What is Prayer?
1. Prayer is man talking to God directly.
2. Prayer is spiritual communication between man and God.
3. Prayer is a two-way communication and relationship with God in which man not only talks to God but also listens to God.
4. Prayer develops and strengthens our relationship with God and demonstrates our absolute trust and complete dependence upon Him.
5. Prayer is seeking God's favour (Exo 32:11), pouring out one's soul to the Lord (1 Sam 1:15), crying out to heaven (2 Chr 32:20), drawing near to God (Ps 73:28, KJV), and kneeling before the Father (Eph 3:14).
Some biblical promises to encourage us to pray:
He shall call upon me and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him.---Psa 91:15
The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.---Psa 145:18
And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.---Isa 65:24
Call to me and I will answer you and tell and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.---Jer 33:3
Rejoice always, pray continually (unceasingly), give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.---1 Th 5:16-18
Mt 6:9-15 is not the Lord's Prayer but His model for prayer. And it starts with: Our Father in Heaven (Mt 6:9a).
It starts by knowing:
- 1. Who He is - who are you praying to?
- 2. Where He Is
- 3. How to Approach Him
- 4. What to Expect From Him
I. Who is He?
A. He is our Almighty God
- There is none greater than Him nor can be compared to Him
- He is greater than all our problems and difficulties.
B. He is our Heavenly Father
- who loves, cares and wants to help us.
- Prayer is a privilege for us as His children. We can come to Him with our petition because we have a relationship with Him through His son Jesus Christ.
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.---John 1:12
And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.---John 14:13
And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.---John 16:23
II. Where is He?
- in Heaven
- High and above and within us
III. How to Approach Him?
A. With Confidence
Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.---Heb 4:16
B. With Assurance
He shall call upon me and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him---Psa 91:15
Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.---Jer 32:17
C. With Respect and Humility
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.---2 Chr 7:14
D. With Clean Heart, Mind and Hand
1 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.---Isa 59:1-2
IV. What Can We Expect From Him?
- Our Father hears and answers prayers.
- It may be Yes, NO, or Wait
- Jesus said, "We must pray always and never give up."(Luke 18:1)
7 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.---Mt 7:7-12
- 1. Everyone who asks receives.
- 2. Everyone who seeks finds.
- 3. He who knocks the door will be opened.
He is able to do exceedingly abundantly immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.---Eph 3:20
Application
Our Heavenly Father is good, great, glorious, gentle, gracious, and generous.
- He gives generously, not lends with interest nor dole out in pittance.
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?---Rom 8:32
Challenge
Today come and stand before your good, great, glorious, gentle, gracious, and generous Father as His beloved and precious child.
- 1. ASK confidently and courageously for all your needs to be met according to the riches of his glory through Christ Jesus (Php 4:19)
- 2. SEEK consistently and continually for His will and purposes to be revealed and done in and through your lives (Rom 12:2)
- 3. KNOCK constantly and convincingly for Him to tell you and show you great, mighty and hidden things who you do not know and understand (Jer 33:3).
