Evaluation of Prayer

Many of us understand what prayer is and what it is for. But to many, there are some thoughts and questions that arise or we are asked.

How would you answer these to others.

I. Why Pray?

As Christians, we have an opportunity to communicate with God. This is something that is truly unique in religion.

Prayer is your opportunity to talk with God.

As we all know, God knows what is in your heart and in your mind. So why do we need to talk to him?

There are four specific reasons to pray.

A. We are commanded to pray

1 Thessalonians 5:17 “pray without ceasing,”

Luke 18:1 “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

Prayer is a way to hear what God has to say to you. Without opening this line of communication, like a phone call, you can not hear what he has to say to you.

Do you feel that you are required to pray?

B. Act of Worship

By praying we are taking our self to the throne of God.

As we pray, this takes the focus off of us and realigns our heart with Gods.

Prayer reminds us of our purpose.

How do we do this?

Psalm 100:4 “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!”

Hebrews 13:15 “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”

Revelation 4:11 ““Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.””

Does praying make you feel closer to God?

Do you use prayer as a form of worship?

C. Blessing Others

James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

Prayer for others is the “bread and butter” of a prayer warrior.

Blessing others can continue to focus your heart on servanthood.

How often do pray for others?

D. Petitions

Psalm 77:1 “I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me.”

Matthew 26:39 “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.””

James 5:13 “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.”

Do you feel ok praying for yourself?

Does this make you feel guilty?

II.When can you pray?

Colossians 4:2 “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”

Another topic that is wondered about is when you can pray.

We are children of God, and due to this we have the opportunity to discuss anything with him whenever

As we have seen we are called to pray without ceasing.

There is no requirement to be a certain way before you pray, just take the prayer to God with a humble heart.

Do Not Pray for Attention from others for yourself!

Matthew 6:6 “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

What is your thought about this?

Do you feel that you can stop anytime and pray?

Do you have specific prayer time as well?

III.What can you pray for?

Philippians 4:6 “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Anything.

We can pray for ourselves, others, intercession.

What do you think about this statement?

Do you truly believe that you can pray for anything?

IV.How do you pray?

Matthew 6:5-15 ““And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be 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 tresp…”

A. Acknowledge God

Psalm 107:8 “Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!”

This aligns your heart.

You should begin by thanking and acknowledging God.

B. To Jesus and his intercession

Close with the Name of Jesus.

Our power is in the Crucifixion of Jesus.

Due to this, we have the power of the Holy Spirit. This will guide us and give us the words to pray to God.

Praying with the Holy Spirit gives us the power to move beyond the flesh and truly experience the power of prayer.

Romans 8:26–27 ESV

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

C. With humility

Humility does not allow you to focus on yourself. This creates a dependence on God and creates an environment of worship.

This is why Jesus told the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector.

God puts a great price on humility of heart.

“Humility is an indispensable requisite of true prayer. It must be an attribute, a characteristic of prayer. Humility must be in the praying character as light is in the sun. Prayer has no beginning, no ending, no being, without humility. As a ship is made for the sea, so prayer is made for humility, and so humility is made for prayer.”

D. With hope

Colossians 4:2 “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”

Ephesians 1:18 “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,”

We have hope due to God and being his Children

We must believe in the power or prayer, or we short change the Power of God.

Do you pray this way?

Does prayer need to be formal?

How do you pray?

V.Does God answer prayer?

Yes!

But what about the “unanswered prayers?”

Understand that the answer to a prayer may look different than you think. God answers all of his believers prayer.

1 Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

The timing may be different.

God will say no to a prayer that are not in God’s will for you or good for you. His not answering a prayer will be a sign of his love for you.

1 John 5:14-15 “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”

Jonah 4:1-3 “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.””

God has a bigger plan for you and will tell you no to something smaller.

God wants to humble you and wants us to be persistent and seek him out.

Luke 18:1–8 ESV

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 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?”

God wants us to be thankful to him even when the answer looks different than the request.

Hebrew 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Romans 8:37-39 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

When we talk about unanswered prayers, a lot of this is in the eye of the prayer at the time. Many times, we see the answer in our “rear view mirror”.

Do you have an example of this?

What do you think about unanswered prayer?

Have you ever been angry at God for an unanswered prayer?

How did you handle this?

Can you see the answer now?

Prayer for Your Spouse:

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