Prayer
We are called to pray and trust the answers we receive are what we need. but why don’t my prayers get answered?
Assumptions:
- We believe God answers prayers, the question is about OUR prayers
- We think that God sometimes answers our prayers.
There are more answers than ‘yes’ in a request in prayer. ‘yes’ ‘no’ ‘not yet’ ‘grow’.
Quote
When your request is not right, God says ‘no’ When you’re not right, ‘no’ When the timing is not right, ‘slow’ When the timing and character and heart are all lined up, God days ‘Go’ - Rick Warren
Pray and trust that the answers we receive are the answers we need.
Prayers are a conversation with God. God speaks to us, and prayers let us talk to God. Prayers are highly relational because God is highly relational. An infinite God wants to have a relation with us. We are less to him than we are to pets.
Most of the time I talk to God as a TODO list. A grocery list. We don’t have a relationship with him, we just
Categories
Worship/praise These remind us who we are talking to. “Our Father, who art in Heaven. Hallowed be Thy name.” We enter to the presence of absolute holiness. We then won’t be flippantly ingress to God’s heaven.
Thanksgiving If we are not grateful for everything in life, we take those things for granted. We think that things don’t all come from God. Everything comes from God.
Confession To admit to God what you did and agree with Him that it was wrong. We need to get it forgiven because sin keeps us away from God.
Intercession/supplication Intercession - that God might work in someone else. Supplication - To ask God for yourself.
Don’t start with supplication. Start a deeper pattern. A better pattern:
- Praise/Thanks
- Confess
- Intercede
- Supplication
Know things to apply in our life. Broaden and Deepen my view of prayer and practice of prayer.
We don’t need to pray through all the categories, but we should pray fully twice a day.
Prayer is not to get things from God, but to get God. “see prayer as merely a way to get things from God but as a way to grt more of God himself. Prayer is striving to ‘take hold of God’” - Tim Keller
We do not have because we do not ask. What might we not be asking that God wants to do?
What makes an effective prayer
Effective prayer
Praying the way God wants us to.
How do we Pray Effectively?
1. Pray in Jesus’ name
Ourself we have no grounds for asking for things. We don’t have the righteousness or authority. It is only because of Jesus that we can ask. We are asking from Jesus’s authority and righteousness.
Therefore, we come to God with a position of grace, humbly, with reverence/fear.
Before we pray, think. Would Jesus pray this prayer?
How do we know His Will?
Time in his presence
- If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
The longer we spend time in Jesus, the more we will want his want.
Effective prayer is ruined when: Entitlement instead of humility Self righteous ; grace Flippancy ; fear Misaligned motives.
Our motivations need to be what God wants, not but we want.
If God said no to every request, but gave us more and more of Himself, would that be enough?
2. Pray in faith
- But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
Avoid praying prays that request things against his character.
Praying in Faith Praying in faith does not mean faith in the Answer. That is misplacing the faith. You’re not trusting the answer-er. We need to trust God instead, then we will always trust his answer, whichever it is.
Praying in faith is not faith in faith. It’s not about HOW MUCH or HOW STRONG your faith is.
Praying in faith is taking your faith and putting it all on him.
3. Pray persistently
Always pray and not loose heart. Even silence means something. Don’t run away when you hear silence. Don’t listen to the voices telling you to stop.
What have I given up praying for? Am I sure God said ‘no’?