This study was first taught on July 14, 2010

Topic: The Believer’s Responsibilities (2): Prayer (2)

No audio available for this study.

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Background
Last week, we began to look at another responsibility of every believer: prayer. We saw that the phrase “when thou prayest”, suggests that prayer is mandatory, and hence a responsibility. We thus set about a simple definition of prayer, noting that irresponsible believers do not pray.

We said that prayer is calling on the name of the Lord, crying unto God, and communicating with Him. Calling on the name of the Lord we noted, is a recognition that God can, and will help; and an indication of our acknowledgment and worship of God. Crying unto God, we said is the prayer of a heart in anguish, despair, distress, desperation, or confusion; and we likened it to importunate prayer. Communicating with God in prayer is having a two-way conversation with and hence, when we pray we expect God to answer.

We also noted that these aspects of prayer are essentially, asking, seeking, and knocking. These are three aspects that the Lord Jesus used to illustrate the fact that everyone who asks and keeps on asking, receives what he is asking for; everyone who seeks and does not give up until he finds, gets what he is looking for; and everyone who keeps on knocking at the doors of heaven will have the door open unto him. It is clear from this illustration that prayer is always answered by God. Thus we noted that when we pray, it is not inappropriate to expect an answer or response from God; what is inappropriate is to expect only what we want to hear as an answer.

We noted that if we are not getting any response from God, when we call on His name, cry unto Him, or are engaging Him in conversation, we need to look inward. This means that we need to examine ourselves to see if we are in right standing with God (have we confessed our sins, repented of them, etc.); or if we are asking amiss (asking outside of His will or for selfish reasons).

Scripture Text(s)
Matthew 6:5- 8
Tonight, we will be looking at the proper and acceptable way to pray. And may the Holy Spirit help us to learn in Jesus name, Amen.
In order to get to the proper way to pray, the Lord first discounts that manner of prayer we may be used to: prayer by church goers or seemingly religious people; and prayer by native doctors, cultists or ritualists.
Matthew 6:5; 23:14; Luke 18:9-12; Matthew 6:7-8; Ecclesiastes 5:2; Exodus 20:7; 1 Kings 18:26-29; Matthew 6:6; Luke 18:13-14; Acts 10:1-48; John 4:20-24; Joshua 24:14; Romans 8:26.

Conclusion
When we pray, we are not to be like the hypocrites or the heathen. Rather, we are to pray out of an honest heart unto God.

Hypocrites are people who pretend to be who they really are not. Hence, their love for prayer is only for show. They want people to think that they are prayer warriors, so they love to pray in public places only and for the praise of people. They make lengthy prayers to mask their real motive (devouring the unsuspecting), and are prideful in their prayer. They are essentially performers.

The heathen are not religious people in that they do not pray to God: they are pagans. People who pray like the heathen are vain (purposeless) in their prayer; and repeat words, thinking that their many repetitions will bring the attention of God, and answers to their prayers. Usually, the prayer of the heathen is to appease his god so that he will not be angry and take away his livelihood, comfort, and pleasure. He stresses himself for his god and thinks that this will win him favour with his god. He is a lost soul.

The honest man, who may not even be a Christian, prays from his heart and is sincere. His is a prayer that is stripped of pretenses and pagan revelries. It is simply the heart in need calling on the God who can meet the need (Psalm 46:1); the heart in ignorance asking and seeking for the right answers from the only One who can give it (Jeremiah 33:3); the heart that is troubled bringing his concerns to the One who is concerned, and who can sort out those concerns (1 Peter 5:7); and so on. In so doing, even the heathen finds God, how much more those who are already His.

To enable us pray with character, God has given us His Holy Spirit, Who is ever present to help us pray as we ought to; and who knows how best to reach God’s heart.

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