The Way To Pray Series

What would happen if there wasn’t a thing called prayer??

Prayer acknowledges the reality of God!

Prayer connects us with God!

Prayer is a way to ask God directly for something!

Prayer provides peace of heart!

Prayer is a weapon against the devil!

Prayer is power!

How is our prayer life?

In our passage today we will note the power of Jesus Christ and how people gained access to that power. Please open your Bibles to Luke 5. Before reading our passage this morning, let us pray our commitment to God’s Word….

Read along with me Luke 5:12-26…..

Let us learn from this passage by looking at the characters in the story.

First, v12-14: There was a man with leprosy.

We can note 3 things this man did:

- fell with his face to the ground before Jesus

- begged Jesus

- asked for healing (according to God’s will!)

He professed, “Lord, if You are willing….”

Look again at what Jesus said and did in v13…..

It was God’s will that the man be healed from leprosy! We need to note that if it is not God’s will, it will not happen no matter how much we pray! We can not force God’s will to happen for that would be saying that we know better than God. Only God knows everything and knows what’s right!

Therefore, it is very important that when we pray, we pray for God’s will to happen, for God’s will is always right! This is what it means to pray in Jesus’ Name!

Now before we look at Jesus, let us look at the other characters in our passage.

In v17-22, we note the Religious Leaders (the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law) Look again at v17……

What do you think the description “they were sitting there” indicate??

Yes they were listening to Jesus but what do v21-22 indicate? The religious leaders were there to criticize Jesus!

And in v18-20 we note a group of men who were friends to a paralytic.

What can we say about these men??

- knew about Jesus and believed in His power

- were persevering (they couldn’t get to Jesus through the door or window, so they went up the roof and lowered their friend to Jesus!) They figured out a way to get to Jesus! You know what that means right? They were “engineers” like me! Likely, they were just ordinary men who were:

- creative and innovative

And what did Jesus say about them in v20?

- had faith (faith is taking action in what you believe) they certainly took action!

And why did these men do all of that for their friend??

- loved their friend

Do you and I have friends like that?

You can find friends like that likely at church!

And one more character before we comment on Jesus, let us take note in v20-25, the paralytic. Look again at v20……

At first glance how was the paralytic forgiven of his sins??

At first glance it sounds like the sins of the paralytic man were forgiven because of the faith of his friends. Yes, “their faith” which Jesus saw could mean the friend’s faith. But isn’t it also true that Jesus saw “their faith” as the faith of the friends as well as the paralytic? And of course if we look at this in context to the whole Bible, it was the paralytic’s personal faith in Jesus Christ which gave him the gift of forgiveness!

And so, what can we note about the paralytic?

- had faith in Jesus Christ

- had godly, faithful friends!

How is our faith in Christ?

Do we look for godly, faithful friends?

And finally there was Jesus!

What can we note about Jesus Christ?

v13,17,24 - has power over illnesses and is willing to heal people

What do we note about Jesus in v16??............

v16 – Jesus quieted his heart and prayed to God often!

v20, 24 – has power to forgive sins of people!

What Biblical principles can we apply to our lives from this passage? Jesus, who is God, prayed to God often while He was here on earth because Jesus knew the source of everything! How about us?

1. How’s our prayer life?

- We are to quiet our hearts and pray before God often! How often do you have a quiet time? Everyday, find a quiet place and be still and know your God!

- We are to pray in Jesus’ Name (according to His will, not ours)!

Why pray in Jesus’ Name? – Prayer is power. Jesus is power! Jesus is the only One who has the power to answer correctly!

- humble yourselves before God first before asking!

Remember C-A-T-S when you pray. Always start your prayers with confession and adoration of God! T is for thanksgiving and S is for supplication, i.e. asking for your needs.