About Prayer
Through prayer you are in fellowship with God (YHVH). You can actually speak to Him. You can worship, love, and spend time with Him. Because Yeshua died and rose again to restore your relationship with God, through Him God hears your prayers.
God wants you to fellowship with Him. 1st Corinthians 1:9 says, "God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Yeshua Ha Meshiach our Lord." He wants you to be in His presence and be dependent upon Him. To be effective, you need to be in fellowship with God. To be in fellowship, you need to be praying, constantly.
Pride hides itself in the heart so it cannot be seen. When we find ourselves relying on our knowledge instead of God's word, mercy, and grace, then we have fallen into that trap. It is not reason that converts, but God's Spirit. It is not logic that draws us to our Father God, Y'HoVaH, but Yeshua (John 12:32). It is not evidence that
convicts a person of his sins, but the Spirit of God (John 16:8). That is why we need to rely on prayer ... and on Him in and through prayer.
To ignore prayer is to be prideful. It is the same as saying we don't need God. But we do. We need to pray for those who are lost, pray for their minds to be opened, pray that God's word will ring true to them, pray that our witness will be strong, and pray that the evil one will not have a foot-hold with them or with us. We are fighting a spiritual battle and need spiritual tools. Prayer is perhaps the most important of them all.
God through His Spirit is the one who opens the heart and mind, not you (Acts 16:14). Ask Him for guidance (John 14:14). Ask for blessing in your understanding (James 1:5) and your speech (Colossians 4:6). Ask Him to also open their understanding to His word (Luke 24:45). This is what He does.
Prayer brings humility to the one praying. It admits dependence on God, on His Son, and on His Spirit. If we are humble and dependent on God, we are more likely to hear His voice. Prayer means that you are seeking divine intervention. It changes your heart. It moves you closer to Him as Lord and Messiah. Never let your intellect replace the power, received by faith, that comes in prayer before your gracious and almighty God.
- CARM (from "The Importance of Prayer") (paraphrased)
Facedown
From time to time, we have a mid-week prayer meeting called Facedown. In order to understand why we call this service “Facedown,” take a look at these scriptures from the Bible.
Numbers 20:6
Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of Y'HoVaH appeared to them.
Luke 17:11-19
Now on His way to Jerusalem, Yeshua traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As He was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met Him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Yeshua, Master, have pity on us!" When He saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He fell facedown at Yeshua's feet and thanked Him - and he was a Samaritan. Yeshua asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then Yeshua said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has made you well."
Matthew 2:1-2, 10-11
After Yeshua was born in Bethlehem of Judea, during the time of King Herod, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him." When they saw the star, they rejoiced with great joy. On entering the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother and fell facedown and worshipped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
Here's the point. It is good and important for God's people to get facedown in order to worship and glorify Him! He is worthy of our praise and deserves our thanksgiving!