Lesson 6: Faithful in prayer
1 Timothy 2:1-4 - www.bible.com/bible/59/1ti.2

1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,
2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

In our human way of thinking we always look first to what WE can do when we face an uncomfortable situation in our life. We search for answers all around us. Finally, we may even ask others to pray for us. There is nothing wrong with any of these things except they should not be our first action. Our first action in any situation in our life should be to talk to God about it – prayer.


Prayer is never a crutch, something to hold us up. Rather, it is our lifeline to God. So many of us these days have cell phones which never leave our person – we take them everywhere. We need to see prayer as more important to our life than even a cell phone. Perhaps we need to see prayer as being our cell phone between us and God. No matter what happens, good or bad, we can talk with God about it in the very moment it happens.

Our prayer life will expand as we use it, growing from praying for ourselves to praying God’s will for everything happening around us. Please don’t misunderstand me, it is not wrong for us to pray for things we need; God asks us to do so. But there comes a point when we simply note to God our need, for example, His help with our health so we can continue to serve Him. Then, having asked, we turn our focus to the person next to us, and ask God to use us in their life as an encouragement for this person to know Him better. This is how prayer becomes intercessory prayer. We see a situation in someone else, and we pray for them – wisely, so their relationship with God becomes their focus rather than the things of this world. We ask God, in this moment, to show us how to pray for this person or situation.

Prayer is our single most effective tool for our own life as well as for our ministry.
*Think about your prayer life. Are your prayers mostly self-centered, or has God expanded your view to trust Him with your own needs and desires and to spend most of your prayer time praising and worshiping Him, and then interceding for others?
 *If you’re not sure what “ministry” means, and/or what God is calling you to do to serve Him, the next lesson will clarify the idea of ministry. Pray right now and ask God to make His calling clear to you.