Title: A Preacher's Plea for a Powerful Prayer life

Text: Luke 11:1- And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

Theme: The basics of what the bible says about prayer

Goal: Teach kids how to pray

Introduction: There were very few things the disciples asked Jesus to teach them, and one of them was they wanted Him to teach them to pray. They heard him pray and saw the answers He obtained from the Father, and they wanted to learn how to have that same power in their prayer lives. I believe one of the greatest things you can teach anyone is how to pray and to get their prayers answered.

Point one: The Privilege of Prayer

Prayer is Fellowship with God. Prayer is not simply a methody of transaction for aksing and getting. Prayer is part of our needful communication with God. Because communication is part of a relationship, it is vital that we keep that relationship right.

Privilege of Prayer

Comment: Its not a burden to pray its a privilege to pray. Prayer is an invitation from God directly to us. God invites us to bring our needs and requests to Him in prayer

Verse support: Hebrews 4:14–16 “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Illustration: Imagine going into the office of the president of the united states and asking him for a snickers. What we he say. Well you probably wouldnt even make it to him to present your request because you dont have the authority or the relationship. Now imagine if the president was your daddy. What would his response be?

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Possibilities of Prayer

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Point two: The Purpose of Prayer

Psalm 48:10

According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.

We are reminded in the New Testament that when Christ ascended to Heaven that He sat down at the right hand of the Father. The right hand of Christ is always a place of prayer. Psalm 91:1 reminds us, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Abiding in the secret place of prayer always places us under the shadow of God’s watchful hand over our lives. The Scriptures teach us several things we will find in our lives if we dwell at the right hand of Christ in prayer.

First, you find righteousness at the right hand of Christ. Righteousness is a combination of living right and doing right. You will find sin will never control your life when you spend time in prayer. You cannot be in the presence of a righteous God in prayer and live in sin at the same time. He who spends time in prayer will find prayer keeps him from sin, but sin will keep the believer from prayer. When you start living right because of prayer, you will find it becomes a natural step to do right. Nobody has ever done right successfully without spending much time in prayer. The answer to living right and doing right faithfully is to make sure you spend much time in prayer daily.

Second, you find victory at the right hand of Christ. Psalm 98:1 says, O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. Great victories in life are a result of prayer. The victory you need in your life right now will only be found if you spend time at Christ’s right hand in prayer.

Third, you find strength at the right hand of Christ. Psalm 20:6 says, Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Do you need strength to face your daily struggles? You will only find the strength to make it through your daily life with all of its troubles and trials that come your way by spending time in prayer. Prayer gives you the strength you need for today. Too many are concerned with tomorrow’s strength when all you need is strength for today. You will find enough strength for whatever you face each day if you start your day off at Christ’s right hand in prayer.

Fourth, you find courage at the right hand of Christ. Psalm 118:16 says, The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. You only find the courage to live a life of faith by spending much time in God’s presence through prayer. Prayer gives the courage to take the step of faith. The Scriptures challenge you to attempt the impossible, but only in prayer will you get the courage to attempt the impossible by faith. You cannot please God by faith if you don't get the courage you need to live by faith in prayer. If the only reason you spend time daily in prayer is to get courage to live by faith, that reason alone is a good enough reason to pray daily.

Fifth, you will find power at the right hand of Christ. Matthew 26:64 says, Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. The power of God will never be found in one’s life without that person spending time in prayer. If you want to live a victorious and powerful Christian life, you must spend time in prayer getting God’s power to live that life.

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Point three: The Power of Prayer

Job 32:19

Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles.

Job felt like he was about ready to burst with no place to release the pressure from what he was enduring. Stop and think about what Job must have felt like. He lost his job, wealth, transportation, health, children, and his wife, who was supposed to be his encourager, only encouraged him to curse God so that he could die. Then, three so-called friends who had come to comfort him turned their comforting words into accusatory and slanderous words. The pain of going through what he was enduring was great enough, but those he wanted to vent to would not listen, which only added to the pressure that he endured.

It is no wonder that Job felt like he was about ready to burst. However, we find that Job had a pressure release valve that inserted Himself into Job’s life, and that pressure release valve was God. Job found the way to release the pressure of what he was enduring when he talked to God. God shows us this release of pressure in Job 42:10, where it says, And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends… The pressure of what he endured was released the moment he prayed to God.

The purpose of a pressure release valve is to let the pressure from the inside out so that whatever that valve is on does not explode. For instance, a pressure cooker has a pressure release valve to let the pressure out before opening because if someone opens that cooker without letting the pressure off, the lid will become the shrapnel of a bomb that explodes off the cooker if opened and hurts the one opening it. The pressure release valve is there to keep the pressure on the inside of the cooker from hurting others.

Pressure in itself is not bad, but in times of pressure there needs to be a pressure release valve to keep you from becoming hurtful to others when you explode on them. Everyone needs a place to vent, and prayer is the best place to vent. Prayer is the pressure release valve for the believer to vent all their pressures of life on God. Prayer has a way of releasing the pressure you feel from heartaches and trials.

When you are about ready to burst, you must find a place alone to vent on God. 1 Peter 5:7 reminds us that prayer is the pressure release valve when it challenges us by saying, Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. God is your pressure release valve that you are to run to when you feel like you are about to burst from the pressures of life. You will become a bomb that hurts others if you don't spend time in prayer releasing your pressures by venting on God. Many have hurt their relationships with others by venting through anger toward others instead of venting to God in prayer.

Are you facing pressures of life that seem to be building so much pressure inside that you feel like you are about to burst? Do you feel like Job with no place to vent the pressures you feel on the inside? If you are saved, you do have a place to vent, and that place is prayer. God is the master of handling the venting of His children. You will find that you can face your trials when you let prayer be the pressure-release valve of your life. Don't let the pressure build so much that you burst and destroy others. God gives every person the access to vent in prayer, which means you can handle the pressures you face if you allow prayer to be your pressure release valve

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Point four: The Prayer of Plea

Job 16:21

O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!

One of the great acts any person can do for another is to pray for them. There are many things I cannot do for others, but I can always pray for them. I don't have the money to pay another’s bills, but I can pray for God to give them money to pay their bills. I don't have the power to heal someone of a sickness, but I can pray to God who has the power to heal and ask Him to heal them. I don't have the power to restore a relationship of a broken marriage, but I have the power to pray and ask God to work in the hearts of the individuals whose marriage is broken. You may not have the power to physically help others, but you do have the power to help them through your prayers.

Job said, O that one might plead for a man with God. Job was pleading for someone to pray for him. David said in Psalm 142:4, I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. David had no one who cared for him enough just to pray for him. How sad that all these men wanted was for someone to pray for them, but no one took the time to pray for their needs.

Do you plead for others with God? Is your prayer life about you, or is your prayer life filled with prayers of pleading for others with God? I can show you how much you truly live for others by whether your prayers are filled with you pleading with God for others. Your prayer life reveals whether your life is about you or if it is about living for others. Let me show you what pleading for others with God is.

First, pleading for others is to supplicate with God for them. To supplicate is to pray for their needs. Your prayer life should be filled with praying for the needs that others have. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with praying for your needs, but you would do better to pray for the needs of others.

Second, pleading for others is to intercede for them. Interceding is praying for their spiritual needs. Is your prayer life filled with praying for others to be saved? Do you pray by name for the backslidden to get right? Prayer is the best place to talk about people because prayer is letting God do the work in their lives. If you want to talk about the problems that others have, talk about their problems in prayer.

Third, pleading for others is to present their case to God as a lawyer should plead your case to a judge. Do you flippantly pray for others, or do you spend time preparing your case to plead for another in prayer? Praying for others should be more than just reading through a prayer list; it should be you defending them to God and showing Him why He should do what you are asking for Him to do in their lives.

The key to these three areas is the word plead. To plead for someone is to beg or earnestly call to God in prayer for them. The word plead means to be importunate for them. To be importunate with God for others is to constantly ask God to help someone until the prayer is answered. In other words, it is like the man who harassed a friend at midnight to give him bread, and because of his importunity the request was answered. Are you pleading with God for others? Are you being importunate with God for others? Don't be guilty of being a one-and-done person in your prayers for others, but plead for them importunately, for that type of praying is what makes the difference in lives.

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Point five: The Practicals of Prayer

James 5:15

And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

When reading the Scriptures, one thing you will see about those whom God used greatly is that they had powerful prayer lives. Moses was used mightily because he always went to God in prayer for guidance and help. Joshua was used mightily when he prayed, and he only saw failures when he failed to pray. Elijah was a man of prayer whose prayers caused fire to fall from Heaven, rain to stop, and the healing of a child. Nehemiah rebuilt the wall, but one of his great characteristics was that he constantly prayed. Daniel prayed and stopped the mouths of lions. The three Hebrew children prayed and quenched the fire's touch on their bodies. The early church prayed and three thousand souls were saved. The Apostles prayed, and God used them mightily to influence a world through their ministries. You will never be able to separate prayer from those whom God used mightily. We find four characteristics about those with a powerful prayer life.

First, they were regular in their prayers. You cannot expect to have power in prayer and be hit-and-miss in your prayer life. There is something about praying daily if you want to see God do something mighty through your prayer life. A consistent prayer life will do more for your Christian walk than any action you can perform. Too many are reading books on how to change their lives when they need to pray to see God do the work in their lives. I truly believe God allows hardships in our lives to get us back to prayer.

Second, those with powerful prayer lives prayed prayers of faith. James 5:15 says, And the prayer of faith shall save… This did not say that your connections shall save, but the prayer of faith shall save. You cannot pray in doubt and expect God to answer your prayer. The prayer of faith that has no doubt is the prayer that has power with God. Matthew 21:21 says, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. Doubt is always the water that quenches the prayer of faith. You must believe that God is real, and that He is able to move mountains if you want your prayer life to have power with God.

Third, those with powerful prayer lives were fervent in their prayers. You cannot be passive in your prayer and expect to get God’s attention. James 5:16 says, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. How much energy do you put into your prayers? The fervency of Christ’s prayer is seen in Luke 22:44 when it says, And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. When you give so much energy to your prayer that sweat falls from your brow, you can be assured that your prayer will avail much.

Fourth, those with powerful prayer lives learned to pray again. James 5:18 tells us about Elijah’s prayer life, And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. You must never give up on your prayer if you want to have power in prayer. When you don't get the answer, pray again. When it seems your prayer has made no change, pray again. The second mile in praying is to pray again, and it is often that second mile of praying that makes the difference with God to move Him to answer in power.

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