LIFE LESSONS FROM THE FIRST ARTICLE (2)

 LIFE LESSONS DRAWN FROM THE FIRST ARTICLE (2)

Intercession and supplication are somewhat related. While intercession involves praying to God for others only, supplication can be praying for one's self and/or for others with reasons given to God. Moses' prayer to God for the people of Israel when God wanted to destroy them was a prayer of supplication, giving God reasons why he should not destroy his own people. Some of which included that if God destroys them it will make the Egyptians say that God brought out the children of Israel for mischief in order to destroy them upon the mountains and he also begged God to remember his promises to Abraham, Isaac and Israel. He gave reasons to God. An example of a man who made supplication for himself, is King Hezekiah. 2Kings20:1-3 "1In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. 2Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying, 3I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore." Hezekiah gave God reasons why the Prophet Isaiah's message of death over him, should not be fulfilled.

 However, whenever we make supplications to God, in this new testament age, it should not be because of our "righteous acts or good deeds" but it should be based on God's faithfulness, righteousness and mercy. "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16. The Fathers of faith, Abraham, Moses, Daniel, were matured in their relationship with God that they pleaded with God based on God's faithfulness, righteousness and mercy. God wants us to grow into maturity. 2Peter3:9 "But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom be glory both now and forever. Amen" 

Nonetheless, we can derive another requirement for prayer from the story of King Hezekiah pointed out and this is, "Heartfelt prayer". Apart from love, your prayers must be heartfelt to produce the desired results. You are not the one producing the results, but God looks into these characters when you pray.

Heart of prayer. We must have a heart for prayer and a heart of prayer. A heart for prayer is in that you love it. Just like you love to talk to your dad, asking how his day went, how his business or work went; that is a heart for prayer. When you see prayer in this perspective, you'd love it. You won't see it as a burden and you will pray right, making God more pleased when you talk to him because you've got a new revelation of what prayer is and that is exactly what he wants from us. Prayer is not informing God about our needs maybe because we feel he's not aware so we need to tell him. He knows. God is an all-knowing God. Imagine if you only talk to your dad when you need your school fees or you needed him to buy things for you, how would such relationship have been? Boring! Super boring. A heart for prayer would love to pray. God, I love you, help me to love you more; is a prayer.

A heart of prayer actually prays. A heart of prayer is a praying heart. That is the heart that will never stop praying. When things seem difficult, when things seem rosy, that heart won't stop to communicate with God because it has come to an understanding of God that God is love and he loves to hear it when it prays. A heart of prayer reaches God and communicates burdens to him. Our Fathers in the faith, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Elijah, among others; had a heart of prayer and a heart for prayer.

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