May 4, 2008

Sheepfold Ministries / Pastor Phil Roland

Ten Conditions For Effective Prayer

Various TEXTS

“Holy, believing, persevering prayer is an essential aspect of co-laboring with God for the release of God’s Grace.  Without effective prayer, we can do nothing!  Pray, meditate, seek Him with your whole heart!”                Pastor Phil Roland

I.   F A I T H - (Forsaking All I Trust Him)

          A.  Do not doubt in your heart - Mark 11:23,24

          "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the

sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen,

it will be done for him.  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

            B.  Believe that you will receive - Matt 21:21,22

            “Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only

can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain,

'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. if you believe, you will

receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

          C.  Ask according to God’s Will - 1 John 5:14-15

            “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything

according to his will, he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us--whatever we

ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.”

II.  P E R S I S T E N C E

          A. The parable of the Unjust Judge - Luke 18:1-8

            "And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do

not fear God nor regard man, 'yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge

her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.'"

            B.  Ask, Seek, Knock - Matthew 7:7-11

            "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks                     finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. "Or what man is there among you who, if his

son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  "Or if he asks for a fish, will he give

him a serpent? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your

children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to

those who ask Him!”

          C.  God waits for the sound of your cry - Isaiah 30:18-19

            “Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He

will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the LORD is a God of

justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him. For the people shall dwell in

Zion at Jerusalem; You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at

the sound of your cry; When He hears it, He will answer you.”

III.  H O L Y   L I F E

          A. Guard your heart before God - Psalm 66:18

            “If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.”

            B.  Our Iniquities deafens God’s Ears - Isaiah 59:1,2

          “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear

heavy, That it cannot hear.  But your iniquities have separated you from your

God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.”

1. Iniquities, Hebrew – “A-VON” - Perversity, Depravity,

Generational Guilt passed on by acts of sinning

                        2. Jesus bore our Iniquities on His Cross - Isaiah 53:6

                        “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his

 own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

            C.  If our hearts do not condemn us - 1 John 3:19-22

“And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before

Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows al

things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence

toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep

His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”

IV.  HO N O R   W I F E   (Spouse)

          A. Dishonor your wife, hinder your prayers - 1 Peter 3:7

“Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the

wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that

your prayers may not be hindered.”

          B. Love your wife, love yourself - Ephesians 5:28

“So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves

his wife loves himself.”

V.  W I L L   O F   G O D

          A. We are His family if we do His Will - Mark 3:33-35

“But He answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?" And He

looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My

mother and My brothers! "For whoever does the will of God is My brother and

My sister and mother."

B. Jesus’ Will (and ours) is to serve the Father - John 5:19

“Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son

can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.”

VI.  N A M E   O F   J E S U S

          A.  Ask in Jesus’ Name - John 14:13,14; 26

"And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be

glorified in the Son. "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will

teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

B.  Everything must submit to His Name - Philippians 2:9-11

 “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is

above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of

those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that

every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the

Father.”

C. Ask in His Name, God will hear - John 16:25-28

"Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that

 your joy may be full. "These things I have spoken to you in figurative language;

but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language,

but I will tell you plainly about the Father. "In that day you will ask in My name,

and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; "for the Father

Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I

came forth from God. "I came forth from the Father and have come into the

world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father."

VII.  P U R E   M O T I V E S

          A. Our motives must be Kingdom motives - James 4:2,3

“You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight

and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not

receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”

          B. We must be focused on Him - Matthew 13:22

"Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the

cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he

becomes unfruitful.”

VIII.  B O L D N E S S

          A.  Come before Him Boldly - Hebrews 4:16

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain

mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

          B. We are His sons and daughters, be Bold - Galatians 4:3-7

“Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the

world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born

of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that

we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has

sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"

Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of

God through Christ.”

IX.  F O R G I V E N E S S

1. Forgive others, receive God’s forgiveness - Matthew 6:15

          "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also

forgive you. "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your

Father forgive your trespasses.”

B. Love, bless, do good, pray for enemies - Matthew 5:43-45a

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your

enemy.' "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do

good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and

persecute you, "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven;”

X.  U N I T Y

          A. If only two agree in prayer - Matthew 18:19-20

"Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they

ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. "For where two or three are

gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."

B. Walk in peace with one another - Matthew 5:22-26

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and

whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' "But I say to you that

whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the

judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the

council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire. "Therefore if

you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has

something against you, "leave your gift there before the altar, and go your

way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

"Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest

your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer,

and you be thrown into prison. "Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get

out of there till you have paid the last penny.”

Ten Conditions For Effective Prayer, Texts:

Persistence in Prayer - The Parable of the Unjust Judge

Luke 18:1-8

Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,

2  saying: "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.

3  "Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.'

4  "And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man,

5  'yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.'"

6  Then the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said.

7  "And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?

8  "I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"