<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

It Is Written

John Bradshaw

1, 2, 3, 4, Prayer

Coming up next, please stay tuned for It Is Written, presented by Pastor John Bradshaw.

Prayer is 1 of the cornerstones of the Christian life.

But what if it feels like your prayer life is stuck in a rut?

Now there's no question God wants you to pray.

1 of Jesus' parables was taught for the purpose of teaching that people always ought to pray and not lose heart.

His disciples asked him 1 day to teach them to pray, And he did.

Prayer is communicating with God, intentionally communicating, entering into closeness with God to tell Him what's on your heart.

It's opening up your heart to God as you would to a friend.

According to the Pew Research Center, 59% of Catholics in the United States say they pray daily, 79% of evangelical Protestants, 69% of Muslims, 43% of Buddhists, and 51% of Hindus.

Although, not to be cynical, but you might wonder how accurate those figures are and what people mean by praying.

You don't want to pray casual prayers, empty prayers, insipid prayers.

Jesus prayed and people came back from the dead.

Elijah prayed and fire came down from heaven.

And then the heavens opened and it rained for the first time in 3 and a half years.

Paul and Silas prayed and prison doors opened and their chains fell off.

A tax collector prayed, and he was forgiven of his sins, justified by God." You want to pray prayers that move mountains, and if not literal mountains, then certainly mountains of difficulty and challenges, mountains of burdens, mountains of guilt or confusion or illness or financial trouble.

I'm going to share with you how you can pray powerful, effective prayers.

I'll share with you several prayers from the Bible that will take you deep inside the minds and hearts of people who pray powerful prayers.

In John 14, 14 He said, If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

Now That almost seems just a bit too good to be true, as though he's exaggerating.

Except you prayed for a shiny red sports car and you didn't get it.

You prayed to go to Disneyland and your parents never took you.

You prayed that grandma would get well and grandma died.

It isn't a stick with which you beat God to convince him to do everything that you want.

You don't sit on his knee at the mall and tell him that you want a bicycle and lots of candy and poof, that's that.

And we don't often ask for things that in the big picture aren't the very best.

But let's not forget that if God answered every prayer that people live, you'd have neighbors that are 3, 000 years old.

And we have to understand that we don't always understand the big picture.

He promises that ultimately, all things work together for good to them that love God.

So, we pray and trust, even when we don't get the answers to prayer that we want.

Jesus said in Matthew 18 verses 19 and 20, Again, I say unto you, that if 2 of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

For where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." That is powerful.

And James wrote, You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasure.

You're praying for a million dollars and you might not get it because God knows you're only going to waste it, or it might end up being a curse and not a blessing, indicating that prayer shouldn't be self-centered.

Oh yes, pray for yourself, absolutely, but Not for selfish personal gain.

That cuts against the point of Christianity altogether.

When the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him to teach them to pray, this is what He said, "...our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil 1.

That's what we call the Lord's Prayer, with some versions of this prayer adding, For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Now, you could choose to pray this prayer just like that, But that's not really what Jesus intended.

This was a model for prayer, to help spur or motivate your prayers, to have you think about what you want to remember and not forget in prayer.

And I want to share with you a guideline or an outline, a method for prayer that I know can help you to jumpstart your prayer life.

It'll lift your prayer out of the doldrums, enabling the thermals of blessing to lift you up so that you're not stuck in the downdrafts of life.

God wants you to mount up with wings as eagles.

And prayer is the key to living that vibrant life.

You might be familiar with other methods of prayer, and I'm going to say, use whatever works for you.

But praying effective, life-changing, transformative prayers is as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4.

And we're drawing from the Lord's Prayer.

Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

We're remembering that the God of heaven is the 1 true God.

This is where you take time to praise God and to thank God.

Praise and thanks are the foundations of prevailing prayer because they put everything in perspective.

Offering praise to God reminds you just who He is and what He's capable of.

And it reminds you how small and incapable you are and how much you need God to intervene in your experience.

Praise and thanks are 2 very different things.

You magnify God because of who He is and what He's like.

Praise Him for His creative power, the power that brought the world into existence, the power that gave life to you.

David wrote, Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth.

Psalm 105 When you pray to the Creator, you have 0 doubt that He is able to do anything for you, to provide for you, to be there for you, because He is the Creator.

You can praise God for Calvary, for His goodness, His patience, His mercy, His love.

You realize quickly that you've got plenty to praise God for, and that doing so gets you out of yourself, out of your own head.

You're opening up yourself to the mind of God.

He can bring down the walls in your life.

He's mighty enough to do what needs to be done in your life.

Back to Menu

1, 2, 3, 4, Prayer

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

Man of Faith

28m

Strong Delusions

50m

The Seven Churches

The Seven Churches of Revelation: Smyrna

28m

God’s Plan Our Plan

45m

The Solution to the Health Care Crisis

28m

The Rescue: Fugitives and Freedom

28m

Restoration 2009: Expect It

Love With a Risk

31m

Living the Word

The Stillness of the Word

47m

Creation- Genesis as the Foundation

53m

WYC 2013 Seminar: Always Ready for Freedom

Overcoming Seminar, Part 6

1h

Steps to Christlike Thinking

43m

Better Health on a Budget

28m

Sound Doctrine