WHY Pray
A couple of weeks ago we started to answer the question why do we pray? Its
a good question that most Christians ask at some time or another because we
know how much God loves us and he knows everything so why Pray?
Quick Review
Point number one is we pray because God
values a Relationship made by choice. When we Pray we
are saying that we need God, That we need a Savior.
God will never
God will never force
God is a
God has to be
We looked at Key Scripture last week
Revelation 3:20 NKJV
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
When we invite God into our Problems he comes in 100 percent
When we invite God into our Careers he comes in 100 percent
When we invite God into our
When we invite God into our Finances he comes in 100 percent
When we invite God into our decision making he comes in 100
He won’t kick the door down though
When we pray to God it says to him that we need a Shepard, that
we need to be lead - Remember He is not a Sheepherder he is a
Shepard always leads, never pushes.
I choose you! God values a relationship based on Choice.
Point Number 2 - Second Reason we pray -
To build a Prioritized relationship with God
Question - How many of you have ever done something meaningless to obtain a goal or position - For example, When I was in college I had to take a class that was so boring - As a matter of fact, my Teachers said that I would never use what I was learning in the classroom! They wanted us to Jump through some hopes to see if we would stick with it.
Sometimes we can view Prayer in the same way!
What I mean is that we can look at prayer as some hoop that God wants us to jump through to see if we are really committed.
God is not sitting up there going well Joe only prayed 16 minutes this morning - what a slacker - I am going to show him -
let’s see if he gets any of my favor today!
God does not want us to suffer in prayer to see if we are committed.
On the other hand, God is not going to go there is Joe again praying - he prayed for an hour - he is committed.
That is what Religion says about prayer Prayer is not
You can’t know or love anyone you don’t talk to!
Mccall is the only person I have ever met before that could love someone before she ever talked to them. The first time she saw me she ran over as fast as she could and just started kissing me.
When I peeled her off me I said hello my name is Joe!
God is a talker
Prayer is a dialogue, not a monologue
God wants to talk to you!
Write this down
Our most prized possession is the Voice of God and His Presence!
The Voice of God is circumstantial.
He wants to talk to you about what is going on with your right now.
God wants Joe’s time
Put your name in God wants your time!
He wants to talk to you about the mess you are in
It’s important to hear God.
When we Hear God’s voice we have to have Faith in it
Hearing God’s voice is Revelation - Have faith in the Revelation
Not having faith in God’s voice is Reasoning
Do not have faith in our Reasoning!
Question - Do you think the apostle Paul had faith?
Acts 27
Paul is caught in a Hurricane its a bad one
Why did Paul not Pray for God to get him out of the mess
Because God already told Paul he was going to Rome to get in front of Cesar.
Paul’s faith was not in his own Reasoning but in the Voice of God!
More on this in a couple of weeks.
God loves us so much that he said we could come to Him no matter what, no matter what our problem is we can go to him and go Boldly!
Hebrews 4:16 NKJV
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
This is how I start off praying!
Just because we are His
Question How do we get to Go Boldly
By the blood of Jesus - Jesus died to give us access.
Meaning we don’t have to be perfect to Jump up in our Father’s lap and let him know what’s going on.
Note: by not praying we deny what Jesus did on the cross for us we waste it
We don’t deserve to talk to God, but because he loves us so much we get to talk to HIM
Point Number 3 come next Sunday!