Prayer

What is prayer exactly? The Bible instructs us to pray to God, but why? What is the point of it if God already knows what we are going to say?

Prayer is faith based communication with God. Prayer is an act of faith because you don’t have physical “proof” that God is listening. When you pray, you acknowledge that there is a God, and that you need Him. It is also communication because it is two-way. When we pray, we should expect God to answer.

Revelation 8:3-4 – And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints of the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. (ESV)

Revelation says that God does in fact receive our prayers like smoke from an altar. There are many types of prayers, but one we often forget is praying for wisdom:

Genesis 25:21 NKJV

21 Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

1 Samuel 1:10–13 NKJV

10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. 11 Then she made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.” 12 And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. 13 Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk.

1 Kings 3:5–15 NKJV

5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?” 6 And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. 9 Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” 10 The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. 13 And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. 14 So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” 15 Then Solomon awoke; and indeed it had been a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

Jeremiah 33:3 – Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and might things, which thou knowest not. (KJV)

Psalm 119:169 – Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word! (ESV)

These verses state that God will give use insight, information, and knowledge if we pray. God will give you facts which you didn’t know before, allowing you to make better decisions. Should I buy this house? Should I buy this car? Should I go on this trip? Should I see a doctor? Should I date this person? Should I marry this person? It is also important to note that God may use strong Christians with expertise in a particular area to help you. Remember that God has unlimited resources at His fingertips. If He wants you to have a house, He has thousands of ways to make it happen

Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer is the model that Jesus gives us on how to pray. It is found in Matthew:

Matthew 6:9-14 – Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (ESV)

To simplify this model, let’s break it up into several categories:

1. Praise God 2. Confess your Sin 3. Pray for Others 4. Pray for Yourself

Praise God

Praising God is the first and foremost thing you should do in a prayer.

Psalm 9:1 - I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. (ESV)

Often in prayer, we go straight to what we want. Our desires tend to be in the front of our mind. But first, we should thank God for all the wonderful things He has done for us. Thank God for giving you life, health, family, friends, food, shelter, etc. Doing this helps us have a more positive outlook on life. As Christians, we should look at the glass as half full, not as half empty.

Confess your Sin

1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (ESV)

Next, we are to confess our sins to God. God can take your sins and cleanse you of them. He can turn your mistakes into knowledge, strength, and power. Power to prevent you from making the same mistake twice, and teaching others to avoid making your mistakes.

Pray for Others

Now we pray for the needs of others. We should pray for their health, finances, relationships, but most of all their spiritual maturity. This includes your friends, family, neighbors, and even your enemies.

Matthew 5:44-45 – But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of you Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (ESV)

Remember that it is not our job to judge our enemies, it is God’s. This is why we should pray for them.

Prayer

Pray for Yourself

Finally, you should pray for yourself. After praising God, confessing your sin, and praying for others, you are now in the right mind set to pray for yourself. We should pray that God would use us to our full potential to further His Kingdom. Pray that great and mighty things would happen to us that seem impossible. For example, don’t just pray for a wife or husband, but pray for someone that will challenge you to be a better person and give you joy you have never experienced. Don’t just pray for a mediocre job, but pray for a job that would use your abilities, give you fulfillment and make you want to wake up early in the morning. God gets excited when someone has big dreams, because He knows He can use them.

James 4:2-3 – You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. (ESV)

James points out that we should not ask for selfish things. For example, “God, give me a Ferrari!” Why would God give you a Ferrari? Do you need it? How are you going to use it to serve God’s Kingdom? We must learn to see things the way God sees them; look at the big picture.

Answers

Now let’s get to the fun part, how does God answer prayer? What are the various answers He can give us?

No

Sometimes, God just straight up says no. This can be for a variety of reasons.

Proverbs 28:9 – If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. (ESV)

Proverbs 25:21-22 – If your enemy is hugnry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you. (ESV)

Proverbs 28 states that if you are going against God’s law, your prayers will be bad. This means that you are asking God for things against His law. An example is seen in Proverbs 25, where asking God for revenge goes against God’s law. We should love our enemies, and God will take care of their judgment.

Wait

Psalm 25:3-5 – Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. (KJV)

This is an answer the God tells me a lot. From God’s perspective, we have to understand that timing is extremely important. An example of this would be changing careers. In order for a person to change careers successfully and smoothly, many things need to line up. This may include having the proper finances, figuring out who and where you are going to live with, ending your lease, getting a lot of paperwork signed, moving, going back to school, scheduling classes, etc. If you are waiting till the proper time, all of these things will line up without you lifting a finger. If you try to rush things, it will be chaotic. God has all of these things planned out many years in advance. Sometimes God wants us to sit back, not stress, and enjoy the ride.

Yes

This is our favorite answer! God says yes when our ideas match His. He wants to meet our needs, exceed them, give us blessings, and happiness.

1 Chronicles 4:10 – Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain! And God granted what he asked. (ESV)

Jabez prays for more land, protection, and safety. Safety is often a thing we forget to pray for. Everyday, evil has the potential to attack us and do us harm, but God protects us, without us realizing it. If you don’t acknowledge this, God may one day take away his protection away and let evil have its way.

Prayer

Wrong Prayer

2 Corinthians 12:7-9 – So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (ESV)

In this passage, Paul says that he was being hurt by a demon. Paul prayed three times for God to remove the demon. However, God told Paul that pain is good, because it shows God’s power. What does this mean? Sometimes pain is necessary in order for us to understand love. Without pain and sin, how could we understand protection?

An example for today would be teaching our children to read, write, and do basic math. Their prayer may be to not have to do any school work or homework. But parents know this is the wrong prayer. Reading, writing, and math are all fundamentally important to their future success as adults. God thinks the same way, except His fundamentals include love, peace, and patience.

Keep Praying

It is important for us to pray to God day and night, 24/7. We don’t have to set time aside to pray. What I mean by this is that while at work or school we can constantly be having simple conversations with God. God, please bless me today. God, give me wisdom and strength today. God, give that person peace. God, show them your love. God, give me safety on the way to work. God, thank you for my food. Jesus tells the parable of the persistent widow in Luke:

Luke 18:7-8 – And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? (ESV)

In this verse, Jesus says that His “elect” will be given justice in a speedy fashion. His “elect” refer to the Barley Overcomers . The reason why they receive immediate justice is because they have a close relationship with God. Are you going to respond faster to a close loved one you talk to everyday, or a distance acquaintance you haven’t heard from in years? God is the same way. This is why we need to be talking to Him everyday, even if its simple things. Big things are more important, but we may not always have something big to pray for.

Done

Sometimes, God gives you want you want immediately. It was already done or on its way as you prayed the prayer. An example of this is seen in the story of Hagar and her son Ishmael.

Genesis 21:16-19 – Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, Let me not look on the death of the child. And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where his is. Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him a great nation. Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. (ESV)

Ishmael was Abraham’s first son, through his concubine Hagar. Abraham hoped that God would create a great nation through Ishmael. Instead, God gave Abraham a second son through his wife Sarah who was 90 years old, named Isaac. Through Isaac, the nation of Israel was created. In the story, Hagar prays to God that He would protect Ishmael. He immediately tells her to not be afraid, because he will create a nation through Ishmael (as well as Isaac). It is thought that Ishmael’s decendants lead to the Muslim nation.

Prayer

Why are you Asking me That?

This answer is similar to the wait answer. In some prayers, we ask God why do bad things happen? Why did God do this or that? It is beyond our understanding. God calculates variables involving billions of people over thousands of years. He has unlimited resources for making things happen.

Judges 13:17-18 – Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the LORD, What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true? He replied, Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding. (NIV)

In this story, Manoah’s wife was unable to give birth. However, God allows her to become pregnant. Manoah essentially asks how God did this. God tells him, why do you ask me that? It is beyond your understanding. Sometimes we will receive blessings (or curses) that we don’t understand. God wants us not to worry about why it happened. Enjoy the highs and rise up from the lows.

Get your Life Right

2 Chronicles 7:14 – if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (ESV)

Often times, God wants you to get your life right before He can work on your prayers. You must first be responsible enough to take care of your own needs before you can help others with theirs.