Topic: The Fundamentals of Prayer.
Text: Luke 18: 1
Prayer is God's avenue of communicating with his children. One of the things that help relationships is communication.
Isaiah 1:18 One of the places we reason with God is via consistent prayer and fellowship. Prayer should be the daily lifestyle of believers.
Prayer is not what we are coerced to do or to excite ourselves, it is how we foster intimacy with God.
There are 6 principles of prayer. Jesus being the pattern Son shows us how to pray. If we follow his pattern and principles, we'll begin to get the same results as he did.
Matthew 6:5-7
When it comes to spiritual exercises, the word "when" is used, as it is expected that we pray.
Fundamentals of Prayer
1. We should not pray like the hypocrites; they pray to be seen and heard. They are much more interested in the show than the intimacy and interaction with God. The principle is to have a personal affair with God. Prayer is a private affair.
Our corporate prayer is as strong as our personal prayer. Our output corporately is a result of our input at the private level.
Matthew 14:23 you must have a private life of prayer. Desire to have a one-on-one time with God.
Don't be interested in vain repetition. God is not interested in the bogus or outlandish words we make. God wants simple things Matthew 6:46, Luke 6:12. Structure your time to have a private time of prayer.
2. Matthew 6:8-9 Pray with the understanding of God as your father who knows what you need. This is very germaine to your prayer life.
Matthew 6:31-33
Prayer is an interaction between son/daughter and Father. 1Peter 5:7 We are passing the bulk of our challenges to one who cares for us. God is your Father 1John 3:1. You are born of God and He cares for you. He knows all you need and has supplied them already.
1John 4:4
3. Matthew 6:9 Develop the habit of worship. Approach God with reverence. Worship is a by-product of your revelation of God as a Father. Psalm 100:4
You get out of time and get sucked into eternity via worship. In worship, we adore, we revere Him. In praise we are able to order our prayers aright Psalm 50:23, Psalm 33:1-29 Psalm 34:1. Worship makes prayer interesting.
When we know who he is, worship flows out from our hearts.
4. Matthew 6:10-11 Always learn to prioritize matters of the kingdom above personal needs. God wants you to put His needs before yours. We must be involved in kingdom advancement prayers. This is because your need is a subset of the kingdom advancement Matthew 6:33. It is about the will of God being done on earth as it is in heaven.
5. Matthew 6:12-14 Unforgiveness hinders your prayer. Matthew 5:23-24 Even your offering before God is not accepted when there is unforgiveness and bitterness in your heart. He'll not forgive you if you are holding unto hurt.
6. Matthew 6:13 Pray with the understanding and knowing that God has the ability to perform all you have asked. He has the Power, the Kingdom, and He owns the glory. The kingdom is our Father's, all power belongs to him, so he can do all things. Hebrews 11:6, Mark 11:24 When you pray, don't gamble, a child of God knows who his Father is and knows that He can do more than he has asked.
It's not just the actions towards prayer, but the principles involved bring forth results.
