House of Hope Online

June 23, 2024

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Today I want to discuss prayer with you.  I have things in my life that I need to be praying about, seeking God’s will, asking for His mercy, healing, wisdom, and provision.  So let us dig into some of the scriptures that discuss prayer, in the hope that you might find them helpful as I did.

Keep On Scratching

The PA Lottery runs these obnoxious commercials advertising the scratch off lottery tickets, and the punch line always is: “Keep on scratching!”  While I despise those commercials, when it comes to prayer, the Lord is telling us to ask Him for what we need, and to “Keep on asking!”

Here are three passages of scripture that encourage us to pray.

Hebrew 4:

 16 Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. (NASB)

James 1:

 5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

 6 But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

 7 For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,

 8 [being] a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

James 4:

 2 You lust and do not have; [so] you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; [so] you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.

 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend [it] on your pleasures.

We also have guidance and encouragement from Jesus to be persistent in prayer.

Luke 11:

 5 And He said to them, “Suppose one of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves;

 6 for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;

 7 and from inside he shall answer and say, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you [anything.]’

 8 “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him [anything] because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

 9 “And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.

 10 “For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.

 11 “Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?

 12 “Or [if] he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?

 13 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall [your] heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

The message from Jesus is, if we have persistence in prayer, we will be given all that we need.  The Greek word for “ask” in verse 9 means: “to beg, call for, crave, desire, or require.”  In other words, keep on scratching!  And keep on trusting the Lord to give us the Holy Spirit, who will guide us to provision, healing, forgiveness, and all that we need, crave, desire, and require according to His will.

How to Pray

Jesus taught how to pray during His Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 6:

 5 ¶ “And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

 6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

 7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.

 8 “Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him.

 9 ¶ “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.

 10 ‘Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

 11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.

 12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

 13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.]’

 14 “For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

 15 “But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

Here are my key takeaways from Jesus’ word on prayer:

1. Find a quiet place to pray.  Go into your inner room, shut the door, and pray to your Father in secret.  Corporate prayer in the Church is fine, but Jesus is modeling our private, personal prayer time.  We are to have a personal relationship with Him.
2. Pray to the Father and the Father only, in the name of Jesus.  We pray in the name of Jesus because our sins are forgiven when we call His name.
3. Don’t use meaningless repetition.  We can easily fall into the trap of using catch phrases and familiar expressions that we have heard from others.  God is not doing a word count here.  Talk to your loving Father in your own terms.  Be yourself, share your frustrations, cares, concerns, fears, and yes, even your weakness of faith.  The father of the young boy who needed healing in Mark 9, said to Jesus: “I do believe; help my unbelief.”
4. Start with praise and thanksgiving. Acknowledge Him in Heaven and praise His Hallowed name.
5. Pray that His will be done in your life.  Pray for His Kingdom to come; that is, for His rule to come into your life.  Ask Him to help you live according to His law and His will.
6. Pray for His provision of daily bread.  His provision, not the world’s provision.  Notice in Jesus’ prayer that surrender to the Lord’s rule precedes the prayer for provision.  That is an important priority.  First surrender to Him, then pray for and expect His provision.
7. Ask His forgiveness, but also forgive those who have sinned against you.  Acknowledge that vengeance belongs to the Lord.
8. Pray for protection from evil.  Pray that evil would not come near to harm you or tempt you.  Ask the Lord to deliver you from any evil in your life, especially what you are not even aware of.
9. Acknowledge He is King, He has all power, and all glory belongs to Him alone.

Is Sin Hindering Our Prayers?

If we have unanswered prayer, the reason could be that God in His wisdom is withholding the answer, or we are asking with wrong motives.  Perhaps our timing is wrong, and we need to be patient.  However, the reason could be that we have sin in our lives that needs to be dealt with.  While the Lord loves us despite our sin, we must acknowledge that His word teaches us that sin could be hindering the effectiveness of our prayers.

Isaiah 59:

 1 ¶ Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Neither is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.

 2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden [His] face from you, so that He does not hear.

The word iniquity not only means sin, but it refers to our tendency toward sin, or our wickedness.  Is there unconfessed sin in our lives?  Have we not acknowledged it and repented?  Are we in rebellion, or a state of unforgiveness toward someone? 

1^st John 1 reinforces this point but add words of encouragement if we confess our sin. 

1^st John 1:

 4 And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

 5 ¶ And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and [yet] walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

 7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

 8 ¶ If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

If we confess our sins, verses 7-9 assure us the Lord is faithful and righteous to allow the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from our sins and all unrighteousness.  That’s why Jesus put forgiveness in the Lord’s prayer.  Praise God.

Let us practice what we have heard today and pray according to the Lord’s model.

Father God, we come before You and You alone, in the name of Jesus, and we confess our sins and our tendency to sin, and we ask Your forgiveness, as we forgive those who trespass against us.  We praise Your holy name, and we thank You for all blessings and Your lovingkindness toward us.  We surrender our will to Your Kingdom.  We surrender our health, our lifespan, our homes, our businesses, our jobs, and our provisions to You and to the purposes of Your will.  We submit to Your rule and authority over us, and accordingly, we ask Your blessing over our ministries, our marriages, and our relationships.  May we love and be a blessing to our spouses and all others in our lives.  We ask for Your wisdom, direction, and correction as we move forward in these days.   We pray for Your protection from evil, that it would not harm us nor entrap us.  And we proclaim that all glory and honor and power are Yours, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.