BS – 18 ‘Prayer’
Lesson Point – What is Prayer
Webster = ‘A solemn petition addressed to an object of worship.’
Another way to say it; “It is respective dialog between the people and God.”
Scripture tells that we, as Christians, have a mediator. It is like Father God is on the other side of the Grand Canyon and we need a bridge to reach HIM. Jesus is that bridge or mediator that provides Father God with our request and praises when we seek HIM in prayer.
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Question-1: How should we all pray?
Matthew 6:5-13, – 5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, thru verse 13. [The Lord’s Prayer is our example]
Question-2: Whose name are we to pray in?
John 16:23-28, – 23 In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in ‘My’ name, He will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. 25 “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf;27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. 28 I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.” [Who is the mediator between God-the-Father and man? It is Jesus and no one else! BUT all of us can pray for others thru Jesus as HE is our High Priest who mediates for those who have put their TRUST in Him.]
Question-3: Since the Holy Spirit dwells within; should we ask HIM to pray through us?
Jude 1:20-21, – 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. [Comment – Doesn’t scripture tell us that once we are saved the Holy Spirit dwells from within. If so, shouldn’t we ask HIM to be the one praying through us?]
Question-4: Have you ever prayed to where sweat poured from your body like drops of blood?
Luke 22:44, – And being in agony He [Jesus] was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground. [Comment – If I were to follow Jesus’ example, would my prayer, if prayed fervently, until I was to actually sweat, be powerful?]
Question-5: Did Christ ever pray for believers, his disciples, or himself?
John 17:1-26, – Christ prays for himself [1-5]; Christ prays for his Disciples [6-19]; Christ prays for all believers [20-26].
John 17:1-26, – Jesus spoke [prayed] these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was…..
6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. 9 I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. 12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth….
20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe [trust] in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; 26 and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
A question? Should we worry and not Pray OR should we Pray and not worry?
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Does God listen to all prayer or petitions?
What does scripture say?
John 9:31, – We know that God does not hear sinners [unsaved-those who fail to put their TRUST in Jesus]; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him.
Job 35:13, – “There they cry out, but He does not answer Because of the pride of evil men. 13 “Surely God will not listen to an empty cry, nor will the Almighty regard it.
Psalms 34:15-16, – The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry. 16 The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. [Who is righteous? Only those who have repented and put their TRUST in Jesus.]
Some others: Proverbs 15:29, Jeremiah 11:11, Micah 3:4, Zechariah 7:13
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Phil. 4:6. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [Don’t worry; it does no good.]
Romans 8:26. In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groaning’s too deep for words; [Do we allow the Holy Spirit to speak thru us?]
Acts 12:5. So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God. [God listens to the prayers of the Righteous (the SAVED) doesn’t HE?]
Math 6:5-7. “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. [Am I Sincere?]
Matthew 17:19-21. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” 20 And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. 21 But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” [In this modern day world; how many people humble ourselves and FAST before we pray to our Lord?]
Conclusion
Only the Justified, Righteous, Forgiven, Heaven bound people have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. The people of God [God the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit] make their prayers [praise & request] from within, which is from the soul or spirit using their own mouth or mind if praying silently The Heaven bound people are only justified because of the blood that was shed by Jesus and then themselves, fully putting their ‘trust’ in him for Salvation.
We are known as the FEW.
SELAH..
DG