Developing a Prayer Life

INTRODUCTION

1. Many often say they don’t know how to pray.

· Often what we see in church (people praying) is very different from what God intended prayer to be.

· When we see people (eloquent) — Intimidating

2. When you really understand what prayer is, you realize that God has made prayer available to all (24hr ACCESS)

3. We live in day of access.

§ Just to prove this point, consider this:

o If some of us LOST OUR PHONE, we wouldn’t know what to do. We invest most of our time in communication.

o We put emphasis on communicating with each other, rather than communicating with God.

4. Prayer is personal communication with God involving talking and listening to him.

§ It is the channel of communication between the believer and God, whereby God’s power is released into the earth realm through a combination of our faith and the word of God.

5. Prayer is communion with God (Communion v. Communication)

§ When people say what’s up, they don’t want anything past that particular greeting. — ex. Communication

§ But it is not communion.

§ With communion, it goes much further.

§ In communion, the two that are talking want to stay a while and have a

6. Prayer has to take place frequently and consistently. In fact, a writer by the name of D. J. Moody is quoted as saying, “He who kneels the most, stands the best” . Learning how to pray powerful prayers can be the difference between defeat and victory.

I. How do we pray?

ACTS is an acronym we use to make sure that we have the elements that are found in the model prayer that Jesus gave us in . Out of this acronym we get the following:

The model prayer. In (NKJV) we find The Model Prayer which reads 11Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” 2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven,[a] Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.[b] Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.”[c] – This is a model prayer , but it doesn’t mean our prayer should be this prayer (word for word), every time we pray. It simply means that when we pray, our prayer should contain some of the same components as those that our found in the model prayer.

A. Mathew adds a different twist to the model prayer. (NKJV) says 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.[a] – Matthew gives the same model prayer, but he acknowledges the ending by giving adoration to God.

1. Adoration:

2. Confession:

3. Thanksgiving

4. Supplication

§ This derives from the root word Adore.

§ We should express our adoration in our prayer to God.

§ We praise God for who is and what he is 1st when we pray in any form or fashion.

§ When Jesus prayed “our father who is in heaven hallowed be thou name …” he was giving us model to go by.

o IOW— he was showing us how our prayer should flow. Our prayers should contain the same elements that are found in Jesus’ model prayer.

o We want to thank him before we ask him for anything. You got to adore God. You have to be in awe of God. We talk to God sometimes like we know God on a first name basis which is ok, but we have to be careful not to get so comfortable that we disrespect his reverence.

2. Confession:

§ We have to agree with God about our sin. We are guilty of being sinners (all of us). : 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness

§ Confession involves repentance.

o We know we have done something wrong and we acknowledge it when we pray.

o David had some issues if you look back at his stories, but God still called him one after his own heart. Think about all you have done wrong and that would be enough confession to fill a whole prayer by itself. It is important to understand where we are theologically.

§ Confession is between you and God. We don’t have to confess to man, because no one is a in a moral position to judge our confession. We are yet sinners ourselves yet saved. This is why God removed the veil. He allowed us to be able to go directly to him and not depend on a priest to carry our confessions to him.

3. Thanksgiving

§ We express appreciation to God for what he has done.

§ : Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. -When we pray, even if we are not where we think we are supposed to be, we have to thank God.

§ Before we ask for anything, we thank God for life. Before adding up you problems count your blessings. No matter how little you think you have, God gave you something

4. Supplication

§ Supplication is making a request.

§ It is like being specific on what you want. God will give you the desires of your heart.

§ : 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. –We must be specific in our request and do it with thanksgiving.

§ Ex – When you go into a restaurant, you are specific. When you make an order at a restaurant drive-thru, we are specific about our request. If we want a sandwich without tomatoes, we order the sandwich without tomatoes.

o Often when we pray, we are general and not specific. We ask God to send us a wife or we ask God to send us a husband, but we are not specific about what we want. If you want a wife or husband that is tall, we have to be specific about it. If we want a wife or husband that goes to church, we have to add this to our prayer. Make your specific request known to God. You might not get it all, but at least you won’t miss the opportunity to make your request known.

§ Ex- Imagine if Oprah Winfrey came too your church service and said she wanted to bless somebody with anything they want, you would be excited. If the Pastor picked somebody out and they asked Oprah that they wanted her to pay their light bill, you would be furious. You wouldn’t be able to understand why they would miss the opportunity to get anything they wanted, by choosing something as small as a light bill. You would feel like they wasted a wish. Likewise, we have to stop limiting our prayer request, thinking that God is not big enough to fulfill it.

II. What are some hindrances to prayer?

1. Holding on to sin

§ If we hold on to sin, or refuse to make conscience changes in our life, or simply refuse to let God work on us, this becomes a hindrance to our breakthrough.

§ Holding on to iniquity means you think God is powerless to change your situation. : 18 If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

2. Selfish motives

§ James 4:3:3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

§ Selfish motives will hinder your prayer because of your motivation for prayer. You can’t pray with selfish motives.

3. Unresolved Issues

§ People come to the altar but they have an unresolved issue.

§ If you have an issue, you need reconcile it with your brother first, before you come to the altar and pray.

§ “So if you are presenting a sacrifice[a] at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24 leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.-

Ø We need too much from God to let our issues prevent our breakthrough. There are many of us who are thinking of the last thing that somebody did to us even as we speak. We have to let this stuff go if we expect our prayers to be answered.

III. Why should you pray?

1. God commands us to pray.

§ : 17Pray without ceasing.

Ø Ex. Most have phone so don’t need a computer to be online. Some of us have service that allows us to stay connected to the internet all day. If we want to get on the internet, all we have to do is click an icon and we are on. Prayer without ceasing means the same thing. We are connected all time.

§ All we have to do is pray to be connected to God. – : 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere

2. Prayer always glorifies God.

§ John 14:13:13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. -When you ask for something in Jesus name, it always glorifies God.

§ He is our source and provider. The idea that you will go to him and ask him for what you want glorifies him.

Ø Ex- When you go to Walmart you glorify them, because you acknowledge they have what you need. Just like this, every time you let somebody know that you pray to make it through your issue, brings glory to God.

3. Prayer prepares our hearts to obey and glorify God.

§ We ought to open up every day with prayer. At the end of the day, we ought to thank him for the day. Many of us slip up, because we are not prayed up. Statistics say the average Christian only prays about 3 times a week outside of blessing their food. We need to be prayed up.

4. Prayer benefits us. It allows us to be intimate with God.

§ : 5And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6But 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.-

§ Back in the day, many people prayed with the same kind prayer over and over and they used the same prayer format. Many of them would start out with the phrase, “f-a-t-h-e-r, I thank you that my bed wasn’t my cooling board” and the Deacons or Mothers used to say, “Pray servant!” This sounds good, but there is no intimacy in this. We have created colorful prayers and it intimidates others from even trying. People don’t need people to pray for them that simply sound good. They need somebody that can really get into contact with God. Real prayer is about going to your secret closet or that personal place and turning off the TV and talking to God. This thing we are dealing with is more than we can handle. Why you are in your secret closet praying, God is working it out and when you come out he will reward you openly.

5. God answers prayer.

§ : 38Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.— God answers prayer. When you pray for a thing in God’s will, he will do it.

Ø This bible has to be like a menu in a restaurant for you. You have a right to ask for anything on the menu. Sometimes you can even supersize your order!

IV. 10 steps to get answers to your prayers

Know that God wants to answer you.

1. Decide what you want and find the scripture that says you can have it.

§ If you have the word lining up with what you want, then you can pray for it.

2. Ask the father in Jesus name and believe that you will receive what you prayed for.

§ Many people end their prayer with the phrase “for Jesus sake, Amen…” This is not correct. It is not for Jesus sake that we pray for things. It is for our sake. However, we do seal the prayer be ending it with “in Jesus name”. Not ending your prayer with in Jesus name is like sending a letter without a stamp.

3. Control your thought life in agreement with what you believe you will receive.

§ IOW you can’t pray thinking you won’t receive it.

4. Develop a faith confession in agreement with what you believe you will receive.

§ We can write it down according to scripture and believe that it is going to happen.

5. Avoid confrontation with those who are not in agreement with what you are believing God for.

6. Avoid people that don’t have the faith you have that argue that what you believe God for is wrong.

7. Think and see yourself with the promise of God already manifested.

§ Don’t get mad when you get in your hooptie.

§ You got to see yourself in the car that you are asking God for.

8. Think constantly of God’s goodness and faithfulness.

§ Know that the devil will always try to discourage you.

9. Expect God to deliver a plan to fulfill your desire.

§ When we pray for a thing, God may deliver us plans to make what we asked for materialize. You can’t pray and be lazy. God will deliver you a plan, but you may have to do things to make it happen. God will do what you can’t do if you do what you can do. For example if you ask God for the opportunity to go back to school, God may open up opportunities and show you ways to get scholarship money. It will be up to you to fill the scholarship information out

10. Hold a steady course of faith.

§ Don’t be swayed by circumstance. Though it might not look like it is going to happen, you have to believe that it will happen.