GUIDELINE AND STEPS TO EFFECTIVE PRAYER

Pray without ceasing. {1 Thessalonians 5: 17}.

The question is, why do we pray? How do we then pray to get expected result?   
Prayer and studying God's word are the two greatest tools for accessing God's purpose for man, in fact you can neither hear or talk to God without prayer. Prayer is art of taking God's words back to him about his promises over our life, it is divine communion between man and God. The essence of prayer is to seek God divine intervention in our problems thereby getting answer to our needs; it show our dependence on God for solution to our problems. 

Unfortunately, most Christian don't like to praying, some don't know how to pray, others don't know when to pray, often pray amiss leading to many unanswered prayers. The manner we approach the throne of grace determines the result we get. The following simple steps will guide you to pray better.

The Ministry of God's Love: Loving like Christ

Love is the greatest message of the gospel. In fact, Christianity is all about love. A righteous Christian is a loving Christian and it takes only a loving Christian to make heaven. He who does not Love does not know God; for God is love. (1 John 4:8). The real definition of God is love don't be deceived. Love is the heart beat of God,, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,,,, John 3:16. Love here come before giving, to be like God is to love like God and to love like God is to love unconditional; ,,,in that while we are yet in sin Christ died for us (Roman 5:8). Go and search your bible from Genesis to Revelation, you will not see where God give condition for loving us.

God's kind of love is the agape love - love without condition. Love to God is not feelings or emotion, it is not about how you feel rather is about your action towards something, it's obedience, it is character reflection . That is why Jesus says, "if you love me keep my commandment" (John14:15). Keeping here means obedience to God's commandment, not confession, neither feeling the presence; obedience is better than sacrifice. The greatest commandment is the commandment of love.

RUNNING TO WIN THE RACE OF LIFE

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. (1 Corinthians 9:24).

What does Paul mean by this verse?  Does Paul mean that there is only one winner in the Christian race?  Does he mean that there are ways to run to win the race?  What exactly is he trying to teach the Christian?

Paul in describing the Christian race uses two illustrations: The runner and the fighter. Two things should come to our mind; both a runner and a fighter aim to win in the game, hence both can be liking to Christianity "fighting the good fight of faith'' (2 Timothy 2:3; 1 Timothy 6:12).

Are You truly Living For Christ?

2 CORINTHIANS 5: 15.... And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

The question is do you believe Christ died for you and for all? Then if you believe, are you serving God or serving yourselves? Christianity, or born again is not about us, but all about Christ, He loved us first and died for us, so we love him back by living for him. It means that our life is not our own. We have been bought with the price of Christ's death and therefore are called to serve not self but Christ (1 Cor 6:19-20). Freedom is an illusion. We like to think along the lines of William Ernest Henley: "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul." The fact of the matter is that ours is to serve, not to be served. We can either be serving Christ-making Him Lord of our life or we are serving ourselves and making Christ our servant instead of our Lord. The difference is between treating Christ as a houseguest and serving him as the house owner. Five things can be inferred or summarized from this verse. 

Understanding The Concept of Law And Grace

What do you understand by grace? Do grace nullify law? Does it mean that "grace" has replaced "Law" and the "Law" is discarded? Does Christ death actually abolished the Law, and give people license to continue in sin? What does the Bible really say? What then shall we do and teach others?

The misconception of grace and law has thrown many into confusion, with varying interpretations. Many preachers and teachers of the gospel has erroneously mislead people to believe that grace has abolish the law, thereby giving them licenses to live there life the way they like, without paying attention to moral code of conduct. That is why we have so many unbelieving-believers in churches today. People going to hell from the church.

The meaning of grace: Grace is the undeserving favor of God bestowed on mankind. Grace goes beyond forgiving someone who rob and probably rape your wife in your presence, to include giving the person job in your company with company car and allowance. If someone offend you, and you forgive and forget you are just merciful, that not grace. Grace is going beyond forgiving an offender to favor the person.