Now that I am Saved #4
Prayer
Luke 11:1 - 4 (NKJV) 1Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” 2So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.”
ILL: This is a model prayer not the “Lord’s Prayer”
We need to learn how to pray
Psalms 25:4 - 5 (NKJV) 4 Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. 5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.
You need to pray to “the God of your salvation”
ILL: I do not mean that you have to repeat the words but that you have to know Him as the “God of your Salvation”
John 9:30 - 33 (NKJV) 30The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! 31Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. 32Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. 33If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”
The Process
“Show Me”
Ask Him to show you His will and His standards for your life (This is not easy)
When God shows you He has your heart
“Teach Me”
Psalms 119:105 (NKJV) 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
When God teaches you He has your head
“Lead Me”
Romans 6:1 - 4 (NKJV) 1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
When God leads you He has your hand!
Keep it simple and spontaneous
Matthew 6:5 - 7 (NKJV) 5“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6But 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. 7And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
ILL: A few years ago a national minister had a program Praying for one hour in which he had people go through a routine of pointing to the north, south, east, and west and commanding the blessings of God to come and pretending like they were putting on the “Whole Armor of God” – it must not have worked he lost his church and his marriage as did another minister who copied him. – I’m not saying the prayer routine causes their fall but I am saying that it did not help them keep from falling!
ILL: Imagine this as a prayer:
“I respectful petition, request, and entreat that due and adequate provision be made, this day and date first above and inscribed, for the satisfying of the petitioner’s nutritional requirements and for the organizing of such methods of allocation and distribution as may be deemed necessary and proper to assure the reception by and for said petitioner’s of such quantity of cereal products (herein-after called bread) as shall in the judgment of the aforesaid petitioner constitute a sufficient amount.”
In other words, “Give us this day our daily bread!”
Believe in your prayer
Mark 11:22 - 24 (NKJV) 22So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Be specific
ILL: Paul YougeCho asked God for a bicycle so that he could serve his church visitation in Korea. After many prayers God asked him, “what kind of bicycle?” YoungeCho then asked for a red, American bicycle with a basket and big white wall tires. An American called him and asked, “YoungeCho, do you need a bicycle? I need to give one away.”
“What kind of bicycle? YoungeCho asked “do you want to give away?”
“An American bicycle- its red, has a basket and white wall tires” came the answer.
“What are you doing with my bicycle?” The Korean answered.
Speak to the problem with God’s authority.
Instead of praying ……. Pray this way
God save this country God save, Bill; Sally
God help me to do well in school God help me to study and make an
A on this test
God bless my Pastor God Anoint Pastor Paul to preach
And to minister to the Cathedral
God teach people to love each other God help me to love my wife –
Husband
Ask with the right attitude and motive
James 4:1 - 4 (NKJV) 1Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Is my request fair and helpful to everyone concerned?
Is my request in harmony with the Word of God?
Will it blend with my gifts?
Will it draw me closer to God?
What is my part in answering this prayer?
Matthew 7:7 - 12 (NKJV) 7“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Seek
ILL To seek is to ask with an effort. Prayer without action is presumption.
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
2 Thessalonians 3:10 - 12 (NKJV) 10For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 11For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. 12Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread.
“He who prays and prays, but act not on what he knows,
Is like a man who plans and plans but never sows”
Knock
Luke 11:5 - 10 (NKJV) 5And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. 9“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
ILL: When praying for someone else – Keep on praying until you see the results!
All prayer time is not talking
Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV) 31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
ILL; My prayer time: 20% talking 80% listing
Let God love you
Let God search you
Let God show you
Bible study is listing to God’s Word
Pray the Scriptures
Ill: I have been having a problem with stress so I have found a prayer for stress – it is becoming my once a day prayer pill for stress!
Philippians 4:4 - 7 (NKJV) 4Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
“Father I rejoice in You, I will say it again: I rejoice! You are an awesome, incredible God. I pray that my gentleness, which comes from the power of your Holy Spirit would be evident to all. Lord, I know that You are near. You have promised never to forsake or abandon me. And for that reason, I will not be anxious about anything. You are on the throne, and I will trust in You! In everything Lord, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, and praise, I will present my requests to You. And Lord, I ask that Your peace, which transcends all understanding will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus from the cares and anxieties of this day. It is in the strong name of Your Son Jesus Christ, that I pray. Amen.”
Avoid things in your life that will kill prayer
Unconfused sin
Psalms 66:18 (NKJV) 18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.
“Prayer prevents us from sin and sin prevents us from prayer”
“Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more disastrous is this isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light, in the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Lack of Faith
James 1:5 - 8 (NKJV) 5If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Disobedience
1 John 3:21 - 22 (NKJV) 21Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
D. Lack of transparency
James 5:16 (NKJV) 16Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Unforgiveness
Matthew 6:14 - 15 (NKJV) 14“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Wrong Motive
Norman Vincent Peale told that when he was a boy he got hold of a cigar and went into an alley to smoke it. When he saw his father coming he attempted to hide the cigar behind his back. Seeing a sign advertising the circus he tried to divert his father’s attention by asking if his father would take him. “Son” his father told him, “never try to hide your motive and disobedience under a request.”
ILL: The pastor who helped a little boy who was trying to ring a doorbell. “Now that I rang it for you what do you do?” “We run like hell!” the boy answered.
Disregard for God’s Sovereignty.
Ruth Graham says that she is glad that God did not answer three of her prayers. “That would have been three times in a row I would have married the wrong man!”
