Praise the Lord. Let the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and Love of our Heavenly and His Blessings be with you all. Amen
Today’s preaching is on Prayers, it is the most important part of all who walks with the Lord without Prayers it is not possible to have a relationship with the Lord. Prayers is what connects you with Jesus Christ it is what pleases Lord Jesus Christ because when you are praying it is not only that you asking or worshipping God it is that you becoming one with God. It is the foundation of a relationship between you and Jesus Christ. It is a weapon that destroys tbe power evil in your life, prayers is what makes you what you are it makes you like Christ because through prayers you spend time with Jesus Christ and you become like Him.
1 Kings 17:17-24
Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him. So she said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?” And he said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. Then he cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?” And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.” Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives!” Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.”
Now here is a story where a widow losses her son and the woman told Elijah that what wrong had she done that her son is dead, and she was hurt as well as angry with Elijah because he was staying, so then Elijah took the child and prayed to The Lord and the soul of the child came back what did Elijah do he prayed and Lord heard his prayer and the child came back to life. Is anything in your life is dead pray to the Lord and He will make it alive. Is there a situation which you think will never change pray for it and it will change.
1 Kings 18:41-44
Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked, and said, “ There is nothing.” And seven times he said, “Go again.” Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’ ”
Now there was a drought in Israel during the time of Elijah and it was for three years, over here we see that how Elijah prayed he was on his knees and put his face between his knees, he was praying and he was praying fervently or earnestly but he was just praying with everything, he was on his knees and then the rain started he did this seven times. Just see how much power there is in prayers that it even opens heaven for you. So that you get showers of Blessings from the Lord.
Nehemiah 1:1-11
The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said: “I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘ If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now over here Nehemiah hears that the Israelites are in distress the walls have been broken and there lot of problems which they are facing , what he does he starts praying and fasting before the God of heaven please keep that in your heart and in your mind before the God of heaven not before any other god we only and only pray before the true living God no one else I repeat no one means no one. Then again in the next verse it says I pray, Lord God of heaven to whom he is praying to Lord God of heaven and what is he saying to You who keeps His covenent and He shows mercy to those who love Him and obeys His commandments. Again in the next verse man of God says hear the prayer of your servant, when we go through these verses we see one thing which is very important is that Nehemiah went on praying to God. It is Prayers and Prayers that can change everything in life.
Pslams 5:1-3
Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord ; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.
To whom David is praying to God to whom is he crying to the Almighty God because he believes that God will hear is prayer. And there is one more thing he prays in the morning every thought every attention of David is directed towards Lord, when you get up in the morning and the first thing you do is spend time with the Lord and your day is filled with His Grace.
Psalms 17:1
Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord ; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.
Again David prays he says to Lord hear my cry, he prays with tears and again he says Lord shall hear his voice in the morning and again everything of his is directed to God.
Pslams 39:12
“Hear my prayer, O Lord , And give ear to my cry; Do not be silent at my tears; For I am a stranger with You, A sojourner, as all my fathers were.
In this verse also we see that psalmist says hear my prayer, O Lord. It is important for us to pray and pray because this psalmist was not a ordinary human he was a king anointed by God, so if David all the time had to rely in prayers to be connected to Lord then what are we supposed to do. Think about it.
Psalm 54:1-2
Save me, O God, by Your name, And vindicate me by Your strength. Hear my prayer, O God; Give ear to the words of my mouth.
Over here psalmist says save me O God by your name and strengthen me by your strength it’s a prayer which came out of the mouth of David. Prayers and Prayers.
Psalms 65:1-2
Praise is awaiting You, O God, in Zion; And to You the vow shall be performed. O You who hear prayer, To You all flesh will come.
What it says O You hear prayer, Lord hears our prayer. He hears and He answers no one else.
Matthew 6:5-13
“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Till now we went through verses which were in the old testament but now we start with the new testament. And here we start this how Jesus Christ told us to pray Jesus, don’t show of to the world that you are praying. Jesus Christ says pray in secret He goes on saying go to your room close everything and then start to pray. What you pray in secret God will give reward of that prayer in front of everyone. And you don’t have to say lot of words because sometimes we think because of our many words God will hear our prayers no it is not like that you need to be connected to Lord from your heart that is the connection you need to have with the Lord when you are praying and the Lord taught us just one prayer in the entire Bible that is Our Father that’s it nothing else.
Mark 7:7-11
WhenJesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a desewere follorted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.” But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” He said, “Bring them here to Me.” Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
In these verses we see that the people were following Lord and while following Him they came to a place which was a deserted place and then the Lord said give them food to eat and the disciples said that there is not enough food to feed all these people then Lord asked them how much food you’ll have they said five loaves and two fish then what did Lord do here He Prayed over the breads and fish and those who ate were five thousand people apart from the children and women so just imagine the power of prayers. The way Lord Jesus Christ did, yes you can because everything is possible in Him and through Him.
Matthew 26:36-41
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” 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. ” Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
This is those last moments of Life of Jesus Christ on this earth, He was exceedingly sorrowful for He knew what He was about to go through, though been the Son of God He Himself needed to pray so that he can overcome it and there were three disciples with Him, He even told them watch with me means pray with me always remember whenever in the Gospel the word watch is written it means prayer. Then lastly Jesus Christ says watch and pray lest you fall in temptation. Lack of pray life will make you weak Lord says pray so that you don’t fall from where you are think about it . What is important prayers.
Mark 9:17-29
Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it: “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”
There was a man whose son was possessed and the disciples couldn’t cast that demonic spirit out of that child then he was brought to the Lord and then Lord casted that spirit out of him, now there is something which is very significant when the disciples asked lord Jesus Christ why they couldn’t cast that spirit out the answer was very simple but very powerful Jesus Christ said you need to pray and fast that means even Jesus Christ was praying as well as fasting so sisters and brothers in the Lord don’t take your anointing for granted because if Lord had to pray and fast then what we are supposed to do.
Luke 5:15-16
However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.
People were coming to Lord to hear the word and to be healed but Jesus Christ often withdrew from them and He used to pray in the wilderness. Jesus Christ needed to pray though He Himself was God. But He needed to pray He didn’t take His earthly life for granted He used to pray as often as possible so even we need to do the same thing we need to learn from the Master.
Temple of the Living God 