Introduction

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Let's start our Equipping moments by talking about our commitment to be people of prayer. Learning how to pray effectively is one of the most important things a believer can ever do in his Christian walk. Really, a believer cannot be a success in fulfilling God's purpose in his life if he does not know how to pray.

Leonard Ravenhill says, "No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few pray-ers. Many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere."

We will begin today by steps that are needed to start developing our prayer lives. First, we must define what prayer is and what prayer is not.

What is Prayer? Prayer is not:

1. Trying      to get God’s attention.
2. Trying      to get God to do something for you.

Prayer is communication with God, believing and receiving from him the things he has promised in Christ Jesus

It is important that we have the Word of God in developing our prayer lives. We come to God on the basis of his Word and we are guaranteed an answer to our prayers. Jesus said that if we abide in him and his wordabides in us, we can ask what we will and it would be done unto us. (John 15:7)

1 John 5:14,15 says that when we ask him according to his will (His Word) that he hears and we have the petitions that we desired of him

Let’s talk about the priority of prayer. The scripture tells us that prayer must be first in our lives. Jesus said that men ought always to pray and faint not (Luke 18:1). Paul exhorts us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). 

J Oswald Sanders said, “We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.”

Prayer is the foundation of every successful Christian endeavor. Time spent with God is vital if you desire a fruitful Christian life. As the foundation of every Christian endeavor, it plays a vital role in living a successful Christian life. Study the lives of the great men and women of God from the past, and you’ll see the strong emphasis they placed on prayer. Without prayer, they would never have been able to achieve such tremendous results.  Next time, we will see the place that prayer had in the early church.

 Jesus spent hours separated from the people, praying and fellowshipping with His heavenly Father. The time He spent in prayer prepared Him to minister effectively. Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, preached the gospel, fed the hungry, comforted the brokenhearted, healed the sick, cast out demons, gave sight to the blind, and raised the dead. These powerful deeds were the overflow of a life of prayer, lived in daily communion with God. The Gospels tell us that early in the morning while it was still dark, Jesus would rise and spend time alone with God in prayer (Mark 1:35). And often, even in busy periods of ministry, He would withdraw to solitary places and pray (Luke 5:16). At times He even spent whole nights in prayer (Luke 6:12). By making prayer such a high priority, Jesus was able to maintain constant communion with His Father and draw upon God’s wisdom, guidance, and power to fulfill His mission.

  The apostles demonstrated reliance on prayer. They were able to lead the church because they let nothing distract them from prayer. They understood what Jesus taught that God’s kingdom is advanced chiefly by prayer Leaders must first and foremost take counsel of God in prayer and draw upon His power. Therefore the apostles devoted themselves first to prayer and then to the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4).

When Jesus ascended to heaven and left them on the Mount of Olives, the apostles returned to Jerusalem and with the other believers “joined together constantly in prayer” (Acts 1:14) to prepare for a mighty visitation of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit came at Pentecost, three thousand were converted through a single sermon (Acts 2:41). Under their leadership, the new converts “devoted themselves to … prayer” (Acts 2:42), and the church grew rapidly. 

  When persecution threatened to overwhelm them, they led the church to cry out to God in prayer, and they “were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31). Later, when Peter was arrested by Herod and held for execution, the whole church united in prayer, and God sent an angel to break him out of jail (Acts 12:5–11). 

Through prayer God also guided the church in important decisions, such as opening her doors to the Gentiles (Acts 10) and sending out Barnabas and Paul to expand the church throughout the Roman world (Acts 13:1–3). At every significant juncture, it was by means of prayer that the apostles and the church drew upon God’s almighty power. This was a vital key to their survival and success.

Today we are going to learn about the basic principles of prayer that Jesus taught in model of prayer in Luke 11:1-4. One of the disciples asked to teach them to pray. He then outlines “building blocks” to help them develop their prayer lives. 

First, He taught them that prayer is a relationship between God and his people:: “Our Father” (vs. 2) he taught them that prayer should begin with praise "Hallowed be thy name” (vs.2). He also taught them that prayer should have expectation: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done" (vs. 2). Prayer should also have petition: "Give us day by day our daily bread"(vs. 3). Confession should be a major part of prayer: "Forgive us our sins" (vs. 4). Trusting in God's protective ability was explained when He said, "Don't lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil"(vs.4).

We will later come back to these basic principles in more depth.

Jesus explained in verse 9 that prayer was asking, seeking, and knocking. Asking speaks of petition, seeking speaks of devotion, and knocking speaks of intercession.  Next time we will talk about these things in greater depth.

Let’s go back to Jesus’ teaching on prayer in Luke 11. The ninth verse he is teaching that prayer was asking, seeking and knocking. Today we will talk about asking or petition God in prayer.

In prayer is it vital for us to understand that we must learn to ask God for things we want from him. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church said this, “It seems like that God is limited to our prayer life. God cannot do anything for humanity unless someone asks him to.”  

Many, when they approach God in prayer, their communication with him is just a rehearsal of the problems that they are going through and God cannot do anything on their behalf just by them telling him their problem. In Matthew 6:8 Jesus said, "... your Father knows what things ye have need of, before ye ask him, but he said in Luke 11:9 you must ask. James 4:2 says, “… you have not because you ask not.” James 4:3 say that you ask and receive not because ye ask amiss (we will talk about a little later about hindrances to your prayer life. 

The gift of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is for the asking (Luke 11:13). The wisdom of God for our daily living is for the asking (James 1:5). Revival and outpouring of the Spirit is for the asking (Zechariah 10:1). 

God is willing to give to His children; however, we must participate actively in the answer to our needs by asking. We can have the assurance that God hears and will answer prayer, but there are some conditions that must be met for this to happen. First, when we pray we must ask in faith. Jesus said "All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matt. 21:22, Mark 11:24). Next, we must abide in a relationship with Jesus. John 15:7 says, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you”. Also, our motives for praying must be proper .James 4:3 says,” you ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it on your lusts”. 

  Today, we are continuing our study on the importance of developing our prayer lives. These short talks are progressive with each post building upon previous ones. If you haven’t, I encourage you to go back and visit those posts and you will see how they are built upon each other.

When we left off on last time, we talked about prayer is petitioning or asking God. We learned that it is necessary that we ask God for what we need in order for him to get what you desire.

We can have the assurance that God hears and will answer prayer, but there are some conditions that must be met for this to happen.  It is God's desire to give us all good things, yet so many requests are generated by selfishness. God desires that what we ask should be to the end that He may be glorified. Lastly, when we pray, it must be prayed in accordance to God’s will. "1 John 5:14-15 says, “This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him".

The Word of God shows us the will of God, and when we pray according to the scriptures, we have a guarantee that we have the ear of God and he will hear and answer