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Prayer is as important to sustaining
spiritual life as breath is to sustaining physical life. If you stop breathing,
then you stop living.
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The same is also true of prayer. If
we stop praying, we rob our souls of life, but the more we pray, then the more
we breathe in true spiritual life and breathe out what takes that life.
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That all sounds like it makes sense.
It sounds reasonable, but...what is prayer?
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Let's look at a possible definition
for prayer.
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Prayer
is worship by which the believer fellowships (spends
quality time) with God the Father, in
the Son's name, the Spirit's power, through speaking and listening.
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Let's break that definition down and
look at it one piece at a time.
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First,
Prayer Is (an Act of) Worship. Let's read Psalm 57.
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100% of this Psalm is a prayer of
worship to God.
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When we worship God, we are
acknowledging and declaring how great and awesome God truly is.
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Worship is showing God reverence,
admiration, awe, fear, respect and wonder.
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By saying that prayer is an act of
worship, we mean that we are responding to who God is and what he has done out
of wonder-filled hearts.
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Prayer is (an act of) worship.
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Second,
Prayer Is for the Believer. Only those who repent and
believe the good news about Jesus Christ can respond to who God is and what he
has done by genuinely worshiping him.
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John
9:31
says, "We know God doesn't listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear
those who worship him and do his will." (NLT)
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Psalm
66:18 says, "If I had not confessed the sin in
my heart, the Lord would not have listened." (NLT)
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And Proverbs 28:9 says, "God detests the prayers of the person who
ignores the law." (NLT)
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God listens to the prayers of those
who have a relationship with him through Jesus Christ.
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Prayer is for the believer.
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Third,
Prayer Is Directed to the Father.
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In John 16:23 Jesus taught his disciples that after his ascension they
would pray to the Father directly.
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As Jesus said, "At that time
you won't need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the
Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name."
(NLT)
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The New Testament presents God the
Father as the giver and believers as Christ's sisters and brothers.
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James
1:17
says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the
Father of heavenly lights."
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And Hebrews 2: 11 says, "So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy
have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his
brothers and sisters." (NLT)
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In a family relationship, it would
be unusual to see the oldest brother providing for the family when the father
is still in the picture. It is normally the father who provides for the family.
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Therefore, when believers have
requests we go to our heavenly Father.
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When we pray to the Father, it shows
that we believe he loves us as much as he loves his Son because we are also his
children by faith who trust his Son.
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Prayer is directed to the Father.
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Fourth,
Prayer Is in the Son's Name.
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In John 14:13-14, Jesus said, "You can ask for anything in my
name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask
me for anything in my name, and I will do it!" (NLT)
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Believers may come to God in prayer
because of what Christ accomplished on the cross.
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So, when we pray, it is our
relationship to Christ and the authority that God has given him that enables us
to pray directly to the Father.
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In Matthew 28:18, Jesus claimed
"all authority in heaven and on earth," and in Hebrews 1:3, we are
reminded that the Lord Jesus "upholds the universe by the word of his power."
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Praying in Jesus' name is not a
magic formula, but a heart attitude.
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Praying in Jesus' name is an
attitude which understands that our only right to prayer, our only claim to the
throne room of God is because Christ died for us.
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Our confidence to enter the throne
room of God is only because of the blood of Jesus.
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We have received Christ's
righteousness as a gift from God and have access by faith through prayer to the
Father on the authority of Jesus alone.
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As it says in Ephesians 2:18, "Now all of us can come to the Father through
the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us." (NLT)
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Prayer is in the Son's name.
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Fifth,
Prayer Is in the Spirit's Power.
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Ephesians
6:18
instructs believers, "Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion.
Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers
everywhere." (NLT)
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Since the Holy Spirit lives inside
every believer, we have access to the same mighty power that raised Jesus
Christ from the dead and it is in his power that we must pray.
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1 Thessalonians 5:19, however, warns
us not to stifle or quench the Holy Spirit.
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What is it that stifles or quenches
the Holy Spirit's power in our lives?
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It is sin. When we hang on to sin,
then we cannot pray in the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Prayer is in the Spirit's power.
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Sixth,
Prayer Includes Listening or Silence. Many times in the
Scriptures, especially in the Old Testament, believers are instructed to be
still, quiet, silent, or to wait on the Lord.
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The prophet Elijah did not hear God
speak to him in the earthquake, the fire, or the whirlwind. He finally heard
God speak after a sound of sheer silence.
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Psalm
37:7
says, "Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for
him." (NLT)
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Psalm
46:10 says, "Be still and know that I am
God!"
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Isaiah
30:15 says, "This is what the sovereign LORD,
The Holy One of Israel, says: 'Only in returning to me and resting in me will
you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength.'"
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In our times of private prayer it
seems like many of us don't have any problem talking to God and telling him our
needs and our wants or bringing to him our requests for others, but listening
is another matter entirely.
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Our definition of prayer starts by
stating that "prayer is worship by which the believer fellowships with
God."
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Fellowship (or quality time) with
God requires both talking and listening.
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If we go to God and just talk, talk,
talk, without listening, then we will be like a person who goes to the doctor
to unload all of his or her health problems and leaves without waiting to hear
what the doctor has to say.
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When we are with God in prayer, we
must make room for silence so we learn to listen for God.
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God will test our hearts and our
minds.
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He will show us where we need
repentance, confession, and transformation as we wait on him, listening to his
word and to the convicting promptings of the Holy Spirit in our consciences.
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Prayer includes listening or
silence.
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What is prayer? Let's review our
definition.
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Prayer
is worship--by which the believer fellowships with God the Father, in the Son's
name, the Spirit's power, through speaking and listening.
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