Prayer

INtro

Matthew 6:5–13 NASB95

“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is 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 do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’

What is prayer?

Prayer, put simply, is talking to God. It is having a conversation with the God of the universe

Prayer is taking the time to acknowledge God’s existence in the universe and commune with Him.

It is not just kneeling down, clasping your hands, and talking.

It can be silent or out loud, with music, sometimes you don’t even say anything

Romans 8:26-27 “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

But prayer isn’t meditation, it’s not sitting silently by yourself, it’s not taking stock of your life, it’s talking to God.

Why do we pray

First, we don’t pray for God, He doesn’t need us to pray, We pray for ourselves.

Luke 18:1-8 “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. “There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ “For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’ ” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?””

We pray because we love God.

If you love someone, you must tlak to them! You can’t have a relationship with someone you love if you never talk to them.

We pray because we need God.

If you don’t pray, it is like saying that you don’t need God, because you don’t want to talk to Him!

We pray because we need Him to be in our lives, that’s why we pray when people get saved, because they are telling God that the need Him in their lives!

how do we pray?

I think Jesus’ prayer shows us something of what we are to do.

Your prayers should have 4 things. ACTS

Adoration

Confession

Thanksgiving.

Supplication

Pray earnestly. DON’T EVER STOP

Even when you feel like He won’t answer, keep going! You never know what could happen.

Moses Hall

African Jamaican slave who led prayer meetings for the slaves in Jamaica.

Eventually, the slave owners wanted to get them to stop meeting, so they killed one of Moses’ assistants and cut off his head and put it on a pole.

They showed this to Moses and told him to stop leading the prayer meetings, or he would be next.

Moses then knelt beside the pole and began praying for the salvation of his murderers.