The Importance of Prayer
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We went over what prayer is last week.
Prayer of Supplication
Petition and Intercession
Prayer of Worship and Adoration
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Prayer of Confession
Why is prayer important. We are going to look at how prayer could and should have helped some people in the Bible in their circumstances.
Importance of Prayer when you are being tempted.
Importance of Prayer when you are being tempted.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
God gave a specific command to Adam and Eve. Do not eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.
Satan tempted her to second guess God’s command. At that very moment when the temptation hit her and Adam, they should have gone to God in prayer.
Have you gone to God in prayer when you have been tempted? What happens when you do?
What kind of temptations could prayer help with?
Anything
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Desires of the flesh
Desires of the eye
Pride of life
First, they were tempted by their physical needs and ate the fruit, choosing it above their relationship with God. This was the result of giving in to lust of the flesh.
Second, they were tempted by desiring that which would harm them because it looked pleasurable. This was the lust of the eye.
Third, they were tempted to be their own god. When the serpent said they would be like God if they ate the fruit, this was the pride of life
Jesus was tempted in all 3 ways by satan in the wildness
Importance of prayer when you are angry
Importance of prayer when you are angry
In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
Now was God concerned about Cain bringing fruit?
And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
Would it not have been better for Cain to bring his frustration to God?
Importance of prayer when you are afraid
Importance of prayer when you are afraid
Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”
Abraham was afraid that they would take his wife. He was too short sighted that the God of the Universe would take care of him and his wife.
He could have done like Shadrach, Meesach and Abednego. This is when they were going to be thrown into the burning furnace for refusing to bow down to the golden statue
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
These are examples of when things are going wrong. When we are experincing difficulty and hardship. We can say that its also important to pray in any other negative circumstance, no matter what it is.
What about on the other side.
Importance of praying when everything is going really well
Importance of praying when everything is going really well
Then David put garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Syrians became servants to David and brought tribute. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.
In 2nd Samuel David chapter 8 David is being blessed. He established his capital in Jerusalem, returning the ark of God to Jerusalem and defeating all his enemies—to the extent that the Bible says, “The Lord gave David victory wherever he went” (2 Samuel 8:6, niv). What happened next, however, should serve as a warning to us when we’re similarly
In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
And it gets worse
In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.”
Now we are on the opposite side, where we are successful, God is blessing us in amazing ways. This shows us that its important to pray because you may be at your weakest, may be most blind when things are going very well.
I heard about a preacher who prays this prayer.
God please prevent me from destroying the good work that you have started in me. Please do not allow me to ruin and defile the great things that you have already accomplished and bring shame to your name.
Now lets look at a good example. When did Jesus Pray
(Lk 3:21-22) At His Baptism.
(Mk 1:35-36) In the morning before heading to Galilee.
(Lk 5:16) After healing people.
(Lk 6:12-13) Praying all night before choosing His 12 disciples.
(Mt 11:25-26) While speaking to the Jewish leaders.
(Jn 6:11) Giving thanks to the Father before feeding 5000.
(Also see: Mt 14:19, Mk 6:41, Lk 9:16)
(Mk 7:31-37) While healing a deaf and mute man.
(Mt 15:36) Giving thanks to the Father before feeding 4000.
(Also see: Mk 8:6-7)
(Lk 9:28-29) At the Transfiguration.
(Lk 10:21) At the return of the seventy.
(Lk 11:1) Before teaching His disciples the Lord’s Prayer.
(Jn 11:41-42) Before raising Lazarus from the dead.
(Mt 19:13-15) Laying hands on and praying for little children.
(Also see: Mk 10:13-16, Lk 18:15-17)
(Jn 12:27-28) Asking the Father to glorify His name.
(Mt 26:26) At the Lord’s Supper.
(Also see: Mk 14:22-23, Lk 22:19)
(Lk 22:31-32) Prayed for Peter’s faith when Satan asked to “sift” him.
(Jn 17:1-26) Prayed for Himself, His disciples, and all believers just before heading to Gethsemane.
(Mt 26:36-46) In Gethsemane before His betrayal. (He prayed 3 separate prayers.)
(Also see: Lk 22:39-46, Mk 14:32-42)
(Lk 23:34) Right after being nailed to the cross, Jesus prayed, “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
(Mt 27:46) While dying on the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
(Also see: Mk 15:34)
(Lk 23:46) In His dying breath, Jesus prayed, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
(Lk 24:30) Prayed a blessing on the bread before He ate with others after His resurrection.
(Lk 24:50-53) He blessed the disciples before His Ascension.
When you pray, by yourself or in a group. You are all or on your own with another being, that is God himself and He is unique because there is no one else like Him in the entire Universe.
Prayer is unique because it is a process that will create in your life something that nothing else can.
What I mean is that God gives us many different tools. Scripture is a tool with an intended purpose, faith is a specific tool with a purpose,
Prayer is specific and it provides a benefit that none of the other tools that God give us can accomplish.
If you neglect prayer you are missing out on the blessings that God has for you.
Prayer is also a practical demonstration of trusting God.