Prayer, The doorway to blessings

Matt 6:9  Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 

Matt 6:10  May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. 

Matt 6:11  Give us today the food we need, 

Matt 6:12  and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. 

Matt 6:13  And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. 

Matt 6:14  “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 

Matt 6:15  But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. 

Introduction

Do we really believe what we pray for?

Illustration

A small Oklahoma town had two churches and one distillery.

Members of both churches complained that the distillery was giving the community a bad image.

And to make matters worse the owner of the distillery was an out spoken atheist. He didn’t believe in God one bit.

The church people had tried unsuccessfully for years to shut down the distillery.

So finally they decided to hold a joint Saturday night prayer meeting. They were going to ask God to intervene and settle the matter.

The church folks gathered on Saturday night and there was a horrible thunderstorm raging outside and to the delight of the church members lightening hit that old brewery and it burned to the ground.

The next morning the sermons that were preached in both churches were on the power of prayer.

But the insurance adjusters promptly notified the distillery owner that they were not going to pay for the damages because the fire was an act of God and that was an exclusion in the policy.

The distillery owner was furious and he sued both churches claiming that they had conspired with God to destroy his business. But the churches denied that they had anything to do with the cause of the fire.

The presiding judge opened the trial with theses words: I find one thing in this case most perplexing-we have a situation here where the plaintiff, an atheist is professing his belief in the power of prayer, and the defendants all faithful church members are denying the very same power * (Clint Palmer - Sermon notes)

It seems that sometimes as Christians we pray asking God to do certain things, either in our life or the lives of others, only to be totally surprised when God answers our prayers.

1. So why do we have to pray ?

Because God said so?

What do you seek God to do for you in your prayer time ?

So many times we are guilty of saying, "God supply my needs", "God supply my wants", "God make things turn out the way I want them to". A grocery list prayer.

He wants to know that you love Him. He not only wants you to tell Him this, He wants you to prove it by serving Him faithfully.

He needs to know that you desire to fellowship with Him.

This involves spending time with God. It’s more than just a passing comment.

Sometimes it means spending time in prayer talking to Him and sometimes it means shutting up and listening to what He has to say.

He needs to know that you are devoted to Him. That means choosing Him when you have a choice.

It’s amazing just to think that God wants to answer your prayers but He desires for you and me to be in the proper attitude for prayer.

Without prayer NOTHING gets done or accomplished.

Not revival

Not church growth

Not Christian growth.

Without prayer we will not see the will of God accomplished in our lives and ministry.

If no one prays no one gets touched, healed, delivered or saved.

Think about this: we are all gathered here today because someone somewhere prayed for each one of us to come to salvation!

2. Does God answer prayer and why?

Psalm 145:8  The LORD is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 

Psalm 145:9  The LORD is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation. 

If God knows the very amount of hair on your head does He not know what you need and what desire and what is best for you even before you ask Him ? Absolutely YES.

James 5:17  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! 

1 John 5:14  And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 

1 John 5:15  And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for. 

I like The Message (MSG) translation of this same passage:

1 John 5-13-15 My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God's Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion.

And how bold and free, we then become in His presence, freely asking according to His will, sure that He's listening. And if we're confident that he's listening, we know that what we've asked for is as good as ours.

And what does prayer accomplish in our lives?

It the Key to your miracles : P R A Y E R , P R A Y E R & P R A Y E R

Just like a car key is the only thing that will get your car unlocked and able to start , likewise, prayer is the key to unlocking the miracle working power of God in our lives.

Why did people fall to their knees and repented when Charles Finney , the great evangelist, came to town?

No! It was because of the hours and hours he spent in prayer daily so that the Holy Spirit could touch the hearts of men and woman wherever he went to preach.

Praying produces power in our lives. Holy Spirit power is released and the enemy will try anything to stop you from praying as he knows what happens when Christians release their faith through praying.

Prayer is ALWAYS effective if done correctly and in accordance with the word of God.

Some Christians see prayer as they would a chat room or Facebook:

Log in

See who is on-line to chat / or who posted something on your wall

Type a couple of lines

Use some emoticons or like etc

Log off.

But Prayer is communication , a means or vehicle to convey our : thoughts, emotions, ideas, needs. It is fellowship with our Heavenly Father

Proverbs 15:8  The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but he delights in the prayers of the upright. 

Why did God choose the avenue of prayer to speak to us and we to Him?

Why not supernatural tele-transportation like in Star Trek?

In many religions and cultures people pray to idols or ‘gods’ Some make use of beads to help them recite their prayers some face a certain direction.

How does most people learn to pray?

Most Christians learned to pray in one of these ways:

1. By some other person’s example.

2. By our own definition.

Luke 11:1 Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As He finished, one of His disciples came to Him and said, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

If prayer is something we are to do unceasingly, like the Bible tells us:

1 Thess 5:17 Never stop praying.

Luke 18:1  One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. 

Then it is best we know how to do it properly.

Next week either here on Zoom or in person at the church I will be teaching on how to pray.