Lord teach us to Pray
Luke 11:1/4
In verse nine Jesus said, “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.”
Prayer is talking with God and taking the time to listen, He may speak in an audible voice, or through His word. Listening to the Word of God is how we grow as Christians. J.C. Ryle a pastor described prayer as “the very life’s breath for true Christianity.”
The believer is only as strong as their prayer life; it is our direct communication to God. Our personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ will not grow unless we learn the art of praying.
The Apostle Paul said to Timothy, “I exhort therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men.” Many times prayers are unanswered because we pray in general terms rather than being specific.
Perhaps the most important verse in scripture, when it comes to praying is, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in the time of need.” Hebrews chapter four and verse sixteen.
Prayer is not to change God’s will or His mind; it is for us to be conformed to His will. Our prayers should be for God to change us. By knowing the Word of God, which is the will of God helps us when we are praying for his will to be done.
The Bible points out that many prayers are wasted because we do not follow the conditions that God sets forth in His Word. In the book of James chapter four and verse three, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
Jesus told his disciples, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do. That the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”
In order to pray effectively, we need to listen to what God has to say about it. There are four things I want to offer that will help us when we pray. They are ADORATION, CONFESSION, THANKSGIVING AND SUPPLICATION.
Our ADORATION pleases God. Heartfelt praise to God is equivalent of an Old Testament sacrifice. In other words, it is a significant act of worship! One of the many reasons that God saves people is that they will praise, and adore, and worship Him. So when we go before Him in prayer we show forth our adoration.
Psalms twenty-two and verse twenty-two, “I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.” To adore God is simply praising Him for who He is and what He has done. This is a good way to begin your time spent in prayer.
The key to adoring God is getting to know Him, the more you learn about God and what he has done for you; the more natural it becomes to praise Him. The way we get to know God is through the reading of His Word. Adoration naturally leads to confession.
CONFESSION is when we acknowledge our sins. It is what God wants us to do instead of making excuses or blame shifting.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Confession involves understanding the seriousness of sin with sensitivity toward our own sinful nature and a complete surrender to the righteousness of Christ. When we acknowledge our sins before God, we then experience God’s forgiveness and it helps us to be filled with the attitude of thanksgiving.
THANKSGIVING we have so much for which to be thankful, knowing that God has forgiven us of all our sins. God has shown His great compassion toward mankind, and God’s has provided for our needs and even many of our desires.
As you meditate before the Lord it would be good to read from the book of Psalms chapter 103. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits; who forgives all thy iniquities; who heals all thy diseases; who redeemed thy life from destruction, who crowns thee with loving kindness and tender mercies; who satisfices thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Let us remember that God is worthy of our praise, so we give Him thanks while bringing our supplications to Him.
SUPPLICATION we pray for our needs and the needs of others. Try to avoid praying in generalities, pray for specific problems and people. There are times when we bring an unknown request to the congregation; this is what I call praying in generalities.
We try and find out what the need is and the name of the person that we are praying for so we can be specific in our praying. Get to know those you are praying for and bring their need to the throne of God.
As we begin to make our supplications known to God, we ask what are the problems we facing. Remember the prayer of King Jehoshaphat when he was facing the multitude that was coming against him.
2 Chronicles 20:5/15
- What sort of problems was he up against?
- How did he begin his prayer?
- How did the beginning of his prayer affect the supplication part of his prayer?
- How did it affect those who heard the prayer?
- How might this kind of praying affect your prayer Life?
Ask God this week to help you activate your prayer life—then go for it! Set simple, realistic goals as you pray. As you begin to pray take time to adore God and thank Him for goodness and grace. Being thankful will turn to praise, and then pray the Word of God.
Get into the habit of confessing your sins to God, and then thank God for all his benefits, you can do this anytime. Sometimes it would be good to imagine what life would be like minus some of the things we take for granted. Like electricity, food, car, clothes, house and not to mention eternal life, and forgiveness of sins.
The word of God teaches us that men ought always to pray, to pray without ceasing. Pray in secret that God may reward you openly. Pray that His Kingdom will come, and that His will be done on earth as in Heaven.
It is helpful to make a list, one for the things we want to praise and thank God for. Then make a second list of people and things you want to pray about, and see if God will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing which will be hard to contain.
