Faith Essentials 3: HOW DO I PRAY?

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Video

Please watch the video 'How Do I Pray?' before starting this study.

Prayer is an important key in getting to know God. Prayer, put simply, is just talking to God. How do you get to know someone? You spend time with them and talk with them. How do you get to know God? By spending time with Him, and talking to Him. You don’t have to use long complicated words; just talk to God as if you were talking to a friend.

Look up 1 Thessalonians 5:17 in the New Testament.
How often does it say we should talk to God?

We can be sure God will hear & respond to our prayers. Sometimes God answers us immediately, sometimes we have to wait. Remember that God sees the big picture, the overall plan, but we only see part of it.

When praying we need to put our faith in Him alone, not doubting but trusting God.

Look up James 1:6 – 7 Why do you think it says not to doubt or ‘waver’ in your prayer?

The disciples had seen Jesus praying on many occasions and wanted to know how they could pray. They asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. This was Jesus’ response;
Read Matthew 6:9 – 13 in your bible.

Verse 9a: WHO should we pray to?

Verse 9b: The way to open up your prayer time is by honouring the name of Jesus.
This shows Him the respect and praise that He deserves.
We need to praise God regardless of how we are feeling.

What can we praise God for?
See Psalm 103:3 & Psalm 100:5 for some ideas. What stood out to you?

What did Jesus teach us to pray for next?

Verse 11 teaches us to ask for help with daily needs like provision of food.
What other needs could you be praying for yourself?
What could you be praying for others?

Jesus directs us to confess our sin and ask for forgiveness.
It is important to ask God to forgive us for the wrong things we have done.

Romans 3:23 explains why; “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (NIV)

Why is forgiving others so important?
(See verses 14 and 15 of Matthew 6)

The prayer closes in Verse 13 encouraging us to pray for protection from temptation and evil.
Why do we need protection from these?

A.C.T.S

This prayer is a guide for the ways we can pray. There are other tools to help us in our prayer like the A.C.T.S. guide.

A - Adoration (includes: praise – for what God has done and worship – for who He is)

C - Confession (confession of sin: which means being sorry = repentance
Confession of faith: declaring who God is and who you are in God)

T - Thanksgiving (thanking God for answered prayer and for His goodness to you)

S - Supplication (includes intercession - praying for others and for your own needs.)

You could dedicate 5 minutes to each of those areas… you’ll be praying for 20 minutes!

Ripple Prayer

Another strategy is called Ripple Prayer. Just as a pebble thrown into a lake ripples outward, start by praying for yourself (Thanks, confession, forgiveness, needs), then praying for the people that are closest to you (people you live and work with, your connect, church, community, nation and the nations of the world).

A Relationship with Jesus

Make a decision today that you are going to talk to God every day. It is also important to set aside time each day when you can be by yourself and pray. Remember in a conversation, it is usually ‘two-way’. We talk and we listen.

The way we can listen to God is to take time to be quiet before God. Then we are giving Him an opportunity to speak to us. God speaks to us in our spirit. This is not usually with an audible voice but rather through thoughts that come to us. These thoughts need to agree with what the Bible says.

The other way He will speak to us is through His word. Open His word after you pray expecting to hear something from what you read. Often a particular sentence or thought will ‘stand out’ to you.

Remember that prayer is simply talking to God.

Pray

Heavenly Father, I worship you and thank you that you have saved me. I pray your will to be done, as it is in heaven. Forgive me for my sins (list). I choose to forgive those who have sinned against me. I ask you to provide for my current needs (list). I lift up others and their needs (list) trusting that you are at work in their lives. Please keep me away from temptation and the enemies plans to pull me down. I commit myself to following you each day.
Amen

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