Jeremiah 33:3 CSB – Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.
Psalm 127:1 CSB – Unless the LORD builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the LORD watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain.
“The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. – Hudson Taylor
Jeremiah 33:3 CSB – Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.
James 5:13-18 CSB – Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect. 17 Elijah was a human being as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its fruit.
Powerful Prayer = Desperate Prayer
James 5:13-14 CSB – Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him,…
Acts 12:1-2 CSB – About that time King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church, 2 and he executed James, John’s brother, with the sword.
Acts 12:3 CSB – When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
Acts 12:4-5 CSB – After the arrest, he put him in prison and assigned four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him.
Matthew 7:7 CSB – “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.”
John 15:7 CSB – If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.
- Desperate Prayer is Persistent Prayer
Matthew 18:1-8 CSB – Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not give up.2 “There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God or respect people. 3 And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect people, 5 yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so that she doesn’t wear me out by her persistent coming.’”
6 Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 Will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay helping them? 8 I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Acts 12:6 CSB – When Herod was about to bring him out for trial, that very night Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison.
Acts 12:7-11, Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. Striking Peter on the side, he woke him up and said, “Quick, get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists.8 “Get dressed,” the angel told him, “and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Wrap your cloak around you,” he told him, “and follow me.” 9 So he went out and followed, and he did not know that what the angel did was really happening, but he thought he was seeing a vision.
10 After they passed the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and suddenly the angel left him.
11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.”
Matthew 11:28 CSB – Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened [and desperate] and I will give you rest.
When the church prayed, God sent something from heaven
Matthew 7:7 CSB – “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.”
Powerful Prayer is Confident Prayer
James 5:15 CSB – The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
- Pray with Confidence in God– not in your prayers
Psalm 146:3,5 – Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there…. But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the LORD their God.
Matthew 6:8 CSB – Jesus said when you pray, Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Matthew 7:11 CSB – Jesus added, If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
1 John 5:14-15 CSB – …this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
- Pray the Bible—Turn Bible verses into prayers
Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd”
Psalm 119, How happy are those whose way is blameless,
who walk according to the Lord’s instruction!
2 Happy are those who keep his decrees
and seek him with all their heart.
3 They do nothing wrong;
they walk in his ways.
9How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping your word.
John 3:16, God so loved the world…
Matthew 28:19, Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
- Pray Sincerely—with a genuine spirit
James 5:16 CSB – Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.
Psalm 84:11 CSB – The Lord grants favor and honor;
he does not withhold the good
from those who live with integrity.
1 John 2:15, If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Matthew 5:23-24 CSB – Jesus said, So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you,24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.
James 5:16 CSB – Therefore, confess your sins to one another so you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.
- Pray with Patience—don’t give up!
Psalm 37:7 CSB – Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
Isaiah 40:1, I waited patiently for the LORD, and he turned to me and heard my cry for help.
Elijah: Personal Example of Powerful Prayer
James 5:17-18, Elijah was a human being as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its fruit.
Oswald Chambers said, Beware of any work for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him.
Next Step: Commit to pray for 15 minutes every day
The A.C.T.S. Pattern
A.—Adoration
C—Confession
T—Thanksgiving
S—Supplication
Adoration
Romans 11:33-36
Is a prayer of adoration
Oh, the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments
and untraceable his ways!
34 For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?
35 And who has ever given to God,
that he should be repaid?
36 For from him and through him
and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever. Amen.
Confession
“To Confess” means “to say the same thing as”
Psalm 139:23-24 CSB –
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my concerns.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me;
lead me in the everlasting way.
Thanksgiving
Philippians 4:6 CSB – Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Supplication
1 Peter 5:7, casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.
The Lord’s Prayer Pattern (Matthew 6:9-13)
Relate
Matthew 6:9, Therefore, you should pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
- Rejoice
Matthew 6:9b, Your name be honored as holy.
Psalm 34:1-2a, I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
2 I will boast in the Lord;
Lord, You are Good, Good Father!
- Receive (direction from God)
Matthew 6:10, Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
- Request
Matthew 6:11, Give us today our daily bread
- Repent
Matthew 6:12, And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Psalm 51:3ff,
For I am conscious of my rebellion,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you—you alone—I have sinned
and done this evil in your sight.
So you are right when you pass sentence;
you are blameless when you judge.
God, create a clean heart for me
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
