Young Adults' Group

Interactive Praying

by Pastor Mark
March 18, 2016

Thank God for answering our prayers

We thank God for blessing our Family Camp once again. It is not something that we assume will happen each year. Many have been praying for the Family Camp and for it to be a blessing to all. We thank God for answering our prayers.

The theme “Call to Me” has been a most significant focus for all of us. There were many deep lessons learned through all the messages that Pastor Charles taught us. Many misunderstandings were corrected about our practice of prayer. Many hearts were deeply challenged to deal with the problems that plague our prayer life. The theme of prayer has been most appropriate for us to consider.

The practice of interactive praying

One key lesson that we learned during the evening sessions was interactive praying. This was something that the prophet Jeremiah had to learn as he related to God. God first took the initiative to speak to Jeremiah, “Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you as prophet to the nations.” (Jer 1:4,5)

Jeremiah responded with his concerns about his youth and inability to speak. The Lord responded with words of encouragement to Jeremiah. He was going to train him to fulfill His work. Understanding the way in which interactive prayer worked in the life of Jeremiah was truly enlightening. What were some of the deep lessons that I learned for myself?

1. Discovering our destiny

God said to Jeremiah,”I ordained you as prophet.’ This was the destiny that God reveal to Jeremiah through interactive prayer. He was to be prophet to the people of Judah and beyond.

God has an overarching plan and destiny. Jeremiah was to discover his place as prophet in the scheme. What about us? Have we discovered what is our destiny in this life? It is only through interactive praying that we can discover our destiny.

2. Training program

I like this idea of a training program. Jeremiah was trained through interactive prayer. Through the training program he discovered that his ministry with the people of Judah was to fulfil the following:

1. To root out.       (Jer 1:10)
2. To pull down
3. To destroy
4. To throw down
5. To build
6. To plant

This was the challenging work that Jeremiah had to fulfil. It was not going to be easy to root out and pull down all the things that were wrong in Israel. The people were going to react adversely against Jeremiah. Let us appreciate that ministry is always challenging and it should be prepared for.

3. A fortified city

“For behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar” (Jer 1:18)

In anticipation of the challenges of ministry ahead, the Lord encouraged Jeremiah to become a fortified city. A fortified city is meant to be strong and immovable. Jeremiah needed to be strong in the face of the challenges of ministry

We all recognise how challenging ministry can be. Yet as we seek to fulfil our destiny, we need to work on our relationship with God first. Let us be challenged to have interactive prayer with the Lord. Let us be challenged to go deeper in our prayer life.

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