Stoke Your Prayer Life!

1.5.2022

Because God gave Adam authority and he gave it away to Satan, God must get our cooperation to be able to do what He wants to do. We “untie” His hands.

Your future starts tonight – with your prayer life

Notice Jesus’ prayer life and how frequently He prayed.

Mark 1:35 – ESV

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

 

Matthew:14:23 – ESV

And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,

Mark 6:46 – ESV

And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

Luke 6:12 – ESV

In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.

Luke 9:28 – ESV

Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.

Luke 11:1 – ESV

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

Luke 5:15-16 – ESV

But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. (16) But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Luke 22:39 – ESV

And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.

John 6:15 – ESV

Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

 

If Jesus found it necessary to pray frequently about His life and ministry, how much more do we need to pray as well?

Hebrews 5:7 – ESV

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

 

Hebrews 4:14 -16 – NLT

So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.(15) This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. (16) So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

 

Hebrews 4:16 – CEV Contemporary

So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help.

 

Hebrews 4:16 – AMP

Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].

 

We would find that life would be less stressful if we would only take time to pray about everything that bothers us.

We often allow the busyness of life to crowd out our times of prayer!

 

Listen to this quote from R. A. Torrey How To Pray:

Some men are so busy that they find no time for prayer. Apparently the busier Christ’s life was, the more He prayed. Sometimes He had no time to eat (Mark 3:20), sometimes He had no time for needed rest and sleep (Mark 6:31, 33, 46), but He always took time to pray; and the more the work crowded the more He prayed.

Many a mighty man of God has learned this secret from Christ, and when the work has crowded more than usual they have set an unusual amount of time apart for prayer. Other men of God, once mighty, have lost their power because they did not learn this secret, and allowed increasing work to crowd out prayer.

Learn to pray ahead of time about things, and then go in expectation of the answer!

 

Jesus prayer life brought Him through His most challenging time of life- the crucifixion and His being made our sin.

Notice another quote from R A Torrey (How to Pray):

As He drew nearer and nearer to the cross, and realized that upon it was to come the great final test of His life, Jesus went out into the garden to pray. He came “unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder.” (Matt. 26:36) The victory of Calvary was won that night in the garden of Gethsemane. The calm majesty of His bearing in meeting the awful onslaughts of Pilate’s Judgment Hall and of Calvary, was the outcome of the struggle, agony and victory of Gethsemane. While Jesus prayed the disciples slept, so He stood fast while they fell ignominiously.

Many temptations come upon us unawares and unannounced, and all that we can do is to lift a cry to God for help then and there; but many of the temptations of life we can see approaching from the distance, and in such cases the victory should be won before the temptation really reaches us.

 

I want to encourage all of us to take some extra time to pray about everything that concerns our life. Our marriage, our children, our relationships, our job, our finances, our health, our future, our church life, everything.

When you get specific in prayer, worry fades away and confidence rises within!

Philippians 4:6-7 -CEV

Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. (7) Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel.

 

These scriptures have been the basis for answered prayer for my own life for over 42 years:

 

Matthew 21:22

And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

Mark 11:24

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Luke 11:9-10 (NLT)

And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

 

John 15:7

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

 

John 16:23-24

And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. (24) Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

 

1 John 3:22

And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

 

1 John 5:14-15

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (15) And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

 

Again to quote R A Torrey:

Our whole life should be a life of prayer. We should walk in constant communion with God. There should be a constant upward looking of the soul to God. We should walk so habitually in His presence that even when we awake in the night it would be the most natural thing in the world for us to speak to Him in thanksgiving or in petition.