The Rich Rewards of Prayer

     ".....The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." (James 5:16b)

     The Bible teaches that those who have the habit of prayer experience rich spiritual blessings in their hearts and lives. Scripture and christian history both testify that those who have served God significantly have been men and women with an earnest prayer life. So lets take a look at some of the rich rewards that come to those who have faith in God that expresses itself in a life of prayer.

     1. A Vivid Awareness of the Nearness of God.
     " Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." (James 4:8). When the grateful and humble child of God seeks to come into the throne room of the heavenly Father, one of the great benefits that will come to him is a vivid awareness of just how close God really is.
     A. Experiencing the nearness of God can be frightfully disturbing for one who has not  experienced genuine repentance, sicere confession, and the joy of being cleansed from the pollution of sin.(Isa, ^; Luke 5:8-10)
     B. Experiencing the nearness of God can also be very comforting (Ps. 23:4) He gives strength in times of difficulty
     C. Experiencing the nearness of God can be very exciting (Phil. 4:13)  The assurance of the nearness of God can give great courage and joy as one faces the trials of life.

     2.  A Vital Experience of The Dearness of God.
     Jesus taught His disciples to approach the Creator God not on the basis of His being their Creator but in terms of His being " our Father who art in heaven" (Matt. 6:9). While He is the God who is in heaven, He is also the Father with whom we can have dislogue in the closet of prayer(v6). It is in the prayer experience that the Father communicates His nearness and His dearness to those who look to Him in faith.

     3.  An Enlightening Experience of the Wisdom of God.
      Throughout the entire Bible and in the experience of the believers, we have testimony after testimony of how, as they prayed, God stimulated their thinking and caused them to have new insight that helped them to cope with the strains and pressures of life.
     WE have instance after instance in which God recalled to the memory of His discouraged childern His goodness in the past to help them to face the pressures of the present.

     4. An Enabling Experience of the Strength of God.
     "He  give power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." (Isa. 40: 29-31). Time spent in God's presence fills the child of God with the strebth that comes from heaven.
     Most know the famous cartoon character Popeye. He faced many difficult and dangerous crises but was never quite adequate for these until he had eaten a can of spinach, which gave him superhuman powers. I have often thought of how time spent with the heavenly Father brings to His children strength comparable to that which spinach brought to popeye.
     The apostle Paul prayed for the believers at Ephesus that they might be strengthen witnmight through God's Spirit in the inner man and that they might be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:16,19). He encouraged them to trust in and depend on the God who was at work within them and who was able to do far more abundantly than anything they had previously asked for or even thought about. (vv 20-21)

     5. A Cleansing Experience of the Forgiveness of God. ( 1 John 1:6-7)
     God is eager to forgive His sinful children, He is eager to cleanse us and make us white as snow. Our heavenlt Father does not delight in our being guilty of or burdened by sin. He is eager that we forsake those ways and attitudes that are destructive and come to Him for forgiveness and cleansing.
     Scripture tells us that our God is a forgiving God who forgives fully and freely and forever when His children sit in judgement on their own sins and turn from the sin that disrupts their fellowship, destroys their influence, and deprives them of joy. Prayer is the div ine gift by which we can come into God's presence, receive His forgiveness, and experience both the cleaness that follows and the joy of a restored fellowship.

     Do not rob yourself by neglecting to pray. When you do not feel like praying, that is all the more reason you should pray. Prayer is not a process by which you make "brownie points" with God. Prayer is not a magical means by which something happens automatically. Prayer is meant to be an experience in which a spiritual tranformation takes place. This is why we are commanded, "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." ( 1Thess. 5: 16-18).