Effective Prayer

5^th September 2021

 

Introduction

We are in the midst of a series of teaching on prayer so don’t be surprised that today I am also going to talk about prayer.  Much of what I have to say is pretty basic stuff but I can tell you that preparing this message has helped my prayer life.  So listen with an open mind and maybe the Spirit of God will highlight something missing in your own prayer life.

Luke 18 says;

Luke 18:1 (ESV)  

 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 

Prayer is simply one way we communicate with God.  We usually just sit down and talk to God asking Him to provide whatever it is we want.  And then we say ‘Amen’ and we get up and go about our daily chores without a second thought for the things of God.

There are different ways to communicate, we can send a letter and hope that sometime in the future we may get a reply, we can send an sms and hope that we get an answer soon, or we can speak to them on the phone or face to face and get an answer straight away.

Sometimes, prayer is like sending a letter, sometimes it is like sending an sms and sometimes it is like we are standing in His presence.

I think we need to make sure there are times in our prayers where we are quiet, don’t say a thing.  Even have whole prayer times like this, just waiting on God.  We need to give God the opportunity to respond.

When we pray and when we read our Bible, we need to make sure we have pen and paper available so we can write down any insights God gives us. 

We should pray and read the Bible expecting God to speak to us. We should expect Him to hear us when we pray, even if we don’t feel any sense of God’s presence.

Why would you pray if you didn’t believe God will hear you and what’s the purpose of praying if you don’t expect God to answer?

Proverbs 15:29 (ESV)  

 The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. 

There are different types of prayer from personal prayer to corporate prayer, prayers of faith, agreement, intercession, dedication, etc.  Today I am concentrating on effective personal prayer.

Get alone

The first thing we should do to prepare for prayer is to get into a place where we are alone with God away from any distractions. Jesus went into the wilderness to pray.  Even when He took His disciples with Him, He went on further then they so that He could be alone without any distraction.

Matthew 14:23 (ESV)  

 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone……

Moses went up the mountain to where he could be alone with God too.

Jesus talked about us having a prayer closet or room to go to.  

Matthew 6 says;

Matthew 6:5-6 (NKJV)  

 "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.

Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 

 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Notice that when you pray you are to go into your room and shut the door so others don’t know you are praying and God will reward you openly.

Matthew 6 goes on to say that not only should your prayers be done in secret but so too your fasting and your giving should be done so that others won’t know what you are doing.

 

How to pray

Jesus taught us what we call the ‘Lord’s Prayer’.  Many churches pray this prayer as it is written but churches like ours believe it is a model or template of how to pray. So this is how we would use the Lord’s prayer.

Matthew 6:9-13 (NKJV)  

 In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name. 

 Your kingdom come. 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 one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. 

How to pray 1. 

From this model, we see that the first thing we are told to do is to pray to the Father and worship Him  – ‘Hallowed be your name’ or ‘your name is holy.’

When we worship God we should worship Him with ALL our heart, and with all our soul. He wants our 100percent attention.

So before we pray, we must take ourselves away to somewhere where we will not be distracted and can give God 100 percent of our attention.  Our God is a jealous God and He doesn’t want to share us with anyone.  We worship God and expect Him to hear us and we tremble in awe at His presence.

How to pray 2

The second thing is to pray to God the Father and that His will be done. 

This is putting God first in our prayer time.  Even Jesus prayed this prayer He said “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Luke 22:42 (ESV)   

It is not sucking up to God, trying to worship Him so He will answer our prayers.   We worship God and pray that His will be done because He is God, He is so great, so wonderful, so righteous, so merciful, so loving, so just, that He deserves to be worshipped, to be praised, to be honoured, and to be the first thing we think of and do every moment of every day.

As I said, you can recite the Lord’s Prayer as it is written which will take less than one minute, or you can use it as a model and it can take as long as you like.

He will answer us and give us what we pray for because Jesus said He would.

Matthew 6:31-33 (ESV)  

 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or

‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’   For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 

 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 

How do we get the things we need?  By seeking first, the kingdom of God and His righteousness. “May thy kingdom come and thy will be done”.

How to pray 3

The next thing He says to pray is for our daily needs to be met.  Notice it is daily needs which infers we should pray each day for the needs of that day.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV)  

• Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

The next verse comes with a promise of peace;

• and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus

I can tell you that as someone who does experience anxiety and depression, this really blesses me to be alone with God and His peace.

How to Pray 4

Then we ask for forgiveness for our sins or debts, as we have forgiven others.  This line in the Lord’s prayer suggests we have already forgiven them. 

The Bible has plenty to say on forgiveness, it is essential to receive answers to prayer and forgiveness for our sins.

Matthew 6:14-15 (ESV)  

 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,  but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Some people find it hard to forgive.  Personally, I find it easy to forgive but so hard to forget.

How to Pray 5

Then we ask God not to lead us into temptation being fully aware that we really need His help in that area as we so often give in to temptation.  It sounds odd that it asks God not to lead us into temptation which so many translations say but the New Living Translation says; “And don’t let us yield to temptation”.  Which I think sounds more right”. Matthew 6:13 (NLT2)  

How to Pray 6

Then we ask Him to deliver us from evil.  A more correct translation would say ‘deliver us from the evil one’ meaning the devil.

How to Pray 7

Some translations end this prayer template with ‘for yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory’ recognising that all kingdoms are established by God, all power comes from God, and all glory belongs to God.

Effective Prayer

We all want our prayers to be effective.  We want results from our praying - otherwise why bother praying?  James 6.16 says; “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”To me, this raises three questions in my mind.

1. What is effective prayer?
2. What is fervent prayer?
3. Who is a righteous man?

 

1. Effectual Prayer

Effectual prayer is a prayer prayed in faith

Mark 11.23-24 tells us we are to pray IN FAITH BELIEVING.

In other words, Trust God – 

Psalm 37:3-5 (ESV)  

 Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. 

 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 

 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. 

Romans 4:21 (ESV) says Abraham was…fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

Pray according to the WILL OF GOD which is defined in the Word of God. 2 Corinthians promises us that in Christ “ALL the promises of God are YES” so let’s find out what these promises are and pray for them.

Quote Gods’ Word to Him and it will not be returned void (Isaiah 55.11).

Quote what Jesus said – surely we can believe He knows what God’s will is? 

Quote the disciples, Mathew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter – after all they should know what God’s will is.  Quote Abraham, Moses, David and the prophets, they all experienced Gods will.

 

2. Fervent Prayer

Faith is believing you receive when you pray.  Fervant prayer is continually praying in faith with passionate intensity, believing you receive when you pray and giving thanks until you have it in your hands.

Mark 11:22-23 (ESV)  

 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 

 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 

You continue to pray until you see the answer.  Don’t give up.

Matthew 7:7-9 (ESV)  

 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 

 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 

 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 

And we ask in faith, seek in faith, and knock in faith believing that we have received the answer to our request

Now the words ask, seek, believe and knock, are in the continuous tense meaning you continue to ask for them until you have them.  We believe we receive them when we pray so we continue by thanking God for them until the answer is there in front of us.

Romans 12:12 says rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;  

Colossians 4:2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;   

Prayer is NOT Vain repetitions - God looks to the heart

Matthew 6:7-8 (ESV)  

 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases (or vain repetitions) as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 

 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

 Vain repetitions are prayers that may sound impressive but lack the power of faith.

 

3. A Righteous Man

So who is a righteous man?  2 Corinthians 5.21 tells us that when we are ‘in Christ’ we take on His righteousness.  In other words, when we become Christians, we lose our unrighteousness and take on Jesus’ righteousness.  

When we sin as a child of God, we can confess our sins and the Bible says that God “… is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

We don’t deserve to be righteous (in fact the Bible tells us our righteousness is as filthy rags!!), we cannot earn righteousness, it is a gift from God;

Romans 5:17 (ESV)  

 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.  

That is the grace of God.  Jesus became sin for us.  He took on our sin and nailed it to the cross so that we could become righteous.

Phil 3.8-9 says; “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;“

E.W Kenyon says “Righteousness is something we receive by faith and enables us to stand in the presence of God the Father, without any sense of inferiority, guilt, or consciousness of sin – just as if sin never existed in our life”  

The fruit of righteousness means that we have peace, the effect of righteousness is quietness and confidence forever. (Isaiah 32.17).

So, when we became Christians, we took on Christ’s righteousness and therefore our prayers availeth much.

 

Tips on Prayer

So here are some tips on praying;

1. Get alone with God

Go into your prayer room. Get away from all distractions and don’t let others see you.

2. Pray to the Father.

Jesus taught us in the Lord’s Prayer to pray to God our Father.   So we should pray to our Father.  Not to Mary or any saint.  

Hebrews also tells us that we can come to the throne of God to find grace and obtain mercy (Hebrews 4.6)

  

3. Pray in the name of Jesus

 As Christians, we have been given the right to use the name of Jesus.  This name is above every other name in heaven and earth.   It is above the name of sickness and disease.  It is above the name of poverty, viruses, violence, crime, of fear, of threats, wars, curses and it is above the name of every devil that may try to come against you.   

We can pray in the power and authority that Jesus had when He prayed.

Jesus wants us to be joyful so He gave us this right to use His name.

John 14:13

"And whatever you [ask] in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  

John 14:14

"If you [ask] anything in My name, I will do it.  

John 15:7

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will [ask] what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  

John 16:23

"And in that day you will [ask] Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you [ask] the Father in My name He will give you.  

John 16:24

"Until now you have asked nothing in My name. [Ask], and you will receive, that your joy may be full. 

Do you get the impression God wants us to pray in the name of Jesus?

 

4. Pray In faith believing

We should also pray in faith believing that we have the things we ask for;

Mark 11:24

"Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. 

When you buy a big piece of furniture, for instance, a king size bed, you go to the store, tell the salesman what you want, pay for it and then ask them to deliver it to your home. we receive title to it when we pay for it but we don’t take possession of it until it is delivered.  It is the same with prayer.

The Bible also says “And whatever things you [ask] in prayer, believing, you

will receive." (Matthew 21.22)

John says we should keep His commandments and please Him;

1 John 3:22 (NKJV)  

 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep

His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 

How do we please God? By believing that He is and that He rewards those that diligently seek Him.

When we pray according to His promises we can expect a positive answer. 

1 John 5:14-15 (NKJV)  

 Now 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.

Don’t forget what we said earlier on, In Christ all the promises of God are yes, yes and amen.

 

5. When it’s hard to pray

Sometimes it seems easy to pray, you bow your head, close your eyes and you immediately sense the presence of God.  Praise God for those times!  

At other times, there seems to be no presence and you just can’t think of any words to say.  It feels as if you are a million miles from God.  It just seems like hard work to get through to Him.  Maybe the line is busy!

Don’t worry when this happens, I have got some of my best results when I thought I was a million miles away from God.

Kristen Deed Johnson in a recent Christianity Today article says; 

“I was doing all the same practices and disciplines, but they didn’t seem to be working. I continued to carve out time to pray each day, but my experience was markedly different. Some days I could not find the words to offer. Other days I could not stay focused. Afterward, I’d find myself wondering if I’d been praying at all, if I’d been daydreaming, if my worries had hijacked my prayer time, if I’d fallen asleep, or if I’d done a little bit of each.  

What worried me the most was that I had no sense of the presence of God in those times. Although I’d been taught that my faith was not dependent on my emotions, I had become used to having a feeling of spiritual connection with God during prayer that I didn’t experience at any other time. When that intimacy disappeared, I was left reeling.”

Does this sound familiar?  I think we all go through these stages at sometime in our walk with God. It’s not a time to give up on prayer but it is a time to be more determined to pray.

At times like this, we must remember that we do have the Holy Spirit on our side and it is the Holy Spirit who brings us into God’s presence.;

Romans 8:26 (ESV)  

 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

So this is the time we really need the Holy Spirit and if you are Christians, we do all have the Holy Spirit abiding in each one of us.  If you speak in tongues, then this is a good time to start praying in tongues. 

Another good idea that I practice is to read out some prayers.  I have written out a number of prayers based on the Word of God, so I don’t forget them. When it is hard to think of what to pray, I read some of them out.  After a while, you will find it easier to come up with what to pray. 

There is a good series of books for this called ‘Prayers that Avail Much’ which I heartily recoend. Plus, as I have already said, there are some really good prayers in psalms and some of Paul’s letters.

Praying these written prayers now and again, helps us to get back to praying what the Word says instead of just what we think.  It is a good way to learn how to pray.

As we get more into prayer, the Holy Spirit will help us to pray God’s will.

The important thing is not to give up, keep on praying.

Funnily enough, it is times like this where I have experienced major answers to prayer.

Sometimes when I am asked to pray for someone, I don’t know what to say and I don’t sense any anointing and yet the person says afterwards that he felt the presence of God when I laid hands on him.  So we cant go by feelings.

Feeling the presence of God and being able to pray ‘spiritual’ prayers are great but they are not a pre-requisite for getting answers, faith is.

 

6. When it takes a long time to see the answer

Quite often, you have prayed in faith believing you have received and yet nothing seems to have changed. 

It is times like this that you mustn’t give up, just continue believing and praying.

There can be reasons for the delay which we are not aware of. In the spiritual realm, there may be battles over your request that are delaying you seeing the answer.

Daniel 10:12-13 (NLT)  The angel said to Daniel

^…… “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. ¹³  But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. 

Note that his prayer was answered as soon as he prayed but it took a while for the answer to come through. 

There was also a delay after Jesus breathed on the disciples to receive the Holy Spirit, it was several weeks before they experienced it on the day of Pentecost.

We don’t know what is going on in the spiritual realm but we do know that we have an enemy who will try to stop you getting the blessing you pray for and he will try to steal your faith so just hang in there.

 

7. Paul’s Prayers

Paul was a great man of prayer, some of his letters are good examples of how to pray for Christians and I encourage you to read them and pray them, especially over people like Michael, who as senior pastor, needs people to support him in prayer.  Some examples of these prayers include Romans 1.9-11,

Ephesians 1.15-21, Philippians 1.9-11, Colossians 1.9-12, 1 Thessalonians 3.12-13, 2 Thessalonians 1.11-12.

Hindrances to prayer

Now for some hindrances to prayer.

• Pride

There are some prayers that don’t get answered.  This occurs when we pray according to our carnal desires and not as a servant of God.

Remember, James 4:6 (ESV) ….. “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Other hindrances include;

• Conflict in the marriage.

1 Peter 3:7 (ESV)  

 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

• Stinginess in giving is a hindrance.

Luke 6:38 (ESV)  

 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” 

• Unforgiveness is a hindrance.
• Sin or idolatry is a hindrance.
• Not praying in line with God’s will is a hindrance Not keeping God’s Commandments is a hindrance.  

1 John 3:22-23 (NKJV)  

 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep

His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 

 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

Mark 12: says the first commandment is to love God with all your heart, the second commandment is to love your neighbor, and  John 13: says  to us love one another.

Another hindrance is Being double minded. (James 1.7-8)

James 1:7-8 (ESV)  For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

• And finally, Because we do not ask or we ask amiss;

James 4:2-3 (NKJV)  You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Finale

So there we have it.  Prayer is meant to be simple, as if you were speaking to your friend here on Earth.  Use your own language.  The old King James bible was written in the way people used to speak in the 17^th century. We don’t have to speak that way today. 

The whole of the Godhead is involved when we pray. The Holy Spirit helps us to pray, we pray to the Father in the name of the son, Jesus.

So don’t give up, keep on praying, pray in faith believing that you have received the answer and don’t be surprised if God does something supernatural.

• Out of body experience
• Air tickets to London

My experience and the testimonies of thousands of believers indicate that prayers do get answered. 

So I encourage you, find a time, find a place and pray.  Put your trust in God and He will not let you down.

Amen