.png)
Title: Prayer Part I
1 Timothy 2v8;
Introduction
Ø Although God is all knowing He has chosen to let us help Him change the world through prayer. The church is an organism. It’s living and hence we should pray always and engage the God through the Holy Spirit in Jesus name.
Ø Prayer gives us access to hidden inaccessible matters.
Ø How this works is a mystery to us because of our limited understanding but it a reality
Ø One of the things that will help us to pray is to know that God loves us. John 3v16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but should get eternal life.
Ø We should know that we are his creation and understand the intimate love that he has for us. Paul in Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ø In Psalms 139:13-18 David says, For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand- when I awake, I am still with you.
Ø Jeremiah 29:11-13 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. It is important to know that God has got precious thoughts for us.
Ø It is sad to see how prayer have lost importance in many churches. If you announce a banquet people attendant in numbers but if you announce prayer very few people come.
Ø Even many Pastors spend more time in preparing the message than in prayer. Much prayer means much power. No prayer no power.
Ø The Spirit grieve as the church gradually moves away from the word and prayer
Ø The apostles actually devoted their time to only prayer and word. No wonder so many miracles followed their ministries Acts 6:4. It says “Then we apostles spend much time in prayer and teaching the word.
Ø Our prayers should be well thoughtful to avoid using repetitive words
What is Prayer:
Ø Prayer is a two-way channel by which God and man communicate with each other. It is a spiritual engagement with the Lord through the work of the Holy Spirit
Ø Communication is very vital for any relationship that is to pass the test of time.
Ø Through prayers Christians relate their minds, feelings, emotions, desires and inadequacies, while God communicates answers, assurance and His supremacy to the believers.
Ø Prayer makes us to grow spiritually. Through prayers, we build up our faith in God
Ø What and Who should we pray for: We should pray for ourselves, all people, our issues, and etc
Ø Our earnest prayer will have powerful results: James 5:16 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.
Ø We should develop the culture of being devotional and have a personal prayer life. If we are Prayerless and worship less we become powerless
Ø Anything that you don't pray for you will never conquer it. Prayerful people are great achievers
Ø Our issues are dealt with and are resolved in and by prayer
Ø Revival will only come when people go on their knees
Ø Pray is a “beseeching the Lord Ex 32:11. No matter whatever circumstance our prayer engages the Lord
There are seven Greek words for prayer
Ø Ask (aiteo) means to ask for with urgency, even to the point of demanding. means to makes a humble, earnest plea or entreaty
Ø Beg (deomai means to make petition, to plead, to ask in prayer, to implore (pray for earnestly) and emphasizes the existence of a need. Deomai is a strong way to ask for something - a leper imploring Jesus to heal him (Lk 5:12),
Ø Pray (proseuchomai rom pros = toward, facing, before [emphasizing the direct approach of the one who prays in seeking God’s face] + euchomai = originally to speak out, utter aloud, express a wish, then to pray or to vow. It encompasses all the aspects of prayer – (i) submission, (ii) confession, (iii) petition, (iv) supplication (may concern one's own need), (v) intercession (concerned with the needs of others), (vi) praise, and (vii) thanksgiving.
Ø Pray (deesis) refers to urgent requests or supplications to meet a need and are exclusively addressed to God. Deesis prayers arise from one's sense of need (which reflects a humble heart) and in knowing what is lacking. This individual's plea is in turn made to God to supply for the need.
Ø proseuche from pros = toward or immediately before + euchomai = to pray or vow)
Ø Intercession and Giving thanks
Ø 1 Timothy 2v1-8 Our hearts must be right with God and with each other when we pray
There are three essentials for an Effective prayer:
1. Cleans Hands: This is symbolic of a blameless life. If we have got sin in our lives we can not pray and expect God to answer. Psalms 66:18
2. We should be in good terms with one another: Without anger, forgiving. A person who is constantly having trouble with other believers, who is troublemaker rather than a peacemaker cannot prayer and get answers from God. When anger is in hearts we cannot pray effectively. Mark 11:25-26 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
2.1 Without murmurings and disputings. Philippians 2:14. Murmurings results into doubt
3. Doubting: We must pray in faith. Hebrew 11:1-6. Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
It very important to spent more time preparing for prayer in order to pray effectively through the word
Ø We should pour out our souls before the Lord just like Hannah” 1 Samuel 1:15
Ø Our attitude in Prayer is very important. 2 Chro 32:20 King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to heaven about this.
Ø If the Supreme God is your refuge you will always run into prayer. In Psalm 73:28 David says “But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds. Prayer brings us to hiding place
Ø Every family derives its name from the Lord. Eph 3:14-15 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name
Ø We pray because Jesus prayer. Our Master prayed so we should pray. Mark 1:35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Matthew 14:23; Luke 6:12; Luke 22:32; Luke 22:41-44; Luke 23:34; John 11:41-42
Ø He taught us to pray to make sure we do not have an excuse to stop praying. Matthew 6:9-13 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
Ø 1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray continually (without ceasing),
Ø We pray because there are many hidden things in our lives that we need to know. Matthew 11:25-26 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
Ø Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.
Ø From time and again we should also combine prayers with fasting.
Ø King David wrote that he “humbled [him]self with fasting” (Psalms 35:13).
Ø Fasting is a means of getting our minds back on the reality that we are not self-sufficient.
Ø Fasting helps us realise just how vulnerable, insufficient, inadequate and how ineffective we are without God's intervention.
Ø James tells us, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Constant prayer and occasional fasting help us to witness and encounter great breakthroughs, miracles and visitation
Ø One thing we should pray for is our leaders around the world: For us to have peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity
Ø Romans 10:13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Ø I have had people saying there are many bridges to God. That’s not true. Most people that say that are not even committed to one bridge. In actual fact they won’t believe in God.
Ø The fact remains we human beings are separated from God by our sins. We need a savior. A way to across the abyss of sin to God. Only one person in the universe is our Mediator. 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.
Ø Hebrews 9:15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. A ransom is a price paid to set a slave free. We need someone to set us free. Jesus came to set us free and we free indeed
Ø 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (The blood of Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross brought new life to all people. Allow him to bridge the gap between you and God. Let Him bridge the gap sin.
Ø 1 John 1:6-10 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Ø He paid a ransom for all, Hebrews 9:10-30. He is the better sacrifice.
Ø He paid a debt that he did not owe Matthew 18:21-35 (The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant).
Ø Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Because he sacrificed for us)
Ø John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He is our ransom. He paid a ransom for us
Ø Jeremiah 33:3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and [a]mighty things, which you do not know.’
Ø Jeremiah 32:27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?
Ø God answers any pray but the fact is he works through. He gave us dominion: Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Ø In Conclusion I will say, Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Quote from Philippians 4:5-8)
Comments