EEFECTIVE PRAYING
Sermon of TBOLF by Br. Oludayisi Adenuga
Introduction:
Prayer is talking to God; and it involves the following or combination of them: thanksgiving, praise, adoration, worship, confession, petition, intercession and discussion. Effective praying is praying according to God’s will, while in a state of total submission and full consecration to God. The whole man must be given to God in praying. Today we shall examine the following: recommended manner of prayer, right attitudes in prayer and the various categories of prayer.1. Recommended manner of praver: Matt. 6:9-13.
Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, recommended that we should pray in the following manner:
• Worship God, consecrate yourself to Him and submit to His will. Matt. 6:9-10; Romans 12:1.
• Ask God to teach you His ways, give you understanding in His words and reveal His plan and purpose to you. I believe that the statement "give us this day our daily bread" in Matt. 6:11 is not referring to just physical bread or food (although this may be inclusive), but spiritual food of the word of God. In Luke 4:4, Jesus said, "It is written that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God". In John 4:34, Jesus said" My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish his work". Peter also said in I Peter 2:2 "As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby". And in Matthew 6:31-33 our Lord said "Therefore take no thought, saying what shall we eat? Or, what shall we drink" or, wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
• Ask God to forgive your sins, if your heart condemns you on any matter
• Ask God to help you to resist the devil and not be overcome by the devil (Matt. 6:13). A man is overcome by the devil when he yields to temptation.
• Praise God, extol His name, glory, power and dominion.
2. Right attitudes in nravers.
• Contrite heart: Psalm 34:18 says "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth Such as be of a contrite Spirit". Psalm 51:17 says "The sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise". Contrite means-- completely penitent God said in Isaiah 66:2b, "to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word".
• Reverence: You can take any posture (for example bowing down, bowing the knees, bowing the head, lying down, standing, sitting, looking up, etc.) but you must do so reverently.
• A man should not cover his head, but a woman should do so (read I Corinthians 11:3-16
• Direct your prayers to God the Father (Matt 6:9) in the name of Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus said in John 14:13, ‘Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the son. Though it is not a sin to pray to Jesus Christ, because He is one with God the Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself instructed us to pray to God the Father in His name. Therefore for effective praying, we should always pray to our heavenly Father (the creator of heaven and earth, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ) and make our requests/petitions in the name of Jesus Christ.
• Have faith in God. Our payers to God must be accompanied with faith in Him, without doubt or wavering (read James 1: 6-7).
3. Various Categories of prayer (Eph. 6:18; Phil 4:6)
• Thanksgiving: This is thanking God for something He has done or we are expecting Him to do for us. It can also be combined with praises and worship to God. See example in Matt. 11:25-26 (Jesus thanked the Father for the revelation of Himself unto babes). Psalm
50:14 says "offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most High". Ephesians 5:20 says" Give thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.• Supplication: Humbly make a petition or request to God for something. Luke 11:9 says "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you". Matthew. 21:22 says "All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive".
• Intercession: God expects every believer to intercede. Intercession is praying for others, or making petition in behalf of others at the throne of grace. A person who doesn’t intercede for others is selfish, and does not love others. Believers are exhorted to pray and intercede for the following:
1.
Their Nations: read 2 Chronicles. 6:38-39,7:12-14.ii.
Kings and Rulers: read I Timothy 2:1-4iii. Persecutors: read Matthew. 5:44
iv. Unbelievers: read Romans. 10:1
v. Ministers: read Philippians 1:19; Romans. 15:30. Apostle Paul said in Ephesians. 6:19 ‘Pray that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel"
vi. The work of the Lord: read Colossians. 4:3
vii. Believers (One another)- James 5:16
viii. The Church
It is our duty to pray earnestly and constantly for fellow Christians, our Pastors and Christian teachers and workers, national leaders and our nation. You must not criticize but pray for all men.
• Binding and loosing: We have been given power to bind the power of darkness, and loose those who are held captive by the devil (read Matthew 16:19). Jesus said in Matthew 18:18 "Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in heaven".
• Prayer of agreement: Jesus said in Matthew 18:19 "Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven
Conclusions: We must effectively pray to God, if we want our prayers to be answered. James 5: 1 6b says "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much".
Please see 2 examples of effective praying in the following passages: 2 Chronicle 20:1-17; Acts 4:23-31.