Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Prayer and Praying (3)

"Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. (John 4:21, 23 NKJV)
It's a new dawn! Jesus has shed his blood by which He enacted the new covenant. Under the terms of the New Testament, the effectiveness of prayer is no longer attached to a designated place or location.
The place of prayer mattered under the old covenant:
"Jerusalem is built As a city that is compact together, Where the tribes go up, The tribes of the Lord, To the Testimony of Israel, To give thanks to the name of the Lord." (Psalms 122:3, 4 NKJV)
Those who were far from Jerusalem prayed towards the temple wherever they were:

“When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the Lord toward the city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause."(I Kings 8:44, 45 NKJV)
And so was the practice of Daniel.
"Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days." (Daniel 6:10 NKJV)
But now, the hour has come when the prayer of the believer is no longer 'location-bound' - God would not answer prayer on the mountain anymore than He would in your room. Prayer in the Church auditorium does not get God's attention anymore than the one offered in the Field.
'Today', the issue of location is relevant when the matters of concentration is considered. You could choose a secluded place to pray in order to avoid distraction, but it does mean that God pays more attention to solitary prayers than the prayers offered in public places. 
Praise God! we can pray anywhere and everywhere and be heard by God because the believer in Christ is in the Spirit. The command to 'pray without ceasing' could only be relevant 'here' under the New Testament because the believer could pray everywhere.
Are you in the car or at salon; on the field or at a social gathering; are u at a recreation center or in the air plane; wherever you are right now, why not open your mouth and relate with God in prayer for He is with u right there and right now.
"The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth." (Psalms 145:18 NKJV)
Praise God!

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