Understanding Prayer
James 5:13-18
Is anyone among you suffering hardships or having trouble? Let him pray.
Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church,
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.
And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another,
that you may be healed.
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain;
and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
What is prayer?
Prayer should be communication with God – talking and listening
We tend to limit it to petitioning God, or asking Him for something
Asking does have a Biblical foundation
John 14:13
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do
We must ask correctly – or for the right reasons
James 4:2-3
You do not have, because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
We must ask in faith
Matt 21:22
Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.
Our pursuit must be for God, more than for things
Heb 11:6
Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
The ultimate pursuit is to “abide in Him”
John 15:7
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you,
you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
Out of our pursuit and our abiding and our faith, we come into alignment
So that when we do ask, we ask according to His will
1 John 5:14-15
And this is the confidence that we have toward him,
that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask,
we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
This is what makes our prayers effective
This is also why we confess
And call for the elders – mature ones
The Prayer of Faith is prayer prayed based on the assurances of God’s Word
Supplication
Eph 6:18
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints
Phil 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known to God.
Supplication: to make known one’s particular need. Want, need. In the NT, supplication or prayer for particular benefits, petition for oneself
Prayer with Worship – “Hallowed by thy name”
Prayer of Forgiveness – “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
Prayer of Agreement
Matt 18:19-20
"Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask,
it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."
Agreement: Symphony; sumphœnéœ; be in agreement with. To be in unison, accord, to speak together with another,
Groanings
Rom 8:26
Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
John 11:38
Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
Rom 8:22
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
Prayer of Lament
The Psalms, Lamentations and other books, as well as Jesus during His passion give us examples of lament, where we are honest about our pain, and not afraid to make our complaint to God, or express our confusion or ask God “why?”
Persistent Prayer
Luke 11:5-8
[Jesus] 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.
Luke 18:1-8
Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,
2 saying: "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.' 4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.'"
6 Then the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"
Jesus is clear that it is not an indication of lack of a faith to ask repeatedly
Intercession – to plead for someone
Heb 7:25
Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him,
since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Rom 8:26-27
Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is,
because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Rom 8:33-34
Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Ezek 22:30-31
So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.
Praying in Tongues
1 Cor 14:14-15
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding.
Jude 20
You, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit
I do not believe that Jude 20 limits this prayer to tongues, because of the word “in”, which means “to rest”