.WHO?
Matthew 6:5-7
When I was in elementary school, my teacher taught me the 5 W’s of Writing. These were five foundational elements of writing anything… especially a report. These five W’s are: Who, What, Where, When and Why.
These five W’s have served me well through school and life.
For the next few weeks, maybe more than five, we are going to be looking at PRAYER. As we look at it, I want to teach some basic truths about prayer. To do that I will be using the Five W’s. Today we will start with the first one… WHO?
All of my points will be questions that begin with WHO (whom)
1. WHO SHOULD PRAY
The answer to this one is easy… everyone SHOULD pray.
The scripture is very clear on this point… God wants every person to pray.
8 Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.
Though the “I” in this verse refers to Paul, He is laying down spiritual truth… God wants everyone to pray.
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, taught the God wants us to pray because over and over He said, WHEN you pray… not IF. God expects us to pray.
Why does God want everyone to pray? There are three very good reasons:
a. God is your heavenly Father and he loves you very much.
When you love someone very much, you want to hear from them. It thrills you. It may not be anything important, but you just love to hear from them. So, first of all, God wants you to talk to Him because he loves you and it thrills Him to hear from you.
b. God has many gifts he wants to give to you, but you must ask.
I don’t know why, I just know it is true… God has many, many blessings He wants to give to us. They are things we need and things that will just make us happy. But we often miss out on those things because we don’t ask for them.
If God has them… and knows that we need them or they will make us happy… why does He not just give them to us? I don’t know!!
Maybe He uses them to get us to talk to Him… remember how much He loves to hear from us. Maybe it has to do with submission. I don’t know why… but I know from scripture that sometimes we miss out because we don’t ask.
James 4:2 is clear, “…you have not because you ask not.”
There may be other reasons why you don’t have… but some things we don’t have because we don’t ask.
God is just waiting for us to ask.
So one reason God wants us to pray is… so He can give us good things.
c. Prayer Leads to Confession
Not always and not for all people, but for most people praying to God causes us to face, acknowledge and confess our sins. That is something else that is very important to God… confession of sins. God loves you very much. Sin separates you from Him and blocks Him from being able to hear your prayers or give you the good things He has for you. So confessed sin is very important to God and prayer is leads to confession.
2. WHO SHOULD WE PRAY TO? (Bad English, I know)
Should we pray to God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
All three are God!!!
There is scriptural teaching and support for praying to God and Jesus. There is not one example in all of scripture of a prayer being offered to the Holy Spirit.
Of course we pray to God, the Father. Scripture tells us to do that and gives us many examples of spiritual examples of people who did.
A few scriptures shall suffice to make the point.
Matthew 6:9 9 “This, then, is how you should pray:“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Luke 11:13 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
John 17:1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
Ephesians 1:17 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[a] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
So we know that we can pray to God, the Father.
But there are also scriptural examples of people praying to Jesus, the Son, and our Lord.
A few scriptures:
Acts 7:59 59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
1 Cor. 1:2 2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:
Acts 9:14 13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
Sometimes we don’t know to whom the prayer is prayed… Jesus or God… because both are referred to as Lord. But it is OK and scriptural to pray to either.
3. Who Should I Pray for? (For whom should I pray?)
Here again there is much scriptural teaching on this point.
a. SELF
Scripture shows that it is OK to pray for yourself and your needs
1 Chronicles 4:10 10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.
Psalm 106:4-5 Remember me, LORD, when you show favor to your people, come to my aid when you save them, 5 that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may share in the joy of your nation and join your inheritance in giving praise.
Even Jesus did it
John 17:1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
b. Other Christians
Romans 1:9-10 9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
James 5:14, 16 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
c. Our Children
1 Chron. 29:19 19 And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, statutes and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure for which I have provided.”
d. Our Rulers
1 Tim 2:1-3 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior,
e. Enemies
Matt. 5:44 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
f. EVERYONE
1 Tim. 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—
We should pray for everyone or anyone.
I don’t mean that we should pray for every single person, one at a time, or just pray some general catch-all prayer. But, we can and pray for everyone we know who needs God’s help.
4. WHO WILL GOD HEAR?
Well, God HEARS all prayers. He is omniscient and omni-present… therefore He has to hear all prayers.
This question is really… whose prayer will God answer?
Another way of putting is… who deserves or can expect that God will answer their prayers.
While God does indeed hear all prayers, He does NOT answer all prayers. Even God says so…
a. Our iniquity can cause God not to hear/listen to our prayers
Ps. 66:18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
b. If we turn a deaf ear on God’s law (disobey) he will not hear
Prov. 28:9 If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction,
even their prayers are detestable.
Zech 7:13 13 “‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’says the LORD Almighty.
c. If we refuse to help the poor
Prov. 21:13 Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered.
BUT….
d. Any sinner who is sorry and humbled by his sin, and who desires pardon, will be heard and answered
Luke 18:13-14 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
e. The righteous will be heard
Ps 34:15-17 15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry; 16 but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth. 17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
Prov 15:8, 29 The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.
The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
f. Those who keep God’s commands and do the things that please Him will be heard
1 John 3:21-22 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
g. Those who fear God
Ps 145:19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.
h. Those who abide in Him
John 15:7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Who can expect God to hear and answer his prayers? Those who love God and obey Him.
Now we have seen how important prayer is and that raises another WHO question.
5. Who can help me in my prayers?
There are actually many people who can help you to pray.
There are two primary persons who can help you with your prayers.. Jesus and the Holy Spirit
JESUS
One of the roles of the High Priest, in the OT days was that of a middle man, a mediator who carried the requests of the people to the ear of God. It was his job to intercede for the people every day.
Jesus is our high priest… Hebrews.
Scripture makes it clear… Jesus is praying, daily, for us
Hebrews 7:25 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
Romans 8:34 34 … Christ Jesus who died…is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
1 John 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
What does Jesus pray for us? We get an idea in John 17
**He prays that we will be protected from the evil one
15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
**For us to make progress in holiness and righteousness
17 Sanctify them by[d] the truth; your word is truth.
**For our final glorification
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
The scripture is very clear here… the Holy Spirit helps us pray.
He teaches us to understand scripture… so we can pray rightly
John 14:26 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
He helps us to understand and then He brings it to our remembrance.
He also prays for us when we don’t even know what to pray
Romans 8:26 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
So… Jesus and the Holy Spirit both help us to pray
Is there anyone else who can help us pray?
Can the dead saints or martyrs? No… there is not one scripture that teaches this.
Can Mary? NO. Again, there is not one single scripture that teaches Mary can help or that we should pray to or through Mary.
But there are people and things that can assist you in your prayers
a. A daily devotional the writer will direct you in what you should pray for or about.
b. A prayer partner
A prayer partner can spur your mind and prayers.
c. The scripture
As you read the scripture you can just pray it back to God
Ex: 1 Cor. 13
d. The church prayer list
e. Your heart
If you condition yourself, you will hear prayer needs jumping out at you from all sources
