Discipleship Lesson 4: Prayer

Matthew 6:9-13 “⁹ After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. ¹⁰ Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”

1. What Is Prayer

To pray means to ask (John 16:23-26), and when we are praying, we are asking something of God.

Vain repetitions are not biblical prayers: Prayer is not to be overly repetitious; each request we make should be unique, and ought not to be chanted over and over unto God.

Matthew 6:7-8 “⁷ But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. ⁸ Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”

Pre-written prayers are not biblical prayers: Prayer is supposed to be from the heart, speaking with God personally. Whenever men in the Bible prayed, they always spoke from their heart, not according to a script (e.g., Jesus: Luke 22:39-46; Ezra: Ezra 9:3-15). We should speak unto God as a child speaks unto their father (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6), because God is our heavenly Father.

Matthew 7:9-11 “⁹ Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? ¹¹ If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

Three Different Types Of Prayer

1. PRIVATE PRAYERS are prayers which are done in private. The majority of our prayers should be prayed in secret, where no one but God can hear what we are asking for. All of our long prayers that we do should be reserved for a secret place where only God hears.

Matthew 6:5-6 “⁵ And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. ⁶ But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

2. PUBLIC PRAYERS are prayers which are done in public. When we pray before others, we should not pray long or insincerely. Public prayers should be shorter and more focused.

Matthew 23:14 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.”

Many of the public prayers recorded in the Bible are not overly-lengthy: Jesus’ prayer (John 11:41-42; John 17); the prayer of the apostles (Acts 4:24-31); Solomon praying in public (2 Chronicles 6).

3. HEART PRAYERS are prayers which are done exclusively in the heart. Wherever we are, and whatever we are doing, we can always quickly communicate with God or ask God for help in our hearts. Men of God prayed in their hearts while in different situations (see Exodus 2:23-24).

Genesis 24:45 “And before I had done speaking in mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the well, and drew water: and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee.” (See also Genesis 24:10-15).

Nehemiah 2:4 “Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.” (See also Nehemiah 1-2)

The timing of our praying should be as often as we decide to do so, but at least once every day. We must pray daily unto God, but the more we pray the more of God’s blessing we will see in our lives. Paul said that he prayed at least every morning and evening (1 Thessalonians 3:10; 2 Timothy 1:3), and Daniel prayed three times per day, “as he did aforetime” (Daniel 6:10, 13). We should also pray before every meal, giving thanks as Jesus (John 6:23, Luke 22:19) and Paul the apostle did (Acts 27:35).

The posture of our praying should be reverential, and appropriate to our relation to God. Men of God in the Bible normally at least kneeled when they prayed (Jesus: Luke 22:41; Solomon: 1 Kings 8:54; Daniel: Daniel 6:10; Stephen: Acts 7:60; Peter: Acts 9:40; Paul: Acts 21:5; see also Psalm 95:6).

            Ephesians 3:14 “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Fasting

Fasting is the spiritual discipline of abstaining from food (Matthew 4:2), at least for a 24-hour period (Judges 20:26; 2 Samuel 1:12). Fasting was practiced with constancy in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 36:6; see also Joel 1:14; 2:15), and in the New Testament (Acts 13:2-3; see also Luke 2:36-38). Jesus said of his disciples, “then shall they fast” (Matthew 9:15), and to all, “when ye fast” (Matthew 6:16-17), because we should regularly be fasting. Even so, fasting should be done secretly (Matthew 6:16-18).

We fast by replacing the time we spend eating with time spent in the relevant things of God to the purpose of our fast. In a biblical fast, there is an (1) Abstention Aspect: one does not eat food; a (2) Petition Aspect, so that we have a request we are seeking from God; and there is a (3) Substitution Aspect, whereby we replace eating time with other spiritual disciplines, like prayer. People in the Bible fasted for different things: wisdom (Moses: Exodus 34:28; Daniel: Daniel 10:2-3), direction (Paul: Acts 14:23; Ezra: Ezra 8:21), mercy (Nehemiah: Nehemiah 1:4; David: 2 Samuel 12:16).

1. Why To Pray
2. Prayer Is A Necessity

Prayer is the way to receive what we need from the Lord. If we do not pray, there are many things we will never get that God intended for us to have. We become great only through prayer (2 Corinthians 1:11).

James 4:2 “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.” (See also John 16:24).

God owns and to an extent controls everything in this world (Psalm 24). Because he is sovereign over the world (1 Chronicles 29:11-12), praying to him is the most necessary and important thing we can do (1 Samuel 2:9; Zechariah 4:6).

Matthew 7:7-8 “⁷ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: ⁸ For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (See also Jeremiah 33:3).

1. Prayer Is A Command

God has commanded us to be prayerful people, who pray about everything (Ephesians 6:18). Jesus says “when you pray” (Matthew 6:5-6), not, “if you pray,” assuming that we will be praying as Christians. Jesus is our example in all things, and he frequently prayed to God the Father (e.g., Luke 5:16 6:12; John 11:42). He taught that we should not stop regularly praying (Luke 18:1).

Philippians 4:6 “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

            1 Thessalonians 5:17 “Pray without ceasing.” (See also Romans 12:12; 1 Samuel 12:23).

III. How To Pray

Things To Pray For

• PRAY FOR WISDOM to be wise in how we live and speak, and to understand God’s word (James 1:5). When God told Solomon “Ask what I shall give thee” (2 Chronicles 1:7-12), he requested for wisdom: “Give me now wisdom and knowledge,” and God was very pleased.
• PRAY FOR the NEEDS of yourself and of others (physical: Matthew 6:11; spiritual: John 17), and for any affliction (James 5:13, 16; Philippians 1:19; Romans 15:30-32).
• PRAY FOR the DECISIONS that you are going to make in life, whether it is financial, relational, spiritual, locational, or whatever other decisions you have to make. Jesus prayed all night before choosing his twelve disciples (Luke 6:12-16; see also Acts 1:15-26). When we don’t seek God about decisions first, we often make the wrong choices (see James 4:13-17; Joshua 9:14).
• PRAY FOR fellow BELIEVERS in Christ (to increase in knowledge and wisdom: Ephesians 1:16-19; Colossians 1:9; to do the will of God: Colossians 4:12; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; to be fruitful: Philippians 1:9-11; Colossians 1:10-11; Philippians 1:4, 6; for God’s grace and mercy in their lives: 2 Corinthians 9:14; 2 Timothy 4:16).
• PRAY FOR the salvation of UNBELIEVERS (Romans 10:1), and for those who are preaching the gospel (Colossians 4:3-4; Ephesians 6:18-20; 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2), and for more people to preach the gospel (Luke 10:2).

How To Have Your Prayers Answered

1. Pray while you live righteously: If we are living in sin, our prayers can be “hindered” (1 Peter 3:7; see also 1 John 3:22).

            Psalm 66:18 “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” (See Proverbs 28:9).

 Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (See Proverbs 15:29).

1 Peter 3:12 “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” (See Psalm 34:15-16).

Forgiveness
	For Salvation	Vs.		For Fellowship
How	By believing on Jesus Christ (Acts 10:43), by faith in his blood (Colossians 1:14).		By confessing and forsaking our sins (Proverbs 28:13), by repentance from sin.
When	Once for all, for all sins: past, present, and future (Romans 4:7-8; 1 John 2:2; Colossians 2:13).		Daily, for present sins.

 

2. Pray according to the will of God: When praying, God promises that he will hear our prayer when we pray for what he wants (see John 15:7, 16). Jesus prayed in line with the will of God (Luke 22:42).

1 John 5:14-15 “¹⁴ And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: ¹⁵ And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” (See also James 4:3).

3. Pray in faith: Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6), and a prayer has no power. When we pray, we must believe that God will answer our prayer, or else he will not (James 1:6-7).

Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” (See also Matthew 21:22).

4. Pray effectually and fervently: We should pray to God effectually, or, with an effect––effectively. That is, when we pray, our requests should be more specific and informed. Furthermore, we must strive to pray to God fervently, or, with the heart––passionately. While praying, we ought to be truly desirous of what we ask from God.

James 5:16 “… The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”