Why do we pray?…

Prayer is the power that moves the hand of God…

Prayer is a way to communicate with God, helping to develop a personal relationship with Him and align our hearts with His will. It also provides comfort, guidance, and peace during various life situations.

For the Christian, praying is supposed to be like breathing, easier to do than to not do.

We pray for a variety of reasons.

For one thing, prayer is a form of serving God (Luke 2:36-38) and obeying Him.

We pray because God commands us to pray (Philippians 4:6-7).

Prayer is exemplified for us by Christ and the early church (Mark 1:35; Acts 1:14; 2:42; 3:1; 4:23-31; 6:4; 13:1-3).

If Jesus thought it was worthwhile to pray, we should also.

For the Christian, praying is supposed to be like breathing, easier to do than to not do. We pray for a variety of reasons. For one thing, prayer is a form of serving God (Luke 2:36-38) and obeying Him. We pray because God commands us to pray (Philippians 4:6-7). Prayer is exemplified for us by Christ and the early church (Mark 1:35; Acts 1:14; 2:42; 3:1; 4:23-31; 6:4; 13:1-3). If Jesus thought it was worthwhile to pray, we should also.

Another reason to pray is that God intends prayer to be the means of obtaining His solutions in a number of situations.

We pray in preparation for major decisions (Luke 6:12-13); to overcome demonic barriers (Matthew 17:14-21); to gather workers for the spiritual harvest (Luke 10:2); to gain strength to overcome temptation (Matthew 26:41); and to obtain the means of strengthening others spiritually (Ephesians 6:18-19).

We come to God with our specific requests, and we have God’s promise that our prayers are not in vain, even if we do not receive specifically what we asked for (Matthew 6:6; Romans 8:26-27).

He has promised that when we ask for things that are in accordance with His will, He will give us what we ask for (1 John 5:14-15).

Sometimes He delays His answers according to His wisdom and for our benefit.

In these situations, we are to be diligent and persistent in prayer (Matthew 7:7; Luke 18:1-8).

Prayer should not be seen as our means of getting God to do our will on earth, but rather as a means of getting God’s will done on earth. God’s wisdom far exceeds our own.

From: Kenneth E. Hagin

In teaching on prayer for so many years, I always take two particular Bible texts.

The reason I choose these two for my main texts is because I don’t believe there are any better.

These two texts will cover anything you want to teach on the subject of prayer.

The first text I use is Ephesians 6:18, in which Paul is writing to the believers at Ephesus.

The second text is John 15:7, which says, “If ye abide in me [Jesus], and MY WORDS abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”

This verse is all-inclusive, because Jesus said “My words.”

Therefore, any word the Bible teaches on the subject of prayer is covered by John 15:7.

If Jesus had just said, “If you abide in Me,” we Christians would automatically have it made because we all abide in Him as believers.

But Jesus added, “And My words abide in you.”

Have you ever noticed that many of God’s promises are conditional?

If you want answers to your prayers, follow the instructions that have been given to you: If you abide in Jesus, and His Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.

I believe in receiving answers to prayer, all right. But there are conditions that have to be met in order for our prayers to be answered: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you…”

I want to look at a passage in the Old Testament that teaches us something further on prayer.

Isaiah 43:25 and 26 gives us insight into the authority we have in prayer. to be like breathing, easier to do than to not do.

We pray for a variety of reasons. For one thing, prayer is a form of serving God (Luke 2:36-38) and obeying Him.

We pray because God commands us to pray (Philippians 4:6-7).

Prayer is exemplified for us by Christ and the early church (Mark 1:35; Acts 1:14; 2:42; 3:1; 4:23-31; 6:4; 13:1-3).

If Jesus thought it was worthwhile to pray, we should also.

God is not ruling in this world. He is not ruling on the earth.

Thank God, He will one day! But right now His will is not being carried out on the earth—except in the lives of those who surrender to Him.

Years ago I read a statement John Wesley made and it stayed with me. Wesley said,

“It seems God is limited by our prayer life—that He can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks Him.”

A while later, in 1949, I was reading after another writer who made that same statement.

But this fellow added, “Why this is, I do not know.”

We Need To Know More About It

“Why doesn’t he know?” I asked.

Then I found out I didn’t know either.

Yet if Wesley’s statement is correct—and it seems to be as you read through the Bible—then we who are to pray should know more about it.

If God wants to do something for humanity, I thought I should begin to examine the Bible to find out why God cannot do anything unless somebody asks Him.

I found the answer through study of God’s Word.

You see, though some people have built up “spiritual air castles” that God is running everything in this world, He is not.

During the Vietnam War a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist began one column by stating that he was not a Christian.

He also said that he was not an atheist because the atheist says there is no God.

“I suppose you would classify me an agnostic,” he wrote.

“The agnostic says there may be a God, but if there is, I don’t know it.

Actually, I am prone to believe there is a Supreme Being.

I do not believe that everything here just happened. I believe there is a Creator somewhere.

“But I have never read the Bible. I do not attend church.

One reason I don’t is that what the Christians say about God doesn’t agree with what I think a Creator should be, nor with what I can see of Him in nature.

Even ministers say, ‘God has everything under control.

He’s running everything.’

Well, if He is, He sure has things in a mess.

People are killing each other. Little children are dying. Little children are hungry. Women are suffering.

There are wars everywhere. If God has everything under control, do you mean God is running those wars?”

Even an unregenerate columnist knew that wasn’t right.

A Change Of Dominion

God is not ruling in this world. He is not ruling on the earth.

Thank God, He will one day! But right now His will is not being carried out on the earth—except in the lives of those who surrender to Him.

That is easy to see if you will accept what the Bible says.

The Bible says that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

It is obvious that His will concerning the salvation of all men is not being carried out.

When individuals accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, it is carried out in their lives.

But if God were running things and pushing His will off on people—and since He is not willing that any should perish—then it is logical to say that He would make everybody get saved today and then go directly into the Millennium tomorrow.

But that’s not the way it works.

As I examined God’s Word for the “why” behind John Wesley’s statement, I saw a truth I had never seen before, though I had been in the ministry many years.

As I asked the Lord about it, He said to me, “Go back to the Book of Beginnings.”

I knew He meant the Book of Genesis.

I reread it. I had read it many times.

I had heard it taught as a Sunday School boy. But this time, I saw it in a different light.

I saw that God made the world and the fullness thereof.

He made His man, Adam. Then He said, “Adam, I give you dominion over all the work of my hands” (Gen. 1:26-27; Ps. 8:6).

God did not say, “I am going to dominate through you.”

He said, “I give you dominion over all the work of my hands.”

Therefore Adam had dominion upon this earth and in this world.

He was originally, in a sense, the god (small “g”) of this world.

But Satan came and lied to Adam. Adam committed high treason and sold out to Satan.

When that happened, Satan became the god of this world.

Second Corinthians 4:4 calls Satan “the god of this world.”

As such, he has dominion. Where? In this world.

He will have that dominion and remain the god of this world until Adam’s lease runs out.

God cannot legally and justly move in and take away that dominion from the devil.

The devil has dominion here. He has a legal right because he has Adam’s lease.

And God cannot do anything unless somebody down here asks Him.

That is why prayer is so important.
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We know from the Bible that the devil was defeated at calvary’s Cross and the Bible tells us that Jesus took from him the keys of death, hell and the grave.

It may not show up on Christian motivational posters, but Colossians 2:15 is one of the great verses of victory in the New Testament.

“He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

Our great captain has won the contest.

The seed of the woman has bruised the head of the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15).

While not as familiar to us, Colossians 2:15 was beloved in earlier periods of Christian history.

It is also regularly invoked in academic theology to support a certain understanding of Christ’s atonement known as the “Christus Victor” model, which argues that Christ’s saving work consists in defeating the evil powers that afflict and enslave humanity.

Satan has already been defeated at the cross and since has lost all of his legal authority to operate in this world.

How be it, for the time being (until Christ returns and sets up his kingdom on Earth) the authority to overcome the power of the enemy is only given to those who are born-again, filled with the Holy Spirit and are operating in faith, in Christ!

The Bible also tells us that through Christ we have been given ALL POWER in HEAVEN AND EARTH to overthrow all the power of the enemy, but we have to learn how to use that power and that’s why we need to study the Bible, to learn the Rules of Engagement in spiritual warfare.

Come join the Adventure!

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