THE PRAYER SKELETON

What is Prayer?

- Communication with God (any form of communication, not just words.)
- Connecting to the ‘unseen realm’.

When do we pray?

 James 5:13-16 When we are:
(a) in trouble (v13)
(b) happy (v13)
(c) sick (v14)
(d) in sin (v15+16)
Ephesians 6:18 ‘on all occasions’

Where do we pray?

Anywhere we want, BUT Jesus says in Matt 6:5-8 that we shouldn’t do it so that people will think we’re more holy than we really are. In these verses he implies that most of our praying should be done in secret, without anyone knowing. Think of it like an iceberg, our prayers in public should only be the tip of the iceberg, compared to what is done in secret. But it is much harder to discipline ourselves to pray when we’re alone. You can tell who prays lots in private, because whenever they pray in public, they rock!

Why do we pray?

James 5: 15-16
(a) Because God heals
(b) Because God forgives
(c) Because it is powerful and effective (It says that the prays of the righteous are powerful and effective. We are the righteousness of God if we have been born of the Spirit.)

Ephesians 6:18 So that we may stay alert in battle (we are in a battle, as soldiers in God’s army, if we call ourselves Christians.) Prayer determines how good a warrior we really are.

How do we pray

Matthew 6: 9-15

‘Our Father…’ God is our Dad who loves us and wants to give us good
things. (Luke 11:11-13) We can thank and praise Him for being such a wonderful Dad!

‘hallowed be your name’ ‘Hallowed’ means to honour as holy. When we pray we want to honour God’s name and recognise that Jesus, (who is our representation of the Father) is in supreme authority over everything that has ever been created. A truly awesome and powerful name. That is why we pray ‘in the name of Jesus.’

‘Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’

This is probably the most important verse when discovering what prayer is all about. It means that we are to ask God to show us what He wants to do with regard to whatever we are praying about. This is what it means to dream God’s dreams, or to have a vision from God for a particular area. When God reveals this to us, what is actually happening is that He is filling our hearts and minds with the purpose of His Kingdom for that particular thing. When we think we’ve got a vision of God’s Kingdom coming to a particular area, we can check whether we’re right or not by seeing if it is consistent with what God says through the bible, and also by what the Spirit has communicated to others whom you trust. When we do this, we are much more likely to pray according to God’s will and we can let it rip with our prayers!

We should ask ourselves what God wants to do in:
(a) our own lives
(b) our families
(c) our schools - 1Tim 2:4
(d) the Church - Mk 16:15-18, 2Cor 5:19-20
(e) our Government - 1Tim 2:1-4

The reason why prayer is so important is because God wants to achieve all His purposes in the earth through you and I, the body of Christ, the Church. What a job!! God knows what an immense responsibility this is, that’s why He has given us HIS authority and power to do it. Yes, it’s really true. We just have to learn how to use this power tools! The very purpose of our creation was to take dominion over all the earth. (Genesis 1:26) This authority was lost when Adam and Eve sinned, but was redeemed again through Jesus Christ, our Saviour! Ephesians 1:18-23, 2:6 says that we have been raised up with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly realm far above all rule and authority, power and dominion and every title that can be given to man. God wants us to operate in this place of authority when we pray. Right beside the King of Kings!!

Here are a couple of great promises that will help us pray with faith.

• 1 John 5:14-15    Mark 11:24