PRAYER IS THE MOST important conversation of the day, and the first priority of the day should be to listen to God’s voice.
In addition, be still and hear the voice of God and commune with Him before talking to anyone else.
Pastor Kenneth Ostler made these remarks last week Sunday while addressing those attending Voice To The Nations Ministries’ friends and family day, held at The Villages at Coverley, Christ Church.
The Canadian preacher spoke about the importance of prayer and urged those in attendance to make it a priority of their everyday life.
Quoting from Psalm 145:18, he said: “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him.” He also cited Jeremiah 33:3: “Call unto Me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you know not.”
According to Ostler, when one lives a life full of prayer, it is a life full of the power of God.
“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing,” he said.
He added that as Jesus’ disciples, believers were given the model prayer to follow.
“The Lord’s Prayer provides the clearest instruction on how we bring the reality of His World, His Kingdom, into this one. The great leaders of revivals speak to us from ages past saying, ‘If you pray, He will come!’ True biblical prayer, led by the Holy Spirit, is always accompanied by radical obedience in the Christian. Then God’s response to prayer with obedience always releases the nature of Heaven into the impaired circumstances of our lives.”
Ostler said there were two real priorities of prayer and Jesus’ model prayer, The Lord’s Prayer, revealed it. First, intimacy with God that is expressed in worship, and second, to bring God’s Kingdom to earth, establishing His dominion over the needs of mankind.
The minister said that as disciples of Jesus Christ, believers were not really a part of this world.
“This world, this Earth, is our assignment, but not our home. Our purpose as the people of God is eternal. The resources needed to complete the assignment are unlimited. The only restrictions are those between our ears.”
As he did an exposition on The Lord’s Prayer, Ostler said: “The more we live as citizens of Heaven, the more Heaven’s activities infect and invade our lifestyles. Worship is our No. 1 priority in Christian ministry. Everything else we do is to be affected by our devotion.”
He further said that “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven”, was the primary focus of all prayer.
“It is the praying Christian who loosens Heaven’s expressions here. When the believer prays according to the revealed will of God, faith becomes specific and focused. Faith grabs hold of the reality of God, then enduring faith doesn’t let go. Everything that happens here on Earth is supposed to be a shadow of Heaven.
In turn, every revelation that God gives us of Heaven is to equip us with a prayer focus. Then the will of God is seen, disclosed, in the ruling presence of God.
“When we pray for His Kingdom to come, we are asking Him to superimpose the rules, order and benefits of His kingdom over this one until this one looks like His. Our battle in prayer is always a battle for dominion, a conflict of two kingdoms – the Kingdom of God versus the kingdom of the world. We are called to pray until there is a breakthrough.
“Then we are to exercise the authority given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ to execute His will over the circumstances that we are praying for,” he added.
• To have your church featured in Altar Call,
please contact cherylharewood@nationnews.com.
