PRAYER

1. Praying is seeking and asking God - Matthew 7:7-12
2. Pray according to the Word of God, asking and receiving - 1 John 5:14-15
3. Pray for the knowledge of the unrevealed will of God in a specific situation or need - Colossians 3:1
4. Seeking and finding - Jeremiah 29:12-13
5. Pray for the miraculous intervention of God in your life. I am not speaking signs and wonders, but to handle situations that are out of your control - Matthew 17:14-21

Why Pray?
1. Prayer is imperative - Matthew 26:41
2. Prayer is the only way to request things from God - James 4:2
3. Prayer is Joy - John 16:24
4. Prayer can help deliver you out of trouble - Acts 12:1-17
5. Prayer unlocks the treasure chest of God's wisdom - James 1:5
6. Praying is a vehicle for power - Jeremiah 33:3
7. Not praying is a sin - 1 Samuel 12:23
8. Salvation is through prayer in faith for the called of God - Romans 10:13
9. Pray without ceasing - 1 Thessalonians 5:17
10. Prayer brings hope - Psalm 33:22

How to Pray
1. Christ taught the disciples how to pray (see the exemplary prayer) - Matthew 6:9-13
2. Pray in the name of Christ - John 14:13-14
3. The Holy Spirit interprets when we are short on words and long on problems - Romans 8:26-27
4. Pray that God's will is done in everything - James 4:15
5. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem - Psalm 122:6 (Not for the city in Israel but for the body of Christ who is the
New Jerusalem - Hebrews 10:22; Revelation 3:12; 21:2
6. Pray for daily necessities - Luke 11:3
7. Pray for forgiveness and forgive others - Matthew 18:21-22
8. Pray in faith - Hebrews 11:6

Hindrances to Prayer
1. Selfishness - James 4:3
2. Unbelief - Hebrews 11:6; James 1:6-7
3. Sin in the heart - Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:1-2; John 9:31
4. Husbands who do not honor their wives - 1 Peter 3:7

Answers to Prayer
1. Does God answer our prayers? - Jeremiah 33:3; John 15:7
2. Requirements for answers to prayer - Romans 12:1-2; Colossians 3:16-17
3. Delayed - John 11:1-44; Daniel 10:12-14
4. With peace - Philippians 4:6-7
5. With grace - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
6. God answers all prayers but not always as we ask - Isaiah 55:8
7. Above all we must endure - Hebrews 10:36

Does God answer our Prayers?
God promises in Jeremiah 33:3 that if we call upon Him, He WILL answer our prayers. He didn't say maybe or might but that He will answer our prayers. We must keep in mind that God may not answer our prayers the way we would like Him to. Let me give you four methods by which God answers our prayers. These are the four D's of answered prayer. It is good that you memorize them so you will be ready when the answers come and you will be able to identify it.

1. Direct
God may choose to answer your prayer in a direct manner. You might pray for something and God will grant it just the way you asked Him for it. This type of answer means you were praying in accord with the will of God.

2. Disguised
Let me place before you an analogy which might help you recognize a disguised answer to prayer. You may be praying for your sick child plus you lack the funds to take him to the doctor, when all of a sudden Uncle Emery from the old country (I am Hungarian) shows up for a visit while you are praying. You immediately view him as another mouth to feed and a cumbersome responsibility at a bad time. Then you start speaking about the sickness your child has. Then Uncle Emery asks you what kind of herbs and spices you have in the house. (You are probably thinking to yourself, what is he going to make a pot of stuffed cabbage?) You just "happen" to have the ones he needs. He starts combining them in a mixture and makes a poultice out of it. He gives it to the child, two days go by, three days go by, and nothing happens but on the fourth day the child improves and is sitting up and getting stronger, a week goes by and the child is cured. You see, God disguised the answer to your prayer in a visit by Uncle Emery. Sometimes our first inclination toward an answer to prayer is that "this can't be the answer to my prayer."

3. Delayed
Many times God will answer a prayer but it will be according to His timing. We may be praying according to His will but He is engineering special circumstances which will benefit us when it is time to claim the answer. The delayed answer teaches us a lesson in patience and trusting God.

4. Denied
This is the answer we never want to hear but many times at a later date we find out that it was good that God denied my prayer request. When God denies a request, it is being denied by absolute wisdom, so it is never to our disadvantage, even though we believe it is.

So we see that no matter when or how we pray, God does answer our prayers because direct as well as denied is an answer.

The Exemplary Prayer - Matthew 6:9-13

1. Our Father
A. A personal relationship with God
B. "Our" signifies the brotherly relationship with other true Christians.
C. No implication of the universal fatherhood of God, but it states the universal brotherhood of all true believers.
D. "Father" indicates relationship between God and His children.

2. Which Art In Heaven
A. God is in Heaven meaning that He is higher than Man's earth - Psalm 20:6
B. Faith, the Bible teaches without it, our prayers are useless - Hebrews 11:6

3. Hallowed Be Thy Name
God is to be reverenced. Hallowed means to make holy.
A. Worship - David felt this part of prayer was so important that he had a group of men in the temple to do just that - 1 Chronicles 23:5; 25:1,7
B. Worshipped by special angels - Revelation 4:8
C. Worshipping God in the Spirit - John 4:23-24

4. Thy Kingdom Come - Expectation
The kingdom of God is the church and it will not be a visible kingdom as some are looking for - Luke 17:20-21 The only time the church is visible is when it is assembled for worship.

5. Thy Will Be Done In Earth As It Is In Heaven
God's will is that he redeem a people for Himself. He did this by establishing His salvation plan on earth. God's will for salvation was established in heaven before the foundations of the world. Ephesians 1:4

6. Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
Our praying should be as our eating habits - daily. The daily bread that we are to seek is spiritual nourishment. We must seek the face of God in prayer every day. We may also ask God for daily physical sustenance but the weightier meaning of this verse is in the spiritual realm.

7. And Forgive Us Our Debts
Debt is a word used in Bible to signify sin. We pray that God will forgive our sins and if you are true believer then Christ has paid for your sins. Each person is a debtor to God because of our sin and when we become saved, that debt is paid by the Lord Jesus Christ.

8. As We Forgive Our Debtors
Do we put forth our hands and say to others I forgive you? One of the best narratives in Scripture which deals with unforgiveness is found in Matthew 18:23-35.

9. And Lead Us Not Into Temptation
The word "temptation" may also be translated "a proving, testing, or trials." In 1 Corinthians 10:13 we read "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

The word "temptation" in 1 Corinthians 10:13 is the word for "trials." What is the great trial which will come upon the entire world which is common to man? It is Judgment Day which is the great trial of all people on the earth who are unsaved. If you have become saved, then Christ has stood in your place at your trial and because of Him you were found not guilty.

10. But Deliver Us From Evil
The Greek allows for this to be translated "keep us from the evil one." A petition to be delivered out of the hand of Satan. When a person is unsaved they are in bondage to Satan and sin. This is in essence is a petition for salvation.

11. For Thine Is The Kingdom, And The Power, And The Glory, For Ever, Amen.
This is a great doxology to end a prayer on. A good example would be David's prayer in 1 Chronicles 29:10-19.

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