Prayer

Q: What does the Bible say about the importance of prayer?

The Bible emphasizes the vital role of prayer as a command from God, allowing us to communicate with Him and acknowledge His sovereignty. The Bible clearly underscores the importance of prayer as a divine command. In Psalm 50:14-15, God instructs His people to call upon Him in times of trouble, promising deliverance in return. This relation between command and response emphasizes how prayer is not an optional practice but a fundamental expectation for believers. Additionally, prayer serves not only to request God’s help but also to acknowledge His sovereignty in every aspect of our lives, aligning our hearts with His will and bringing our needs before Him.

Q: How do we know that God commands us to pray?

God commands His people to pray throughout Scripture, establishing it as an essential act of faith and dependence on Him. Scripture makes it abundantly clear that God commands His people to pray as a means of engaging with Him. In Ezekiel 36, God demonstrates His commitment to His people by promising to act on their behalf, provided they ask Him for help. This highlights that while God is sovereign and knows our needs, He invites us to come to Him in prayer, emphasizing the relational aspect of prayer. The Scriptures are replete with calls to prayer, affirming that it is an expected and necessary part of a believer’s life.

Q: Why is intercessory prayer important for Christians?

Intercessory prayer is crucial as it reflects Christ's example, unites believers in prayer, and seeks God's mercy for ourselves and others. Intercessory prayer holds great significance for Christians because it embodies Christ's teaching and example. Throughout His ministry, Jesus exemplified intercessory prayer, praying not only for Himself but also for His disciples and others. In the Lord's Prayer, the repeated use of 'us' encourages believers to pray not only for personal needs but also for the needs of others. This practice fosters a sense of communal responsibility and love within the body of Christ, as believers seek God's mercy and grace to flow to themselves and their neighbors.

Q: How should we approach God in prayer?

We should approach God in prayer with humility, acknowledging His holiness and seeking His will above our own. Approaching God in prayer requires a humble and reverent attitude, recognizing His holiness and sovereignty. In Luke 11, Jesus teaches the disciples to address God as 'Our Father,' emphasizing the closeness and reverence in prayer. The initial phrases in the Lord's Prayer, like 'hallowed be thy name,' remind us to start by glorifying God, setting a proper tone for our requests. Furthermore, praying for God’s will to be done, as seen in both Matthew and Luke, encourages believers to submit their desires to Him, trusting in His perfect plan.

Q: Why is thanksgiving important in prayer?

Thanksgiving is essential in prayer as it acknowledges God's provision and fosters a spirit of gratitude and reliance on Him. Thanksgiving is an essential component of prayer because it cultivates a grateful heart that recognizes God’s past provisions and the blessing of His presence. Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:6 to include thanksgiving with our requests, indicating that gratitude aligns our hearts and minds with God's will. Moreover, expressing thanks in prayer deepens our reliance on Him, as we acknowledge that every good gift comes from the Father (James 1:17). Thus, thanksgiving transforms prayer from merely asking God for things to reflecting on His faithfulness and grace in our lives.

♪ And I believe ♪ ♪ God's love
will guide me ♪ ♪ In the right way to go ♪ ♪ There is a road
♪ ♪ That leads me home today ♪ So if that's not all right, you
can turn back and move the bedroom. That would be our tax on what
we're doing. We're looking at a couple of
other taxes. Taxes of 30. If the subject is
not in the clinic and receives a fine, You know how much emphasis here
is placed on hearing the gospel and working it. God's Word is a prayer, another
means of grace. By that we mean God in the Lord's
name, or God has commanded, God has given us to sing a prayer
to obtain grace. Prayer is so vital, so very vital. I know you've read, heard, and
thanked God. It's difficult subject really
to deal with, but so important. So important. Prayer comes first,
really. We talk about working, we talk
about reading scriptures, we talk about hearing the gospel. We pray first. We ask the Lord
to give me ears to hear. We ask the Lord to give me a
mind to free from destruction, to lead me to work. We ask the
Lord to give me a heart to worship, to pray every day. Let's pray. All right, the purpose of this
message is to encourage us to pray. As you read, the disciples
asked the Lord, Lord, teach us to pray. And I believe they were
not only asking Him to teach them the manner of the text,
or how to pray, but to instill in them the desire to pray. Teach
us to pray. Call us to pray. All right, let's
get back. Well, turn first to Psalm 60. Three points, just imagine, you're
taking another three points. Very easy to follow along. Find
grace. Find grace in the water. Stay
knowing what to grasp. And thirdly, how. Why do we pray? Why do we pray? What is the chief purpose in
prayer or why do we pray? Because God commands it in that
line. God tells us to. He tells us to pray. Look at
Psalm 50 verse 14 and 15. Call fifty, verse fourteen and
fifty, all work unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Lord
God, and call upon that in the day of trouble. Call upon that,
verse fifteen, call upon that in the day of trouble, and I
will deliver it. That's my option, that's my request,
it's commanded. Call. Throughout the scriptures,
he says, there's a call upon us. He's merciful and gracious
unto all men, there's a call upon us. I will deliver thee,
and thou shalt glorify me." Now, every word is a reference. Ask, you remember reading that
over there in Luke 11? Ask to command, and you shall
receive. James says, we have not climbed. All right, look at Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36. Why do we pray? God
commanded it. Why do we pray? Another reason is to acknowledge
our God in every time. to acknowledge our God in every
thing, salvation of the world, and every good and perfect gift
from the Father. A man hath received nothing except
the gift of forgiveness. Ask and thou shalt receive. Ask
and thou shalt receive. A man hath received nothing except
the gift of forgiveness. Ask and thou shalt receive. All right, look at Ezekiel 36. We just read this a week or so
ago. Let's just think about how it's
going to make sense. Look at verse 23. It starts right
here. Ezekiel 36. Well, look up at
verse 21. He says, I had pity for my foe
in vain. Verse 22, He said, Thus saith the Lord God, I do not
bid for your sake, so God bid for your sake, but for my holy
name's sake. This is all important. Verse 23, I will sanctify my
great name, which was propaned among you. He said that three
times. I do all this, and I'm saving
you from my holy name." All right, now we go on. Here's what he's
going to do. Verse 24, "'I will take you from
among the heathens, you religious or religious, heathens.
I'll take you from them and gather you.'" Verse 25, "'I'll sprinkle
clean water upon you.' You shall be cleansed from all your guilt
and from all your eyes. I'll sprinkle the blood of Christ
on you. I'll cleanse you from all your sins. Verse twenty-six,
a new heart also I give you, a new spirit I'll put within
you. Verse twenty-seven, I'll put my spirit within you and
call you a walker in my statutes. A walker by faith and Christ,
that's what the Holy Spirit does. Verse 28, you dwell in the land
that I gave you. You will be my people. Verse
29, I will save you from all your uncleanliness. It's called
reform. And on and on he talks about
what he's going to do for us. All right? Now we're down to verse 37. Now, it's certain that God was
going to save these people, because He said, I will. I will. God said, I will, and shall be
done. He said, I will save my people
and do all these things for them. All right, verse thirty-seven.
Thus saith the Lord God. I will yet for this be inquired
of by the house of Israel to do it for them. In other words,
they're going to ask me to do it for them. I'm not going to
do it unless they ask me. Well, they're going to ask me
because I've determined to do it, but they're going to ask
me to do that. Even the asking is part of His
will. Now, in the last line of verse
38, it says, and they shall know, all right, they're going to ask
me to do all this for them. And what are they going to find
out after they ask and after I do it? What are they going
to find out? They're going to probably, in verse 38 of the
last line, they'll know I'm the Lord, the foundation of the Lord. Every good person gets to come
to God. Everything. When we pray, and
ask God for a particular thing when we pray, and ask him for
something, and he gives it to us. He gives credit, doesn't he?
He gives us glory. Whereas if we give a thing and
didn't ask for it, we pass it off to, well, we don't say love
or chance. Other people do, but they pass
it off as to faith or love or chance or just, you know, Whatever. Love is art or something like
that. But God tells us to ask for everything,
in everything, with prayers of thanksgiving, in everything,
with thanksgiving. And so when we ask for things,
He's very following. We ask for things and God gives
them, therefore we acknowledge Him in everything. The least
of things, in everything. He said be careful for nothing,
but in everything. So he gets all the glory, all
the credit when we ask for a thing and he gives it to us. Alright,
another reason why we pray. God commands us to acknowledge
our God in everything. Thirdly, we look at Psalm 145. Psalm 145. Thirdly, we pray. I form a communion with God.
A parish communion with God. We communicate with God. Communicate with God. Right? Communicate. We talk to
our God. Baldwin 145. Now it's not, to
be honest, I don't want to get in a bad way, but it's not the
same as you and I talk in the network. No one has to talk to
God in that fashion. You can tell Him anything, I
can talk to Him, but it's just a different way that we speak to our God.
Alright? Psalm 145, this is a form of
communion with our God. Look at verse 18. The Lord is
nigh, or near unto all them that call upon Him. He's near unto
all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in
truth. What does that mean for you? With what is truth? Remember,
I asked that question. It's not right. He asked that
question of him who is the truth. Christ said, now listen to this,
we often quote pastors, John 146. Christ said, no man comes
unto the Father but by faith. We either quote that passage
or we quote the first passage. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. Think of it again. I am the way
to God. There's no other way. There's
no other person. There's no other work. See, I am the truth. I am the truth. Call upon me
in prayer and delight, even as the sun hath light. No man cometh
unto the Father in prayer but by me." No man, quote, you shall
in prayer through anyone but me. I am the truth of this matter. I am the truth of salvation.
For when God is nigh or near unto them for the very last time,
he will fulfill the desire of them that fear him. He will hear
their cry, and will save them. All right, so it's a moral community. If you read the Psalms, what
are the Psalms that are supposed to be prayers? Prayers. Most of the songs are prayers,
and most of the songs are written by David, who is called by God,
a man after my own heart. A man after my own heart. Come
on, why is he called a man after his own heart? There's a thousand and nine of them, come
on. David called upon his God incessantly, continually, without
ceasing. David prayed, David called upon
his God, David communed with his God, David's affection was
selfless. God is nice, and we have to call
upon Him in Christ. All right. Now, second, okay,
that's why we pray. God commanded us to acknowledge
our God, to be with our God, and there, I believe. But second,
now, what do we pray? All right, our Lord, Paul is
sitting here, and Luke, he left. It turns out that Luke, he left.
Our Lord taught us what to pray. Go back there to Luke 11. And he said unto them, verse
2, When ye pray, say these. And he said several things. Now, is he telling us that every
time we pray that we should just repeat this prayer? Now, I thought, as a matter of
fact, in another place he said, use not vain repetitions. That's
what he said, because that's what the Pharisees said. They
think they're going to be heard, but they must be. Now, the Lord
might give us prayer at the period of peace, unless we can say this
on the heart and mean every word of it, and by all means, say
exactly what he said. But he's given us a model here.
He's given us key elements in practice. He's given us key ingredients
in practice. He's telling us the emphasis
or the message in practice. All right? Are you with me? All right. All right, here's
what he says. Here's what he tells us, verse
2. When you pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name, hallowed be thy name, hallowed be thy name. I remember back in the very seat
where we were sitting up, my whole DNA had been defiled. And
I don't have to say it, but everybody asked me. The first thing everyone
did was hallowed his name. They didn't proclaim it. I have
none. When they really start praying,
they say, you know what? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This is just another word for
glorify. Praise. Praise. Hallelujah. Holy. Now, consecrate. Sanctify. Holy God. We say, Holy God. Holy
Father. We say that with one person.
God. Thou art God, this I believe,
there is none other. Thou art God. Thou art holy,
holy, holy, holy. That's the first thing that characterizes
us. Holy, holy, holy. That's why
God saved us to reveal His holy name. What we're doing is really
we're just boasting in our mouth. The first thing He tells us to
do is brag on Him. He prayed by money, prayed on
him, most in him, magnified his name. One time the Lord, Jesus
Christ, prayed a very simple prayer. All he said was, Father,
glorify thy name. Father, glorify thy name. And the scripture said that God
answered that prayer. God delighted so much in that
prayer. It pleased God so much that everybody
heard it. And He said, I have glorified
it and I will glorify it. I'll answer that prayer every
time, He said. And that's why the Lord brings
us up. He says every time we pray, the first thing we pray,
before we start asking, asking, asking, giving, giving, giving,
giving, we say, God, glorify yourself. Hallowed be thy name. Peter says, sanctify the Lord
God in your hearts. Hallowed, holy, glorified. Praise and worship, that's what
prayer is meant to be about. Prayer is not just a... Going
to our sugar, our benefactor, our sugar daddy, so to speak,
and asking for a thing. Most people only pray when they
need something. And they get in trouble for it, and so on. We pray without ceasing, and
the principal ingredient in our prayer is holding God's door
open. He says, Thy Father, hallowed
be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom
come. What kingdom is this? It's the
gospel kingdom. It's concerning the gospel. That's
why this whole ball of dirt is rotating at this moment. That's
why this whole thing is in existence. For the glory of God and for
the honor of His Son. that we're bringing in of the
gospel kingdom. After the last elect of God's
gospel kingdom is brought in, he's going to throw this sand
up out of Asia. He's going to destroy this politics.
That's what it's all about. So when we get our minds and
our hearts in tune with God, we might start thinking about
Christianity. That's what he said in Ephesians 1, that this
is the will of God to bring everything together in one in Christ Jesus. This is the way. He's made known
and kept secret from so many. This is the way. And we're to
pray for the purpose received in his gospel. And he says, Thy will be done. Thy kingdom come, O Lord. Send your gospel here. May our
children hear the gospel. May our spouses hear the gospel. May our parents hear the gospel. O Lord, send the gospel. And
your will be done. Thy will be done. As in heaven. It's done in heaven. As in heaven. You wonder why, you wonder why
I chose this instead of the other, you know how I tell you where
the service, the prayer, this prayer is located in another
place? It's a test, isn't it? Alright, alright. Good. Matthew
6. Well you wonder why I chose this one instead of Matthew 6.
But we got that memorized on us. Calvin's presided over our
oath. It's a little different here. It's not different. His
word was different. And he leaves something off.
For his. I mean, you know, I just, this
is the same prayer. Yet we get in this, we get in
a real redundancy of our character. All right, he says, I will be
done. Praise, I will be done. Lord, and his will's gonna be
done. Make no mistake about it. When God wills something, it's
gonna be done. That's what he said. And then he said, I will. He said, I spoken and I will.
That's our purpose today. I will perform. His will will be done, so why
do we pray for His will to be done? Well, more than anything,
we're praying that His will will be done in us and through us,
that we will submit to His will, that we'll seek His will, and
once we see it, be willing to submit to it, bow to it, whatever
it may be. His will's going to be done.
And all, everything, this is the will of God concerning you. What does Paul say in everything? He attacks, for this is the will
of God. Now, don't y'all pray. I'm sorry. We'll tell it later. We don't
have time. Fulfill your will in me, Lord.
Let me do your will. Submit to your will. Leave us
not to ourselves. We sing that song, Have Thine
Own Way, Lord. It's your favorite song, Teach
Me Thine Own Way. That's what it says in the first
verse. Showing your will and willingness to walk. All right,
now we'll be done. All right, the next thing, verse
3. He says, pray this, Give us the
day by day Our daily bread. Day by day. That's where we get
that song. Day by day. It's my wife's favorite
song. Day by day. Give us our daily
bread. Give us bread. Daily needs, he
said. Needs. You know. Needs. He said, having food in
the lamb, let us share with the needs of the needy. You know, our Lord does. And
again, everything we're to give thanks, why do we pray before
we eat? Where does that truth come from? You might ask. Our Lord did it. In 1 Corinthians 11 it says he,
after he had given the financing, our Lord gave him a nice supper
of food. That's why we do it. Now, I understand. I've had an interview with men,
but every time you sit down on the pavement, you do this, and
you feel, you often feel like this. It often becomes, you feel
like a ritual, isn't it? And you're tempted. But not do
it for that reason. You don't just want to repeat
that same old job train of mind, but do it. Do it now. Get back. Get everything back
up. Get back out, and we'll get into
this thing in other places in a moment. But our Lord did this,
and these are supreme examples, saying that's not our pattern
in everything. And again, we're acknowledging
everything that's coming from heaven. It's of the Holy Spirit
that's behaving. It's more than a lot of people
have. And he died in his grace. Another reason probably is if
you don't participate in some sort of devotion or prayer with
your family that's about the only time you're going to get
prayed for. At least in their prayers. All
right. Here's another thing. Yes, he
does this to us all. First of all, forgive us our
sins. Forgive us our sins. We also
forgive everyone who is in debt to us. Forgive us. Give us our
sins as we forgive. He tells us what our needs are.
And what our bodies need is just things to need. Food and drink,
right? But what do our souls need? What's
the first need that this soul needs? Our greatest need. Mercy. Mercy. That's our greatest need. We're going to be centered for
the day we die. What are we going to need for
the day we die? Mercy. Well, thank God, He gives
mercy. Where is that coming from? It's
all from the early city. I'm going to preach something
about mercy. All right, forgive us. Forgive
us. Now you notice the little program
in there. Is it program us? Is there a
program in English? Maybe you can tell me. Who cares? Notice the little word us? Don't
die. You didn't like English, did
you? Notice the little word us in
there? All the way through? Why does
the word keep saying us? Us, us, us. Pray this way, us. He's teaching us intercessory
prayer. He's teaching us to pray to others
as well as ourselves. Intercessory prayer, give us,
forgive us, lead us on. Our Lord is a supreme example
of this, isn't he? He never prays strictly for himself,
except that one time in his garden. Did he pray for others when he
got here? Huh? Oh, yes. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. He answered him
and he blessed him, didn't he? And he blessed others. Intercessors pray. Our Lord teaches us to pray for
others and ask Him for the blessings of other human beings. He said, as we forgive everyone
who is indebted to us, as we forgive those who trespass against
us. And Matthew said, if you don't
forgive your brother, I'm not going to hear you. He's not going to, when we ask
for mercy, He's not going to give it unless we're merciful. All right? That's
that. He said, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil or the evil one. Now, the Lord doesn't lead us
into temptation. Why does He ask today? Why does
He tell us to ask today? If God does not lead us in the
paths of righteousness for His name's sake, if God does not
lead us by His Holy Spirit, if God leaves us alone, we'll fall
into temptation, fall by the temptation. We'll be easy prey
for the tempter, who's like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
We'll be easy prey for him. And so what we have, what he's
telling us here is, as he did, Lord, providentially, hinder
me from temptation. Providentially, don't allow me
to go where temptation leads me. Don't allow me to enter into
temptation. Keep me back from temptation. Lead me the other way. Or if
I'm faithful, give me Joseph's heart. All right, the next section.
And it's not here, it's thanksgiving. Over in Philippians 4, and we've
been quoting this, and everything about prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving. With thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is mostly what prayer
is all about. Praise and Thanksgiving. Quite
often if we, you'll find yourself, the more thanks you give, the
less you ask for. Right? The more you pray for
others, the less you think about yourself. Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. That's every man to give thanks.
This is the will of God concerning them. Thanks give every prayer
full of thanks to you. All right, now, here's my last
point. Have a break. Have a break. Okay, I... All right, I want
you to see these things before everybody wonders about these
things. Need a mind. Everyone needs a
mind. Can't find it? You look up in the index in front
of your Bible. Hurry is what I'm trying to say.
Need a mind. All right? So that, kneeling down, or standing,
or lying down, or close your eyes for a matter of days, although
there may be times restricted, or there may be times bound,
bound down, that they lay on their face, be evil, and so on. But look, look at it here, DMI
8, this one's previous, but look at verse 6, DMI 8. and worship the Lord with their
faces to the ground. That gives us a show of humility. But are we doing that? It's a
show of humility. Well, there it is.
All right, chapter nine. All right, there they bow down. They bow their heads. Chapter
nine. And the Word of the Lord replaces
the grain. They got down on the ground.
All right. Chapter 9, verse 1. Let's start
with chapter 9, verse 2. See, the Israelites separated
themselves from all strangers and stood and confessed their
sins. They stood up and confessed their sins. Many had a public
testimony. Testimony? Have you ever been
in a testimony? No. confessing their sins before
God, and we'll see in a moment. They stood up and read his book
of the law. Fourth part of the day. Fourth
part of the day. Eight hours. Don't worry, we're
going to leave here in a few minutes. Eight hours, that's
two days. All right? Psalm 95. Now there
we have bowing and there we have standing. Psalm 95. They're over
there. All right? Keep moving. Psalm
95. Got it? Psalm 95, verse 6. You got it?
If you don't, I'll read it anyway. O come, let us worship and bow
down, let us kneel before the Lord. Amen. Let's kneel. Mounting, standing,
kneeling. How is it? What is it? 1 Timothy,
listen to this, don't get on the turn. 1 Timothy 2, hey, he
says, I will, and men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without
racking them up. Racking them up will do this,
huh? And God's Word is not a competition. And in another place it says,
lift up your hand, but in another place it says, God's not working
for you, you understand? So, that's what I said in these
more times. Lift up your hand, God's not working for you. What posture must we
take? What posture must we take? Bow, kneel, sit, stand, raise
hand, close eyes, what are we supposed to do? I'll tell you
what posture we must take. Scripture says, God is spirit.
They that worship him must worship him. Spirit. Now, he says in several places
about the heart. He said, my son, you leave thine
heart. You know what I'm talking about
God in worship? He's got to be in the heart.
Not in the flesh. He said, and then David said
this, he said, I will lift up my soul. David said, my soul is bowed
down with him. Peace on the cross. He couldn't stand, kneel, bow,
sit, raise his hands. Or could he? He did all of them. He was bowed
down. He was raised up, he's holding
it in his heart. It's better to have a bowed heart
than a bowed knee. Better to have a lady's heart
than a lady's hand, anyhow. And then here, this brings me
to my next point. Matthew 6. Matthew 6. Matthew 6. This is
by a learned man. Matthew 6. How do we pray? Secretly. Secretly. Secretly. It's between us and God. Secretly. Matthew 6. Our Lord's gift command
this, isn't it? Matthew 6, verses 5 and 6. He
said, When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites
are. They love to pray standing in
the synagogue. They're sitting in the restaurant.
He didn't say that, did he? Yes, he did. So anyway, they
loved to be seen praying, standing in the hospital room in South
Africa. In the corner of the street,
they said, my vision is this. Our Lord said, that day may be
seen again. And they used to pray. They'd
be good Christians. Tony was a good pastor. He was such a
good hospital chaplain. He'd pray for everybody. He's
our orphan chief. He's a hierarchy. He's doing
that for his people. I know it's sad. I've seen him
with orphans. I didn't want to know the orphans. He cried over the orphans. Well, Our Lord said to him, look
at it, look at it. He said, they have their reward.
That's what they're looking for. To be seen with men. To be seen with men. But thou,
O disciple, O believer, when you pray, enter into thy closet. And when thou hast shut that
door, to not follow, which is in secret,
and not follow which secret in secret shall reward thee." I
love what Barnard did at one time. He went deep with so much
prejudice into that. They all went through their little
ritual, you know. Barnard got, as soon as they sat down, they
had a little Barnard W. And one of the shops, a food
cart, said, aren't you afraid? He said, how do you know I'm
not? Well, we can see you paint frames
of you. I'm not proud of you to see me
break. He said, how do you know I did? One time, One time they
did ask him to pray. And it really happened. He got
those preachers asking him to pray, a bunch of these false
preachers, and he said, he said, God, this is true, it's not possible. He said, Lord, they want me to
pray for them. They're butchering your word.
They're butchering your gospel. They're butchering the souls
of men. They're preaching a false gospel. I don't pray for them.
I pray for myself. Lord, bless me. That's a good
prayer. I think you've got to hear it. Then, secret. Who would pray for anybody? Men? No. Who's going to want to hear us
anyway? I tell you what, we pray for men to hear, God won't. Guaranteed. Guaranteed. He won't get that
soon. Better to have a heart without
words, than words without heart. Better not say anything. As a
matter of fact, Romans 8 talks about groanings which cannot
be uttered. You can't play with them, so
you'll... I love playing with other players,
but I don't have time. regular, without ceasing. I chose Luke 11 because he gives
that example of importunate prayer. That's why I chose that. The
Lord said, you know when a friend comes over your house at midnight
and has to pray, and you're in bed, and you say, go away! Well,
he had a brain with some kicks, I have. Well, he did, anyway,
didn't he? Why? He needed something. Whatever it is, he kept knocking.
And that's what our Lord said. He didn't ask him. Not one time
of the year. He didn't knock him. Not one
time of the year. That old boy kept saying, hey,
wake up, Joe! Get up! I need bread, and I've
got company, and I'm going to make my wife's breakfast, you
see. Get up! He said, though he won't give
it because he's a friend, because he's a nice guy, because he keeps
knocking on his door just to get rid of him. That's what he's
saying. And in Luke 18, the Lord says,
if it's an unjust judge, he'll hear it because he's fasting. And this friend is not praying
that. He'll hear it because he's fasting. Well, how much more
your father will give to your children? He's never sinned.
He's not slumbering. And he demands so that we can
ask him. Show the proof of the sincerity.
All right, and hit fortunes, but regularly. That means regularly
means all the time, all the places. And you know, that eliminates
posture. You can't play while you're making
wind parties. You know what I'm saying? You
can't really, you can't get out of it. You can't go to God. You have to change the posture.
Can you? Can you write it? Can you discern
it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it?
Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you
discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you
discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern
it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you
discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern
it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it?
Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern
it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it?
Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can you discern it? Can And I've heard
from people, and you've heard it too, and you thought it was
neat. Would you please end this? Nothing. Briefly. He knows what things
we have need of before we ask. Before we ask, and the most important
thing, we've got to turn to this first temple visit. And we've
already moved to it in John 14. We pray in faith. We pray and
pray in faith, or that is, we pray through Christ. We pray through Christ. We pray
in faith for God will hear us. We pray through a mediator for
God will hear us, and then on and on. And in that same, whoever. is only one. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me, Christ said. So here, 1 Timothy 2, all
right? 1 Timothy 2, verse 5. Got it? 1 Timothy 2, verse 5. There is one God and one mediator. That means a go-between. That
means somebody that'll go to God for you. One. Who is it? The man. Christ Jesus.
It's not a woman. It's not a man and a woman. It's
not a man and a woman. It's not a man and a woman. It's not a
man and a woman. It's not a man and a woman. It's not a man and
a woman. It's not a man and a woman. It's not a man and a woman. It's
not a man and a woman. It's not a man and a woman. It's
not a man and a woman. It's not a man and a woman. It's not a man and a woman. It's not
a man and a woman. It's not a man and a woman. It's not a man and
a woman. It's not a man and a woman. It's not a man and a woman. It's not a man and a woman. It
Well it is, I pray this paper today, that paper, I don't know,
it's gone, it's gone, it's gone. And the best thing about it is,
God always hears it. He always hears it. We can be
assured that God will hear our prayer if we go to Him in Christ. Our understanding. Our Holy God,
we thank You for Your Word. Thank You for teaching us who
You are and what we are in Christ Jesus, giving us these means
of growth. Thank You. Thank You for this
model of Christ. O Lord, be still in our hearts
and minds. Give us a mind that's right,
a heart that's right. In His name we pray. Amen. you.

Prayer

What does the Bible say about the importance of prayer?

How do we know that God commands us to pray?

Why is intercessory prayer important for Christians?

How should we approach God in prayer?

Why is thanksgiving important in prayer?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Prayer

What does the Bible say about the importance of prayer?

How do we know that God commands us to pray?

Why is intercessory prayer important for Christians?

How should we approach God in prayer?

Why is thanksgiving important in prayer?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

More from Paul Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Paul Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book