If you want to operate in the power of your new self, it’s absolutely imperative that you develop your faith. And one of the most effective ways to develop your faith is to pray; through intimacy with God, because in His presence your doubts and your fears die. In God’s presence, your capacity to trust Him grows.

Jesus was a man of prayer.  And He walked in power, authority, signs and wonders. His disciples saw Him praying at one point and said, ‘teach us to pray.’ He was such a person of prayer, that His prayer life influenced His disciples.

One reason there’s such unbelief among believers – an interesting paradox, by the way – is that there’s so much prayerlessness.  The problem with most believers today is that we’ve  not built our trust in God. So we panic in the face of crisis like the rest of the world.

Look at Jesus; He was a man of prayer. As the old song goes, ‘Jesus started with prayer, and ended with prayer.’ You really can’t have the results of Jesus without His prayer life. He was always praying.

And His prayer wasn’t just the religious thing we do these days; it was a deep communion with His Father. He was daily on His knees before His Father to receive the strength and courage He needed to deal with the challenges of a fallen world.

Jesus was close to His Father; Jesus was intimate with His Father. Early in the morning before dawn, He was in His place of prayer, talking to His Father and receiving strength.

You see the world is messed up. The attitude of this world is different from the mind of the Father. That’s why the bible says,

 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world…”
~Roman 12:2

The world has a pattern. In fact in some versions, the above scripture says, ‘don’t allow the world to squeeze you into its mold.’

Do you know that this world is exerting continuous pressure on you, trying to get you to panic? All around you are cries of terror; “There is recession. There is crisis. There is epidemic in the air.”  It’s almost like there’s a conspiracy by everyone you meet to terrify you. This world is trying to squeeze you into its mold; to get you to fear; to get you to doubt; to get you to shut up; to get you to walk in the natural.

Jesus overcame this world through communion with the Father; through prayer. He would go to His Father early in the morning and say, “Father, I receive strength from you. I receive your wisdom. I receive your grace.” He spent the first hours of the morning in prayer so that by the time the sun rose in the sky, He would emerge with the authority of God.

Let Jesus Christ be your model. It is possible to be confronted with a billion dollar crisis and not budge. However, you will need to develop absolute trust in God. When you spend time with the Father in the place of intimacy, you come out confident and strong.  You know that the storms of this life can only take you up, and never down. You are not shaken by the things that shake others.

Now, stop running helter skelter like some pagan! Get into your closet and begin to pray.