PRAYER
“Why Pray?”

KEY THOUGHT:  Prayer without results is ritual.

KEY SCRIPTURE: Luke 18:1

I.          PRAYER IS COMMUNICATING WITH G-D.  Yochanan (John) 10:27

A.        Communicate:  To give and receive information.

B.        Communication:  A giving and receiving of information by talk, writing, etc.

1.         If you ask me a question yet not allow me to answer, then we have not had full communication.

II.        TO THE NATURAL MAN OR THE CARNAL BELIEVER, PRAYER IS RIDICULOUS AND A WASTE OF EFFORT -- I Corinthians 2:14

A.        There is Nothing the Senses Can Relate To

1.         I Timothy 1:17

2.         YHWH is omnipresent.  Every hospital room is filled with the power of YHWH necessary to heal every person there.

B.        Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 11:6 is a Prerequisite to Answered Prayer

III.       WHY PRAY?

A.        John Wesley said, “It seems as though YHWH can do nothing for humanity except we ask Him.”

B.        Sovereignty is a Much Misunderstood Subject in the believers life.

1.         YHWH is sovereign in the sense that He is Supreme, not that He is a dictator.

a.         I Timothy 2:3,4 (this is YHWH’s will, yet not everyone will be saved)

b.         Ephesians 2:8-10 (ordain - prepare: you can prepare your child for a career, but they must decide whether or not to walk in it)

2.         YHWH, being Supreme, has decided that everything should operate by laws (natural and spiritual)

C.        B’resheet (Genesis) 1:26-28 (Mankind has been given the authority on the earth)

1.         Yechezk’el (Ezekiel) 22:30

2.         Luke 10:1,2

3.         Yochanan (John) 16:23 (This implies “if you don’t ask, you won’t receive”)

4.         Ya’akov (James) 4:2

D.        Man was Created With the Right of Choice

1.         Prayer is an act of your will

            a.         Mark 11:24,25

            b.         Acts 4:23,24

            c.         I Corinthians 14:15

            d.         Ephesians 3:14