1. Heb. 11:6 To believe that he is. a. God's charector and honor are glorified when we pray especially his attributes are praised. b. Jesus as our great high priest is in his office waiting to bring our requests to the father.c. The Holy Spirit is our helper and is ready to serve.d. God looks at us as a father does to his child. We are of more value than many sparrows Matt. 10:29-30. continued----series.
2--- Ex.33:13 that I may know thee. Yesterday I was including these prayer teachings in my Noah's ark project. right after I was finished , it was raining outside, when I went into the kitchen the sun came out real bright. It was still raining. Then out the door onto the porch said to myself I wonder if there's a rainbow , sure enough a great big beautiful one. Ran and got camera, cell phone one won't pick up the rainbow only the trees and sky. When I looked at the ground with the camera by accident there was my shadow. I took a picture of that ,the sun was shining behind me. Is that a accident that the rainbow came right after entering prayer teaching on the Noah's ark project? Any how getting back to this teaching. it is knowing God that makes the difference, a personal fellowship in prayer. bottom line no God no need to pray. awe and reverence are important, he is so far more than what we are. He is a God of covenant, His O.T. covenant names revealed what he was and could do. The fear of God means respect not a detour from approach. He delights for us to come. Lk.12:32 Now we have the great name of God -Jesus-- Jn. 14:13 God's love is not a mushy love but one that is like a total care giving love. Once we get to know God then we will see that he is more than just a knowledge we have in our head--- but a living reality who can do as he pleases-- and there are no limits to his doing as he pleases. Jn. 14:12 think about this-- He says greater works shall they do than these because I go to the father-- that proves right there that after he sends the Holy Spirit there will be more continued revelation He goes to the father Jn.14:26 and to be able to do something greater than what he did , would first have to be revealed to you so you could do that greater work. Of course we know that it still will line up some way with scripture. example the scripture says will do greater works but it doesn't say what that work will be. the key is to ask is it a righteous work that bears fruit and glorifies God. holy laughter for example is not glorifying God but promotes self. Joy on the other hand can actually be manifested in troubling times. it is not a emotion but a inner witness of the Spirit's fruit. It could be just a knowing that all will be okay. By the way Sarah's laughter was because she thought how bizaar to have a son at that old age.Gen.18:14-15 we see in Phil 3:10 that it was possible to know him said Paul that I may know him. This would take place even though Jesus was gone back to the father. The Holy Spirit would reveal him, another good reason to have the Holy Spirit. power of ressurection comes after the death to the self life.
3.--- Ps.63:1 We are learning important things to help our prayer life. this time we are dealing with personal fellowship with God. We tend to think that God is just a God who we ask things of. One preacher said ." a celestial Santa Clauss" We also may be only praising him for salvation at the cross. There is nothing wrong with either. We are called to be a friend of God. Just one example is that God wants to show us secrets of a victorious life. He wants us to share with him what we wouldn't share with anyone else. God is closer to me than my wife. When I talk with him there are times where as talking to him he turns what I said into a remarkable wisdom. Never would have thought of that on my own. Just yesterday after posting about prayer on my blog called the Noah's ark project, went in the kitchen it was raining outside, the sun came out and still raining. went on the porch and up in the sky a beautiful rainbow. coinsidence-- no- it was a message to me. In Isa. 54:9-10 God is showing his covenant peace shall not be removed. The word peace in Hebrew is shalom-- meaning total well being- every need supplied, healing, financial, spiritual, mental, good health, everything. in the now not in heaven. Aloha -the Hawaihan greeting means the same thing. The personal relationship with God helps us to stay focused on him. We are then kept on the narrow path of righteousness.
Jer. 1:12 God will perform his word. Therefore it will be good to use the word when we pray. there are almost 7,500 promises in the bible. Rom. 10:17 faith comes by hearing the word of God. We must expect prayer to be answered if we are going to pray at all. to pray without faith is to receive no answer. In Jam. 5:15 notice it says the prayer of faith shall heal the sick-- not just the prayer. Ps. 66:18 shows us iniquity causes God to not hear. 1Jn. 1:9 says if we confess our sins he will forgive them. when I confess a sin, I present 1Jn.1:9 to God. This is the basis of my faith. I will say the promise when I present my need before the Lord.
5. gratitude and thankfulness.-- a. offer the sacrifice of praise continually. look at this- Rom. 12:1 note present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Both of these are a continual ongoing thing. A person who is living a holy upright life, will be a person filled with joy and blessing even in times of suffering. They will praising God all the time and thanking him. Rom. 8:28 all things are working together for those who love God. look here --1 Jn.2:3-5 my summary- if we obey his words then we know we know him. Jesus in Jn. 15:7 if you abide in me and my words in you , you can ask in prayer and it shall be given you. So that is how we offer the sacrifice of our bodies. By doing that we have answered prayer, and that will keep us praising God. But what about when no answers arrive yet? Then we praise God that they are on the way. Is not heaven on the way though we're not there yet physically. Because we are in Christ we are seated with him in the heavenlies Eph. 2:6 not physically but as in union with him. We know by that statement that we have prayer authority. It is so close a union that we are pictured sitting with him. We can come boldly to the throne of grace in time of need. Heb. 4:16 b. you shall know them by their fruits? Heb.13:15 the fruit of the lips giving thanks to his name. Those who aren't on God's team are ussually complainers, can't get all they want in life, are selfish, say the wrong negative things. God has given us the wonderful ability to send forth life out our mouth. praise God , thanks, positive words, verbal prayer.etc. may the love of God be what you see in this teaching, even if you come short. bless you prayer companions.
6-- worship in prayer Deut. 32:4 This is Moses praying and bringing out a song of worship. There are many churches that sing songs of praise and worship before the bible message. We can also worship God in prayer. sing a appropriate song that points to his glory and greatness. I have sung in the Spirit before and it is like praising but making my words a song. it is not memorized. Phil. 3:3 no confidence in the flesh. God doesn't receive prayers based on our merits. we must worship in Spirit and in truth only. What a great work I'm doing for God is not faith but our self righteousness. We must check our motives, that we must be giving God the glory. beware of those who preach and pose as a great person for popularity, they may have other motives. our worship is designed to draw us closer to God.
7. praying with others.-- praying with others is a wonderful blessing. When others are involved it encourages us. They can also help in maybe adding things forgotten to add. I have been to many churches and participated in the prayer meetings. Never has it been a time of waste, though some have been there to be seen but not participate. There are always those who enter in. It is very refreshing to be in a body and bring forth your requests for others to join in. the passage Matt. 18:19-20 is a good passage. I praise God for all the real faith prayer warriors out there that pray God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
8-- confession-- comes from the word homologio-- which is to say the same thing. when we say God's word we are saying the same thing he said. Phil. 2:10-11 shows us in part b that we confess Jesus is Lord. when we do it glorifies the Father. It is important that if we confess him as Lord and we don't allow him to be, it wouldn't glorify God. Therefore we can see that our actions must line up with a confession of the word. The point I am trying to make is in Heb. 4:2 the word preached or spoken must be mixed with faith for it to profit. So when we confess a word-- preach it to ourselves, it must be mixed with our faith. Heb. 10:23 to hold fast to confession is the word in the Greek. profession is the same. That means if we confess a word or promise, we should not waver in unbelief but know that we have it after confessing it despite the circumstances. here's a example--- the little boy is excited because daddy is coming home tonight with the chocolate ice cream cone he promised. It is always popular for a child to tell his friends or his mommy a confession daddy promised me a chocolate ice cream cone before he even sees it. Well what if daddy comes home without it? The child will be dissapointed, and might say daddy you lied. In 2Cor.1:20 the promises of God are yes and amen, notice they glorify God. The difference between Daddy and our father God is daddy may have a reason for not bringing it home whereas God brings it in his perfect time. God is never late. What a terrible thing is doubt for it calls one who doesn't show up on time a lier. We have something that we can hold onto until it arrives after we confess we have it. that is a word in our mouth that we know God said it first. that brings great confidence in resisting doubt. remember God is always on time even if it seems the last minute.
9. asking--- Jn.14:14 anything defined-- Grk. any- including all the forms of declention- a primary word- all, any, every, the whole. thing- Grk.-- 2 of the applications that apply. matter, an object of material. something would still be a measure of amount whereas a anything would be all inclusive. This is why a word study can be helpful. it helps meditate on the subject till it registers in the mind. I may be like aunlearned fisherman, but I know what anything means. hope that this encourages you to know God doesn't confuse us with what we can ask. for some they need to know God won't give us something unbeneficial. His glory must be the motive. some may say there is something wrong with principles, here is a example of a principle we must use in asking. 1Pet.5:5 2 Chron.7:14 sometimes the scriptures don't say things directly out like we would want them to say. If someone disagrees with a particular thing and you use a scripture that speaks indirectly, they will say that doesn't say that. if they agree with that subject you are talking about they will agree. That is a abuse of the scriptures. If we don't agree we should go and study diligently and prayerfully. I've seen many people lose out on blessings because they disageed on what was the truth. That is a good standard for being careful to not be so dogmatic, though there are some things we should be dogmatic about, esp. the doctrine of Christ. 2Jn.1:9-10. Jam.4:3 we must not ask wrongly-- for a lustful reason. Ps.66:18 heart is the inner person. we must confess sin and put it under the atonement 1Jn.1:9 then we know we can pray.
10-- hindered prayer-- 1Pet.3:7 relationship with the wife when out of line can hinder prayer. 2. Mk. 11:23 doubt can hinder. 3. Heb. 13:17 obey leaders profits you. 4. sin hinders Ps.66:18. 5. forgive Mk.11:25 6. must believe Mk.9:23 7. 1Jn.5:14 must be according to his will. these are a few of the conditions to be met to receive answered prayer. analogy-- a parent with holds blessings from a misbehaving child.
11-- personal requests-- We tend to take for granted when things just happen to come our way. Others in the world go without food or clothing. Why is it I eat and they don't? though we know that all blessings come from God, That doesn't mean we are blessed. we are blessed because we have what is God's blessing. example Hitler was not blessed but surrounded with God's blessings. They were not intended for him, unless perhaps a extension of mercy to repent. He used to read the bible when very young until he heard the deadly message of Darwin. He then became disinterested in the bible. He was a believer in his own religion he created. What I would like to reveal is that when we have so many of God's blessings (come our way) we feel we don't need to pray and don't need to use faith to survive. The bread and fishes are a example. the people lacked and Jesus miraculously provided. He was a mediator in that situation because he was as a minister would provide for converts. Also he knew they were the seed of Abraham his chosen people he would be providing for his people who were in the process of moving on in God's will. But still there would be the poor who lacked. Matt. 6:33 shows us that to have all the things we need by faith, we first must seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. God does send the rain on the righteous and unrighteous but also on the beggar who has nothing. to be clear, if you are blessed and not a Christian your just enjoying the blessings you found ,or are coming your way,, If your a Christian and not living a life that pleases the Lord, you can see that his mercies are guiding you to him. If you are a good Christian thank him, praise him, and remember that the things you need are not always there because you must ask for them. see James 4:2 also Matt. 7:7 we must ask for our personal needs not just expect them to drop out of heaven. may you ask and receive abundantly by faith.
12 fasting-- kind of funny that we use the word fasting since really it's a time to slow down. to answer a lot of questions we can say it's not like getting up on a cross and having air conditioning and all the comforts of life. It is one day or many days long. it's your decision how long. it is a water only thing, because you are given to a prayer only thing. It is urgent and not play time. So nothing else is really important. It is not designed to be a work in order to get God to do thing. It is a act of faith in which you show God that this is more important to you than life itself. We would die without food. The first thing we would pray about is a heart searching to see if we are in good standing with God. Then we make sure all sin is under the blood and forgiven. God is drawn to look at us and see what he is looking at is pleasing him. He also is looking for Jesus in us, which is a automatic gift. Matt. 17:21 I suppose eventually someone will preach that fasting is not for today on the basis of this passage. If God answers one prayer in your life remember that is supernatural. Here is a good parrellel passage Jer. 1:12 We are desiring God to take care of something quickly for us. We are at the place where we are humbled and acknowledge we need God's intervention. Long time fasts end with eating litely and responding wisely. This is the end of the prayer series but not the end of all God wants to teach us I hope that these have helped you in your growth to the measure of the stature of the fullnesss of Christ. Eph. 4:13,14
God is moved by motives. Jam.4:3 when you watch some televangelists, TV preachers they are so obvious that money is there game. They speak great swelling words of vanity. It is overlooked by the gullible, but what they are doing is harmful to the people who have true intentions of getting answered prayer. How unfortunate that the prayer is of no value. the secret is that we all need to pray in faith for ourselves and not depend on the faith of another. prayer of others is important but God will require faith from the recipient first. united prayer is a call for more grace, 2 or more must agree first, meaning all have to have faith in God.
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