What Is Prayer

What is Prayer?

Prayer is talking with God.  Prayer is conversation with God.  God wants us to communicate with Him.  He wants a relationship with us. He desires to Fellowship with us.  This is awesome knowledge for us to have!

Must Believe In God

Prayer presupposes a belief in the persons of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and in Their ability, in Their willingness to communicate with us, and in Their personal control of all things.

Must Be Offered In Faith

Prayer must also be offered in faith; faith that God is and that He hears and answers prayer.  This is a belief we know to be true.  We must not doubt or be what James calls double minded, that is believing two opposite things at the same time.

An example of double mindedness would be to believe all the above and at the same time believe we were unworthy of a relationship with God.  It is believing that we are “in Christ” and made “righteous” by Christ and yet still not worthy of a relationship with God, or of talking to God.

God Wants People To Pray

God wants people to pray and Jesus set the example for us in His own prayers. Jesus’ resurrection provided an open door for us into God's presence. By believing in Jesus and His being in us, we are made righteous. It is through Jesus’ righteousness that we are able to approach God and come into His presence. It is now, that whatever we ask in Jesus’ name, God will give it to us. What an amazing promise.

Must Be In Jesus’ Name

A critical point is that our approach to God must be in Jesus’ name.  Before Jesus, men had always asked God for things directly, but no more. The resurrection instituted a new and living way into God's presence. Men must now approach God through Jesus Christ...

• believing that the righteousness of Jesus covers them

• asking God to accept their faith in Jesus as righteousness

• thanking God for Jesus, His great love and sacrifice for them

Promises

There are two tremendous promises to the man who asks in Jesus’ name:

• he will receive what he asks

• his joy is full and complete

How We Pray

God is concerned about how we pray.

What is prayer?  It is possible to pray amiss, with the wrong motives, and in the wrong way. It is possible to pray, but not be heard by God. It is possible to pray and to be speaking only to ourselves, to have, our prayer go no higher in our own ears.

Therefore, Christ shows us what is prayer and sets out to teach us the right and the wrong motives for pray in Matthew 6:5-6.  It is our motives held deep in our heart that God looks at.

Right And Wrong Ways To Pray

Praying with the “wrong motives” or “praying amiss” will be covered in the article on “Unanswered Prayer.”  Praying with the right motives will be discussed in the article on “How to Pray”.

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