Last week we’ve talk a Fair bit on Capacity, I told you guys about what capacity is and how capacity can and will affect our spiritual walk with God. If you want God to use you in a greater way, then you got to have greater capacity for God to use you. Amen!
So I told you that our “Spiritual capacity=Prayer + Faith + Perseverance”. So in order to increase our spiritual capacity today, we need to increase ourselves in the aspect of prayer, faith and perseverance. Today, I’m going to share with you, how do we increase in the aspect of prayer.
First, I want you to ask yourself, what is prayer to you? Some may say: “Oh, prayer is a time where I seek God when I need a blessing.” Some may also say: “Prayer is how strong I am in God’s kingdom.” But I want you to know today, prayer is the measurement of how much you love God and how much you are dependent to Him. If you say you love God, You will be praying to God.
There are two kinds of prayer that all of us have been practicing. First is speaking in tongues, and the second is to pray in words. You may of heard some of your Christians saying this; “The gift of speaking in tongues is not for us now, it is only for the disciples in the apostles time.” But look at the truth now, are we not living in the time of Acts now? Are we not the disciples Of Jesus? Yes! We are! In the book of Jeremiah says this:
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I’ve set you apart; I‘ve appointed you…”
Look guys, before we are even born, God has set us apart, chosen us, and appointed us as His servant even before we were born! How great is our God. So we have the gift to speak in tongues, but it is a 100%God, yet also 100%man thing, God has given you the gift, it is up to you if you want to receive it and use it. We must learn to speak in tongues because it is important. Look at this:
1Cor14:18
“I thank God that I speak in tongues more than anyone of you.”
If speaking in tongue is not important, why would Paul speak in tongues so much. So guys, lets learn to speak in tongues today.
So, for those who can speak in tongues, they may say: “Oh, since Apostle Paul says that speaking tongue is so important, why not we just pray in tongue, there is no need for us to pray in words anymore.” But I tell you, that is far from the truth. Didn’t Jesus teach us to pray in words? Yes he did, he gave us a prayer to model after, and that prayer was in words. The Lord’s Prayer is what I am referring to. So today, let us start speaking in tongues and also pray in words.
Sometimes we pray much, giving excuses like: “I don’t know what to pray?” But the Bible has given us help on the aspect of prayer. In Rom 8:26:
“In the same the spirit helps us in our weaknesses, we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”
See, when we don’t know what to pray for, the holy spirit that is in you, will help you in your prayer, that is why, we want to speak in tongues, so that we can be more sensitive to the spirit, so that we can know the spirit better. But we cannot be speaking in tongues for one the whole quiet time right? So now we are going to learn how to pray through the Lord’s Prayer.
Matt 6:9-13
“9This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.'”
The Lord’s Prayer is separated into 5 parts, that means the Lord’s Prayer teaches to pray in 5 aspects:
1. Praise God in our Prayer
That is what it meant in verse 9. To acknowledge God’s holiness and exalt Him, because He is worthy.
2. Acknowledge the will that God has for you
That is what was mention in verse 10. To let God’s plan for you in heaven, come into reality on earth.
3. Pray for your needs
That is shown in verse 11. Pray for your daily needs.
4. Asking for forgiveness
Shown in verse 12.
5. Ask for protection
In verse 13. Protection in all aspects.
The bible has already teach us, tell us how and what to pray for. What excuses then shall we say we can’t pray? Why not all of us start to increase our capacity today, by first increasing our level of prayer. Amen. Let’s spend some time in prayer now…