Praying in Faith

We still looking at the Disciples Cross as an illustration to help us remember the important points surrounding discipleship.

And we’ll be looking at it for the next few weeks to come.

This is the Disciple’s Cross.

The center of a Disciple’s life is Jesus.

He must be our number 1 priority.

We won’t be disciples of Christ until He’s number 1 in our lives.

We have to center our lives around Him.

The vertical axis of the Disciple’s Cross represents the disciple’s relationship with the Lord.

That’s our up and down relationship.

Last week we talked about the bottom part of that vertical axis.

Our relationship with the Lord has to be grounded in the Word.

The Bible.

We need to spend time with the Lord in His Word daily.

When we do that, there’s three things that happen.

We get to know the Lord.

We get guidance and direction from the Lord.

We bring our needs and desires to the Lord.

So far we’ve looked at two specific things we need to be a Disciple of Jesus.

We need to make Jesus the center of our lives.

We need to spend time daily with the Lord in his Word.

Today, we’re going to look at the top vertical axis of the Disciple’s Cross.

Here we’ll find another thing we have to incorporate into our lives to be a Disciple of Jesus Christ.

And that would be PRAYER.

Prayer is a must for a Disciple of Jesus.

And I would dare say that all of us pray.

But we pray according to what we think prayer is.

And a lot of times, we’ve just got prayer all wrong.

How do you pray?

Is it best to pray standing up, sitting down, kneeling, or bowing down?

Should our hands be open, closed, or lifted up to God?

Do our eyes need to be closed when we pray?

Is it better to pray in a church building or out in nature?

Should we pray in the morning when we get up or at night before we go to bed?

Are there certain words we need to say in our prayers?

How do we begin our prayers?

What is the proper way to close a prayer?

These questions, and others, are common questions asked about prayer.

Far too often, prayer is viewed as a “magic formula.”

Some believe that if we do not say exactly the right things, or pray in the right position, God will not hear and answer our prayer.

This is completely unbiblical. God does not answer our prayers based on when we pray, where we are, what position our body is in, or in what order we word our prayers.

We are told in 1 John 5:14-15 to have confidence when we come to God in prayer, knowing He hears us and will grant whatever we ask as long as it is in His will.

Jesus gives us a glimpse into real prayer.

Read John 15:7

John 15:7 NKJV

7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

Jesus tells us that we can ask whatever we wish and He’ll do it.

We like that.

Whatever I want Jesus will do it.

But we all know that doesn’t always happen, does it?

So what’s the problem?

The problem is, we usually forget the first part of what Jesus says.

There are qualifiers to answered prayer.

Abide in Jesus.

Let His words abide in you.

This is where last week’s message comes into play.

Jesus has to be the center of our lives.

We have to be in His Word daily.

Then we’ll have answered prayer.

Why is this important?

Because when we’re in God’s Word, we’ll better know what to pray.

We’ll pray according to His Word.

Here’s a good quote I got from MasterLife, by Avery T. Willis.

“Prayer is intended to involve me in God’s purpose rather than involving Him in my plans.” (Avery T. Willis, MasterLife: The Disciple’s Cross, p. 55.)

God’s intention for prayer is not to do all the things you want Him to do.

His intention for prayer is for you to know what He wants you to do and pray that you will be able to do it.

So let’s talk about how we can pray like this.

First, we need to understand what we’re doing.

When we pray, we are actually coming into God’s presence.

Back in the Old Testament, with the nation of Israel, only a few select people could go into God’s presence.

The Tabernacle, and later the Temple, had this room called the Holy of Holies.

This was the place God made Himself known.

Only once a year could somebody go into that room.

That person was the High Priest.

He was the mediator for everyone else.

But Jesus changed all that.

Read Hebrews 4:14–16

Hebrews 4:14–16 NKJV

14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We don’t need someone to go to God for us anymore.

Because of Jesus, we have direct access to God.

And that’s what prayer is.

Coming into God’s presence.

It may help you when you pray to imagine that happening.

God is there.

And you’re coming before Him.

It’s a holy, awe-inspiring thing.

There’s no room for casualness.

This is serious.

The primary thing to remember about prayer is that you are in the presence of the Almighty God!

Once we’re there, once we understand what we’re doing, here’s four things to remember about prayer.

Begin with THANKSGIVING.

We should start our prayer with thanksgiving.

Read Psalm 100:4

Psalm 100:4 NKJV

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Enter God’s presence with Thanksgiving.

Thank Him for all He’s done for you up to this point.

Think you don’t have any reasons to thank God?

Try these.

Thank Him for salvation.

Thank Him for His dependability.

Thank Him for forgiveness.

A man named T.W. Hunt wrote this one time.

“What if tomorrow I had only the things for which I thanked God today?”—T.W. Hunt

Begin your prayers with thanksgiving.

Move from thanksgiving to PRAISE.

Praise means “value” or “worth.”

Read Psalm 100:4

Psalm 100:4 NKJV

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

To praise God means to proclaim His value and worth to you.

Praise causes us to focus on the Lord.

Think about God’s character.

He’s the Most High—the strongest of the strong.

He’s the Almighty—all sufficient.

He’s the Lord—always present.

He’s God—Creator and Sustainer.

Praise God because of who He is.

Praise is pure worship and adoration.

In praise you affirm God and express your love for Him.

Move from praise to CONFESSION.

After thanking God for what He has done and praising Him for who He is, confess your sins to Him.

Confession is letting God examine your heart.

You let Him expose what separates you from Him.

And then you confess it.

You agree with God that you have sinned.

And you turn away from that sin.

Here’s a verse from the Bible we need to take to heart.

Read Psalm 66:18

Psalm 66:18 NKJV

18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.

We will get no further in our prayers until we agree with God about our sins and turn from them.

To have a good, smooth relationship with God, we have to be a confessing disciple.

Then we move from confession to ASKING.

Once we get to this point, we can pray with confidence.

Read Hebrews 4:16

Hebrews 4:16 NKJV

16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

There’s two types of asking.

The Bible describes two different ways of asking God in prayer.

There’s PETITION.

This is praying for ourselves.

1 John 5:14–15 NKJV

14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Petition = request

We can have confidence that if we ask according to His will, He hears and answers.

It’s not “if it be your will.”

It’s after we’ve been in the Word and know the will of God, that we ask.

The time in the Word helps us to pray according to His will.

We don’t have to ask, hoping it’s His will.

We know His will because we are in the Word!

He doesn’t answer prayers that are asked for the wrong reasons, or that goes against His Word.

That’s what praying according to God’s will means.

Then there’s INTERCESSION.

This is praying for other people.

You pray for others for the same reasons you pray for yourself

So that God can mold them into the disciples He wants them to be.

Right prayer is not easy.

Right prayer is asking God to have His way in your life, instead of asking God to give you your way in your life.

Closing:

We will never pray in power outside of the will of God

And you will never know the will of God until you abide in him

You cannot abide in Him if you are not saved.

You cannot pray in the name of Jesus and God cannot speak to you in sweet communion, until you get saved.

If you would like to be saved, you can give your heart to Jesus today.

Call upon Jesus today. Repent (turn) from your sins, and turn to Jesus. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins, and acknowledge Him as Lord of your life.

Romans 3:23 NKJV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 10:9–10 NKJV

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:13 NKJV

13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Acts 16:31 NKJV

31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

John 3:16 NKJV

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.