Prayer

prayer

• Ask God for help-Psalms 40:13 (KJV) Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me.

God wants His Children to ask Him for help.  He loves to hear our prayers.  He loves to hear and respond to those prayers.  He is present to those who call on Him.

• God does not hear our prayers if we are purposely sinning-Micah 3:4 (KJV) Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

We have an opportunity to reject and turn away from sin.  If we do not reject or turn away from sin, and continually live in sin and practice sin, the LORD will not hear our prayers.  He will even HIDE his face from us, because we knew better and continued to practice sin and live in fornication/adultery before the living God.

• Prayer should not be a show-Matthew 6:6 (KJV) But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

We should not pray in public to gain popularity or to display how holy we think we are in doing so.  The LORD wants us to be humble, and go to Him in private even, and ask of Him secretly.  The LORD will honor those who love in humility.  Those are the Children he rewards publicly.

• Jesus taught his disciples how to pray (Matthew 6: 9-13)-9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  11 Give us this day our daily bread.  12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

​Jesus is an example to His Children.  When he lived here on earth bodily, He instructed His Disciples how to pray.  His life on earth was to show us all how to live.

• Pray with an attitude of humility (Luke 18: 9-14)-9And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.  11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.  13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.  14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

​The LORD wants us to humble ourselves in prayer.  We should recognize that we are sinners, and that we cannot do anything apart from the will of God.  All that we have has been given to us by God Himself.  And we should be grateful and recognize that it is all a gift from God what we do have.  Even our wisdom is a gift from God.  And rather than pointing our fingers to others in prayer, it is better and more fitting for a Christian to recognize that he/she is a sinner, and ask forgiveness for their sin.  We should ask God to save us from our sin, and for strength to resist sin and temptation.  We should recognize that we all fall short of God's glory, and ask forgiveness in humility; not in arrogance, judging, or criticizing others for their faults/shortcomings, or weaknesses.

• Pray in Jesus' name (John 16: 23-24)-23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.  24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

​When the Church joins Christ in heaven, we will not need to ask Him anything because we will know and receive all.  The LORD is teaching us to pray in His name.  Whatever we pray for, the Father will give to Us so long as we ask in Jesus' name.  Up until that point, the disciples had not asked nothing in Jesus' name, however, Jesus instructed them to ask in His name, and that they will receive it; and be filled with joy!

• Pray all the time (Ephesians 6: 18)-Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

The LORD instructed the disciples to be constant in prayer.  Constant prayer is important as the enemy is constantly seeking whom to devour like a ravenous lion on a prowl.  Prayer keeps us close to God; a closer relationship with our Creator.  It is very important to remain close to Him.

• Pray without doubting-James 1:6 (KJV) But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

The reason we must pray without doubting is because if we have even the slightest doubt, the LORD cannot respond to it.  The LORD responds to faith and reverence.  When we respect God and keep our faith, the LORD will respond, react to, and answer our prayers.

• Pray with the right motives-James 4:3 (KJV) Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

When we pray to God, we need to be sure that what we are praying for is something that honors God.  If it is not aligned with the word, God will not answer the prayer.  Also, prayers that do not get answered sometimes are so that a certain purpose is fulfilled.  For example: if there is a certain illness that a nation or individual is stricken with, and that person or nation does not receive healing after many prayers have been said on their behalf, it is because God is working on that person or nation to achieve a specific goal or growth in the individual or nation.  Perhaps if these things were not to happen to them, they would be lost forever without God or hope.  So, when we pray, lets be sure to pray for something that will please God, and not just our lustful hearts for example: praying to become a multi-millionaire, etc..  We could be adversely affected by becoming filthy rich versus praying for spiritual growth, health, wisdom, encouragement, or for our needs to be supplied.   God knows what we need better than we do.

• Pray according to God's will (1 John 5: 14-15)-1 John 5:14 (KJV) And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: 1 John 5:15 (KJV) And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Again, we need to keep our prayers aligned with God's will.  We can have confidence if we know that we are praying for the right thing.  When we pray for the right thing, God will hear us, and answer our prayers.  Here we see, that if our prayer is not appropriate, The LORD will not even hear it.

I hope that this study has helped you all to understand just how we should be praying to God.  May you all continue to be blessed in the name of our Holy Father Jesus Christ!  Until the next study