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Prayer... The 'Phone' Link to God

What is prayer?

Prayer is simply communication with God. He has given us the tremendous privilege to come directly before His throne and talk to Him like a child communicates to his father. He is the infinite, almighty God of the Universe. But He still has time to listen to His children! As a matter of fact, He loves to hear from us!

Some scriptures about prayer.

  • "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:16
  • "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6
  • "The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray." I Peter 4:7

How to pray effectively

  1. Pray for things that will bring glory to God not yourself!
    • "And I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Son may bring glory to the Father." John 14:13
  2. Pray in faith, completely trusting in God's promises to hear and answer our prayers.
    • "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, He answers us. And if we know that He hears us whatever we ask we know that we have what we asked Him" I John 5:14,15
  3. Pray knowing that God is on your side!
    • "How much more then will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him." Matthew 7:11

More helpful hints

  • Realize that God will always answer but that doesn't mean the answer will always be a "yes". Even when He answers "no," it is in our best interest!
  • Remember that we need to constantly be in an attitude of prayer. At the same time however, it is essential that we set aside a time just to communicate with Him. It is helpful to have a specific place and time where we can pray to God unhindered by distractions.
  • A simple formula to remember on how to pray is this: ACTS. It stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication (requests). We need a time to worship (adoration), a time to purify our lives before God (confession), a time to praise God for the things He's done (thanksgiving), and a time to ask God for the things we need (supplication).

A verse to memorize!

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7

Study Questions

  1. According to I Thessalonians 5:17 how should we pray? ______________________________
  2. According to Colossians 4:12 Epaphras prayed for the Colossian believers. What did he pray for specifically in their lives? __________________________________
  3. Read II Corinthians 12:1-10 and then answer these questions:
    1. Did Paul always get his prayers answered?
    2. What was God's response to Paul's prayer?
    3. How does this apply to your personal prayer life?
  4. According to Colossians 4:2-4 Paul asks the Colossian believers to pray that God may open a ______________. He also asked them to pray that he could proclaim the message ______________________.
  5. Read Daniel 9:1-23 and then answer these questions:
    1. According to verse 3 as soon as Daniel understood the plight of Jerusalem what did he do?
    2. According to verse 5 did Daniel include himself among those who sinned against God?
    3. In verse 7 Daniel calls the Lord __________________________.
    4. According to verse 18 Daniel asks God to hear his prayers not because of his righteousness but because of God's ______________________.
    5. Verse 23 informs us that as soon as he began to pray an answer was given to him. What was the reason given to Daniel of why the answer was sent so quickly?