VICTORY IN CHRISTIAN WARFARE
(Second Edition)
CHAPTER 11 The Final Battle: How to Pray
Prayer can simply be understood as two-way communication between ourselves and God—God speaks and we listen to God. But the question that arises is, “How do you actually pray?” This question is of paramount importance for prayer is truly a weapon in the hands of the saints, who by faith, as soldiers in God’s army, make war against Satan’s army.
Prayer thus plays an important role in our sanctification, our second and final battle against sin and Satan. How to pray effectively then is the subject to which we now turn our attention in this chapter.
A Conversation with God
God says to all humanity that we should be such that “our conversation is in heaven.” Philippians 3:20. Here, God teaches us the essence of prayer in that our prayers should take the form of a conversation with God. Prayer then is two-way communication—we speak to God and God speaks to us.
God’s people must learn to “hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints” (Psalm 85:8), who are those who have been justified by Him: “but let them not turn again to folly.” Psalm 85:8. So, God says we should choose not to return to sin. You should never leave prayer without hearing from the Lord. For it is God who “shall direct thy ways.” Proverbs 3:6. We absolutely must hear from God if we are to be directed by God.
It was said before that God very rarely speaks to us in an audible voice. Instead God speak to us in a supernatural form of “communication” (2 Samuel 3:17) by impressing His thoughts upon our mind.
“The sacrifice [religious acts] of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight. The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.” Proverbs 15:8, 9.
How to Have a Conversation with God
How do we hear from God? To reiterate, God will communicate with us via thoughts in that new thoughts will come to our minds. Often these thoughts convey a reference to a Bible verse, for example, God might say to us, “Matthew 6:33.” Thus, God will speak to us through the Bible which is the word of God.
We should then open our Bible and read the verse, say, Matthew 6:33. In so doing, the Holy Spirit will impress upon our minds the message God has in this verse for us. I recommend that you also write down the Bible verse itself word-for-word, say, Matthew 6:33, in a special notebook set aside for this purpose. For often in the process of writing the Holy Spirit will give us new insights into the relevance of the verse to us.
In our discussion before, it was concluded that there are over a million of God’s thoughts in the Bible and so there is much that God has to say to humanity. But when God speaks to us as an individual, what He says is directly relevant to our own life and this is how God directs each individual.
You should have something to say to God in response to His message to you. In addition to responding to God in your own words, you should also find one or more verses in the Bible to use as your response to God. Why should we use the Bible? Well, the Bible contains all the elements of a right relationship with God that is essential to our salvation. Therefore, we can always find in the Bible suitable verses that communicate what we want to say in answer to God.
This is where daily reading and studying of the Bible is helpful. For we have God’s promise, “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost…he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26. So, in searching the Bible for an answer to return to God, the Holy Spirit comes to us to teach and to cause us to remember what we have previously read or studied in the Bible.
When you have found your answer to God in the Bible, write this down word-for-word as well in your notebook. In a subsequent chapter, we will look at how to find appropriate Bible verses if you do not know the exact Bible reference, say, John 14:6. Using the Bible in this manner, causes us to uncover its hidden truths and to grow in our understanding of the Bible.
Furthermore, in using the Bible to respond to God, new fields of Bible study will often suggest themselves to our mind. In a subsequent chapter we will consider in detail how to study the Bible in a way that is guided by the Holy Spirit. Prayer then consists of “listening” to God and “hearing” from God.
When to Pray
You may ask, “When should I pray?” God says we should be able to say of ourselves in truth, “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he [God] shall hear my voice.” Psalm 55:17. You should pray in the morning, at evening, and at midday.
Your morning and evening prayers should never be neglected. However, you may find that at times there is no opportune time to pray at midday. If so, do not be overly concerned. Find a later or earlier time before your evening prayer so that you are consistent with your “middle” of the day prayer. There is such a blessing to be had in prayer that we should always endeavour to daily commune with God in prayer.
When you awaken in the mornings, prayer should be the first thing you do. Now God says that we should say of ourselves in truth, “I have esteemed the words of his [God’s] mouth more than my necessary food.” Job 23:12. Our morning prayer then should come before our breakfast which is our necessary food. In the evenings, start your prayer early enough so that you have time to pray before bedtime and so that you do not fall asleep while praying.
How Long to Pray
You may say that all this sounds time-consuming. So it is. How long should you spend in prayer? God says, “What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” Matthew 26:40. This is an indication that we should spend at least one hour each morning and one hour each evening in prayer. Spending at least two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening is even better.
Your midday prayer, on the other hand, need not be very long since, with morning and evening prayers, you are already spending a minimum of two to four hours in prayer each day. You may ask, “How will I find the time in my busy day?” The answer is we make time for what is important to us in our temporal life. Is not God more important than all these things? Make the time in your day. If you have a will to do so, you will find the time. You may have to give up some things in order to find time for communion with God. This is as it should be.
Personally, I love to pray to God and so I will at times pray longer than two hours. I do so when I feel that I have not heard from God during prayer, or when God is saying many things to me during prayer, or when I have a pressing issue that I have brought before God and I need His wise counsel.
Often, I will have to stop praying because there are other important things to be accomplished in my day, or I need to go to sleep so that the next day is not shortened by my waking up at a very late hour. However, I have been known to pray all through the night or until the early hours of the morning such as 2:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m., or 4:00 a.m.
Having said that, God is able to wake you up feeling alert and refreshed from sleep even if you have only slept a few hours. Therefore, there is never any need to rush through prayer.
In fact, one morning many years ago, I was rushing through my prayer as I was worried about getting to work on time, when God caused me to start singing the hymn, “Make Time to be Holy.” When I reached for my hymnal and began to sing the entire hymn to God, I realised that God was saying to me that I was not to rush my communion with Him. It was a lesson well learnt.
My prayer time with God is precious to me and I do my best to have uninterrupted prayer. However, this is not always possible. If I do have leave prayer for necessary things, I endeavour to take the least possible time away from prayer and not do anything that can wait until I have finished praying. When I do resume prayer, I ensure that my total time spent praying is at least two hours. If I did not do this, I would leave open a door for Satan to keep me from prayer by multiplying interruptions.
Ongoing Prayer
God says, “Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17. This means that, aside from the time set apart for morning, evening, and midday prayers, cultivate the habit of speaking to God constantly as you go about your daily life. Talk to God all day as one would with a friend by your side. Let your mind be always be lifted up to God in prayer and God will respond to you throughout your day.
Speak to God, “casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7. God says that we are to keep your wants, our joys, our sorrows, our cares, and our fears before God for we cannot burden Him nor weary Him. God is interested in every detail of our lives.
We should choose to always, continually, to speak to God and to speak less in the world for God says, “Let thy words be few.” Ecclesiastes 5:2. In so doing, our finite minds come in contact with the infinite mind of God for “his understanding is infinite.” Psalm 147:5. Then we shall be richly blessed because God “is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6.
Seek God at all times so “that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” Philippians 2:15. “While we look not at the things which are seen: for the things which are seen are temporal [temporary]; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18.
God, Our Only Confidant
God says, “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?” Isaiah 2:22. That is to say, why should any mortal human being be held in higher esteem than God? For “thus saith the LORD; cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm” (Jeremiah 17:5), who makes any human being their strength, “and whose heart departeth from the LORD.” Jeremiah 17:5.
“Put not your trust in princes” (Psalm 146:3), where princes refer to those in authority, “nor in the son of man” (Psalm 146:3), the common person, “in whom there is no help.” Psalm 146:3. “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.” Psalm 118:8, 9.
“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.” Jeremiah 17:7. Moreover, God says, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:37.
We should make God our only confidant and not any human being, who are flesh and blood like ourselves and cannot help us. For God says to all humanity, “Trust in him [God] at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us.” Psalm 62:8. Prayer then is the opening of the heart to God as to a Friend, for God is “the only wise God” (Jude 1:25), the only One who is wise, and the divine Lover of our souls.
When we make God our only confidant, we shall be “called the Friend of God” (James 2:23) because we have a special relationship with God, set apart from our relationship with our fellow human beings.
Silent Prayers
God says, “Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Matthew 6:6. Aside from prayer with our spouse, in the family circle, and public prayer, we must have secret prayer to God. Consider what God also says regarding prayer, “She spake [spoke] in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.” 1 Samuel 1:13. This is silent prayer which by its very nature is secret prayer.
Now we may go alone into some place where no human being can hear us pray, but what about the angels both good and evil? Can they hear our prayers? Well, God is He “who maketh his angels spirits.” Psalm 104:4. Therefore, angels are not restricted by walls, doors, locks and bolts—there are no physical barriers we can erect so that they do not have access to us.
So, when we pray aloud, we must be aware that Satan and the other demons can hear us. Satan cannot read our mind, but if we pray aloud, we reveal what is in our mind, and, therefore, Satan is able to tailor his temptations to meet our case. The best strategy then is to pray silent prayers, without even moving our lips, for such prayers baffle Satan in his efforts to ensnare us.
Moreover, as we go about our daily life, even in crowds of the street and in the midst of a business engagement, we can lift our hearts to God in silent prayer. For there is no time or place in which it is inappropriate to pray. You may ask, “How then will then will God hear my prayers if I pray silently?” Remember that God says, “I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.” Ezekiel 11:5. Thus, silent prayers reach the ears of God, the Ruler of the universe.
When we are so moved by the Holy Spirit to give thanks and praise to God, feel free to say these aloud without revealing anything that is on your mind. Most certainly, if we have any fears, we should never speak these aloud for then Satan is informed about this matter.
Furthermore, the advantage of silent prayers is that when God answers us, in whatever way that He may choose, we are instructed and know for certain that it is God alone who has heard our prayers. Silent prayers then build the loving relationship between God and us, and fosters our trust in God and a knowledge of God’s ways because our communications with God are truly secret.
Pray Scripture
When you pray you are to be such that you are “speaking thine own words.” Isaiah 58:13. In so doing, we should pray and “ask…according to his will.” 1 John 5:14. If we do this, God “he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” 1 John 5:14, 15. In other words, we are to pray scripturally-informed prayers.
Moreover, God says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms” (Colossians 3:16), which are sacred poems in the Bible, “and [in] hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Colossians 3:16.
This is an indication that, in addition to other forms of prayer, we should come before God in prayer with Scripture on our lips, or in other words, we should pray Scripture. We should pray the Scriptures verse-by-verse.
In so doing, we may say in truth, “The Spirit of the LORD spake [spoke] by me, and his word was in my tongue.” 2 Samuel 23:2. For we are speaking to God with the very words which were inspired by the Holy Spirit.
This does not mean that we should just recite Scripture in prayer. Instead, it means that, in prayer, with respect to the subject of each verse or each passage (which is two or more consecutive verses), we should respond to God according to how the subject of the verse or passage applies to us individually. Therefore, we should rejoice because we can say in truth, “I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil [treasure].” Psalm 119:162.
Next, regarding what the verse in question says, “if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you” (Philippians 3:15) if you have sinned. If so, then “repent ye.” Mark 1:15. In repenting, have remorse for your sins, confess your sins and surrender your will to God so that through “the riches of his [God’s] grace” (Ephesians 1:7) you turn away from these specific sins.
Then be among those who have “believed in the LORD” (Genesis 15:6) such that “he [God] counted it to him for righteousness.” Genesis 15:6. That is, repentance and faith in the promises of God bring blessings wherein “the love of God is shed abroad [supernaturally poured] in our hearts by the Holy Ghost [Holy Spirit] which is given unto us.” Romans 5:5. God’s law of love is now written in our hearts.
Next “give thanks unto the LORD” (Psalm 105:1) and “praise him” (Psalm 150:1) for “the LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.” Psalm 145:9. We may praise and thank God, saying, “But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.” Isaiah 64:8.
Then be such that you can say in truth, “I rejoice in thy salvation.” 1 Samuel 2:1. Yes, rejoice because God has done a work of grace in you with His goal being that you should be saved. Finally, be among those who say to God, “I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.” Psalm 85:8. We are to listen to what God has to say to us. This process then is the suggested approach to praying Scripture.
I have personally been edified, enriched, and blessed overall by praying Scripture. At the present time, I have chosen to daily pray verse-by-verse through the books of Psalms, Proverbs, and Romans in the Bible. I have found that the experience has served to bring many things to my understanding in the Scriptures, and to aid me in remembering what I have read in the Bible. I highly recommend this practice to you. You will be richly blessed.
Confession
God says, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16. This means that we should confess our sin to others if we have done them wrong, and confess our sin in public if our sin was done in a public manner, and ask for forgiveness.
In no case are we to make private sins public, thus making others our confidant. God alone should be our confidant. And every sin is to be taken to the prayer-hearing God asking for the forgiveness of our sins. All sincere, fervent prayers will be received favourably by God and He will, in response, work to heal our sin-sick souls.
Praying for Others
As we have already seen, God urges us to pray for others, which is to say, we should come before God with intercessory prayers.
For Whom Should We Pray?
God says that as individuals we should say, “I exhort [urge] therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.” 1 Timothy 2:1-3.
“O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!” Job 16:21. We will now look at a suggested approach to intercessory prayer.
Now “the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” 1 Peter 3:12. Therefore, in praying “for all” (1 Timothy 2:1) we should exclude those people that “sin unto [eternal] death” (1 John 5:16), and pray only for those that “sin not unto [eternal] death.” 1 John 5:16.
Why exclude some people from our prayers? The reason is that, as God says, “Let favour be shewed [shown] to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD” (Isaiah 26:10), which is to say, they will not perceive the excellency of the Lord.
Thus, God explains that the case of such persons is hopeless as they have become fixed in their ways and, hence, it is impossible for them to be “transformed” (Romans 12:2) by God into people with a character of love. Regarding these people, God says, “Pray not for this people for their good.” Jeremiah 14:11. Therefore, it is an insult to God to ask Him to bless such people.
With that said, we should pray for an ever-widening circle of people. First and foremost, should be prayer for those in our home, in other words, for our household, which often consists of our own family. There is no missionary field, that is to say, no group of persons among whom to work for their conversion to Christ, more important than this and it should by no means be neglected. Next, intercede for your family who live outside your home.
Next, intercede for a prayer list consisting of the names of friends, co-workers, fellow students, neighbours, and others. These are typically people you know personally or those with whom you have come in contact.
You can put people on your prayer list even if you do not know their names. Just describe them to God who knows every human being. For example, you may say to God, “I put on my prayer list that homeless person I saw on the street today.” God knows exactly who this person is and He will regard them as being included on your prayer list.
Next, pray for various groups of people, the Christian church, for missionaries who are they who typically go to foreign lands in order to spread the gospel, and also pray for all saints. Who are the saints? The saints are all those on earth who have been justified by God.
That is, we should be “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” Ephesians 6:18. Praying for the saints is, in effect, praying for the invisible church of God.
After this, pray for your enemies. For God says, “I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:44, 45.
After this, intercede for your nation and its leaders, also for all that are in authority in the world. For God says, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” Proverbs 14:34. Finally, pray for all them in the world that “sin not unto [eternal] death.” 1 John 5:16. With this approach to intercessory prayer, we would have obeyed the commandment to pray “for all.” 1 Timothy 2:1.
How to Pray for Others
Especially, should we seek to ever be in right standing with God and it is, therefore, necessary that we confess our own sins to God before seeking to pray for others. Otherwise, God will not hear our prayers.
So, God says that we should purpose in our hearts that “for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” John 17:19. That is, for the sake of others, we should seek to be holy so that God will favourably answer our prayers that others may also become holy.
Now, knowing that it requires great wisdom to understand the science of saving souls, we should spend much time in secret prayer before making personal efforts for the salvation of others. Before communicating with others, we should first commune with God, and at God’s “throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16) we are to obtain a preparation for ministering to people. Let us then pray earnestly for others, bringing them by faith one by one into the presence of God.
Due to the limitations of time, you will only be able to pray for a limited number of others one by one, for example, your household and maybe a few more persons. Why? The reason is that, in praying for an individual, you may wish to wait and listen for God to give an indication of His gaining a victory in that person’s life, before moving on to pray for another person. All of this, of course, takes time.
Intercessory prayers, however, should not consume all our prayer time with God. We ourselves need to open our hearts to God and to individually hear from God and this too takes time.
God says that the language of our hearts should be, “evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he [God] shall hear my voice.” Psalm 55:17. Thus, as was said before, we should pray three times a day, every day. One approach could be to pray for at least two hours each morning and each evening, and pray for, say, half an hour during the day. Thus, we would have communed with God in prayer for a total of four and a half hours each day.
This time is not wasted, it is well spent for we shall be blessed in so doing. Now, we may split up our daily intercessory prayers into three parts over the three times we come before God in a day so that our morning prayer is not unduly long.
Praying for God to Give Us a Message
According to our purpose of spreading the gospel, the prayer of our hearts should be “that utterance [words] may be given unto me” (Ephesians 6:19), by God, “that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel.” Ephesians 6:19.
We should ask others to be “praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance” (Colossians 4:3), which is to say, open an opportunity for us to speak to others, “to speak the mystery of Christ…that I may make it manifest [clear], as I ought to speak.” Colossians 4:3, 4.
What then is “utterance” (Ephesians 6:19)? It is when God says, “Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.” Exodus 4:12. In other words, it is when God put words in our mouths to speak to others. For we do not know the hearts of individuals and, hence, we do not know what to say that will have the desired effect. Even if we knew their hearts, our finite wisdom as human beings is insufficient to know what to say that will lead them to Christ.
Asking for the Prayers of Others
Furthermore, we should ask others to “pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified.” 2 Thessalonians 3:1. Pray that the gospel may be unimpeded and that it is esteemed to be glorious.
By our own prayer and the prayer of others we should ask God to bless those perishing in their sins. The blessing we should seek from God is that He will, says Christ, “open their eyes, and…turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified” (Acts 26:18), them which are made holy, “by faith that is in me [Christ].” Acts 26:18.
Let us, by our prayers, “bear…one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2) which is God’s law of love. In all of this, just like Christ, we should “not fail nor be discouraged.” Isaiah 42:4.
Praying in an Unknown Tongue
God says of some disciples of Christ, “They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:4. This means that the disciples received from God the ability to speak in other known languages. This is one of the “spiritual gifts” (1 Corinthians 14:12) that God bestows upon the true Christian and is a genuine gift.
God also says that we should say, “If I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit [mind] prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.” 1 Corinthians 14:14. “For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit [mind] he speaketh mysteries.” 1 Corinthians 14:2.
This refers to speaking in a known language which no one in your hearing understands. But it also refers to speaking “mysteries” (1 Corinthians 14:2) that not even God understands. That is, it refers to meaningless speech, or in other words, gibberish, and such speech is a counterfeit of the genuine gift. Such gifts are manufactured by men and women, aided by Satan, the great deceiver.
So, we should say, in accordance with the word of God, the Bible, “What is it then?…I will pray with the understanding…I will sing with the understanding also.” 1 Corinthians 14:15. For God says, “Else when thou shalt bless…how shall he that occupieth the room [the place] of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?” 1 Corinthians 14:16.
“Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying” (1 Corinthians 14:12), of those who hear. “Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.” 1 Corinthians 14:13.
Therefore, God says, “I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied” (1 Corinthians 14:5), which is to say, that you speak under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the…[people] may receive edifying.” 1 Corinthians 14:5.
“If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course” (1 Corinthians 14:27), one after the other, “and let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence…and let him speak to himself, and to God.” 1 Corinthians 14:27, 28.
Praying in Your Sleep
God says, “Keep thy father’s [God’s] commandment, and forsake not the law… Bind them continually upon thine heart…[and] when thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.” Proverbs 6:20-22. God’s law of love is meant to govern us, not only when we are awake but also when we are asleep, even in our dreams.
Reasons for Concern
There is reason to be concerned about our dreams as it relates to our salvation. You might say, “What? What do my dreams have to do with my salvation?” Well first of all, God says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7. “The thought of foolishness is sin” (Proverbs 24:9) but “the thoughts of the righteous are right.” Proverbs 12:5. If the thoughts that we have in our dreams are not right, we have sinned in our sleep.
Furthermore, our words and actions in our dreams, if not right, is sin. Now God desires “that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:10), till the day that Jesus Christ returns to the earth. Therefore, we want to be found among those individuals who can say in truth, “I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.” Acts 24:16.
Temptations While Sleeping
We might find that in our dreams while sleeping we are tempted to sin, and we may even say and do things in our dreams which are sinful because our sinful nature is yet unsubdued by the grace of God.
But even while sleeping we may cry out to God for help and for forgiveness. This ability to pray to God in our sleep comes when, in our waking hours, we have trained our minds to immediately turn to God in prayer when we are tempted or have fallen into sin. If we do pray in our sleep, help will come to us from God to deliver us from temptation and sin in our sleep.
Now God says, “The law…when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.” Proverbs 6:20-22. The law convicts us of sin even those committed when we sleep. So, if we do sin in our dreams, and we remember our thoughts, words, and actions when we awaken and the Holy Spirit convicts us that we have sinned, we must cultivate the habit of praying and confessing our sins to God and seeking God’s forgiveness.
Dreams From God
Speaking of Himself, God says, “In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.” Job 33:15-17. Thus, God sometimes communicates with us via dreams while we sleep.
Therefore, we should seek to be such that we can truly say, in accordance with the word of God, the Bible, “I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins [mind] also instruct me in the night seasons.” Psalm 16:7. “Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” Psalm 17:3.
In our dreams while sleeping, we may respond righteously to God’s testing and proving of our hearts if we “keep…[God’s] commandment, and forsake not the law.” Proverbs 6:20. For God says that He tests us, “that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law [of love], or no.” Exodus 16:4.
Submitting Our Dreams to God
We should purpose in our hearts to submit all our dreams to God. Therefore, if we awaken during the night, and remember our dream, we should pray and ask God to take our dream away from us according to His will, and assuredly God will take away the dream if He so chooses.
For, as was said before, God says, “Keep thy father’s [God’s] commandment, and forsake not the law… Bind them continually upon thine heart…[and]…when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.” Proverbs 6:20-22. That is, God’s law of love will convict us when we awaken, of any sins we might have committed in our sleep.
Having prayed and submitted our dreams to God, when God takes away a dream from us, this will prove to be a lesson to us. For, even some dreams that seemed to us to be innocent or pleasant, if we pray, God will take them away from us as such dreams are not for our best good.
Before Going to Sleep
God says, you have “your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed” (Jeremiah 29:8) because “a dream cometh through the multitude of business [of affairs].” Ecclesiastes 5:3. That is, if our daily affairs are holy our dreams will be holy, otherwise our dreams are evil. Also, if our daily affairs are sinful, we have opened a door so that Satan and the other demons can find access to us to harass us and to lead us away from right paths with dreams in our sleep.
Now do not despair at the thought of sinning in your sleep for, by faith, we may know that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1. Therefore, before going to sleep, we should pray and claim God’s promise which says, “When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.” Proverbs 3:24. Such prayer is necessary to protect us from Satan’s unsleeping malice.
We should also consecrate ourselves to God before going to sleep, asking God to baptize us anew with the Holy Spirit, and to keep us from sinning in our sleep. If we do so with a sincere heart, God will surely favour us and bless us so that, even aside from dreams from God, we shall not sin in the other dreams that we have while we sleep.
Thus, we may be found among those “who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:5. In this way, we may be armed for battle against sin and Satan in our sleep.
But God will not keep us from sin in our sleep without any effort on our part. Therefore, in order to keep from sinning in our sleep, we must cultivate right thoughts and be obedient to God’s law of love in our waking hours. Now only the justified can truly succeed at expelling “evil thoughts” (Mark 7:21) from their mind.
Praying in Your Sleep: Conclusion
The working of God’s grace in the individual life reaches even to the time when they are asleep, in that, they should not sin in their dreams. Now God, speaking of Christ, says, “He is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” Philippians 3:21. We may conclude then that when our sinful nature has been subdued, we will not sin, not even in our sleep.
Receiving Answers to Prayers
God says, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:7. This means that if our life is in accordance with the word of God, our prayers will always receive a favourable response from God, because we will only ask for that which is according to God’s will. This then is the condition for an answer of “Yes” to all our prayers.
On the other hand, God says, “Ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, (James 4:2, 3), which is to say, you ask for wrong things, things outside the will of God, “that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” James 4:3.
Thanksgiving and Praise
God says, “Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” Psalm 107:8. “Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.” 1 Chronicles 16:8.
In response we should say, “I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew [show] forth [recount] all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.” Psalm 9:1, 2. When we consider the infinite sacrifice made on the part of God to save mankind, our lips should be unsealed to praise God and give Him thanks with our “whole heart.” Psalm 9:1.
The language of our hearts should be “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.” Psalm 68:19. “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” Psalm 103:2. For “the LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy…He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities [our wickedness].” Psalm 103:8-10.
Prayer and Meditation
We will now look at prayer and meditation, both of which go hand and in hand.
What is Meditation?
Meditation is the contemplation of “spiritual things” (1 Corinthians 2:13) being guided by the Holy Spirit and by the word of God, the Bible. It is focused thought, a time when we think deeply about the “spiritual things” (1 Corinthians 2:13) of the Bible, and consider them in a calm, deliberate manner. This is biblical meditation.
The Purpose of Meditation
God says that every individual should be such that “his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” Psalm 1:2. Then, those who do meditate on God’s law of love under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, may say to God in truth, “Through thy precepts [moral instructions] I get understanding.” Psalm 119:104. “Therefore I esteem all thy precepts [moral instructions] concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.” Psalm 119:128.
What is the purpose of meditation upon God’s law and His commandments? It is to understand the law and so to perceive that “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” Romans 7:12. It is to choose to do right and to keep the law under all circumstances. To keep in remembrance the things of the law, and to understand how the law is applied in practical life. Essentially, it is to agree with God in all things.
How to Meditate
Prayer is a time of meditation, a time when we meditate on what God says to us while in a conversation with God, when we examine ourselves, when we meditate on Scripture and the life of Christ.
Meditating While in a Conversation with God
As was said before, prayer is a conversation with God in that it is a time to speak to God, and to listen to God. Prayer is also a time to meditate upon God’s words to us. Having thought upon God’s message to us, we may not at first understand how it applies to our lives and so we should ask God to help us to understand His meaning. Thus, in this way God directs our thoughts while in prayer.
God will often respond to our request for light to be given to us so that we can see and understand His meaning, and so a dialogue with God ensues. Each time God speaks to us, we should meditate upon what He has said to us and, if necessary, ask God for more light on the subject matter at hand.
Sometimes when we make a petition to God in prayer, God will say nothing to us. This means either that we have unconfessed known sin in our lives, for God says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” Psalm 66:18. Otherwise, it may mean that God has already given us adequate light on the subject of our petition and we are to “walk in the light of the LORD.” Isaiah 2:5.
For God will give no further light until we obey what He has already commanded us to do. It is crucial that we understand this latter point for it is presumptuous and insulting to God to ask Him to tell us again that which is already plain to our understanding. It means that we are being hypocritical and insincere, and instead of asking God to speak to us, we should subject ourselves to deep self-examination.
Meditation and Self-Examination
God says, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates” (2 Corinthians 13:5), morally worthless?” Therefore, it is vital that we meditate on our past life in light of God’s word to see and understand wherein we have erred and sinned.
We must investigate our motives and our acts and closely analyse our feelings and acts. When the Holy Spirit reveals to us that we have sinned and we are in prayer, we should repent, confess our sins, surrender our will to God, and believing God’s promises, seek God’s forgiveness and cleansing from God. In addition, we should also examine ourselves closely and honestly. We should seek to identify in detail what happened, what were the consequences of our sin, what caused us to sin, identifying what was it in our thoughts, feelings, motives, and desires, that caused us to sin.
We should do all this self-examination in the light of the word of God, the Bible, finding relevant Bible texts and asking God to help us to truly understand ourselves, and to show us how to avoid repeating the same sin and what restitution to make, if any.
In light of our sins, God says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7. Therefore, we should submit our will in this matter to God and ask God to keep us from this and all sins for God says, “the desire of the righteous shall be granted.” Proverbs 10:24.
So, by faith, we may believe that what we have asked of God, He will grant it to us. Thus we “are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” 1 Peter 1:5. “The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit.” Proverbs 14:8.
Thus, meditation is the contemplation of our sins and the thoughts, feelings, and motives that led to our sin, leading us to ask God for the help of His Holy Spirit so that the righteousness of Christ is ours. For we may claim God’s promise which says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. We must then exercise our faith in believing that God has done as He has promised.
Meditating on Scripture
Merely hearing or reading the word of God is not enough. If we wish to be benefited by the Scriptures, we must meditate upon the truths they present to us. Now God says of the holy angels, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Hebrews 1:14. Moreover, we may say of God, “Thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.” Psalm 18:28.
Therefore, for those who embark upon the endeavour of meditating on the Scriptures with humility of heart, a pure purpose and simple, earnest faith, seeking for divine guidance, angels will draw near and the Holy Spirit is given to enlighten the mind.
In this way, we are enabled to skillfully use the “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:17. That is, as we go through our daily lives, Christ through the Person of His Holy Spirit causes us to meditate upon the word of God day and night and to bring it into practical life such that we are kept from sinning.
Meditation on the Life of Christ
Christ, when He was on earth, said, “I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done.” John 13:15. “Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.” Matthew 11:29. In order to learn the lessons that we should from the life of Christ, we need to meditate on His life and seek to imitate Him in all respects.
Meditation is the contemplation of “Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2) and the mission of Him who came to save us from our sins. In contemplating Christ, God bids us fill our minds with holy thoughts. For God says, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8.
Now God says, “We all, with open face” (2 Corinthians 3:18), with unveiled faces, “beholding as in a glass” (2 Corinthians 3:18), as in a mirror, “the glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18), the perfect character “of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18), from one degree of goodness to another, “even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18.
Thus, we should meditate upon Christ’s love and mercy and His wondrous work in the plan of redemption, and as we meditate upon Him, a holy desire is kindled in our hearts to be wholly transformed to be like Him in purity. In this way, daily, we behold Christ in His perfection and are changed into the likeness of His character by his Holy Spirit.
Overall Benefits of Meditation
There are many overall benefits of meditation for those who practice it correctly. Meditation causes us to “by reason of use have…[our] senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Hebrews 5:14. It gives us an understanding of God’s will for humanity and the many forms which temptation can take.
Having obtained discernment beforehand and purposed in our minds to choose the good at all times, we are better prepared for the circumstances of daily life and we, therefore, obey God’s command, “Neither give place to the devil.” Ephesians 4:27. We should give no place for evil to gain a foothold in our hearts and minds.
Recommended Video: How to Pray
As an example of how to pray, I recommend that you watch my YouTube video of my prayer session demonstrating how to have a conversion with God at tinyurl.com/or-how-to-pray-1. NOTE: This link contains TINYURL.COM.