Praying Effectively

5 Requirements of Effective Praying

1. We must have a SINCERE FAITH

Mark 11:24 NLT

I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.

Hebrews 10:22 NLT

let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

James the half brother of Jesus tells us to believe and not doubt

James 1:6 NLT

But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.

James 5:15 NLT

Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

2. Prayer must be in Jesus Name

Jesus -

John 14:13–14 NLT

You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

To Ask in Jesus Name is to ask according to His Will

John 15:7–8 NLT

But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

John 15:16 NLT

You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.

3. Prayer can Only Be Effective if it's made ACCORDING TO GOD'S WILL

1 John 5:14 NLT

And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.

Jesus in the Lord's Prayer says

Matthew 6:10 NLT

May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Jesus when he was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane...

Matthew 26:42 NLT

Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.”

Some things we know are God's will because He reveals them in the Bible: It's God's Will for Everyone to come to know Jesus as Savior; It's God's will that we all live Holy Lives

We can be sure that any prayer truly based on God's Promises in His Word will be Effective.

Prayer Based on God's Word is Effective

In 1 Kings, Elijah was confident that the Lord would send fire and later rain, becase the Lord's Prophetic Word had come to Him.

He was also fully confident that none of the pagan Gods were real let alone more powerful that God.

Other Times God's Will is not immediately Clear

Other times God's Will becomes clear only as we earnestly seek to determine what it is; then once we know His will about any given issue, we can pray with confidence and faith that God will answer.

4. WE Must be IN GOD'S WILL

Not only must we pray according to God's will but we have to be living in God's will. God will give us the things we ask for when we are seeking HIS kingdom first.

Matthew 6:33 NLT

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

John states

1 John 3:22 NLT

And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.

Obeying God's Commands, loving Him and pleasing Him are conditions for receiving answers to our prayers.

When James wrote that the prayers of a righteous person are effective, he meant those who hace been made righteous by the Blood of Jesus and those who live righteous, God fearing lives.

James 5:16–18 NLT

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.

Elijah was a man who had faith that his prayers to God would accomplish much... even to the extent of interfering with nature. He believed that Prayer Worked.

Listen -

FATE is not in charge. God is.

Fate is a pagan notion that everything we do and everything that happens to us is fixed unchangeably in advance, long before it occurs. This is contrary to the Word of God. Fate says prayer doesn't work... Prayer Works.

God Responds to the Prayers of the Righteous

Our prayers in faith cause things to happen... God listens. Most of us would ssay we don't believe in fate, but our prayer lives say differently. If we really believe that something would not happen unless we pray for it, we would pray more.

Too often, we leave what happens to people, to our church and to missions up to ... whatever instead of praying. Some even wrongly say that if God wanted it to be different, He would have changed the outcome. This is not a Biblical belief.

God made it clear that Moses prayers on behalf of the Israelites was effective... It was because of his obedient relationship with the Lord.

On the other hand, the Psalmist says that if we harbor sin in our lives, God will not answer our prayers.

Psalm 66:18 NLT

If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

We have to turn from our sin to get answers.

5. For Prayer to be Effective, WE MUST BE PERSISTENT

This is the main point about the persistent widow.

Luke 18:1–7 NLT

One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’ ” Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?

It's also the point in Jesus instruction to "ask... seek... knock in

Matthew 7:7–8 NLT

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

Both of these teach perseverance in prayer.

ILL - Moses with his hands raised when Israel was in battle - EX 17

Elijah when he received the prophetic word that rain was coming... he still persisted in prayer until it came - 1 Kings 17

1 We have to have sincere faith; Prayer must be in Jesus Name; It must be made according to God's Perfect Will; We must be in God's will; We must be persistent