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Good morning everyone, this is our first lesson on the subject of prayer.
First Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.”
Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
When you have a problem and you go to a family member or friend to talk about it, you do so because this is normal. You go to them to discuss or have a conversation with them about your problem. As you discuss your problem you sometimes ask their advice on how you should handle things and sometimes the advice they give you is appropriate for the situation, especially when it is based on God’s word. Well, we want you to know that what you are doing in this situation is the same thing that you are doing when you talk to God, but in that case, it’s called prayer. Now why are we saying it’s the same thing? In this lesson you will hear that prayer is simply having a conversation with God where not only do we talk to Him, but He talks back to us if we listen closely.
There are many people who believe that they know what they need to know about prayer, and they could be right. At one time I had my own thoughts about what prayer was and how it should be practiced in the life of a Christian. The goal of this lesson is to increase our understanding of prayer, especially as it relates to praying in the will of God thus ensuring our prayers are answered. In this lesson we will define prayer, discuss its power and why it is so important that we believe once we have prayed in agreement with God’s Word, that He is going to answer it. To set the stage for what you will hear in this lesson, we want to open it with one of our favorite stories about praying and believing in the power of that prayer. This is the story of Sis. Betsy and it goes like this:
“Several years ago, there was a drought in one city and the pastor of the Church called for a prayer meeting to pray for rain. The prayer meeting was held on a hot summer evening. All of the members came out dressed in summer cool clothes since they would be there for a while praying. Well, when Sister Betsy arrived at the Church, everyone heard her approaching as her shoes were making a loud noise. As she entered the Church, everyone turned to see why she was making such a loud entry. What they saw tickled them and some of the members actually laughed softly. Here was Sister Betsy entering the Church wearing rain boots, raincoat, a hat and carrying an umbrella. She looked a sight in the sweltering heat. Some of the members thought Sister Betsy had finally lost her mind – that her elevator was no longer going to the top floor. The pastor looked at her with much concern. He comes down from the pulpit and approaches her. He asks her, “Sister Betsy are you all right – are you feeling okay?” Sister Betsy looked at him confused by the question and replied, “I feel fine.” Then the pastor asked her, “Well I must ask, why are you dressed this way? Didn’t you feel how hot it is outside? You must be burning up in this outfit. What possessed you to wear all of this tonight in this heat?” Again, some of the members continued to snicker and laugh under their breath while others now shifted to true concern for Sister Betsy’s mental state. Sister Betsy looked at her pastor and then scanned the faces of the rest of the members and made the following statement: “You know pastor, I too was confused when I walked into the Church. You see, I thought we were all coming here to pray for rain, and I expected there to be rain when we left. I am confused as to why none of you are dressed for rain since that is what we are supposed to be here asking from God.”
In that story only Sis. Betsy came to the meeting expecting God to answer that prayer that very day. This is the type of faith we should have when we go to God in prayer – we believe immediately that He has answered the prayer and until it is manifested, we begin thanking Him for doing so. Now as much as I thought I knew, I have found that I am still learning. Prayer is our communication with God. We talk to Him and if we listen closely, He talks with us. The most common Greek word translated “prayer” in the New Testament is the word “proseuche.” This word and its various forms are used approximately 127 times in the New Testament. It is the same word that Paul used in Ephesians 6:18 which we will touch on later. The word is a compound of the words “pros” and “euche”. The word “pros” is a preposition that means “toward”, and it can denote a sense of closeness. This word has been used to describe the closeness of the Godhead. Nearly everywhere in the New Testament where it is used the word carries the meaning of “close, up-front, intimate contact with someone else.”
The second part “euche” is an old Greek word that describes a “wish, desire, prayer or vow”. It originally was used to depict a person who made some kind of vow to God because of some need or desire in his or her life. An illustration of this in the Old Testament was Hannah, the mother of Samuel. She deeply desired a child and was not able to get pregnant. She prayed and made a solemn vow to God that if He gave her a son, she would “lend him” to the Lord. “(27) For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. (28) Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord." So they worshiped the Lord there.” (First Samuel 1:27-28) The use of this word tells us (1) how powerful prayer can be when spoken with absolute faith knowing in our hearts that God will answer it and (2) that prayer brings us face to face to God and into close contact with Him. Praying is more than a mechanical act or formula to follow; it is a vehicle to bring us to a place whereby we may enjoy a close, intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Prayer is “fellowship with God through Jesus Christ.” It is expressed in adoration (worshipping, great love or devotion); thanksgiving (a formal public expression of thanks to God); and communication (a giving and exchanging of information or messages, one or two-way.)
Types of Prayers
Before we go further, we want to take a minute to talk about some of the types of prayers. Many people think of prayer only as it relates to going to God to ask for something or to repent from something. But prayer is so much more and again, if you are praying and talking to God but are not waiting to hear what He has to say about the situation then you are missing 50% of the conversation. You are missing the best 50% of the conversation! So, let’s talk about some of the different “conversations” we might have with God.
• The first type of prayer that we want to mention is one of adoration, where we express our love and admiration for God – not for what He has done for us, but simply because of Who He is. David wrote in Psalm 76:4 says, “You are more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.” In this verse David speaks of Who God is to him and rejoices in his knowledge and understanding of God. In Psalm 63:1 David writes, “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.”
• The next one is we want to call out is the prayer of thanksgiving and praise. David gives us an example of this in Psalm 18:46 which say, “The LORD lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted.” In Psalm 89:1, written by Ethan, the Ezrahite, we read, “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.”
• The next type of prayer is the prayer of confession. This is when we go to God to confess to Him where we have fallen short and ask for forgiveness. This is a confession that leads to our repenting from a sin that we have committed. King David committed sin when he had Uriah, one of his 30 elite warriors, murdered on the battlefield to hide the fact that he had slept with his wife, Bathsheba, and gotten her pregnant. When the prophet Nathan confronted David, he acknowledged his sin and immediately repented. Let’s see what he wrote about it in Psalm 51:2-4. “(2) Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. (3) For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. (4) Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight, that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge.”
• Next is the type of prayer that we are all do more than any other type – the prayer where we go to God requesting that He do something on our behalf. This is the prayer of petition. David wrote in Psalm 28:2 says, “(2) Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.” Another example is Paul’s prayer request to the believers in Thessalonica. Second Thessalonians 3:1 says, “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you.” (Second Thessalonians 3:1)
• The next prayer is similar to the prayer of petition, but the difference is we are not asking God to do something for us, we are asking Him to do something for someone else. This prayer is called the prayer of intercession because we are interceding for someone else. Paul wrote in Colossians 1:9, “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” Do you remember the story of the Canaanite woman who asked Jesus to have mercy on her because her daughter was possessed with a devil? She was “petitioning” Jesus for her daughter. And do you remember what Jesus said about her coming to Him on behalf of her daughter? Turn to Matthew 15:28. “Then Jesus answered and said to her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour.”
• The last type of prayer we want to mention today is the prayer of unknown tongues. There are many denominations that do not teach or believe in this type of praying and they are missing out on an opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit to aid in their praying. Paul wrote in First Corinthians 14:14, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.” Praying in an unknown tongue is different from “speaking in tongues” which requires an interpretation of what is spoken. When someone speaks in tongues in a Church service, they are out of order unless what is said is interpreted so that everyone can know what the Spirit is saying.
However, when you are praying in tongues – in private – this is not required. This is what can be said of a perfect conversation with God even though you do not know what is being said and we see this in verse 2: “For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.” When we pray in tongues, our Heavenly prayer language, it’s like we’re sitting down at the kitchen table and having a one on one conversation with our Heavenly Father and He is sharing with our spirits mysteries (sacred and divine secrets) including a greater understanding of who He is, who we are as His children and a greater understanding of what we read in Scripture. But I will tell you, you feel so much better when you are done. Let’s move on. Regardless of the type of prayer you are praying, there are a few things we all need to take note of when praying. We are “loosely” calling them “the foundations for praying.”
Foundations for Praying
We do not want you to misunderstand this section. As we are reviewing these “foundations”, understand that God looks at the heart, not whether you include each of these “foundations” each time you pray. They are not to be seen as a checklist per se, but more of an attitude and belief that you should have when praying.
• The first foundation, and this is truly the first foundation, is to always pray in faith. Why is this the first foundation? We see the answer Hebrews 11:6. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” The word without means “apart from.” Faith pleases God. If we approach Him with anything that is not “soaked” in faith, we will not be pleasing to Him. Now, the question is “Why will He not be pleased with us?” First, based on what we see in this verse, a prayer that is “apart from faith” means that we do not truly believe that He is – that He exists. And, secondly, when we approach Him with a prayer that is not “soaked” in faith, He says He can’t reward us with the answer we need because a prayer that is “apart from faith” is an indication that we are not diligently seeking Him.
In Matthew 6, Jesus tells the disciples that they are not to be like the hypocrites who want to be seen when they pray. “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” (Matthew 6:6) The thrust of this chapter is to help us see what will happen in our lives when we trust God to the fullest. The chapter ends with the following verse: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) Matthew 6:33 flows with Hebrews 11:6 as both instruct us to seek God and His kingdom – what is important to Him – and then be rewarded when we do.
• Another foundation that complements praying in faith is when we pray according to His will. It will be difficult to pray in faith if you don’t know what you can pray for. Some people might wonder how we can know what God’s will is to pray this way. Well, the answer is found in His Word. God has told us what His will is for us so all we need to do is read and study His Word and then when we pray, we pray what the Word says. First John 5:14-15 says the following, “(14) Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (15) And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” We know that God hears us because we are reminding Him through our prayers what He has already promised to us. This is why we can have confidence in our prayers. This is why the story of Sis. Betsy is so important – she was the only one who believed that God would not only hear her prayers that night but would answer them. When we pray according to what God’s word says then we can have the confidence that our prayer will be answered.
• Another foundation is that we should always pray in Jesus’ name. The only reason we have the opportunity and right to have a conversation with God is because Jesus died on the cross to cleanse us from our sins. Jesus shed His blood so that we could be free and be adopted into God’s family. Because of what He did for us through His death and resurrection, we must go through Him to have access to the Father. In John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” When Jesus says He is the way, He is making it clear that there is no other way in which a person can gain access to His Father that is acceptable to His Father than to gain it through Him. Jesus also says in John 14:13-14, “(13) And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (14) If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” This is why we pray in Jesus’ name.
When we pray in Jesus’ name our prayers must be in alignment with the works of Jesus and with His Word. Now, let me say this before we continue: there is nothing special about saying “in Jesus’ name” at the end of our prayers. Simply saying His name at the end of our prayers does not mean our prayer will be answered. When we say “in Jesus’ name” at the end of our prayers, we are supposed to be confessing our faith in Jesus and what He has said concerning the issue we are bringing before Him in prayer. For example, if we are praying for healing for ourselves or for someone else, we could pray, “Jesus, we know that the Bible says by your stripes we were healed. We believe healing is now manifesting in our bodies and we thank you for that healing, Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen.”
Now, getting back to John 14:13-14. What is so interesting about the word “ask” in the Greek is that it really means “to demand something of someone who has the ability to provide it.” Because of our relationship with Christ, and because we are making requests according to the will of God through Him, we can make those demands knowing that, when we pray, we are making demands that Jesus died on the cross to give us the right to make.
• The next foundation is extremely important. When we pray, we must have a forgiving heart. Jesus said the following in Matthew 6:14-15, “(14) For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (15) But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” If we are not willing to forgive others of their sins against us, then God cannot forgive us – He cannot forgive us, not because He doesn’t want to forgive us, but He cannot go against His own word. It does not matter how much we call on His name – if we have an unforgiving heart, we lock God’s hands in His ability to forgive us. And remember, we are only freed from our sins when we truly repent and ask God to forgive us!
• The last foundation we want to mention in this lesson is that we should be praying unceasingly. We should always be praying, and not just when we need something! Remember what we read at the beginning of this lesson from First Thessalonians 5:17? It says, “Pray without ceasing.” In the Greek, it reads “Pray without intermission”. In other words, we don’t allow prayerless gaps to intervene between the times of prayer. For example, if we only pray when we get up in the morning, at mealtimes and when we go to bed, there will be “intermissions” in our prayer life. One way to get rid of the intermissions, or at least minimize them, is to pray throughout the day softly under our breaths. No one will hear us, but God will! Praying for ourselves, praying for others, praying prayers of adoration and thanksgiving – you get the point. We should always be praying and communicating with God and waiting for Him to respond.
Now before we close this first lesson on prayer, we want to point out something that is important to grasp when the Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. In Matthew 6, a portion of scripture that we visited earlier, Jesus is instructing the disciples to be different from the hypocrites who do things to be seen of men. One of the things He pointed out was the following: “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” (Matthew 6:7) Jesus tells His disciples not to fall in love with their voices by repeating themselves. The Amplified Bible puts it this way: “And when you pray, do not heap up phrases (multiply words, repeating the same ones over and over) as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their much speaking.”
Summary & Close
This concludes our first lesson on prayer. Next month in Part 2, we will begin looking at what we believes are some of the more common hindrances to getting our prayers answered. If this lesson has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. You can also visit our YouTube channels for other lessons and/or sermons that you might have missed. Barry’s YouTube channel is Barry Johnson Ministries and mine is New Light Faith Ministries, Inc. Let’s pray.
