Teach us to Pray |"The 8 Elements of Effective Prayer"
19/06/2016
For the past two weeks we looked at an introduction to a
series on “Teach us to Pray”. We
concluded that prayer is a condition of
the heart and that Spirit filled
prayer is often borne in an environment of suffering.
This morning I want us to look at “8 Elements of Effective Prayer”.
I think it was important for me to first call attention to
the condition of our heart towards God. I wanted us to see that prayer is about
God, not about us.
Prayer is seeking God. Yearning after God. Desiring
to be with God.
- · Prayer is not about us giving orders to God or making demands on God. Or twisting the arm of God.
- · Prayer is communion with God. It is having fellowship with God.
Psalm 42:1-2 says:
“1As the deer
pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. 2My
soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before
God?”
Let me repeat what I said two Sundays ago…
- We are called to be more than just people that seek to be biblically correct in our doctrine.
- We are called to be a people that dwell with the Most High God.
- We are called to live in the presence of the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, to Him be honour and glory forever and ever. [1Tim 1:17]
- We are those who earnestly seek the God of the Bible… not just knowledge about Him… We want Him!
- Do you want Him or are you satisfied just with knowing about Him?
- We are those that are constantly aware that we are in the presence of holiness – In Him we live and move and have our being!
- We know that God is sovereignly in control of every aspect of our lives and that He will do whatever it takes to draw us closer to Him.
Every conflict, every trial, every heart break,
every sorrow in your life has one purpose… it’s to send you to your knees… it’s
to drive you to the God of the Bible!
Every battle is won on your knees… You have to understand this…?
- · Every battle in your life will only be won in prayer.
- · Every victory is won in the presence of God
- · The battle is the Lord’s… that’s why we pray!
Now… Let’s look at the 8
Elements of Effective Prayer…
James 5:16b “…The
effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
(Now I must say… I had a lot of help from John MacArthur’s
study on prayer.)
First… Effective prayer must start with Love and Praise.
- · When we approach God in prayer we need to have a sense of His majesty
- · We must know that He is the Sovereign Lord, but also our loving Father
- · We must come before Him with loving adoration and praise for who He is
- · We love Him because He first loved us
- · We come before Him with praise in our mouths and blessing in our hearts
- · We come with boasting about His greatness and awesome power in our lives and in the world
Psalm 34: 1 I will bless the LORD at all
times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble
shall hear of it and be glad. 3Oh,
magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.
Psalm 66:3 Say to God, "How awesome are Your works!
Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You"
Secondly… Effective prayer must include Gratitude and Thanksgiving.
- · We show gratitude for the fact that He loves us and that He is the one calling us to come into His presence
- · We don’t first come with complaints and requests!
- · We are grateful that we have the privilege to stand before a holy God
- · Jonah 2:9 says, “I will sacrifice to Thee with the voice of thanksgiving”
- · We are thankful for our salvation… He has already done enough for us!
- · He died for us… that’s enough!
- · Thank God for the Cross. Thank Him for Jesus. Thank Him for saving your soul!
Sometimes we
can be so overwhelmed with our burdens that we forget where He brought us from.
We forget that we have much more to be thankful for. We need to remember that salvation is enough!
Thirdly we need to recognise that God is Holy.
Psalm 24:3 Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy
place? 4He who has clean hands and a
pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully.
Our God is a
holy God and when we approach Him we must do so with reverence.
- · You can’t come before God and treat Him like you would another man
- · God is not like you and me… He is transcended… He is Holy!
Listen to what
the Bible says:
Ecclesiastes 5:1 Guard your steps as you go to
the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice
of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil. 2 Do not be hasty in word or
impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God
is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore
let your words be few.
- · You need to realise who it is that you are talking to
- · You must be aware that you are in the presence of holiness
Exodus 15:11
" Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises,
doing wonders?
Before you ask
anything of the Lord… Before you make any requests known..
- · The Character of God… He is almighty… and nothing is impossible for Him
- · The majesty of God… that He is the sovereign King, Ruler over everything… He is in control of everything!
- · You need to affirm the Nature of God… that He is Holy.. He alone is God and beside Him there is no other!
·
Our God is to be feared for He is holy!
Revelation 15:4
says: “Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy.”
Fourthly… Effective
prayer must include a Desire to Please
and Obey God
- · Are you coming to God, because you want to have things your way?
- · Or are you coming to God with a determination to please Him and to obey Him… no matter what!?
Regardless of
what you are going through. You must come to God with a commitment to
obedience.
- · You cannot come to God with conditions or terms (if you do this, I will do this)
- · There’s no bargaining with God. Your heart attitude is always “Yes Lord!”
- · You must come to God with a spirit of obedience and a desire to Please Him
2Corinthians 5:9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether
present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.
Fifthly… Effective
prayer must include Confession of Sin
and a Pure Heart.
- · Because our God is Holy… and does not tolerate sin. We have to come before Him with a pure heart.
Let me read
Psalm 24 again…
Psalm 24:3 Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy
place? 4He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has
not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully.
You cannot come before God with a heart that does
not want to let go of sin and still expect Him to listen to your prayers.
Listen to what
the Psalmist says:
Psalm 66:18 If I regard
iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.
Oh.. but thank
God for Jesus… Thank God for the Blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin.
The Bible
says:
1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So we humbly
come before God confessing our sins with confidence in the Blood of our
Saviour. It’s because of Him that we can receive forgiveness.
Sixthly… We must
approach God Unselfishly.
- · When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray… Jesus started the prayer with “Our Father…”
- · He didn’t start praying, “My Father…” He could have, but He was teaching them that prayer is never selfish.
In fact the
whole prayer in Matthew 6 is a
prayer that teach us that true prayer is never just about me, I and myself…
Look at these verses…
9 Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
We have become so self-centred that our prayers is
all about me and my needs… my desires… my problems.
And then we
wonder why God never answers our prayers.
- · We are supposed to bear each other’s burdens
- · We are supposed to call each other’s names before the Lord in prayer
- · You are supposed to weep before the Lord for your brothers needs
- · That’s usually the time when God takes care of your needs too.
Listen to what
Proverbs says:
Proverbs 11: 25 The
generous soul will be made rich, And he
who waters will also be watered himself
He who waters
others, will himself be watered.
- · Stop with these selfish prayers that only centres around you and your family
- · Start praying for those in need around you.
- · Start praying for those missionaries that are being killed for the sake of Christ.
- · Pray for that drug dealer and that prostitute in the street.
- · Pray for the president and the ministers.
- · Pray for all the saints everywhere…. There’s so much to pray for.
1 Timothy 2:1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet
and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, 4 who desires all men to be saved and
to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Seventhly… If we’re going to pray effectively, we must pray
with Perseverence.
One of the most difficult aspects of prayer is
persevering when it seems that God is not answering.
God knows how easily we can
lose heart and so we read in Luke 18:1,
Jesus told a parable, “that men always ought
to pray and not lose heart”
Let me read
this parable to you in Luke 18
2 "There was in a certain
city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.
3 Now
there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Get justice for
me from my adversary.' 4 And he
would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not
fear God nor regard man, 5 yet
because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming
she weary me.' " 6 Then the
Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them
speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on
the earth?"
- · We must pray without ceasing [1Thess. 5:17]
- · We must pray until something happens
- · We keep on knocking until the door opens, we seek until we find
- · We ask until we get an answer… We hold unto His promise that says:
John 14:14 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do,
that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Lastly… We pray
effectively when we pray with Humility.
I have heard
so many times how people come to God in prayer with boastful attitudes.
- · They pray as if they are the one’s giving orders to the Lord
- · They declare and decree as if they’ve got God’s authority and sovereignty
- · They think they are like God… some people actually think they are little gods.
- · You are made in the image of God, but you are not a god… you are a created being… God is Creator!
No creature
can ever become a god!
You must realise that you are but dust…
Isaiah 40:15 Behold, the
nations are as a drop in a bucket, And are counted as the small dust on the scales; Look, He lifts up the isles as a very
little thing.
The heart that comes to God in humility will always
cry out:
“What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?” – Psalm
8:4
The humble heart always seeks out the will of God…
to submit under it!
·
We see the greatest example of such humble submission in our Lord Jesus
when He was in Gethsemane…
When He considered the sin of the world coming upon
Him and the full wrath of God being poured out on Him who knew no sin…
Luke 22:42 "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup
away from Me; nevertheless not My will,
but Yours, be done."
John Macarthur says:
“Prayer is not asking God to do my will; it is bringing myself into
conformity with His will, and asking Him to give me the grace to enjoy it.”
The purpose of
all prayer is the glory of God. Prayer must always seek to glorify God, to lift
up His name and to exalt His holiness.
John 14:14 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do,
that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
The reason we pray and the reason why God answers
our prayers is to put His glory on display…
If you do not know God… then the only prayer that
will glorify God is when you ask God to have mercy on your soul… it’s when you
surrender!
Repent! Ask
God to save you! God is always glorified
when sinners come to repentance!
