One of Jesus’ disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
Even those who walked with Jesus in the flesh asked Him to teach them how to pray. Today, we still want to know if there is an effective way to pray.
Jesus answered the disciples request by saying, “Pray like this. . .” (Luke 11:2).
Then Jesus prayed a model prayer that we know as “The Lord’s Prayer.” Based on this prayer we have a model to follow (see Matthew 6:9-15 and Luke 11:1-4).
Here at Fortress of Hope Ministries, I desire to lay out for you step by step what I have learned from studying the model prayer so that we will all know what and how to pray so that our prayers move mountains in our lives.
“Isn’t praying just talking to God?”
Yes it is. And we can talk to God anytime we want like a friend, just as we talk to each other. However, God as our Father, promises to meet our needs. God’s word contains His promises to us as His children and when we pray Scriptures, He fulfills His promises.
When we pray God’s Word, we can pray with confidence that God will do what He said He would do.
“Now this is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15).
God answers prayers when we ask according to His will. Well, how do we know what God’s will is?
God’s Word is His will!
When we pray Scriptures, God moves on those prayers based on His Word.
Isaiah 55:11 reads,
“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
God’s word does what HE says it will to do.
Therefore, when we pray the Word of God, which is powerful and effective, we pray with confidence that God does what He says He will do.
Why we pray:
We pray in order to communicate with God. We always have a direct line open with God. We never get a busy signal or get sent to voice mail. God desires to communicate with us and for us to communicate with him.
We pray to develop a closer relationship with our loving Father. God is relational. He sent His son Jesus Christ in order that we can be reconciled to Him as our Father and have a personal relationship with Him. He wants us to be personal with Him through prayer.
We pray to increase our faith. When we pray Scriptures, which are God’s promises to us, then it builds up our faith and confidence in God, our Father.
When we pray God’s will, which is His Word, He answers.
Things to remember when praying God’s Word:
God timing is not always our timing. He answers, but when the answer manifests is up to Him. We are always to pray and never give up (Luke 18:1).
How God answers is not up to us. We must release all expectations of “how” God will bring about His promises.
We are aligning ourselves up with God’s will. Praying Scriptures is not a magic formula to get what we want, but to line ourselves up with what God wants.
Are you a child of God the Father?
To approach God as Father, first be certain your are in His child. To understand how to become a child of God, click here to visit the What About Eternity? page. It’s as easy as A-B-C!
In the prayer category on this blog, you will find information about how to pray, how to remove hindrances to prayers, and Scripture based prayers you can down load.
Blessings in Christ-
