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PROMISES
FOR CONFIDENCE IN PRAYER
SUMMARY of the DOCTRINE OF PRAYER
1. Prayer is simply conversation with God in your own thinking,
With your own vocabulary.
2. There are 3 categories of prayer:
A. Access prayer: Access prayer refers to the "ability" to
communicate to God with the result
that He is attentive to you.
1. The provision of such access to God is through salvation. Only a
child in the family has access to God through prayer.
2. The unbeliever is unable to "access" God through prayer. And
one does not become a believer (a child of God) through prayer, but through
trusting in the promise of salvation as provided by the Messiah Savior,
Jesus Christ.
3. After salvation, the experience of having access to God through prayer
is based on having "fellowship" with God. Fellowship is experienced
and
maintained by not having any personal
sin in the life.
Psalm 66:18
If I regard iniquity in my heart
The Lord will not hear
4. Thus, the conditions stated by Jesus at John 15:7,
If you abide in me (fellowship)
and my words abide in you
(knowledge of His will)
ask whatever you want
and it shall be done for you
B. Praise: This category of prayer is
communication to God which recognizes and
praises what He has done for us.
1. Exaltation type praise: Heb. 13:15
2. Thanksgiving type praise: Eph. 5:20; 1 Thes.5:18
C. Petition: This category of prayer "asks" for something.
1. Prayer for self
2. Prayer for others
3. Prayer for those "unable" to pray for themselves
3. The mechanics of prayer: The "how to" of prayer
A. We are to pray to the Father: Mat. 6:9; John 16:23
B. In the name of the Son: Ephesians 5:20
C. Through the Holy Spirit: Ephesians 6:18; Rom. 8:26-27
4. The position of prayer: Any position is authorized in scripture.
There is no position which is better or worse than another.
5. The language of prayer:
A. You use your own language and your own vocabulary.
B. Mat. 6:7, Not as the Gentiles do - with an abundance of words.
C. KJV English with "Thee's" and "Thou's" is totally
insignificant.
D. "Holy hiccups" is the activity of repeating the same phrase
or word over and over throughout one's prayer. Such as "praise the
Lord" or "Halleuyah," etc. There is no scriptural basis
for such activity and in fact falls into the category of meaningless babble.
E. "Canned prayers" (prepared and memorized prayers) are artificial
and impersonal.
6. The time of prayer: No specific time is better than another.
All times are represented in the bible.
7. Group prayer is authorized and normal. Both men and women are permitted
to pray together and in public.
8. The frequency of prayer:
A. Luke 18:1 says that we are to "pray at all times and not get
discouraged.
B. 1 Thes. 5:17 says that we are to pray consistently. That is what "without
ceasing" means.
C. The issue is to have the mental attitude of prayer in every moment of
your life. It does not mean that you are "always" praying, but
that you are always ready and able to pray whenever a
need or situation arises. This of course simply requires that the believer
is consistently "in fellowship" with God and not retaining any
personal sin in his heart.
9. Prayer before meals (saying "grace") is not commanded.
It is the mental attitude of thanksgiving which is the real issue. However,
audible prayer before meals can certainly serve as a teaching aid for children
and for new believers. But This is one of the primary areas where there
is temptation to "showcase" self through one's ritual prayer.
10. Reasons why prayer is not answered.
There are 2 basic reasons.
A. Because there is sin in the life: Psalm 66:18
B. Because of ignorance of Divine Policy, ie, God's will.
John 15:7; 1 John 5:14-15
C. Passages that amplify these 2 reasons.
1. James 4:3, asking to satisfy your personal pleasure lusts rather
than the furtherance of God's plan.
2. 1 Pet 3:7, when the marriage relationship is subverted with human
viewpoint so that divine policy is not followed.
3. When asking from arrogance rather than a genuine humility that seeks
to
do things "God's way."
Job 35:12-13; Luke 18:11-14
4. Proverbs 21:13, because of a selfish hoarding of material possessions
to
the detriment of those you are "able" to help.
5. Mat. 6:14-15, Because you retain specific negative mental attitudes
toward others.
6. Because one insists on performing ritual but does not have a true
fellowship with God because sin is in the life. Isaiah 1:10-15; Prov. 15:8a
7. Because of a negative attitude toward learning and following the word
of God.
Prov. 28:9; Zech. 7:11-13
PRAYER PROMISES
JOHN 15:7
If you abide in me
and my words abide in you
ask whatever you want
and it shall be done for you
1 JOHN 3:22
And whatever we ask we receive from Him
because we keep His commandments
and do the things that are pleasing to Him
1 JOHN 5:14-15
And this is the confidence we have before Him
that if we ask anything
ACCORDING TO HIS WILL
He hears us.
And if we know that He hears us,
in whatever we ask, we know
that we have the requests that we asked from Him
MATTHEW 21:22
And all things you ask in prayer
BELIEVING
you shall receive
MATTHEW 7:7-8
Ask and it shall be given you
seek and you shall find
knock and it shall be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives
and he who seeks finds
and to him who knocks it shall be opened
JOHN 16:23
And in that day
you will ask Me nothing.
Truly ,truly I say to you
whatever you ask the Father
He shall give it to you in My name
ROMANS 8:26
And in the same way
the Spirit also helps our weaknesses;
for we do not know what we should pray
as we should,
but the Spirit Himself
intercedes for us
with groanings un-expressible
HEBREWS 4:16
Let us therefore draw near
with confidence to the throne of grace
that we may receive mercy
and find help in time of need
JAMES 5:16b
The energizing prayer
of a righteous man
is very powerful
EPHESIANS 3:21
Now to Him who is able to do
exceeding abundantly beyond
all that we ask or think
according to the power that works within us
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