{"id":68,"date":"1998-06-28T10:08:48","date_gmt":"1998-06-28T17:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.teach4god.com\/Sermons\/?p=68"},"modified":"2014-02-09T10:46:43","modified_gmt":"2014-02-09T18:46:43","slug":"what-happens-when-christians-pray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teach4god.com\/Sermons\/what-happens-when-christians-pray\/","title":{"rendered":"What Happens When Christians Pray?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
<\/a>What Happens When Christians Pray?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
June 28, 1998<\/a><\/td>\nSermon by DRW<\/a><\/td>\nPassage Matthew 6.9-13<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I am pleased to see that this is a church that prays. We prayed before the service, we have prayed in the service, and there are prayer meetings during the week. It is pleasing because prayer is essential to our worship of and fellowship with God.<\/p>\n

Today, my desire is for you to realize the importance and power of prayer in our daily lives. It is my desire for each one of us to understand five concepts of powerful, effective prayers. We need to realize that great things happen when Christians decide to pray. All that God does in this world is through the prayers of His children. People like us praying brings change into this world. Before we begin, let us pray: He is sovereign, He is in control of the meeting, He can fill our needs today, He can cleanse our sins, He is able to change us.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>Prayer is Talking with God (Matthew 6.9)<\/p>\n

\u2219\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Prayer is not a natural activity.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0It shows us we are not in control but God is.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0It shows us we are not as independent as we would like to be.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>Concepts of Prayer (Matthew 6.9-13)<\/p>\n

a.\u00a0\u00a0Prayer includes worship (9)<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0It is telling God we recognize Him as holy, pure, and sovereign.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0It is telling God we are thankful and grateful to Him for who He is and for what He has done.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0It is telling God we appreciate the fact that we are His children.<\/p>\n

a.\u00a0\u00a0Adoption<\/p>\n

b.\u00a0Chosen by Him to be loved by Him<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0We are asking our Father<\/p>\n

b.\u00a0It is a picture of a child seeking from the Father the good and best for self and others that the Father has for the life and mission in this world. Jesus shows us that a father would not give snakes to his child when he asks for food. We need to pray to our Heavenly Father and not be satisfied with the prayer until it has been answered. The answers of our Father are: Yes, No, Not now, you are not ready yet.<\/p>\n

c.\u00a0\u00a0It is a picture of asking the Father based on relationship not some other basis.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0It is not on the basis of a faith principle.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0It is not on the basis of our taking authority.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0It is not on the basis of our speaking to the spirit world.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0It is our trusting and resting on God the Father and our relationship with Him as His children. It is resting in the knowledge that He will keep His promises.<\/p>\n

b.\u00a0Prayer includes submission (10)<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0It is telling God we acquiesce our will for His.<\/p>\n

a.\u00a0\u00a0We are living in relationship with God (1 John 5.14)<\/p>\n

b.\u00a0We are living in a commitment to obedience (1 John 3.22)<\/p>\n

c.\u00a0\u00a0We are living to please Him (1 John 3.22)<\/p>\n

d.\u00a0We are living to know Jesus and make Him known (1 John 3.23)<\/p>\n

e.\u00a0We are living in love with fellow believers (1 John 3.23)<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0It is telling God we want His kingdom established in our lives.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0It is like when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and proclaimed, \u201cNot My will, but Yours be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0Or, like John the Baptist who said he was unworthy to untie the sandal of Jesus.<\/p>\n

c.\u00a0\u00a0Prayer includes requests (11)<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0Prayer is our Life (Philippians 4.6-7)<\/p>\n

a)\u00a0\u00a0Prayer transcends our self (6)<\/p>\n

i.\u00a0\u00a0Prayer takes our focus off ourselves and places it upon God.<\/p>\n

ii.\u00a0Peter as he was walking on the water.<\/p>\n

b)\u00a0Bringing God into our situations (7)<\/p>\n

i.\u00a0\u00a0Prayer asks God into every situation in our lives.<\/p>\n

ii.\u00a0Prayer is trusting God to do what God said He already would do.<\/p>\n

\u2219\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Prayer is made in the knowledge of the will of God (as revealed in Scripture), or in the seeking of that will.<\/p>\n

i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0our daily needs<\/p>\n

ii)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the enjoyment of our work<\/p>\n

iii)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jesus is our Saviour<\/p>\n

iv)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0our purity<\/p>\n

v)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0our ability to give sacrificially to His service<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0This doesn\u2019t mean we merely have a shopping list.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0It implies we come to Him on the basis of our fellowship with Him as His children, with requests.<\/p>\n

a)\u00a0\u00a0With open hands<\/p>\n

b)\u00a0With honesty<\/p>\n

c)\u00a0\u00a0Telling our Father to help us with the pains of life (\u201cFather, I need You . . . \u201c)<\/p>\n

d)\u00a0It is going back to points 1 and 2.<\/p>\n

d.\u00a0Prayer includes confession (12)<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0We can never come to God without first confessing to Him that He is holy, that He is sovereign, that He alone can meet my daily needs, and, when we sin, that He is right and we were wrong. This is confession of sin.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0We need to learn to say to God and others, \u201cI was wrong, I am sorry, please forgive me.\u201d<\/p>\n

e.\u00a0Prayer includes humility (13)<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0We need to learn that we cannot live this Christian life on our own. We need God\u2019s help in every corner of our life.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0We need to acknowledge this to Him and before others.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0Prayer is placing our confidence in God and nothing else.<\/p>\n

\u2219\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Pray as if you need God always for everything.<\/p>\n

\u2219\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Go from prayer as if you have God already for everything.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Conclusion:\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>Pray this week not just for food or in front of people, but pray this week, privately and with intensity. Things happen when Christians truly pray. So, please pray. There is much that can happen when we do.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a92012 Teach for God Ministries. Used by Permission.<\/p>\n

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Teach for God Ministries.<\/p>\n

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By David R Williamson. \u00a92012 Teach for God Ministries. Website:\u00a0www.teach4god.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What Happens When Christians Pray? June 28, 1998 Sermon by DRW Passage Matthew 6.9-13 I am pleased to see that this is a church that prays. We prayed before the service, we have prayed in the service, and there are prayer meetings during the week. It is pleasing because prayer is essential to our worship … Continue reading What Happens When Christians Pray?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,4,3],"tags":[35,20,34],"class_list":["post-68","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-matthew","category-new-testament","category-sermons","tag-father","tag-god","tag-prayer","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teach4god.com\/Sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teach4god.com\/Sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teach4god.com\/Sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teach4god.com\/Sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teach4god.com\/Sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.teach4god.com\/Sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231,"href":"https:\/\/www.teach4god.com\/Sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions\/231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teach4god.com\/Sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teach4god.com\/Sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teach4god.com\/Sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teach4god.com\/Sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}