Make Up Your Mind To Pray (Part 2)
Going a little farther, He fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39
Jesus gave us four essentials to have a great relationship with God. These essentials are revealed in His prayer life. Number one, Jesus had a time to pray. Number two, He had a place to pray. And the third thing was Jesus prayed out loud. Praying out loud is so important. Don’t misunderstand; sometimes, praying out loud would be inappropriate. But there is never an inappropriate time to pray silently. But with that said, there is a secret to Jesus’s prayer life. Matthew 26:39 shows us that if we want a vibrant prayer life, we have to start praying out loud. It’s not enough to think about your prayer. If you’re not asking, you’re not praying. Praying is asking.
Jesus said, “Ask, and you shall receive.” Well, to ask, you have to say it out loud. So many people never develop in their prayer life because they don’t pray out loud. When you don’t pray out loud, it is easier for the enemy to distract you. Have you ever gone to pray and closed your eyes, and instead of praying, you started seeing a grocery list, people you were supposed to call, and all the things you needed to do that day? When you pray out loud, the atmosphere changes. When you begin to call on the name of the Lord and speak out loud prayers verbally with your mouth, your mind stays locked in.
Matthew 26:39 says, “And when He had gone a little further, He fell on His face, and He prayed, saying, ‘If it be thy will, let this cup pass from me.’” He prayed this out loud three times. He didn’t just think of prayer; He said it. And there’s power in that.
There’s something about having a mom or a dad that prays out loud in a house. When your children hear you travailing in prayer to God it will affect them. They will never get that memory out of their mind. Does your family ever listen to you pray out loud? Are you ashamed? We don’t do it for people to see us. But even in your secret place, pray out loud because there’s power in words. Life and death are in the power of the tongue.
The disciples came and said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Why? Because they heard Him praying. They heard Him praying out loud, and they had never heard anybody pray like Jesus. And it so moved them that they said, “Teach us to pray!” And that’s when Jesus taught them the Lord’s Prayer. But it was a response to them hearing Him pray out loud. Your prayers can come alive with this principle.
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