Transcript PRAYING WITH FAITH - Truth Helpers Incorporated

PRAYING WITH FAITH
ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAY WITH FAITH
Critics abound who disparage Christians from
praying:
• “God doesn’t exist so you are just talking into the
air when you pray.”
• “Even if there is a God you’re not going to
change His mind by praying.”
Instead of listening to the critics let us listen to
God.
God Invites Us To Pray
•God declared His Temple to be a house of prayer.
“…For My house shall be called a house of prayer
for all nations.” Isaiah 56:7.
•Jesus confirmed that God’s house is a house of
prayer.
“He said to them, ‘It is written, ‘My house shall be
called a house of prayer…’”
Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46.
•Jesus gave us a model prayer that embraces the
essential areas of a true believers life.
“Our Father in heaven…” Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:1-4.
•Jesus encouraged His disciples to believe God to
answer their prayers.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will
find; knock, and it will be opened to you. . .”
Matthew 7:7.
On the night before His crucifixion Jesus
gave His disciples these promises. . .
“And whatever you ask in My name, that I
will do, that the Father may be glorified in
the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I
will do it.” John 14:13, 14.
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in
You, you will ask what you desire and it
shall be done for you.” John 15:7.
These are tremendous promises to those who
understand them and meet the requirements.
It is likely that every true Christian has asked
something from God and tacked on the words,
“in Jesus name.” Time passed and their prayer
was not answered.
The prerequisites stated by Jesus are
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you.
. .”.
This surely means that to get our prayers
answered we must be in unhindered fellowship
with Jesus and pray according to His will as
revealed in the teaching of His words.
May I share that I have often checked up on
myself by asking this question,
“What would Jesus pray if He were in my
situation at this point in time?”
Those times when I experienced total peace that
the request I wanted to make was in harmony
with the will of God were the times my prayer
was most often answered.
•Jesus taught that FAITH is the essential
Ingredient of answered prayer.
“So Jesus answered and said to them ‘Have faith
in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever
says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast
into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but
believes that those things he says will be done,
he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say
to you, whatever things you ask when you pray,
believe that you receive them ,and you will have
them”. Mark 11:22-24.
SOME BIBLICAL ANSWERS TO PRAYER
Abraham prayed that Sodom would not be destroyed
(because his nephew, Lot and his family lived there).
Sodom was destroyed but Lot was spared. (Genesis 18).
Jacob wrestled in prayer with the Angel of the Lord
because his brother Esau was coming after him with 400
warriors. His prayer was, “I will not let You go unless
You bless me.” (Genesis 32:26).
Jacob’s name, which means “supplanter”, was nullified
and changed to “Israel” which means “a prince with God”
and Esau spared him and his family.
God instructed Moses to pray to Him by lifting his
rod. Moses lifted that rod ten times in
confrontation with Pharaoh and a plague fell on
Egypt.. Pharaoh agreed to let Israel leave the
land. Moses lifted that rod at the Red Sea and
God opened a path across on dry land. When
Israel crossed Moses lifted his rod again and the
Red Sea closed over the pursuing Egyptian
army. Every time Moses lifted that rod in Israel’s
journey a miracle took place.
Joshua needed more time to defeat the
Amorites in battle. He
“spoke to the LORD in the day when the
LORD delivered up the Amorites before
the children of Israel, and he said in the
sight of Israel: “Sun, stand still over
Gibeon; And Moon, in the Valley of
Aijalon.’ So the sun stood still, and the
moon stopped, Till the people had revenge
upon their enemies.’” Joshua 10:12-13.
Hannah was unable to conceive a child. “She was
in bitterness of soul and prayed to the LORD
and wept in anguish.”
She made a vow to the LORD that if He would give
her a male child that she would give him to the
LORD all the days of his life. God gave her a
son whom she named Samuel who became the
greatest judge in the days of Israel’s judges.
1st Samuel 1:1: 10, 11, 20.
King Hezekiah prayed that God would deliver
Jerusalem from destruction by the mighty
Assyrian army. God sent one angel that night
who killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers.
I Kings 18 and 19; Isaiah 37.
Space does not allow me to describe how many
prayed to Jesus for healing and deliverance
from demons and had their prayers answered or
other miraculous answers to pray in the New
Testament.
Let us learn to follow these words from
James,
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of
God, who gives to all liberally and without
reproach, and it will be given to him. But
let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he
who doubts is like a wave of the sea
driven and tossed by the wind. For let not
that man suppose that he will receive
anything from the LORD.” James 5-7.
BECOME A WITNESS FOR
CHRIST
The main reason every disciple should
become a witness of Christ is because this
is The Great Commission of Jesus to His
disciples.
The gospels record these statements from
Jesus in the days following His
resurrection:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations…” (Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15).
“…Repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in His name to all
nations…And you are witnesses of these
things.” Luke 24:47, 48.
“As the Father has sent Me, I also send
you.” John 20:21.
The book of Acts records the last words of Jesus
before His ascension back to Heaven:
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses
to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8.
A personal reason for every disciple to become a
witness for Christ is that this is the means by
which we receive the crown of rejoicing when all
true believers are assembled in glory. The
apostle Paul wrote his converts at Thessalonica,
“For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing?
Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord
Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our
glory and joy.” 1st Thessalonians 2:19, 20.
GUIDELINES TO BECOME A WITNESS
FOR CHRIST
We Must Acquire A Compassion for Lost
Souls.
If we do not have a compassion for lost
souls we will not become an effective
witness.
A disciple of Jesus should meditate on the
following truths:
•Every lost person is spiritually blinded by Satan to
prevent them from coming to a saving faith in
Christ. (See 2nd Corinthians 4:3, 4.)
•Lost souls are described as “having no hope” and
being “without God” in Ephesians 2:12.
•Those who depart this life without coming into a
saving relationship with Jesus Christ will be
separated from God forever in torment.
(See Luke 16:22-26).
We should meditate on these truths until a
compassion for lost souls arises within us.
We Must Seek Training To Effectively
Bear Witness of Christ
We can receive very good training by going
with a well trained soulwinner and
experience “on the job training”.
We can study many of the fine books on
how to be an effective witness.
We can attend soulwinning and witnessing
classes when they are available.
We Need to Learn to be Tactful to Make
Contact
“Tact” is defined as “a quick, or intuitive
appreciation of what is proper; the mental
ability of saying and doing the right thing at
the right time so as not to unjustly offend.”
(See 1st Corinthians 9:19-23).
C.S. Lovett suggested the word FORM as an
acrostic in presenting the gospel:
F – family interests (shows personal care for them)
O – occupation (appreciation of their vocation and their
knowledge of it).
R – religious background (tactfully introduces the subject
of spiritual matters and reveals some of the religious
influences of their life).
M – message (If they are believers you encourage them and
perhaps invite them to visit your church. If they have not
received Christ as Savior you tactfully present the gospel.
All are sinners – Romans 3:10-12, 23.
God has given His Son to receive the punishment for
our sins in our place. Romans 5:6-8
To be saved we must receive Jesus Christ by faith to be
our Savior. John 14:6; Romans 6:23.
Jesus has promised to save all who ask Him in sincere
faith to save them. Romans 10:9-13.
Offer to lead them in a prayer to ask Jesus to forgive
them of their sins, save them, and make them a
child of God.
Follow up by encouraging them
 to make a public confession of their faith in
Jesus;
 follow Jesus in believer’s baptism and
 unite with a local Biblical church.