TEACH US TO PRAY - St. Luke 11 vs 1

At the beginning of 2016 I wrote a vision statement for my life.  One of the things I highlighted was my desire to improve my prayer life. I then went to church and another lady expressed a similar desire. So I began sharing with her the material that I was going through because it was one of my goals that I had moved towards immediately. Then I decided I should blog on the subject.
This blog is for you if you fall in any of the following categories:

• You have 100% answer to prayers like Jesus
• You pray for 2 minutes and fire fall from heaven and you are able to open and shut up the heavens like Elijah
• You believe there is something lacking in your prayer life and need to see God manifest Himself in a real way.

What is Prayer? Why do you want to learn to pray?
It was one of Jesus' disciples that said "Teach us to pray" St. Luke 11 verse 1- And it came to pass, that, as He was praying in a certain place when He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. So the model 'The Our Father Prayer" is recorded in the gospels -  St. Luke 11 verses 2 - 13 and St. Matthew 6 verses 9-13.
Dr. Myles Munroe does an excellent job of the interpretation of the Our Father Prayer in his book Understanding the Power and Purpose of Prayer.  He looks at the "ACTS" Principle outlined in the prayer. The acronym "ACTS" stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Sanctification.
I have heard prayer defined as the muscle that moves the arm of God.  However, I ask myself why does God need to be prodded to move? From all my research I have come to the conclusion that God will never violate His own principles.  He honours His word above His very reputation Psalm 138 verse 2.  In the Garden of Eden God gave man rulership over the earth Genesis 1 verse 28.- Be fruitful, multiply replenish the Earth and have dominion.  That means for anything to take place on this Earth God needs a human.  The first Adam gave up his dominion mandate to the devil when he sinned.  God restored this mandate with the coming of the second Adam Jesus Christ.  Jesus is our perfect example and He prayed, it simple means that we also have to pray.  As with all things in God there are certain precepts, laws or principles governing the ways things are done.


Types of Prayer
There are different types of prayers.  We will look at the more common types.

1. The Prayer of Agreement 

This prayer was introduced in St. Matthew 18 verse 19 by Jesus when He said "Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on Earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my father which is in heaven."

This prayer only works if people are in agreement. You must be on the same page.  In fact this agreement is so important that is St. Matthew 18 verses 15-17 Jesus spoke to the resolution of relationship issues before praying this prayer.  In a corporate setting you should not be coming before God in prayer with unsettled issues between brothers.

    2.   The Prayer of Faith

The prayer of faith, also known as petition prayer, is the prayer that most people think of when the term "prayer" is used.  Petition prayer is between you and God.  It is asking God for a particular outcome.  The key verse for the prayer of faith is St. Mark 11 verse 24 in which Jesus says "Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."

 The rule of thumb is to believe when you pray.  Not after you pray, not when you feel something, not when you see something. When you pray (the moment you pray) you must believe that you receive what you asked for.  Hebrews 11 verse 1 speaks to faith being a substance.  This is something tangible or real.  It is the evidence of the unseen. 

 God answers prayers, and He will answer your specific prayer in line with His word, but it is your faith that brings that answer out of the spiritual world and into the physical world.  God will not do something against your will.  God cannot violate free will. If you don't have faith to do something, He wont arbitrarily override your lack of faith.

    3.   The Prayer of Consecration and Dedication 

In St. Luke 22 verses 41 - 42 "And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine be done."

In the absence of direct instructions the prayer of consecration and dedication says you will allow God to set your direction or make your decisions.  

    4.   The Prayer of Praise and Worship

 In this prayer you are not asking God for anything.  You are praising God for who He is, His character and not your needs.  This is the part of the Our Father Prayer that says - Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name St. Luke 11 verse 2.

The capstone is to be found in Phillipians 4 verse 6 "Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanks giving let your requests be made known unto God. In all things give thanks! 

     5.  The Prayer of Intercession

Intercession means you are intervening on behalf of another.  The synonym I like is mediation.  It may involve praying in a general way for such things as the church or the government or for a specific need based on prior knowledge. 

Examples: Moses intercedes for Israel after they sinned -  Exodus 32 verses 30-33, Paul intercedes on behalf of the Christians at Ephesus  - Ephesians 1 verses 15 - 20 and The entire chapter of St. John 17 is a prayer of Jesus on behalf of His disciples and all believers.

     6.  The Prayer of Binding and Loosing

This prayer is found in St. Matthew 18 verses 18-19 - "Jesus says, Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in heaven.  Again, I say to you that if two of you agree on Earth concerning anything they ask, it will be done  for them by my Father in heaven."  There are a number of take aways in Jesus' statement

• As stated earlier we have authority on this Earth by virtue of our covenant rights through Jesus.
• Action is initiated rom Earth not heaven, whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in heaven.

This type of prayer as with all the others work only in line with the word of God and His laws.  You cannot bind things willy nilly.  Binding and loosing has to be based on the authority God has granted you in scripture, not on some desire you have.

    7.   The Prayer of Imprecation

Imprecatory prayers are found in Psalms 7, 55, and 69.  They are used to invoke God's judgement on the wicked and thereby avenge the righteous.  The Psalmists use this type of appeal to emphasize the holiness of God and the surety of His judgement.  Jesus teaches us to pray for blessing on our enemies not cursing St. Matthew 5 verses 44 - 48.

IN CONCLUSION
This is a speaking Kingdom, God used His words to frame the world "Hebrews 11 verse 3".  So the only way to learn to pray is to start by speaking; not just anything.  You need to do some work, you need to learn the word of God.  The Bible says the angels of the Lord hearken unto His words "Psalm 103 verse 20 not ours.
King Solomon says there is nothing new under the sun-  Ecclesiastes 1 verse 9.  The book of Corinthians says that what is happening to us is common to man, God has already made a way of escape - I Corinthians 10 verse 13.  Make the Bible your dream book, follow the protocol laid down in St. Matthew 6 verses 9-13 and start ruling and reigning in your garden of Eden.  Have dominion Genesis 1 verse 28.
I have by no means exhausted the subject, there are many material available out there.  However, I have listed a few videos on YouTube below you should watch:

• Pastor E.A. Adeboye - Wonder Working Prayers
• Pastor Mensa Otabil - Praying Prophetically
• Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo - 31 Insights of Prayer
• Dr. Myles Munroe - The Kingdom Culture of Prayer and Fasting

So until my next Blog which will be entitled 'HOLINESS'.  À bientôt- it is supposed to be French for see you soon.