Do you experience joy when you pray? The Bible says to rejoice in the Lord and pray. Philippians 4:4-7 is the classic passage on this. That passage tells us that prayer and joy work together in at least three ways.
Philippians 4 says you are to "rejoice in the Lord," and then it goes on to say that you should also "let your requests be made known to God." In other words, you should pray with joy in your heart. That joy is there because Christ is your Savior. If you pray with such joy, God says He will give you His peace.
How do prayer and joy work together. There are at least three ways that they do:
The Apostle Paul prayer a lot and he had a lot of joy. God had used him to plant a lot of churches. Paul prayed fervently for those people, and he had a lot of joy in his heart because of the work God had done in their lives. Paul's joy came from his prayers, and his prayers flowed out of his joy.
So true joy leads to prayer. In terms of your human relationship, if the relationship is good, you long to spend time with that person and talk with them, and listen to them. It is the same with your relationship with God. If you love and worship Him, you long to spend time talking with Him. Talking to God and listening to Him is what prayer is all about. This relationship gives you joy that can never be taken away.
Also, Hebrews 4:16 says prayer is coming into the presence of a king. You approach the throne of your Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ His Son. You boldly ask Him to help you. He not only cares about you and your needs, He also has the power and the wisdome to help you. When the King hears your prayer and answers you, it gives you great joy. You realize you are a child of the King, and He cares about you.
As you pray today, keep these wonderful truths in mind. Offer up praise and thanksgiving to your God and Savior. Remember, "The joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10, NKJV)."
Glen Averill has been a Christian minister and journalist for more than 25 years. To learn more about Christian joy, visit http://www.histruejoy.com.
Hi Glen, welcome to searchwarp, thanks for commenting on my article, otherwise I might have missed this! Good Stuff! Glad to have you on board! Blessings, Teresa
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