3/3/13 DESIGN FOR LIFE

Use God’s Word When You Pray

    Almost everything we do requires faith.  Life is built on faith. We eat food, believing that it will nourish us and not poison us.  We go to see a friend, believing that he will keep his promise to meet us for lunch.
    The Christian life is built on faith. We believe Jesus died on the cross for us to give us eternal life. We believe God loves us and cares about our problems, so we pray to Him with confidence, expecting Him to answer.
**What is the foundation for our Christian faith?
**Why should we believe that God loves us?
    The truths revealed in the Bible give us the foundation for faith and for daily living.  God’s Word has proven to be reliable and dependable. If it says God loves us, He does! When the Bible invites us to pray, God means it!
    What does the Bible claim regarding itself?
II Timothy 3:16 NKJV
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
II Timothy 3:16 NIV
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
    A literal translation says that all Scripture is “God-breathed”.  It means that God breathed life into the scriptures.  This is a living and life-giving book.  Scripture is the Word of God.  As the authors were inspired and wrote the words in the original manuscripts the Bible is without error, absolutely true, trustworthy and infallible. This is true when it speaks of:
Ethical values
Moral standards
Salvation
History
Creation
Human behavior and relationships
It is without error on all subjects
    We can say this because it is God’s revealed Word to tell us what we need to know for life and eternity.  It is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
    This message looks at ways the Bible helps us when we pray.
The Bible Is Our Guide - Principles to grasp for our prayer lives.
Jesus said there is a direct link between His words and our prayers.
John 15:7 NKJV
7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
    This is a powerful promise that teaches us the answer to our prayers may depend on what part the Word of God has in our lives and how connected we are to our Savior. We must think about what the Bible says and let it guide us in our prayers. We follow the Bible teachings about how to pray, and let God speak to us through His Word when we pray.
    The Bible teaches us and helps us understand God’s will for our lives.  We must pray for His will to be done. We must also pray for what will honor God and what will be best for us and others, not just for what we want or for selfish pleasure.
James 4:1-3 NLT
1 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

    It is not just that we pray, but the motivation, how we pray that makes a difference.  We cannot pray with selfishness.  We cannot pray with hatred, which is just as destructive as murder.
    Look at some of the prayers in the Bible as a guide. We may pour out our soul in the words of David’s cry for forgiveness or in Jesus’ anguished prayer of submission just before He went to the Cross.
Psalm 51:1-12 NKJV
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. 4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight-- That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. 6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Matthew 26:39 NKJV
39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
    If we want our prayers to be effective, let us fill our minds with God’s Word. As it remains in us, we can ask and receive answers to our prayers.

    Have you ever said, “I wish I had more faith,” or “I just don’t have any faith”?  You do already have some faith! Everyone does.
    As a Christian you have a new kind of faith. This faith is belief in God, a Person you have not seen. This faith is the foundation of your life.
Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
    As you pray, let the witnesses of scripture, the testimonies of what God did through people in the Bible be an encouragement to you.  Focus on Jesus Who went through all the suffering of the cross and now is on the throne in heaven.
Romans 10:17 NKJV
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
    We are reminded that it is not just reading and thinking about God’s Word that brings faith. Hearing it preached strengthens our faith. So we go to church services and listen to the preaching. The sermons, songs, and testimonies about Jesus, the Son of God, strengthen our faith in Him. We do not understand everything about it, but we know that God works through our faith.
Act In Faith On God’s Promises
James 2:14-18 NKJV
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
    As we pray, we also have to put some action with our faith.  There are times when God expects some movement, so steps of faith that go beyond the act of prayer.

DESIGN FOR LIFE
Use God’s Word When You Pray
Application of this message:
1.  There is nothing too hard that we must accomplish.
Philippians 4:13 NKJV
13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
2.  People in contact with Jesus can accomplish things that will amaze those around them.
Acts 4:13 NKJV
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
3.  Ask God to speak to you through His Word to increase the power and effectiveness of your prayer life.

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When You Pray