The Prayer Circle Leader

Ingredients for Prayer   Author: Eric Lambert 

In times of economic turmoil in the lives of so many, people are turning to whatever financial bailout that comes their way. These stimulus packages include reduced costs for services, rebates, two for one deals, and even prayer. The Rev. Eric A. Lambert Jr. believes prayer is the stimulus to improving people’s lives not as a gimmick but by, for one, giving them peace even though they have a bleak financial outlook.

“Through prayer we find a place that guarantees peace,” Rev. Lambert says. “God wants to solve our problems and give us peace.” In his latest book, Ingredients for Prayer: A Practical Approach for Maximizing Your Time with God, Rev. Lambert, pastor of Bethel Deliverance International Church north of Philadelphia, details what he believes is the true purpose of prayer in contrast to the ‘give me syndrome’ of prayer that so many with financial woes seem to have.

“We are often challenged by the worldly view of prayer, and we fall into the trap that makes us think that we are able to use prayer to bully the Lord into doing what we want. Yet I believe prayer is a time for intimacy and connection with God,” Rev. Lambert says. “Prayer by definition is worshipful oratory. By hyper-definition, prayer is an act of intercourse with your soul and God’s spirit. It is you connecting with God until your desires have been replaced by His heart.” 

By using “The Lord’s Prayer” as a framework, he examines pieces of this prayer model to show ways to connect with God, like understanding the mind and will of God and becoming dependent upon and receiving the peace of God. Rev. Lambert says having a God-centered and not self-centered focus on prayer helps you to know that “[p]rayer is not about you. It is about the will of the Lord being done through you. To make supplication means that you should bring your request to the Lord; however, you must be sure that your request does not go against the will of the Lord.”

Rev. Eric A. Lambert Jr. responded to God’s call to Jesus Christ in 1971. From that time he was active in Christian ministry, serving in a variety of capacities at Deliverance Evangelistic Church, under the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Smith Sr. In 1987, after God’s leading, Rev. Lambert established Bethel Deliverance International Church in 1987 with seven committed believers, just north of his hometown of Philadelphia. In addition to pastoring, Rev. Lambert is fulfilling his apostolic calling, having planted a number of churches and developed pastoral relationships with both new and seasoned pastors. He remains committed to spreading the love of God to those who do not know Him while stabilizing and fortifying believers. This is evident not only in his church but in the messages of his books.  

 LISTEN TO A SERMON ONLINE FROM PASTOR LAMBERT 

• Renewing The Mind

 For more information about Ingredients for Prayer: Maximizing Your Time with God, visit http://ericlambertministries.com.

BOOK REVIEW by Linda Fegins

” The right way to pray , then is the way that allows us to communicate with God. For prayer is not ritual; it is the souls’ inherent response to a relationship with a loving Father.” -Collen Townsend Evans

     We have heard that the Lord is just a prayer away. “O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to the Lord in prayer” the song goes.  Rev. Lambert points out in his book “Ingredients for Prayer: A Practical Approach to Maximizing Your Time With God”,  that “teach us how to pray is often the hearts cry of the believer in the world today”.  Prayer, simply put, is communication with God.  As a Prayer Coordinator for the Lydia Circle of  Christian Professional and  Business Women, I pray with and “teach” women how to pray. On the first day of the “prayer boot camp” I tell them that as “you begin your journey into prayer, one of the main reasons for prayer is to grow a relationship with God by spending time with Him”.

    Rev.  Lambert, using the Model Prayer, provides the reader with some simple, but profound principles about prayer’s purpose and results, couched in easy to understand language. He also enunciates practical and straightforward steps to praying effectively. He points out that contrary to our cultural influences to “use prayer to bully the Lord into doing what we want” and for material gain, the purpose of prayer is to build a personal relationship with the Father. “Prayer is going to God and asking for His will, not things”, he remarks.  Lambert uses Jesus as a model of how to pray effectively as Jesus both needed and desired time with God and gives us the ingredients for prayer. What Lambert makes clear is that “prayer must be about getting closer to the Father and knowing and receiving His will”.

     This wonderful little book shares many rich prayer nuggets about knowing what to pray for, “praying it through” ,  how “prayer is work” and praying for others. As a Prayer Coordinator, it affirmed my teaching on prayer, enhanced my insight, and inspired me to encourage the woman to grow to a higher prayer level.

 Linda Fegins, The Prayer Leader

Tags: Eric Lambert, Ingredients for Prayer, Linda Fegins, LydiaCircle for Christian Business and Pofessional Women, maximizing, prayer. Collen Townsend Evans