PRAYER

PRAYER

1. What is prayer? Prayer is communication (talking) with God. Gen 18:23-32

2. Answered Prayer; Jabez 1Chronicles 4: 9-10, Hezekiah when sick; Isaiah 38:2-3, Peter release from prison; Act 12:5-

3. God has promise to answer our prayer; Ps 91:15, He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.

Isa 58:9. aThen you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

Zec 13:9 bThey will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people, and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’

4. What causes the failure to our prayer?

a. Sin Ps 66:18, If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;

Isaiah 59:1-2, Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

b. Unbelief (doubt) Matt 21:21-22, Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” therefore we should have FAITH, Mk 11:24

c. Some prayers sometime are refused because not in according with the divine will of God. 2Sam 12:16-23, 2Cor 12:8-9 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

5. Why should we pray?

a. Is a command: Matt 7:7-11, Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you…

Matt 26:41, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

Lk 18:1, Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 1Thess 5:17, pray continually

James 5:13, Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.

b. God needs our prayers; Ezekiel 22:30-31 “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. 31 So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.” (Numbers 14:11-20 Moses did it for the Israelites)

Rev 8:3-5, Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

c. The Lord himself (Jesus) prayed. Mk 1:35 (morning) 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.

Mk 6:46-47(evening) After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

Lk 5:16(alone) But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Lk 6:12(all night) One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

6. The master key of prayer; John 15:7

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.