Qualifications For Prayer
Many people don't think you have to have qualifications for praying,
anyone can pray but to get answers to your prayers you have to be qualified.
The Bible has a lot to say about the qualifications for prayer.
We need to take a look at the Word of God and ourselves to see if we are lacking in any of these areas.
The devil would like to keep us in the dark about prayer and would like to keep us bound up as long as he can. But the Word of God says its is the truth that sets us free. Amen
And there are a lot of Christians needing to be set free Amen.
Now get your Bibles and let's go into the Word of God today.
1. Prayer should be Humble
Psalms 10: 17
Now go to Luke 18: 9 - 14
This is a parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
One came before the Lord full of pride the other with a humble heart but only one left the the presence of God justified.
2. Prayer should be Bold and Confident
1 John 5: 13 - 15
If you look in verse 14 it says: "this is the confidence that we have if we ask anything according to his will he hears us."
But it gets better in verse 15 it says: " if we know he hears us, we can be confident that we have what we petitioned him for".
3. Prayer must be in Faith
Hebrew 11:6
The Bible says without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who
see Him.
4. Prayer must be Sincere
Psalms 145:18
The Bible says: " the Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth".
All we have to do when we go before God is be sincere in our prayers and be truthful.
5. Prayer should be Simple
Matthew 6:7
And it says this: " 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".
We do not have anything to prove to God when we pray; keep it simple.
We have to remember he already knows our needs but he does want to hear it from us.
6. Prayer should be Persistent
Luke 18:1- 8
This is a parable of a persistent widow
She continuously petitioned the judge for justice. we must do the same thing with God.
We must be persistent with God if we want it bad enough.
7. Prayer must be in Accordance with God Word.
1 John 5:14
And it says: " and this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us;
God will not ever give us anything that will harm us. This is why we must learn how to pray according to his will and not our will.
There are many things that the Bible says about Prayer.
We must learn how to pray in order to get our prayers answered. The Bible says: " we received not because we asked not ".
And it also says: that we sometimes are asking the wrong way.
Prayer is one of the most important things to a Christian. Without it we have no communication with God. And without communications we lose sight of God. And if we can't see God we will never know what is God's will, and our will have no direction, no hope and no future.
Sometimes the devil discourages people because they don't feel that they are getting their prayers answered.
But I have to ask this question. Is it really the devil or is it the way we pray or is it our lifestyle? Sin will stop our prayers from getting answered by God.
We must always examine ourselves to see if there are changes we need to make. Whether it is our lifestyle or just the way we pray.
We must get out of what I call the ( Adam syndrome )
We always blame others for our own faults, we blame the devil, we even blame God.
We need to wake up and realize that we just need to pray more.
If we prayed more we would not have the problems that we have today.
The Bible says: " the prayer of the righteous person is powerful".
Remember , child of God , its your prayers that will change things in your world and in your life.
Written by: Rev. Bruce L. Miller
Pastor of: Revival Faith Center