Teach us to Pray
Lu. 11:1 And it came to pass that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples.
2 And he said unto them, When ye pray say Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
7 And he from within shall answer and say Trouble me not: the door is now shut and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth
9 And I say unto you, Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
As followers of Christ we should want to learn how to pray and get results.
Here one of the disciples said John taught his disciples to pray so you do the same.
We need to learn how to pray and get results.
Most Christians are not taught how to pray, they only copy patterns of prayers that we have heard others pray.
There is a right way to pray and a wrong way to pray.
Words are powerful,
Pr 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
If you pray “Lord whatever it takes for me to draw close to you” You opened your self up to a field day for the Devil. (There is a proper way to get CLOSE without letting the devil beat you up.)
Begging and complains is not Prayer.
Gossip about your friends and sins are not praying.
It is not proper prayer just because you are at an altar or just because you raise your hands.
You must pray PROPER if you want POSTIVE RESULTS.
We need to learn HOW, WHY, HOW TO BE EFFECTIVE IN PRAYER.
Everybody Prays.
Sinners pray to win the Lottery. Criminals pray for a lenient Judge. Christians pray for things.
Many cases Christians cannot tell you for sure that they prayed and God answered.
A Lady announced she was going on a diet to her office workers. The next day she showed up with a DOUBLE CHOLATE CREAM CAKE. Someone asked her if that was on her diet. She said “It was God’s will for her to eat the cake!”
She said she saw it in a bakery window and she prayed if it was God’s will for her to have that cake make a parking place directly in front of the bakery, on the 10th time around a place was open.
This was not an answer to prayer. Answer to prayer is when you ask and you get what you ask for without you changing it.
The Word gives us clear instructions about prayer.
Jas 4:3 Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
The scripture is clear here that a selfish prayer will not be answered
God wants to answer your prayers but is not willing to meet a selfish desire.
Jas 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Not just any prayer but the PRAYER OF FAITH.
Mr 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Most of us wait to see if we have it before we believe that we have it.
This scripture tells us that WHEN YOU PRAY BELIEVE THAT YOU RECEIVE.
Jas 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord..
If you need to know God’s will look in the scripture if you do not find it ask for wisdom.
Ask in FAITH and keep on Believing without a backup plan.
Most of us have a backup plan, Aspirin, MasterCard, and Dr. Prather.
Scripture is clear that if we WAVER we will not get anything.
1Jo 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:
Ask according To GOD’S WILL.
Many finish their prayer with “IF IT BE THY WILL”
This will open you up to be ravaged by the Devil. You are telling God, The Devil, The Angels, and everyone else YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT GOD’S WILL IS.
KNOW WHAT GOD’S WILL IS FROM SCRIPTURE. He is a healer, deliverer, wants us to PROSPER. Where Scripture does not speak PRAY FOR WISDOM.
Lu 22:42 Saying Father, if thou be willing remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done
Jesus knew what God’s will was and said NOT MY WILL BUT YOURS.
ANSWERED PRAYER IS NOT ON OUR TERMS.
There are RULES about Prayer to get them answered.
There are many Kinds of Prayer:
Intercession, Faith, Repentance, Thanksgiving, Agreement, Self Strengthening.
Each one is prayed by different rules.
YOU WOULD NOT PRAY THANK YOU LORD THAT I AM A SINNER.
Intercession Prayer would not work for Healing.
You cannot Pray an Agreement Prayer for an Unspoken Request.
Matt. 6:5-34
V. 5-8 are things you must not do
V. 9-15 is the model for prayer
V. 24-34 is a way to cut down on prayer and still get answers.
1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
5 And when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
1. Not to Be Seen.
The Motive of Prayer is important.
This does not condemn public prayers, but does say if it is to impress others it better be very impressive because it will not be answered.
Many will not pray in public because they are afraid of what others will think or say.
Some think that the Old English is the only prayer that God can understand, but God understands the HEART.
6 But thou, when thou prayest enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray use not vain repetitions as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
2. Don’t Use Vain Repetitions.
We see here even the heathen pray.
We have seen the importance of Praying from our HEART.
It is not the repeating of phrases over and over or even the length of prayers that pleases God.
Some believe that you must get up every morning at 5o’clock and pray for two hours before you can face the day.
The length of Prayers has to do with you as a person.
I pray 1 hour sometimes and sometimes 15 minuets.
A Woman speaks about 25 thousand words a day and a man about 12 thousand. That is why a man can never win an argument.
That is why Women find it easy to pray for an hour, a man will start repeating himself in about 15 minuets. Pray as long as your heart is in it.
When we get to the model of prayer it will help guide you into more time in prayer.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
3. Purpose of Prayer. Why Pray?
1 Fellowship and relationship
.Fellowship with the Father.
Some people only out of desperation ever pray
2. The Way to receive.
Our provisions. We receive it thru Prayer, My Needs
3. God’s Will is Done
10 Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
The Will of God in this Earth, Not the Governments Will, The Worlds Will, but God’s will done upon this Earth.
Not Just a shopping list of things to get but to fellowship with your Father and DO SOME THINGS FOR HIM.
Primary reason to Pray is Fellowship and relationship
Ps. 134:
2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD.
3 The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.
We are to Bless God. This is how our Prayers are answered.
The Lord is blessed when we lift our hands.
Then we are blessed by him because we have blessed Him.
Re 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created
We were created by Him for His Pleasure.
This is why we Pray and lift our Hands and Bless the Lord because He has created us and not for our pleasure but for His pleasure.
Acts. 13:2As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
As we pray and lift our hands in adoration the Holy Ghost can speak to us.
When we Sing We Bless the Lord.
When we pray, we fellowship with the Lord.
WE PRAY BECAUSE HE WANTS TO HEAR FROM US WITHOUT A SHOPPING LIST OF THINGS THAT HE ALREADY KNOWS ABOUT.
