• 8/11/24

Effectual Prayer

MAIN IDEA
The power of the church is not necessarily from the programs, people, or even the preaching - it is found within prayer. 

THE ERRONEOUS PRAYER
Jesus encourages the disciples to not pray like the pagans do which includes vain repetitions, babbling, and repeated chants without any faith. The wrong type of prayer is not determined by the length of time but it is determined by the content of one’s prayer and the intention of one’s heart.

Biblical Example:

  • 1 Kings 18:26-29 - Prophets of Baal praying to their false god, no answer.

  • 1 Kings 18:36-38 - Elijah praying unto the Lord, immediately answered prayer.

THE EXAMPLE OF PRAYER
Jesus gives an example of how we ought to pray, not like the pagans. 

ACTS PRAYER CONCEPT

  • A - Adoration
    Who are we praying to? We are praying to our Father in Heaven. He is holy and almighty! We must pray with a blank slate and trust in God’s will to be done, not our own personal desires and will.

  • C - Confession
    We must confess our sins unto the Lord. God hears our prayer and will forgive us of our sins. He is faithful when we confess.

  • T - Thanksgiving
    Let us call upon the Lord and thank Him for the “bread” He has given to us each and every day. Let us ask Him to give us this day our daily “bread”.

  • S - Supplication
    It is after we give adoration to the Lord, confess our sins, give thanks - we can ask the Lord to help us with our request. 

Jesus didn’t give this example for us just to follow and pray. He gave this as an example to model of our prayer life after. To sincerely give praise to the Lord, to confess our sins, to be grateful and give thanks, and to ask God with great faith to help us with our requests.

THE ENCUMBRANCE TO PRAYER
There is one hindrance to having an effectual prayer life and that is the unwillingness to forgive one another. We can only have an effectual vertical relationship with God if we have an effectual horizontal relationship with our fellow brothers and sisters. How are our relationships with one another? The first greatest commandment is the love God and the second is to love thy neighbor. We try our best to follow the first, but what about the second?


Are there sins within the brethren that we must address? Jesus gives us a model of how we ought to confront others in the church when they have offended us.

  1. Confront one another. Do not gossip or bring others involved into the matter. 

  2. Bring another witness (must have actually witnessed) to the matter.

  3. Bring the matter to the church (to the pastors) to address and to discipline the offending member.

The purpose behind confronting one another in the church is not rebuke but reconciliation. We must not harbor bitterness towards one another, therefore we must address an offense when we are offended. 

Peter asked Jesus how many times do we forgive one another? 3 times? 7 times? Jesus replies 70 times 7 which indicates you must forgive one another 490 times. Essentially Jesus is trying to get the point across, continually forgive one another. We must also forgive one another just as Jesus Christ forgave us for our sins. Our sins are the reason Jesus was on the cross yet He forgave us. Just as Jesus forgave us, we too can forgive one another for the minor offenses (compared to His suffering) we may have received. 

Application:

  1. Believe in the power of prayer as we pray. Let us not have a prayer that is in error which includes vain repetition and prayer without faith.

  2. Let us continue to pray with adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication to the Lord and believe in the words we pray.

  3. Remove all hindrance to prayer which is any bitterness towards a fellow brother or sister in the church. Unforgiveness results in unanswered prayers.

Discussion Question - How is your prayer life? What are some changes you need to make to have an effectual prayer life?