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Introduction
Thank you all for coming out tonight.
Last week we looked at our salvation and how it is freely attained by grace and through faith in Christ.
We saw how our salvation is secure in Christ and we saw that Baptism is an outward sign of an inward decision and does not save us.
Tonight, we will be exploring prayer.
Prayer is one of the earliest spiritual disciplines we learn.
It’s the way we communicate to God that we want to be saved.
Billy Graham said “Prayer is a conversation between you and God.”
Prayer is one of the most underutilized tools in a Christians life.
Tonight we are going to look at how to pray, what to pray for, and how to keep your prayer life strong.
I. Prayer is an invitation
We are invited into the throne room of Heaven.
We are to come boldly to the throne of grace.
Not in a braggadocios way.
The boldness spoke of here doesn’t mean to be prideful or arrogant going to God.
It’s walking into the throne room knowing you can be there.
Not by your own merit, but by Jesus’.
Just like Billy Graham said, prayer is talking with God.
Prayer is talking to God
Sometimes we can get worried about the words we should say when praying.
Talking to God should be just like talking to a friend.
Pour your heart out He will listen and not judge.
Not only does he just want to hear from us and have a conversation, He also wants to meet our needs.
Prayer is asking for our needs
God cares about all of our needs
It’s amazing to know that we have a God that loves us and wants to interact with us in a positive light.
He doesn’t want to torture us He doesn’t want to use us as pawns for his sick pleasure.
He loves us and desires good for us.
The Bible tells us how He hears us in
tells us how he cares about our troubles
teaches about the him wanting to grant our requests
Our needs may be physical, they may be financial, emotional, or spiritual.
In any and every case, God wants us to bring our needs to Him in prayer.
Prayer is not only an invitation and privelage that we have it is also a command.
II.
Prayer is a command
Turn over to
Notice what Jesus said there.
He said, when you pray.
But how do we do that?
There are a few different things I want to bring to our attention tonight about prayer.
I believe God has
We should pray regularly
Pray Regularly
Prayer shouldn’t be something we run to in times of an emergency.
It should be a regular part of our lives.
Pray Continually
Having an established time to pray, an established place to pray, like a prayer closet, is great.
I’m all for it.
However, I believe that prayer should not only be something we do at a certain time and place during the day.
I believe prayer and communication with God should be done throughout the day as we go about our lives.
It’s a way to show that we put God first in what we do.
And when we pray we pray with faith
Pray with faith
We pray knowing that the heavenly father wants us to pray, hears our requests, and will do what is best for us.
We should pray with right motives
Pray with right motives
God wants us to bring our personal and family needs to Him.
But, asking for our needs is different than asking with selfish motives.
James spoke against this
Our motives should be pure and full of love.
Theres a song called I’ll pray for you.
It’s about a guy that breaks up with his girlfriend.
He says he hadn’t ben to church, goes to church, pastor tells him to pray for his enemies.
The reasy of the song is about the different ways he prays for her.
A piano to fall on her, breaks to go out at 110, and so on.
You know all the well wishes you have for your ex..yea he prayed for them
Which leads me to my next point, we should pray for God’s will.
Pray according to God’s will
God always answers our prayers, but sometimes the answer isn’t yes.
I was speaking with a man the other night about prayer and he said he kept a journal of prayers and when he did he would keep a record of the answers.
The yes’ and the no’s.
Sometimes praying for God’s will may go against our will.
As parents know what is best for the children, our Heavenly Father knows what is best for us.
Then, Pray in Jesus’ name.
Pray in Jesus’ name
Now this isn’t just a tag at the end of a prayer.
Although that’s how many use it.
It means that we are praying by Jesus’ will and authority, not our own.
It’s walking into the throne room boldly because we belong there but not by our power or might, only by His.
Pray with other Christians
We find examples in scripture about Christians praying together which we should strive to model.
Pray Privately
In additions to corporate prayer we should have a private prayer life.
Jesus warned us not to be like the pharisees and hypocrites that prayed these lavish prayers in public for attention and glory to themselves.
Pray Earnestly
The opportunity and privilege of prayer is not a religious exercise that should be taken lightly.
When we engage God in conversation we are speaking with the creator of the universe about the lives of others, our lives, and things going on in a world that He gave His Son for.
This last point about how to pray I really like.
Pray with a plan
When Jesus’ disciples asked them how t pray, He gave them a model for what to pray about.
It’s sometimes called the Lord’s prayer but I believe it is more appropriately titled, the model prayer.
The Lord’s prayer can actually be found in .
The verses were not given so we would repeat them but so we would learn from them.
Let’s break this prayer in down.
Our Father which
Our Father which art in Heaven-This shows we can pray with confidence of your relationship with the Father.
Hallowed be thy name- Worship God in your prayer time.
Acknowledge Him for Who He is and what He has done.
Thy kingdom come- Pray wanting God’s kingdom to be advanced.
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