Prayers God Will Answer

Continuing the study, Table Manners, a serial look at the Lord's Prayer from Luke 11.

Our relationship with God requires moments of intention if we are to have a connection with the Heavenly Father.

Prayer was a very common thing in the culture in which Jesus lived.  Yet Jesus prayed in a very uncommon (special) way.  The disciples of Jesus recognized that the power of prayer is a crucial element in discipleship.  Hence, "Teach us to pray."

What does it mean to truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ?
     Jesus taught us to pray
1. for God's will;
2  for our needs;
3. for forgiveness
4.  for protection and deliverance.

Why do we pray"
     Prayer is a validation of our dependence upon God.
     Those things we pray for are things we cannot do for ourselves.  We come to the realization that
     we are desperate for God.

Jesus illustrated the elements of prayer with the story of the man who aroused his neighbor in the night, requesting bread.  (Luke 11:5-8)
    Pray
1.  boldly, that is, with shameless audacity.
2.  persistently.
The man was aroused to respond to the request not  because he  was a neighbor, but because he asked boldly, shamelessly, and with persistence.

We will have a great prayer life if we follow Jesus's injunction:
1.  Ask
2.  Seek
3.  Knock  (Luke 11:9-10)

Most prayers are shallow:  Hello, Father; goodbye.
When was the last time you were so desperate you were not about to give up?

This is the "How."
     Pray with
     1.  insistence
     2.  consistence
     3.  persistence  (tireless determination, even as Jacob when he wrestled through the  night.)

Pray with boldness because He is our Heavenly Father.
Why boldly?  Because He loves us.

Pastor Johnnie Blair

Sunday morning