HOW TO PRAY.
PRAY SERIOUS AND WATCHFUL. 1 PET 4:7
1. 1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.
What did the Disciples ask for? To learn how to pray. That’s where the power is!
Luke 11:1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
2. So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.”
ASK IN FAITH. JAM 1:6 _
“WHATEVER YOU ASK IN PRAYER, BELIEVING, YOU WILL RECEIVE”
(IF IT IS GOD’S WILL) – Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking
Luke 11:5-13 (NKJV)
5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;
7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’?
8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Luke 11:9-10 (HCSB)
9 “So I say to you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?
12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Look at what we Get when we ask, Holy Spirit, not a new house, not a new job, new truck… But The Holy Spirit, do we get the other things, sometimes but He God promised The Holy Spirit.
(NOT IN WRONG MOTIVE)
James 4:2-3 (NKJV)
2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
IF WE: HUMBLE AND TURN FROM WICKED WAYS
GOD PROMISES: TO HEAR, HEAL, AND FORGIVE.
2 Chron 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Again, WHO is He talking to. The Hebrews but it is an example for us.
IF WE: ARE RIGHTEOUS GOD PROMISES: TO HEAR.
1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
IF WE: PRAY ACCORDING TO GOD’S WILL GOD PROMISES: TO HEAR US. 1 JOHN 5:14
1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
IF WE: DRAW NEAR TO GOD. GOD PROMISES: TO DRAW NEAR TO US.
James 4:7-10 (NKJV)
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
3. But we have to pray and ask.
a. Ask for Renewing in your own heart.
b. Ask for healing in our lives
c. Ask for the Power of God to manifest itself in such a way that He can get the glory.
4. The power of prayer is not in who prays but in the one who hears our prayer. And that is GOD, that is who we are talking to.
Jer 33:3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
Note: He does not say I will give you things He said I will show you things.
Realize – Jeremiah live in tough times:
1. Jeremiah was a prophet called by God living in the midst of a sinful nation. Sound familiar?
a. He preached to the Jewish nation and its people about their sin but they wouldn’¬t listen, to him.
2. He had prophesied that if the Nation of Judah wouldn’¬t turn from their sin and turn back to God, they would fall into the hands of the Babylonians. (Exactly what happened)
3. His message was rejected. People didn’¬t listen.
4. Today, people hear the message of the Gospel but turn a deaf ear and reject the Lord when the Lord has said;
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
He says He will show us “Great and Mighty Things which You don’t even knows about”
5. God says Matt 17:20 if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ’Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
Conclusion: Moving Mountains,
What Mountain is in your life that needs moving???
6. There are no limits with God.
What did the sea see when the sea saw??
Psalm 114:1-8 (NKJV)
1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2 Judah became His sanctuary, And Israel His dominion.
3 The sea saw it and fled; Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams, The little hills like lambs.
5 What ails you, O sea, that you fled? O Jordan, that you turned back?
6 O mountains, that you skipped like rams? O little hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, At the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 Who turned the rock into a pool of water, The flint into a fountain of waters.
Matt 17:20 if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ’Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
Do you want to see Great and Mighty things???
Accept Good’s invitation today
1. Pray for your homes
2. Pray for our church
3. Pray for your own life
4. Pray for our renewal of God’s love
5. Pray for those who are lost without Christ.
If You don’t know Christ, pray for your own salvation: God will answer.
Rom 10:9 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.
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
Pray
