HOW SHOULD WE PRAY Prayer is Relational its

HOW SHOULD WE PRAY

Prayer is Relational, it’s not transactional. It’s promised centered, not performance centered. Prayer is simple it is not complex. • John 15: 15 (NASB) • “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slaves do not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Prayer is powerful, it’s not magical • Matthew 7: 7 (NASB) • “Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you”. “For everyonewho asks received, and he who seeks fids, and to him who knocks it will be opened. ”

Paul’s instruction on how and why we should pray • Philippians 4: 6 -7 (NASB) • Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus.

When your looking at the ‘son” you can’t see the shadows Mary Crowley Founder of Home Interiors

A. C. T. S. Method of Prayer • ADORATION • CONFESSION • THANKSGIVING • SUPPLICATION

ADORATION – Devoted, Adore, Honor • Psalms 103: 1 -4 (NASB) • A Psalm of David Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion;

ADORATION: Devoted, Adore, Honor Psalm 96: 9 (NASB) Worship the LORD in holy attire; Tremble before Him all the earth. Psalm 29: 2 (NASB) Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; Worship the LORD in holy array. Psalm 95: 6 (NASB) Come let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our maker

CONFESSION: A disclosure of one’s sins in the sacrament of reconciliation • Philippians 4: 6 (NASB) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God

TO CONNECT WITH GOD IN PRAYER WE MUST BE HONEST Psalms 145: 18 (NASB) The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. Jeremiah 29: 11 -12 (NASB) “For I know the plans I have for you, “ declares the LORD, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. “You will seek me and find Me and you search for Me with all your heart. ”

CONFESSION IS ADMITTING THAT WE CAN’T DO IT Psalms 51: 17 (NASB) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalms 51: 3 (NASB) For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 1 John 1: 8 (NASB) If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us

CONFESSION IS ADMITTING WE CAN’T DO IT Psalm 139: 23 (NASB) Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way. Psalm 51: 10 -12 (NASB) Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.

THANKSGIVING – A public acknowledgement or celebration of divine goodness. A prayer expressing gratitude 1 Thessalonians 5: 16 (NASB) Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Psalms 107: 15 (NASB) Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, and for Hid wonders to the sons of men!

THANKSGIVING – A public acknowledgement or celebration of divine goodness. A prayer expressing gratitude Ephesians 5: 20 (NASB) always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; Colossians 4: 2 (NASB) Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.

THANKSGIVING – A public acknowledgement or celebration of divine goodness. A prayer expressing gratitude Hebrews 13: 15 (NASB) Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, tat is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

THANKSGIVING – A public acknowledgement or celebration of divine goodness. A prayer expressing gratitude • Psalm 100: 1 -5 (NASB) Shout joyfully to the LORD , all the earth. Serves the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is God. It is He who made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the LORD is good and His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations

SUPPLICATION: To ask earnestly and humbly Philippians 4: 6 -7 (NASB) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

WE NEED TO ASK SPECIFICALLY Matthew 21: 22 (NASB) “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive. ”

OUR SUSTENANCE Matthew 6: 11 (NASB) “Give us this day our daily bread”

WISDOM James 1: 5 (NASB) But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

PRAY FOR OTHERS Ephesians 6: 18 (NASB) With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints

PRAY FOR THOSE IN AUTHORITY 1 Timothy 2: 1 (NASB) First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we made lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

PRAY FOR OUR ENEMIES Matthew 5: 44 (NASB) “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray or those who persecute you.

PRAY FOR SALVATION OF OTHERS Matthew 6: 10 (NASB) “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ” Matthew 9: 38 (NASB) “Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest. Romans 10: 1 (NASB) Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.

PRAY FOR YOUR ELDERS Colossians 4: 3 (NASB) praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.

Persistence: Endurance, Relentless, Ceaselessness • Luke 11: 5 (NASB) Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything. ’ “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. “So I say to you, 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 he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened

• Luke 18: 1 (NASB) Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. “There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent. ’ “For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out. ’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge *said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? ”