One of the prayer lessons of the Bible is to recall God’s promises and to ask him to fulfill them. What has God said to you in days gone by that are not yet fulfilled? How will you turn those promises into prayers today?

When you see the word “remember” addressed to God in prayer, there is no thought that God has somehow forgotten his promises. Instead, the person praying is calling to mind what God said he would do and is declaring his intention to follow God’s direction even when all seems lost. 

Maybe this provides a bit of insight into Matthew 18:19, 20: 

“I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”

When we come together and acknowledge what God has told us and agree to proceed in that direction together, God is with us and for us and empowers us for all he wants to accomplish through us. 

Luke 9:18 begins with these words:

One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone.

He did not remain alone, however. What happened next is one of the most significant conversations in the Bible. It includes a powerful question: “Who do people say I am?”

It includes a powerful revelation: “You are the Messiah sent from God!” (Verse 20)

It includes a horrible prediction and a wonderful declaration: “Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone who he was. “The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” (Verses 21, 22)

It includes a commission to live with a Kingdom orientation: “Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?” (Verses 23-25)

Pray alone, but not only alone. Pray with others in agreement regarding what God has said. Pray with others and then step out of the prayer closet and into the action. Pray and live with the same orientation toward your life mission as your orientation in seeking God’s highest and best in prayer. 

Pray with me and live on mission with me. 

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I will pray alone, with others, and I will do what God has said in fulfillment of his promises. 

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Our Father, we come to you once again with the request that you teach us to pray. Empower us to recall all you have said to us in the past. Empower us to live confidently in the security of your presence and your direction here and now. Empower us to live with a Kingdom mindset in everything before us. May we see you and experience you for who you are in every moment of every day. Amen.