Essentials: What Every Christian Needs to Know About Prayer

Notes: Essentials: What Every Christian Needs to Know About Prayer
Harvest OC
9-4-2014
Pastor Greg Laurie
Ephesians 6/Luke 11

September 22, 2014 Greg will be on TBN, we can go see it live if we want to go. Need to sign up online.

Pastor Greg came out to a standing ovation. He told us all the stats of the Crusade. Over 12,000 people came to faith.

Sunday there will be a short film about the Crusades and people who's lives were changed.

Greg is talking about you can't walk forward and not go forward.

Job 17:9 NKJV
[9] Yet the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger.

We make choices and then our choices make us.

If you want to be a strong Christian you need Discipline!

God changes us and then works through us. You workout your salvation, and then God works through you.

Discipline is the key to success in all fields.

2 Timothy 2:22 NKJV
[22] Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Run from anything that causes youthful lust.

To grow spiritually you must read study and love the Word of God. 

Joshua 1:8NKJV
[8]This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

1. Every growing believer will take time each day to read, study and love the Word of God.

Greg says you can't outgrow those things, it would be like saying you have outgrown eating or breathing.

2. To be a growing Christian, you must have a prayer life.

Ephesians 6:18 NKJV praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—

You can pray any way you want, just pray!

Daniel prayed in a lions den, Peter prayed on top of the water or under the water.

God will hear your prayer wherever you are.

Pray without ceasing, for this is the will of God.

Daniel prayed, regardless of the law.

Daniel 6:10 NKJV
[10] Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

Do your enemies know that you pray?

1 Timothy 2:8 NKJV
[8] I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;

Daniel gave thanks in his prayer, even though the laws were against it. Give thanks, not because you feel good. Give thanks because God is good.

Greg said he thinks it is great to see a family bow their heads and give thanks to God before a meal in a restaurant.

Nehemiah 2:4 NKJV
[4] Then the king said to me, "What do you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.

Nehemiah 2:5 NKJV
[5] And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it."

Where ever you go, you are with God and God is with you. If you kneel before God you can stand before any man.

1. You should pray because Jesus said to!

Luke 18:1
[1] Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,

John 11:41-42 NKJV
[41] Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. [42] And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me."

2. Prayer is Gods way for obtaining things.

James 4:2 NKJV
[2] You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

You won't get things just because you ask.

3. Prayer is the way by which God helps is to overcome our anxiety and worry.

Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV
[6] Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; [7] and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Greg said a joke about paying someone to worry for you.

Don't worry, but pray!  God will guard your heart and mind.

Prayer is the way we make ourselves ready for the return of Christ.

Luke 21:34-36 NKJV
[34] "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. [35] For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. [36] Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."

Prayer is not an option for a Christian, it is a requirement.

Yes, No and Go! Are all answers to prayer.

The Lords Prayer, is not called that, by put we all know it as that. It is a great prayer, it can be your prayer or use it as a template for our prayer.

Luke 11:2-4 NKJV
[2] So He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. [3] Give us day by day our daily bread. [4] And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one."

Worship music is prayer set to song!

When you have a big God you have small problems!

Secrets to Answered Prayer:

Secret to Answered Prayer #1. If you want your prayer answered in the affirmative, then pray according to the will of God.

Prayer does not change God's mind, it changes my mind.

When you are in a boat and you throw a rope to the dock, you don't pull the dock to you, you pull yourself to the dock.

1 John 5:14-15 NKJV
[14] Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. [15] And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Nothing lies outside the power of God, it may lie outside the WILL of God!

You Father knows better than you!

Secret to Answered Prayer #2. Bring your petitions to God after you acknowledge the greatness of God.

Job 7:17 NKJV
[17] "What is man, that You should exalt him, That You should set Your heart on him,

God loves you! Why He loves you, we don't know.

Matthew 7:9-11 NKJV
[9] Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? [10] Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? [11] If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

Secret to Answered Prayer #3. You must confess your sin. 

There are sins of omission! 

1 John 1:8-10 NKJV
[8] If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

There is no greater sin then sin left within.

Psalm 66:18 NKJV
[18] If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.

We need willful obedience.

Secret to Answered Prayer #4. As much as possible, stay out of the place of temptation.

Isn't it easier to pick out others sin than your own?

1. A test: Pray about it in the clear light of The Lord.

2. A test: How would it look if you saw another Christian doing it?

5. Don't give up!

Luke 11:5-9 NKJV
[5] And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; [6] for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; [7] and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'? [8] I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. [9] "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.

You must not give up on your prayers!

Keep praying!

Persistence gets people things from you, what will persistence get you from God.

Ask. Seek. Knock.

1. Ask implies requesting assistance.
2. Seek denotes asking but adds action.
3. Knock includes asking, seeking and persevering.

Greg prayed for his mom for over 40 years! Some people respond quickly.

Some prayer has no power in it because there is no heart in it!

You can have your prayers go nowhere or go to God. You have to confess your sin and they go to God!

We are all adopted into God's family when we ask to be.