 |
STEPS
TO FAITH
WHO CAN PRAY?
|
Group/Individual Study
Did you find a place to pray (prayer closet) while reading steps 1–7?
List here your thoughts and experiences that you had when you prayed in your prayer
closet:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Anyone can pray, but it is important when we pray that we ask and believe in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. "...Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will
I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13). Of course, we
may not get the very thing we ask, but we know that Jesus said, "If ye then, being
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" (Luke 11:13). We do know that
God’s ear is always listening for the truly repentant prayer, and God is eager to
save anyone lost in sin. Isaiah 59:1 states, "Behold, the LORD’S hand is
not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear."
So why don’t we have our prayers answered? Is God stingy or biased? Why do some
prayers get answered and others do not? If we pray for a million dollars, will we
receive it? If we pray for a new car next month, will we receive it? Will God give
us anything we ask for? Does God give upon demand to whoever should ask? Have we ever
asked something of God and not received it? Or should I say, how many times
have we not received what we have asked? Let us look at 1 John 3:22 for our first answer.
"And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and
do those things that are pleasing in his sight."
This is the first place to look when we are going to the Lord in prayer, our own
backyard. Have we been keeping the commandments? Has there been any lying or envy in our
hearts? These things have to be confessed and put under the blood before we enter into
effective prayer.
Psalms 66:18 says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear
me."
The second part of the verse that you just read in 1 John 3 is even more convicting, "...and
do those things that are pleasing in his sight." This goes beyond the basic Ten
Commandments and into the spirit and attitude by which we live.
Has your attitude been pleasing to God as you obey? There may not be a direct
commandment in the Bible about the television shows that you watch, but are they pleasing
to God? Is the language, priorities, and dress on these shows pleasing to God? Would a
party with worldly music and entertainment be pleasing to God—or would it be more
pleasing to God to attend that midweek prayer meeting?
If we begin to look at our everyday activities in light of "Is this activity
pleasing to God?," then the Lord can help us into a new level of our walk with Him.
Believe me, it can change your life. You will find victory over any disinterest that you
have had in spiritual things, and you will see your prayers beginning to be answered. God
will begin to show you more things to do which are pleasing to Him, and there will be
great joy in doing those things.
The Scriptures also teach us that we must be a person of faith to receive answers to
prayer. "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick..." (James 5:15). "Therefore
I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them,
and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24). You must believe that you will receive
them. Ask the Lord for faith to believe. Often review your answers to prayer both in and
out of the Scripture. Don’t dwell on the complexities of the problem. Spend time with
God, and you will learn of His power and His desire to answer every difficult prayer. This
will help to increase your faith.
In Luke 18:10–14, what spirit mentioned was not pleasing to God and hindered the
prayer of the Pharisee who kept all the commandments?
Begin to list activities or attitudes that you may have formerly thought the Bible was
neutral on, but now you realize are not pleasing to God:
1.
2.
3.
In 1 Chronicles. 5:20, what spirit was pleasing to God and gave God reason to answer
their prayer?
How about Matthew 6:25–34?
EAT BREAD
Begin each day with eating from His table—which is the Bible, the precious Word of
God. Jesus prayed: "Give us this day our daily bread" (Matt. 6:6), and "I
am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me
shall never thirst" (John 6:35).
DAILY COMMUNION: Our daily bread is our daily communion in prayer and in reading
the Bible. Even though the King James is our favorite, be sure to choose a translation
that you can easily understand. Read the Bible like you would eat fish. When you eat fish,
do you eat the bones? So don’t worry if you don’t understand everything you
read. Just because you cannot understand everything is no excuse not to read from the
Bible each day. It would be a good idea to pray and ask Jesus to help you have
understanding when you read the Bible.
Just as we don’t want to forget to eat our physical bread each day, you won’t
want to miss eating your spiritual bread each day. In fact, it is important that you begin
the day with the Word of God. "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in
the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up" (Ps. 5:3).
We need directions from our "manual" each morning. The Bible will get your
thoughts going in the right direction from the very start. Yes, reading the Bible only at
night is better than not at all, but by that time, we have already spent a whole day
without being tuned up by the Word. The Bible has a restraining quality for us: "Thy
word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee" (Ps. 119:11).
Getting the Word in our hearts will help us make godly choices. It will give us wisdom and
understanding in the choices we face each day, "...it giveth understanding unto
the simple" (Ps. 119:130).
PRAYER IS WARFARE: How did you do this past week in prayer? Was it difficult to
find the time to pray everyday? "Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak" (Mark 14:38). I’m sure you
really wanted to be more consistent this week, but...well, was flesh weak?
In Romans 7:23, it says, "But I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my
members." Warring...in me? Yes, it’s time to wake up to the fact that there
is a great battle going on inside of you as a believer. This battle has far greater
importance than any Star Wars battle. It is our flesh warring against the Spirit of God
which lives within us. How the battle turns out may or may not affect what you have for
lunch today, but it definitely will affect many things on this earth and beyond.
For example, remember how we said that God is waiting for your prayers in order to move
on behalf of someone’s salvation or someone’s healing? Now, the flesh in us is
only concerned about satisfying itself. So, why should the flesh want to get up ten or
thirty minutes earlier to pray or read the Bible? Therefore, the work of the Kingdom is
hindered when our flesh wins a battle. Not only is the flesh against the Spirit of God,
but the devil and all his forces are, too. "For we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:12).
This verse says we are not wrestling against the people around us, but against evil
spiritual powers. Now you know you are really up against some opposition when you try to
get into God’s will by reading your Bible each morning.
CLICK
TO: GO TO STEP 8
or
RETURN TO STEPS TO FAITH
