TITLE: THE POWER OF A PRAYING CHURCH: CONDITIONS FOR ANSWERED PRAYERS
TEXT: ROMANS 8:26, 27; 1 JOHN 5:14, 15
INTRODUCTION
A. “How does God answer prayers?” “Yes, No and Wait”
1. John 14:13, 14
2. John 16:23, 24
3. Matthew 7:7
4. Matthew 21:21, 22
B. “How does God answer prayer?” “Just speak it…”
1. “Speak it into the atmosphere”
2. “Declare it and decree it”
3. “You can speak those things that be not as though they are” (Rom 4:17)
4. Yes, our words have power (Self-fulfilling prophecy), however…
PRAY IN THE SPIRIT
A. We sometimes pray in and out of the flesh
1. “We do not know how to pray as we ought.” Ought = to attain some end
2. We tend to pray for the immediate / for the moment
B. God desires that we pray in the Spirit
1. Create a meditative space
2. Take a meditative pause
3. Listen to the Spirit
4. Pray what the Spirit gives you to pray
5. Note: The Spirit who gave us what to pray (knowing the Father’s will)
will take our prayer to the Father according to the Father’s will.
C. Prayer is a spiritual undertaking
PRAY IN GOD’S WILL
A. Our confidence is in Him
B. If we as anything according to the Father’s will
1. He hears us
2. “Since” He hears us, whatever we ask, we have
C. Note:
1. God is only obligated to honor what is in His will
2. When we pray for what is in the Father’s will, know that He already has it in the future waiting for us to ask for it.
3. How do I know if it is in the Father’s will? Pray in the Spirit
THE TRINITY’S INVOLVEMENT IN PRAYER
A. Pray to the Father
B. Pray in the Spirit
C. Pray in Jesus’ name (authority)
CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK:
THAT I WILL PRAY IN THE SPIRIT AND IN THE FATHER’S WILL
WORK FOR THE WEEK
