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Pastor Dennis Peery
INTRODUCTION: SLIDE 01
Isaiah 58 is full of some deep things to say about prayer and fasting;
a lot of good things that we aren’t going to talk about today.
Why? We’re going back to SCHOOL;
we want to emphasize the basic teachings or doctrines of our faith.
Two weeks ago began with “Salvation;”
today we continue with “Conversations with God.”
In other words we are going to look at the basics of prayer; hopefully we will discover what prayer is and what it is not!
Isaiah 58:9 SLIDE 02
Isaiah said two things would happen;
what are they?
Don’t overlook the obvious!
First, you will pray.
Second God will answer!
In other words, WE PRAY GOD LISTENS, and then GOD SPEAKS . . .
ARE WE LISTENING?
SLIDE 03
WE PRAY, GOD LISTENS
What is prayer?
Put simply prayer is a conversation with God.
Prayer is the communication and interaction of the soul with God,
not in meditation or contemplation about God, but in direct address to God.
Prayer is talking with God.
Because prayer is conversation with God that means it is a two way communication;
we speak to God, and God speaks to us.
However all to often our prayers are more like a “Tonight Show” monolog,
placing an order with a waitress or a laundry list at the dry cleaners.
We talk with God and the only response we expect is, “That’s very nice,” or “Would you like anything else with that?”
Genuine prayer flows out of the belief in the personality and character of God, and His ability and willingness to communicate with us.
Tell me who God is and I’ll tell you a lot about your prayer life.
If you believe God is aloof, distant and uninterested in His creation or us, then you are unlikely to pray at all.
If you believe God is judgmental and angry, then your prayer is going to be filled with fear and with no certainty that God will even listen to you.
If you believe in God but know little about who He really is, then your likely to only come to God with crisis prayers for help.
If you believe God is a loving heavenly Father, then you will communicate regularly with Him expressing your love and thanksgiving.
You will share your heart with God confident that He cares for you and wants to help in your time of need.
Prayer flows freely out of our knowledge that God is love;
He is omniscient (all knowing),
omnipotent (all powerful),
and omnipresent (present everywhere, so He is always with you).
We pray with confidence because we know that God is in control of everything;
nothing is beyond His ability or knowledge.
Knowing that God will cause all things to work together for our good enables us to pray with faith in a God who loves us and will do what is best.
Prayer is not a ritual or a duty.
God is not interested in repetitive memorized prayers;
He turns away from prayers that are not sincere and heartfelt.
God is not interested in prayer offered as a show or pretence to impress others.
SLIDE 04
Matthew 6:5-8
God is inclined to listen to prayers that are genuine honest and truthful.
God just wants you to be real with Him.
When you simply come to God with an open heart and tell Him what you need He will respond and help you.
Notice: THE FATHER KNOWS WHAT YOU NEED EVEN BEFORE YOU ASK!
It is impossible to fool God.
Look how God answered some of the honest cries for help in the Bible:
Abraham’s servant was given the job to find a wife for his master’s son Isaac.
He prayed, and God directed him to Rabekah (Genesis 24:10-20).
Jacob was going to return to Cana, he had an angry older brother who wanted to get revenge still living there.
He prayed, and God softened his brother’s heart renewing peace and friendship with Esau (Genesis 32:24-30; 33:1-4).
Samson prayed, and God opened a spring of water where he quenched his burning thirst (Judges 15:18-20).
David prayed, and God defeated the counsel of Ahithophel (2 Samuel 15:31; 2 Samuel 16:20-23; 2 Samuel 17:14-23).
Elijah prayed and it did not rain for three years; when he prayed again God made it rain again.
And don’t forget Elijah’s prayer on Mount Carmel when God answered with fire from heaven (2 Kings 18; James 5:17-18).
Daniel prayed, and God enabled him both to tell Nebuchadnezzar his dream and to give the interpretation of it (Daniel 2:16-23).
Nehemiah prayed, and God inclined the heart of the king of Persia to grant him leave of absence to visit and rebuild Jerusalem (Neh.
1:11; Neh.
2:1-6).
Esther and Mordecai prayed, and God defeated the purpose of Haman, and saved the Jews from destruction (Esther 4:15-17; Esther 6:7-8).
The believers in Jerusalem prayed, and God opened the prison doors and set Peter at liberty, when Herod had resolved upon his death (Acts 12:1-12).
Paul prayed that the thorn in the flesh might be removed, and while the thorn remained God gave him grace perfecting his strength through weakness (2 Cor.
12:7-10).
God will hear you when you pray and will not ignore you.
As Isaiah said, “you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.”
So how should we pray?
Jesus gave us a model prayer in what we have called “The Lord’s Prayer.”
It would be better called “The Disciples Prayer,”
as this is how Jesus taught His disciples to pray.
SLIDE 05
Matthew 6:9-13
“The Lord’s Prayer” has six basic parts.
If we want to learn the art of conversation with God, then we should follow Jesus’ outline for PRAYER.
SLIDE 06
P – Praise—Begin your time with God giving Him praise—hallowed be your name.
R – Repent—Let God cleanse you of your sin—forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
A – Ask—Bring your request to God; don’t worry about tomorrow because you can bring those needs to him then—give us today our daily bread.
Y – Yield—Surrender control to God and let Him direct your path—your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
E – Empower—Let the Spirit give you the strength for today—lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.
R – Rejoice—End your prayer with a time of thanksgiving; praise makes great bookends for prayer—for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Let “The Lord’s Prayer” guide you in your personal time of prayer.
However, let’s not monopolize our time in prayer by doing all the talking.
Give God the opportunity to speak to you!
SLIDE 07
GOD SPEAKS . . .
ARE WE LISTENING
John 10:27 SLIDE 08
“My sheep listen to my voice.”
Let’s not make listening to God harder than it really is;
Jesus said if we belong to Him, then we will hear His voice and follow Him.
Jesus said the sheep “will never follow a stranger;
in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice” (John 10:5 NIV).
How can you develop an ear to hear the voice of Jesus speaking to you?
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