The Certainty Of Christ's Prayer
Book of Luke 11
Some people just do not understand that prayer is our means of having a conversation with God!
It was by the cross and the veil was rent into that we have direct access to the throne of God!
We waste our breath in prayer if we do not first believe, in faith, that God is who He says He is and can do what we read about in the Word of God.
If we do not believe that God will answer prayer, then why pray at all?
Our prayers must be sincere!
Heb 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
The disciples of Jesus asked Him to teach them how to pray because prayer was a daily thing for our Lord and it can be said that Jesus truly prayed without ceasing.
It is an absolute fact, the more we pray the closer we will get to God.
Jesus said if we pray in His name, God will answer every prayer that reaches into His throne room.
Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
So let's let Jesus teach us how to pray.
*****Luk 11:1 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.
The Lord Jesus Christ spent much time in prayer. Prayer was not unknown to these disciples.
They had witnessed prayers at the Temple and in their own synagogues.
They had heard the long winded prayers of the Scribes and the Pharisees.
They had known the prayers of John the Baptist, who had taught his own disciples how to pray.
There was something about the way that Jesus prayed that got their attention!
**Christ Jesus prayed often and He emphasized that prayer was one of the greatest needs of each believer. Jesus insisted that His prayers were the source of His strength.
**Jesus prayed as a Son to His Father in a close and very personal relationship with Him. Jesus taught that we that believe are to have the same close and personal relationship with our Father who is in Heaven.
To be saved is to be adopted into the family of God.
**John the Baptist had taught his own disciples to pray and all these that followed the Lord Jesus knew that He was the Master teacher and could teach them also, it was a reasonable request.
Even in prayer the Lord Jesus is our example!
*****Luk 11:2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
The Lord Jesus Christ will teach anyone to pray, anyone who is sincere and anyone who wants to begin a successful prayer life.
**Jesus begins with "When we pray".
We must accept that Jesus is teaching us a "model prayer" and not a prayer that should be repeated over and over again, even though nothing is wrong with praying this prayer as it is written.
As we all have different needs and are going through different trials, so then every prayer will be different.
This model prayer is also meant for use of all the children of God no matter their age group.
This prayer is a guide for all of us who need to have a personal relationship with our Creator and our God!
**Thank God for being "Our Father"
We are to have a close personal relationship with our God!
This relationship is to be a family relationship, the relationship of of a child to his parent.
This is the relationship we have after we have been "Born Again" into the family of God!
Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Joh 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
We must always thank God for being our Father!
We must always thank God that we are part of His family!
This is our assurance that we will spend eternity with not only all other believers but even our own earthly family if they will also trust in the Lord Jesus.
It is this model prayer that will open our eyes to the right way of looking at things.
Remember just a few lessons back, God was teaching us to have the right attitude.
Thank God we have a Father who cares about each and everyone of us!
Once God is our Father, that can never change!
Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Joh 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Joh 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Joh 10:30 I and my Father are one.
**Thank God for "In Heaven"
Heaven is a real place!
Heaven is the eternal real world, while this place we live now is only a temporary place.
Heaven is incorruptible and undefiled and it will never fade away!
Heaven is where God our Father resides and we will one day be with Him there in that place called Heaven.
Jesus said:
Joh 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
Joh 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And God's truth is:
1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
We truly do not have a clue just how wonderful Heaven is going to be!
**We need to praise God for "His name is Hallowed".
God's name is to set apart from all other names.
Our God is holy, and righteous, and pure, and loving, and kind, and merciful, and gracious.
God is to be praised for who He is!
We do not hallow God, if we speak of Him in an irreverent fashion.
We do not hallow God when we take His name in vain.
In fact we do not hallow God unless we worship Him in spirit and in truth!
Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
We do not hallow God unless we honor God in our own households!
If we do not have sense of God's majesty and God's holiness we will never hallow God's name!
AND, We do not hallow the Almighty God if we do not have a devout response of "faith" in Him!
Heb 11:6 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.
God's attributes are "His Name"
God has made Himself known to us by His Word but also by His Created Works!
We do not hallow the name of God if we do not trust in His power to direct and overrule all things, good and evil!
Holy is the name of God!
Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Only after we have praised God in our prayer are we to make request of Him!
**We need to pray for God's Kingdom to come.
In this sense we are praying for the spreading of the "Gospel" of Jesus Christ throughout this world.
We are praying for God's spiritual kingdom to come into all our lives and the "Gospel" has been spread throughout this world.
This is a prayer to personally receive the "Gospel"!
This is a prayer to personally promote the spread of the "Gospel"!
This is a prayer to persevere in prayer for the success of the "Gospel"!
God says to pray for Him to come but we must remember, when Christ returns to this earth, He will set upon His throne. He will rule and reign upon this earth for 1000 years.
This is the Kingdom that will ultimately be established in fulfillment of the covenant with the Jews.
Before that happens. His will needs to be done in all our lives just as it will be in Heaven.
There is the Spiritual Kingdom, which is God's authority over all the souls of believers.
There is the Visible Kingdom, the Church, which is visible to all mankind.
There is the Heavenly Kingdom which comes after the rapture of the Church!
**Thy will be done as in Heaven
It should be very obvious to us all that God's will is not done on earth as it is in Heaven.
We are all unworthy to receive the "Grace of God"!
God's will for us all is faith and holiness.
We cannot please God without faith.
We are to live holy because our God is a Holy God.
The Lord's Prayer indicates the right way of looking at things!
The Lord's Prayer is a prayer that this world we now live in would be filled with the knowledge of God!
The Lord's Prayer is a prayer that the "Grace" of God will rule in every heart!
The Lord's Prayer is a prayer that God, by His Grace, will remove all spiritual blindness and cause us all to know His will for each of us!
It is God's will that all the world be saved.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
*****Luk 11:3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
We are certainly to pray for the necessities of life and we are to do that on a daily basis.
This is food for within and without. We need to fed spiritually and physically.
The Lord's Prayer is a prayer to be filled as much spiritually as physically!
We must learn that we are dependant on the Lord for both these things.
The needs of the body while on this earth are great, but the truth is, the needs of the soul are far more important!
God will supply our daily needs.
God will supply those needs that are necessary for us to spread the "Gospel".
God may even sometime supply some our wants, but our needs will always supersede our wants.
There are some rewards for those who serve the Lord but the greater rewards are in Heaven.
*****Luk 11:4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
We need to spend some time discussing the forgiveness of our sins with our Father!
Our sins are a debt that we owe!
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Our sins are the very reason God had to send His Son to pay that great debt!
Notice we are to pray specifically for the forgiveness of our own sins.
We have a debt to God that we had no means to repay.
But we are also to pray for the forgiveness of the sins of our family, our neighbors, our community, our state, our nation, and our world!
Sin is the most serious matter and the most tragic matter to ever occur in our world!
We need to pray this daily because we are still in the flesh and without a doubt, we sin daily!
Our old sins are already under the blood and it is unnecessary to continue to ask for the forgiveness of those sins!
God does not remember those sins anymore!
Jer 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
God does not want us to remember those old sins anymore!
Heb 10:17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Heb 10:18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Jesus said that part was finished when He was on the cross!
Until we meet Jesus, we will still come up short of His glory and Jesus is teaching us to pray for this reason!
As God has forgiven our sins then we are to be forgiving of all others.
This is a condition of our own forgiveness!
Mat 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Mat 6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
We should realize that every confession of sin is always fulfilled with a pardon!
**Lead us not into temptation.
First, God will never tempt us!
Jas 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
We are to have a sincere belief in the providence of God!
It is when we trust in ourselves when temptation can overcome us!
We must have the faith that God is able to deliver us from all evil.
**"Deliver us from evil"
Satan the Devil is real!
We are to avoid all occasions of evil.
We are to give no place to the devil.
We should understand that "evil" is anything and everything that goes against the Word of God!
The Devil is above all, the evil one and the great opposition to the goodness of God!
Worldly afflictions come and go and are indeed grievous so long as they last and they require our prayers.
Sin is evil in it's nature and high treason against Heaven!
Sin will enslave us!
Sin is a painful thing. Sin is its own punishment to our bodies and sin will destroy the soul!
Sin is worse than death, though death might kill us, but it could not curse us!
The sin of God's people are even greater than the sins of the world because we sin against the "Mercy" and the "Grace" of God that He has already shown to us!
We should pray for God's deliverance from evil because God has more "Grace" than He does "wrath"!
Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Rom 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
And Jesus says we must be sincere and persistent in our prayers, we may have to make many request to fulfill the will of God.
*****Luk 11:5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
Luk 11:6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
Luk 11:7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
Luk 11:8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
What the truth of our prayers?
When we get into the throne room of God through our prayer, then we must refuse to leave until we get an answer.
How is this possible?
We must be sincere in our need, fervent in our request, constant, persistent, persevering and enduring when we are in contact with our Lord!
Micky Mouse prayers will not move the hand of God!
We need to ask until we get what we need, or that God says no.
Sometimes the greatest blessing we can get is when God says no to something we think we need!
And, Sometimes we have to be somewhat like a pest to move the hand of God!
Jesus gives us the answer to our problems in prayer.
*****Luk 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Luk 11:10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
"Ask and it shall be given" We should continue to ask until we receive, but if asking is not enough, Then
"Seek, and ye shall find", But in seeking and we do not find what we need, Then
"Knock, and it shall be open unto us"
The words "ask, seek, and knock" are verbs which means these are things we must do in a continuous action.
We are to keep on with these things until we know for sure we have God's answer.
God must know we are sincere!
God knows: Jas 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
The one thing we must consider is, "That God is always willing to give us the things that will fulfill the will and the purpose He has for us!
No matter the circumstances of our life, God will meet our needs!
No matter what we think sometimes, if our prayer can reach the throne room of God, we will get an answer even when it may be a "no" answer.
Deu 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
**There are other reasons that God does not answer our prayer immediately.
1) Prayer teaches us to have a close personal relationship with the Lord our God!
God loves to hear from us and He may hold back to keep us talking and sharing our needs with Him.
1Co 1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
2) Prayer teaches to have patience and hope in God and His promises.
1Jn 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
1Jn 5:15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
3) Prayer demonstrates how deeply we trust God and how much we depend upon Him.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
4) Prayer teaches us to love God as our Father.
*****Luk 11:11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Luk 11:12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
Luk 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Prayer teaches us that God is not evil, God is like a loving Father.
Not one man upon this earth is a righteous man.
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
But most men who are also fathers will give to their children when asked.
If all men are evil and God is "Good", it is impossible for God not to give as our Heavenly Father.
Mar 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
The greatest gift that our Father in Heaven gives us is the "Gift" of the Holy Spirit!
We have the presence of God living within our hearts and bodies.
When God dwells within those that have called on Him for salvation, then everything that is good is assured!
God is always with us and never far away and He knows us by our fruit!
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
And we can be sure that God will answer our prayers!
Jer 33:2 Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;
Jer 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Prayer is the greatest tool in the arsenal of the Christian, yet in most cases we all lack in a proper prayer life!
The truth is our Father in Heaven is not a dead beat dad who cares very little for his children, God is a true Father who cares for His children.
1Pe 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Questions?
Let's Pray!
Book of Luke 11
Some people just do not understand that prayer is our means of having a conversation with God!
It was by the cross and the veil was rent into that we have direct access to the throne of God!
We waste our breath in prayer if we do not first believe, in faith, that God is who He says He is and can do what we read about in the Word of God.
If we do not believe that God will answer prayer, then why pray at all?
Our prayers must be sincere!
Heb 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
The disciples of Jesus asked Him to teach them how to pray because prayer was a daily thing for our Lord and it can be said that Jesus truly prayed without ceasing.
It is an absolute fact, the more we pray the closer we will get to God.
Jesus said if we pray in His name, God will answer every prayer that reaches into His throne room.
Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
So let's let Jesus teach us how to pray.
*****Luk 11:1 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.
The Lord Jesus Christ spent much time in prayer. Prayer was not unknown to these disciples.
They had witnessed prayers at the Temple and in their own synagogues.
They had heard the long winded prayers of the Scribes and the Pharisees.
They had known the prayers of John the Baptist, who had taught his own disciples how to pray.
There was something about the way that Jesus prayed that got their attention!
**Christ Jesus prayed often and He emphasized that prayer was one of the greatest needs of each believer. Jesus insisted that His prayers were the source of His strength.
**Jesus prayed as a Son to His Father in a close and very personal relationship with Him. Jesus taught that we that believe are to have the same close and personal relationship with our Father who is in Heaven.
To be saved is to be adopted into the family of God.
**John the Baptist had taught his own disciples to pray and all these that followed the Lord Jesus knew that He was the Master teacher and could teach them also, it was a reasonable request.
Even in prayer the Lord Jesus is our example!
*****Luk 11:2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
The Lord Jesus Christ will teach anyone to pray, anyone who is sincere and anyone who wants to begin a successful prayer life.
**Jesus begins with "When we pray".
We must accept that Jesus is teaching us a "model prayer" and not a prayer that should be repeated over and over again, even though nothing is wrong with praying this prayer as it is written.
As we all have different needs and are going through different trials, so then every prayer will be different.
This model prayer is also meant for use of all the children of God no matter their age group.
This prayer is a guide for all of us who need to have a personal relationship with our Creator and our God!
**Thank God for being "Our Father"
We are to have a close personal relationship with our God!
This relationship is to be a family relationship, the relationship of of a child to his parent.
This is the relationship we have after we have been "Born Again" into the family of God!
Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Joh 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
We must always thank God for being our Father!
We must always thank God that we are part of His family!
This is our assurance that we will spend eternity with not only all other believers but even our own earthly family if they will also trust in the Lord Jesus.
It is this model prayer that will open our eyes to the right way of looking at things.
Remember just a few lessons back, God was teaching us to have the right attitude.
Thank God we have a Father who cares about each and everyone of us!
Once God is our Father, that can never change!
Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Joh 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Joh 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Joh 10:30 I and my Father are one.
**Thank God for "In Heaven"
Heaven is a real place!
Heaven is the eternal real world, while this place we live now is only a temporary place.
Heaven is incorruptible and undefiled and it will never fade away!
Heaven is where God our Father resides and we will one day be with Him there in that place called Heaven.
Jesus said:
Joh 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
Joh 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And God's truth is:
1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
We truly do not have a clue just how wonderful Heaven is going to be!
**We need to praise God for "His name is Hallowed".
God's name is to set apart from all other names.
Our God is holy, and righteous, and pure, and loving, and kind, and merciful, and gracious.
God is to be praised for who He is!
We do not hallow God, if we speak of Him in an irreverent fashion.
We do not hallow God when we take His name in vain.
In fact we do not hallow God unless we worship Him in spirit and in truth!
Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
We do not hallow God unless we honor God in our own households!
If we do not have sense of God's majesty and God's holiness we will never hallow God's name!
AND, We do not hallow the Almighty God if we do not have a devout response of "faith" in Him!
Heb 11:6 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.
God's attributes are "His Name"
God has made Himself known to us by His Word but also by His Created Works!
We do not hallow the name of God if we do not trust in His power to direct and overrule all things, good and evil!
Holy is the name of God!
Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Only after we have praised God in our prayer are we to make request of Him!
**We need to pray for God's Kingdom to come.
In this sense we are praying for the spreading of the "Gospel" of Jesus Christ throughout this world.
We are praying for God's spiritual kingdom to come into all our lives and the "Gospel" has been spread throughout this world.
This is a prayer to personally receive the "Gospel"!
This is a prayer to personally promote the spread of the "Gospel"!
This is a prayer to persevere in prayer for the success of the "Gospel"!
God says to pray for Him to come but we must remember, when Christ returns to this earth, He will set upon His throne. He will rule and reign upon this earth for 1000 years.
This is the Kingdom that will ultimately be established in fulfillment of the covenant with the Jews.
Before that happens. His will needs to be done in all our lives just as it will be in Heaven.
There is the Spiritual Kingdom, which is God's authority over all the souls of believers.
There is the Visible Kingdom, the Church, which is visible to all mankind.
There is the Heavenly Kingdom which comes after the rapture of the Church!
**Thy will be done as in Heaven
It should be very obvious to us all that God's will is not done on earth as it is in Heaven.
We are all unworthy to receive the "Grace of God"!
God's will for us all is faith and holiness.
We cannot please God without faith.
We are to live holy because our God is a Holy God.
The Lord's Prayer indicates the right way of looking at things!
The Lord's Prayer is a prayer that this world we now live in would be filled with the knowledge of God!
The Lord's Prayer is a prayer that the "Grace" of God will rule in every heart!
The Lord's Prayer is a prayer that God, by His Grace, will remove all spiritual blindness and cause us all to know His will for each of us!
It is God's will that all the world be saved.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
*****Luk 11:3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
We are certainly to pray for the necessities of life and we are to do that on a daily basis.
This is food for within and without. We need to fed spiritually and physically.
The Lord's Prayer is a prayer to be filled as much spiritually as physically!
We must learn that we are dependant on the Lord for both these things.
The needs of the body while on this earth are great, but the truth is, the needs of the soul are far more important!
God will supply our daily needs.
God will supply those needs that are necessary for us to spread the "Gospel".
God may even sometime supply some our wants, but our needs will always supersede our wants.
There are some rewards for those who serve the Lord but the greater rewards are in Heaven.
*****Luk 11:4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
We need to spend some time discussing the forgiveness of our sins with our Father!
Our sins are a debt that we owe!
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Our sins are the very reason God had to send His Son to pay that great debt!
Notice we are to pray specifically for the forgiveness of our own sins.
We have a debt to God that we had no means to repay.
But we are also to pray for the forgiveness of the sins of our family, our neighbors, our community, our state, our nation, and our world!
Sin is the most serious matter and the most tragic matter to ever occur in our world!
We need to pray this daily because we are still in the flesh and without a doubt, we sin daily!
Our old sins are already under the blood and it is unnecessary to continue to ask for the forgiveness of those sins!
God does not remember those sins anymore!
Jer 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
God does not want us to remember those old sins anymore!
Heb 10:17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Heb 10:18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Jesus said that part was finished when He was on the cross!
Until we meet Jesus, we will still come up short of His glory and Jesus is teaching us to pray for this reason!
As God has forgiven our sins then we are to be forgiving of all others.
This is a condition of our own forgiveness!
Mat 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Mat 6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
We should realize that every confession of sin is always fulfilled with a pardon!
**Lead us not into temptation.
First, God will never tempt us!
Jas 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
We are to have a sincere belief in the providence of God!
It is when we trust in ourselves when temptation can overcome us!
We must have the faith that God is able to deliver us from all evil.
**"Deliver us from evil"
Satan the Devil is real!
We are to avoid all occasions of evil.
We are to give no place to the devil.
We should understand that "evil" is anything and everything that goes against the Word of God!
The Devil is above all, the evil one and the great opposition to the goodness of God!
Worldly afflictions come and go and are indeed grievous so long as they last and they require our prayers.
Sin is evil in it's nature and high treason against Heaven!
Sin will enslave us!
Sin is a painful thing. Sin is its own punishment to our bodies and sin will destroy the soul!
Sin is worse than death, though death might kill us, but it could not curse us!
The sin of God's people are even greater than the sins of the world because we sin against the "Mercy" and the "Grace" of God that He has already shown to us!
We should pray for God's deliverance from evil because God has more "Grace" than He does "wrath"!
Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Rom 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
And Jesus says we must be sincere and persistent in our prayers, we may have to make many request to fulfill the will of God.
*****Luk 11:5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
Luk 11:6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
Luk 11:7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
Luk 11:8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
What the truth of our prayers?
When we get into the throne room of God through our prayer, then we must refuse to leave until we get an answer.
How is this possible?
We must be sincere in our need, fervent in our request, constant, persistent, persevering and enduring when we are in contact with our Lord!
Micky Mouse prayers will not move the hand of God!
We need to ask until we get what we need, or that God says no.
Sometimes the greatest blessing we can get is when God says no to something we think we need!
And, Sometimes we have to be somewhat like a pest to move the hand of God!
Jesus gives us the answer to our problems in prayer.
*****Luk 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Luk 11:10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
"Ask and it shall be given" We should continue to ask until we receive, but if asking is not enough, Then
"Seek, and ye shall find", But in seeking and we do not find what we need, Then
"Knock, and it shall be open unto us"
The words "ask, seek, and knock" are verbs which means these are things we must do in a continuous action.
We are to keep on with these things until we know for sure we have God's answer.
God must know we are sincere!
God knows: Jas 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
The one thing we must consider is, "That God is always willing to give us the things that will fulfill the will and the purpose He has for us!
No matter the circumstances of our life, God will meet our needs!
No matter what we think sometimes, if our prayer can reach the throne room of God, we will get an answer even when it may be a "no" answer.
Deu 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
**There are other reasons that God does not answer our prayer immediately.
1) Prayer teaches us to have a close personal relationship with the Lord our God!
God loves to hear from us and He may hold back to keep us talking and sharing our needs with Him.
1Co 1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
2) Prayer teaches to have patience and hope in God and His promises.
1Jn 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
1Jn 5:15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
3) Prayer demonstrates how deeply we trust God and how much we depend upon Him.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
4) Prayer teaches us to love God as our Father.
*****Luk 11:11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Luk 11:12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
Luk 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Prayer teaches us that God is not evil, God is like a loving Father.
Not one man upon this earth is a righteous man.
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
But most men who are also fathers will give to their children when asked.
If all men are evil and God is "Good", it is impossible for God not to give as our Heavenly Father.
Mar 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
The greatest gift that our Father in Heaven gives us is the "Gift" of the Holy Spirit!
We have the presence of God living within our hearts and bodies.
When God dwells within those that have called on Him for salvation, then everything that is good is assured!
God is always with us and never far away and He knows us by our fruit!
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
And we can be sure that God will answer our prayers!
Jer 33:2 Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;
Jer 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Prayer is the greatest tool in the arsenal of the Christian, yet in most cases we all lack in a proper prayer life!
The truth is our Father in Heaven is not a dead beat dad who cares very little for his children, God is a true Father who cares for His children.
1Pe 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Questions?
Let's Pray!
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