FIVE “SECRETS” OF PRAYER

Luke 11:1

Pastor Rick Jackson

 

I. PRAYER is EXPECTED (even COMMANDED) [11:1-2a,  1 Th. 5:17,  Phil. 4:6, Eph. 6:18, 1 Tm. 2:1]

– Pray without ceasing. 

-Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

– Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

-I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.

 

II. PRAYER is PART of a RELATIONSHIP [11:2, Jeremiah 29:11-13,  Psalm 65:2]

-For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

-O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.

 

III. PRAYER is ASKING [11:2-13]

 

IV. BELIEVING PRAYER is GOD PLEASING [11:9-10, 1 Jn. 5:14-15, Jn. 15:7, Mt. 21:22,   Heb. 11:6]

-And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him

– If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

-And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” 

-But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

 

V. EFFECTIVE PRAYER is ONGOING [Luke 18:1-8,  Psalm 81:10, Jer. 33:3]

My wife once wrote “I prayed for my mother’s salvation in earnest after I became saved.  It seemed to me to be an impossible task.  My mother was adamant that religion was a private matter.  I cannot tell you how many times when Rick and I would talk with her about the Lord that she would hang up on us if she was on the phone or when she was in our home, she would go to the bedroom and slam the door shut.  Conversation over.  Yet, the matter was of great importance.  I would often pray at such times and ask God, ‘WHY?’  But he is a gracious God.  And a patient God.  And so after ten years of prayers and concern for her soul, the Lord allowed Rick to have the opportunity to confront her about her need of a Saviour.  And joy of all joys, she accepted Christ as her Saviour!! Within another year, she was lost to us with cancer.  God hears and God answers prayer!”

 

Psalm 81:10 -- I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

Jeremiah 33:3 -- Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.