wrong and why he was crying.  The little boy explained that he really wanted to meet the king, but was turned away by all those guards.  Well, the older boy said to him, "Come with me."  They walked back up to the palace, only this time they just walked right past those guards with no questions asked.  They went right into the palace and right into the throne room where the king was.  They walked right up to the king and the older boy said, "Father, this is my new friend and he wants to meet you."  They had a wonderful time just hanging out in the throne room of the palace and communing with the king.