“How to pray”

Synopsis of Bible Study 9/7/16

Delivered by Bishop Walker III

1. Introduction
2. We live in day of access. Just to prove this point, consider this: If some of us lost our phone, we would not know what to do. We invest most of our time in communication. We put emphasis on communicating with each other, rather than communicating with God.
3. Prayer is communion with God. When people say what’s up, they don’t want anything past that particular greeting. This is an example of communication, but it is not communion. With communion, it goes much further. In communion, the two that are talking want to stay a while and have a
4. Prayer has to take place frequently and consistently. In fact, a writer by the name of D. J. Moody is quoted as saying, “He who kneels the most, stands the best” . Learning how to pray powerful prayers can be the difference between defeat and victory.

1. The Art of prayer.
2. The model prayer. In Luke 11:1-4 (NKJV) we find The Model Prayer which reads ¹¹Now 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.” ² So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven,^[a]   Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.^[b] 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.”^[c]  – This is a model prayer , but it doesn’t mean our prayer should be this prayer (word for word), every time we pray. It simply means that when we pray, our prayer should contain some of the same components as those that our found in the model prayer.
   1. Mathew adds a different twist to the model prayer. Matthew 6:13 (NKJV) says ¹³ And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.^[a] – Matthew gives the same model prayer, but he acknowledges the ending by giving adoration to God.
   2. When you think of the components found in the model prayer, you have to notice the following components: Adoration, Confess, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.
      1. Adoration – This is bestowing adoration on God or recognizing his greatness! Psalm 96:4 (NKJV) says ⁴ For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.– You can’t approach prayer without acknowledging the awesomeness of God. When you get into the presence of God and recognize who you are talking to, you can’t help but to reverence him.
      2. Confess – We must confess our faults and wrong doings. You have to acknowledge our wrong doings and be remorseful. 1 John 1:9 (NKJV) says ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness- This means you don’t confess to people, you confess to a name that is hallowed. You have to go to God with a sense of Then you are able to realize you are not worthy of what you are asking for and that you are forgiven.
      3. Thanksgiving –1 Thessalonians 5:18N (NKJV) says ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. – The easy part of giving thanks is for saying to the Lord, “Thank you for everything you’ve done”! We are in His debt. The other part of saying thank you is thanking God for the things he allowed that we don’t understand. It’s hard to thank God while you are crying, but you know if God allowed it, then it is for your good. We have to trust God to know he would not allow anything that wasn’t for your good.
      4. Supplication –Philippians 4:6 (NKJV) says ⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; -To supplicate is to be specific. We must tell God what you want and be specific about it when we pray. Ex – When you go into a restaurant, you are specific. When you make an order at a restaurant drive-thru, we are specific about our request. If we want a sandwich without tomatoes, we order the sandwich without tomatoes.
         1. Often when we pray, we are general and not specific. We ask God to send us a wife or we ask God to send us a husband, but we are not specific about what we want. If you want a wife or husband that is tall, we have to be specific about it. If we want a wife or husband that goes to church, we have to add this to our prayer. Make your specific request known to God. You might not get it all, but at least you won’t miss the opportunity to make your request known.

Ex- Imagine if Oprah Winfrey came too your church service and said she wanted to bless somebody with anything they want, you would be excited. If the Pastor picked somebody out and they asked Oprah that they wanted her to pay their light bill, you would be furious. You wouldn’t be able to understand why they would miss the opportunity to get anything they wanted, by choosing something as small as a light bill. You would feel like they wasted a wish. Likewise, we have to stop limiting our prayer request, thinking that God is not big enough to fulfill it.

• The art of Intercession
  1. Intercession means to stand in the gap between heaven and earth for people. Ex- Bishop remembers when the mothers on the Mother’s Board, used to make this humming sound while he preached. They used to hum in a steady rhythm that did not distract or take away from the message. It actually seemed to go with the message. At first Bishop did not know what they were doing, but one day he realized that what the Mothers were doing was interceding for him. They were praying for this young ambitious Pastor and the delivery of his message.
  2. Just like these Mothers, some of us had a mother or grandmother praying for us and interceding on our behalf, while we were out there acting a fool.
     1. Ezekiel 22:30 (NKJV) says ³⁰ So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. – God was looking for an intercessor, because he could not find anyone worthy of sparing..
     2. Isaiah 59:16 (NKJV) says ¹⁶ He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.- God wanted to find someone to intercede on behalf of his people.

• 1 Timothy 2:5 (NKJV) says ⁵ For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, – Jesus became our intercessor.

1. Romans 8:34 (NKJV) says³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us., Christ is at the right hand.
   1. God revealed himself in a way that we could understand. In the beginning, the Holy Spirit was to the left and to the right was the son or The Word. God the Holy Spirit moved over the face of the water and he sent a word to speak things into existence.
   2. The Word goes down to earth and dies after 33yrs. The He comes back to sit at the right hand of God the Father. Before God the Son leaves earth, He tells the people that he would not leave them comfortless. As Jesus is coming back to the throne and the Holy Spirit heads down to earth to live in us.
   3. The Holy Spirit makes intercessions for you. When you pray, you pray to the chief intercessor, so when you pray, you must pray in Jesus name. It is like a stamp. If you don’t it may, like a letter without a stamp, be returned to the sender. The Father has a lot of different ways to answer your requests. God will often give your Pastor a word for the requests you have made. This is made possible, because of the Holy Spirit.
   4. Sometimes, because of the Holy Spirit living in us, God will put a supper on your natural.
   5. There are also moments the Father gets prayer requests from the Son. God gives his angels charge concerning you. An example of this is you being on an interstate an about to run into something and you only have time to say “Jesus”! This is a short prayer, but it is long enough for God to send an angel to block the truck from your path. This leaves you wondering how it happened. The answer is Angels is watching over you. Sometimes can’t visualize this, but if you think back, in the book of Acts, it was and Angel that released Peter from prison (Acts 12:5-17).
2. The action of prayer
3. Prayer that Heals the Sick – James 5:14 (NKJV) says 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. – The leader lays hands on the elders and as a result, the elders can lay hands on you, because the anointing flows down.
4. Prayer that moves mountains – Matthew 21:21 (NKJV) ²¹ So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. – We believe when we prayer for something, it will happen.

1. The authority of prayer
2. Learning how to have effect prayer. Peter 3:13 (NKJV) says ¹³ And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? – In order to have your prayers reach heaven, you can’t be out of fellow ship of God.
3. Isaiah 59:1-2 (NKJV) says 59 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. ² But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear- Sometimes it is us that is preventing our prayers from being heard. When we are in certain areas, our cell phone may drop the call, no matter who we are talking to. In like manner, when you find yourself out of relationship with God because of where you have allowed yourself to go, your prayer call may drop. You failed to keep a connection with the Lord.
4. You’ve got to be in right relationship with others. Matthew 5:23-24 (NKJV) says ²³ Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.,
5. 1 Peter 3:7 (NKJV) says ⁷ Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.– You are your wife’s covering. If there is a noise in the basement at night, you go and see what it is, you don’t send your wife to go and check it out in your stead. Same principle spiritually. Likewise, if you are the covering, how you treat your wife, determines if God hears your prayers. She is a gift from God. If you treat the gifts that God gives you bad, then God want hear your prayer.
6. You must believe when you pray.
   1. 1 john 5:14 (NKJV) says ¹⁴ Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. – One thing we have to remember, we can’t pray for stuff that is out of God’s will and expect Him to honor it. For example, you can’t pray for bad stuff to happen to your enemies.
   2. James 1:6-8 (NKJV) ⁶ But 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. ⁷ For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. -Don’t ask doubting. You got to believe it will happen, if it is in God’s will. When we pray, we have to believe that God has already put into motion what we requested, just like any parent would for their child.
   3. Conclusion:

5 things when you pray

1. Be intentional. Luke 5:16 (NKJV) says ¹⁶ So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.- Jesus was intentional about praying. When do you carve out time from your busy schedule, to pray?
2. Be alert – Don’t schedule time to pray when you are sleepy. It is ok to pray at different times. You don’t have to only pray at night.
3. Be consistent. Ephesians 6:18 (NKJV) says ¹⁸ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—  – Being consistent means that you are dedicated to it. Replace the one thing you do every day that you shouldn’t. You could replace that time and use it for time to pray to God.
4. Be positive – When you go to God, believe that he can do it.
5. Be thankful –Psalm 100:4 (NKJV) says ⁴ Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.- Be thankful that you are alive to talk to God and then show it by actually talking to him.