A Powerful Victorious Prayer Life

1.) How often have you heard this scripture..."pray

without ceasing?" (1st Thes. 5:17) How often

have you heard people talking about an active

prayer life? We talk about prayer a lot, but

many times I feel we fall short of what God

expects.

2.) In Matthew chapter 6, we find Jesus teaching His

disciples how to be reverent and sincere in

their worship.

a.) First, about giving alms. He calls the

Pharisees hypocrites here because He knows

their hearts. Their giving is boastful,

not reverent.

b.) He then moves to prayer. He again calls

the Pharisees hypocrites. Their prayers

are not only vain, but irreverent to God.

They were not praying to be heard of God,

but of men.

3.) How does Jesus say to pray?

a.) "Go into thy closet." This is not a literal

closet but somewhere private. Get away from

worldly distractions.

b.) "Use not vain repetitions." The Pharisees

made their prayers long and drawn out and

didn’t really say anything. God knows our

hearts, our wants, and our needs. We should

pray to Him reverently and naturally.

I once heard a story of an elderly man that was living out his last days in a nursing home. Each day, as the nurses would tend to his needs, he insisted on having an empty chair sitting next to his bed. The man would look at that empty chair and talk for hours at a time each day. One day one of the nurses asked him why he wanted that empty chair. He told the nurse, "that is where Jesus sits when we talk." Eventually, the old man went on to be with the Lord. When they found him, he had passed away with his head in that "empty" chair. Many of the nurses said he left this walk of life with his head in the lap of Jesus. I think this man had a genuine relationship witht he Lord. This is the relationship we should want with our saviour.

4.) Jesus tells them how to pray.

a.) I want to point out that this is a model

prayer and not the prayer. Jesus says here

in verse 9, "after this manner therfore pray

ye." "After this manner" litterally means

"pray like this."

b.) People learn from others. Children learn by

listening and watching their parents. If our

prayer example seems religious and burden-

some our children and those around us will

follow by example.

5.) In James chapter 5:13-20, we have an example of

the power of prayer.

a.) Pray when we are afflicted, pray when we are

happy, pray when we are sick, pray for the

forgiveness of sins.

b.) James tells us that the prayer of faith shall

heal us. When we pray believing on the One

we are praying to, then and only then do our

prayers carry power.

c.) James also tells us here that "the effectual

ferverent prayers of a righteous man availeth

much.

I.) Effectual = active (1st. Thes. 5:17 -

pray without ceasing.)

II.) Fervent = mighty, powerful, passionate.

I want to lead my life in such a way

that the devil is glad to see me go to

sleep at night just so he doesn’t have

to worry about me talking to God!

6.) God’s desire today is for us to be a church that

when we gather here together to pray the place

where we are is shaken! God wants His church to

rock the foundations of the world with prayer!

My desire is to be a man with a prayer life like

that. Is this your desire too?

7.) If you are not a child of God here this morning,

wouldn’t you like to feel this kind of power in

your life? You can. Jesus died on the cross to

give it to you. If you are lost in your sin, the

one and only prayer that you can pray that God

will hear is the prayer of salvation. Will you

pray that prayer this morning? Victory awaits

those who will!