Our worst enemy is unbelief, and our greatest lack is faith. No matter how much faith we have, God wants us to have more; and I believe that if we are a true Christian, we have a desire to be able to lay hold of greater things for God. Therefore, we go to the source of faith---God's eternal Word.

"And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil" (Luke 11:1-4).

This prayer that Jesus taught the disciples was a model prayer. We are not to repeat the words, because if we are a Christian, we already have everything that He taught them to ask for. His Kingdom HAS come. When He was teaching them to pray, it had not come yet, but it came with power on the day of Pentecost. We don't pray for our daily bread, for Jesus said to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and the earthly things will be added. We don't have to ask for them. Christians who are living in holiness and righteousness certainly don't have to pray every day, "Forgive us our sins." Now, this is a model prayer, and it has been fulfilled, but the model of it is still true.

Many of us have been Christians a long time, but we still need lessons on how to pray. Why? We want to pray more effectively and get answers to our prayers. We don't want to go through forms of prayer, just putting in time at prayer.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, they asked for one of the greatest things they could ask for. I would rather be a good pray-er than a good preacher or a good singer. Nowhere did they ask Him to teach them to preach, and howhere did He teach anyone to preach. However, He did teach them to pray.

Prayer is everyone's gift and privilege. There may be gifts of the Spirit that we will never have, but the Bible says to covet the best gifts, and every one can have the gift of prayer. It's one of the most needed gifts among us. We can put up with a whole lot of poor preaching if we pray while a man preaches. I have seen dozens of souls saved on what I would say was a poor message, but because people prayed, and because the preacher prayed, the power of God just took over and did a wonderful work.

I don't know of any Christian grace that's more neglected than the privilege of prayer; and because of it, we see many sad conditions that we would not have to see: worldliness, apathy, indifference, and spiritual weakness. Real prayer brings blessings on the Church. Real prayer will settle quarrels and put an end to misunderstandings. I could go on and on about what prayer will do. The cry of every one of our hearts should be, "Lord, teach me to pray."

Prayer Is and Is Not

What Prayer Is Not

There are many things that people think is prayer.

A lot of people praise God and think they have prayed.

Adoration is not prayer. We should show forth our adoration for the Lord, but that is not prayer.

Many sit around and meditate and think they have prayed. I say that every Christian needs a front porch and a rocking chair, for we need some time to sit down and meditate. Meditation is good, but meditation is not prayer.

Humiliation is not prayer. Certainly, we must humble ourselves when we come before God. Humiliation is preparation for prayer, but it is not prayer.

Thanksgiving is not prayer. Philippians 4:6 teaches us to come before God with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving; so thanksgiving is something else but prayer.

What Prayer Is

Every verse in the model prayer that Jesus taught the disciples to pray was asking: give us, forgive us, lead us, deliver us. Prayer is requesting, asking something definite from God.

Prayer is asking, seeking, and knocking. It's one thing to ask, but seeking is going after something in a little greater way. And knocking is a term that takes us beyond asking or seeking.

There are two Greek words translated in the New Testament as ask. One of them is eperotao, and it means "to ask or to enquire," as asking a question. The other Greek word is aiteo. It is always used in prayer or where we are taught to ask in prayer. It means "to ask, to crave, to desire."

Some of the greatest prayers that brought the most positive answers from God were mighty, mighty short and to the point. Study the prayers recorded in the Bible and see how short they are; then, we can learn how to shorten ours. God gets tired of our talking around the world telling Him all the current events. Some people think God doesn't know anything. They have to tell Him everything that happened yesterday. He knew it before it happened! He want us to get to the point when we pray.

If God didn't answer some prayers quickly, it would be too bad. I think of when Peter walked on the water and got his eyes off the Lord. If he had made a long prayer, he would have been drowned. If he would have been like some of us: "O Lord, look at the waves! They are fifteen feet...blub, blub." But he said,, "Lord, save me," and Jesus took hold of him. If we get right down to the point, God can answer so quickly sometimes that we will wonder where it came from.

A little boy had been late for school several times, and he had been reprimanded. He had been raised in a Christian home, and his mama had taught him to pray. He was hurrying one morning because he had gotten a rather late start from home, and he looked up and said, "Lord, please don't let me be late again! I know you can make me get to school on time." About that time, he stubbed his toe, and down on his chin he went. He looked up and said, "You didn't have to push me!" God doesn't always move just as we want Him to. He has a lot of different ways of working.

Ask, Believe, Receive

Since prayer is asking, then receiving is the answer; and if we didn't receive, we didn't get an answer. 1 John 3:21-22 tells us that if our hearts condemn us not then we have confidence toward God, and whatsoever we ask we receive of Him because we keep His commandments and do those things which are pleasing in His sight. In Matthew 7:7-11, Jesus definitely said to ask and it shall be given you; and we're not going to ask for one thing and get something else.

In John 16:24, the words of Jesus are, "...ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." Testimony meetings are dull sometimes because we are trying to get praise out of people whose joy isn't full; and the reason, in many cases, is that they have prayed and it didn't happen, and they are having a hard time keeping bitterness and resentment against God out of their hearts. One of the necessities for full joy is getting our prayers answered.

James 4:2 says that we have not because we ask not. Jesus said in Matthew 21:22, "And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." Unbelief has all these Scriptures doctored up with if, maybe, and might not. Jesus said in John 14:13-14: "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask ANY THING in my name, I will do it." Of course, we know that hinges on our living for Him and working for Him, which every Christian must do. When we come to Him, we must believe that He is God and that He is a rewarder of everyone that diligently seeks Him (Hebrew 11:6).

Modern religion is trying to take away, and in too great a way has removed, from the minds of man the positiveness of prayer. Furthermore, the spirit of it is working on the true Christians. A man who is held high in religion as a leader stated: "Some people in this enlightened age still look at prayer as childish supplication to a divine santa claus. Prayer is just friendship with God. Prayer is just spiritual fellowship. By prayer we really don't get the things from God that we desire, but after prayer we feel stronger so that we can get them for ourselves or are resigned to do without them." Well, that's not what Jesus taught! That kind of teaching makes prayer merely a spiritual exercise: "If I don't pray three times a day, I won't stay spiritually fit." Prayer is not a spiritual exercise! Prayer is asking God to supply a need in our life and receiving that need supplied by the power of God.

Many people go window-shopping in prayer. My wife and I were married when our nation was coming out of the depression. I don't think we were married two days when she said she was going shopping, and I wondered what on. She went and stayed half a day and never spent a penny. I began to learn something that I never knew: Women window-shop.

There's a difference between women shopping and men shopping. When I need a pair of shoes, I know pretty well where I'm going to get them, what size I need, and what color. I just walk in and tell them. Women think I don't get any fun out of shopping at all. They call it fun when they have the poor salesman get down ten pairs of shoes and then tell him they will look around a little while. Now, for some it's fun, and for some it isn't.

I'm afraid too much window shopping gets in praying. We look over the promises of God, kind of window shopping, but everything is too high for us to take anything home. Now, God doesn't want it to be that way!

Prayer is asking. Let's get that point clear. Jesus said in Matthew 7:8 that every one that asketh receiveth. Isn't that wonderful?

When do we receive what we ask for? Jesus put the when in it. He said, "Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray believe that ye receive them..." (Mark 11:24). WHEN WE PRAY BELIEVE THAT WE RECEIVE according to God's Word, and we will literally have it. We must come to the place that we can, by faith, claim the promise of God. We must believe that we receive according to God's Word because God said so, not because we feel differently. However, in between the time that we believe we receive it and the time we actually have it in its completeness may take importuning, and our faith may be tried.

"And ALL things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matthew 21:22). In other words, prayer is asking, and the answer is receiving. We need to get to the place that we can believe God's Word and expect to get what we ask for.

Indefinite Prayers Bring Indefinite Answers

NOTE FROM JERRY: The Following has some great thoughts to consider---perhaps all of them are great, however, I must confess there's a few that caused me a little concern. It may just be my lack of understanding, but I kinna felt that a couple of the illustrations might have been used a mite out of place or context. I think I know what the writer had in mind, but I was left feeling a little uneasy. I pondered not sharing this, but then, felt that each being honest, with the Lord's help, will be able to draw the proper conclusion. Having said that...May the Holy Spirit help us all! Indefinite Prayers Bring Indefinite Answers There are many alibis made for the fruitlessness of people's prayers. Some teach that God answers prayer in varied ways: He might say "Yes"; He might say "No"; He might say "Wait awhile." However, there's no Scripture to back up that theology. Where did that theology come from? People began preaching their experiences for truth. People are taught that sometimes God says "No." God showed me how that confusion was caused. Someone will sing the words, "Jesus will never say 'No'," and then the preacher gets up and says, "When you pray, God might say 'Yes," and He might say 'No'." Let's make up our minds. He may not say anything---we'll get into that later---but He doesn't say "No." God doesn't say "Yes," "No," "Wait awhile," or "Maybe," Certainly we must be content with His will in every Christian, but this is not what the Bible teaches about prayer. The kind of teaching that God might say this, that, or the other makes prayer a mystical, indefinite something. Prayer is our only connection with God, and it should be the most solemn thing in our lives. When we get back to Bible teaching, prayer is one of the surest things that God has put in His Word. Since prayer has become indefinite, this leaves the impression that there's not much use in prayer because God's will is going to be done anyway. PRAYER CHANGES THINGS. Prayer can change God's program. Prayer can change God's mind. Prayer can change God's will. We need to note that anything which makes prayer indefinite and makes the answer seem uncertain is contrary to the plain teaching of God's Word. We wouldn't be content with such slipshod arrangement in any other realm of life. For instance, you need gasoline, and you drive into a service station and say, "Give me ten gallons." No one else is in the station, but the attendant stands and looks at you and says, "Wait awhile." So we wait awhile, and finally, he comes over and says, "I have decided that you don't need gas. I'm going to put soapsuds in your tank." How long would you put up with that? But we've been putting up with that kind of praying, asking for one thing because we definitely felt we needed it, but because there needed to be some moves made in our lives or some faith shown forth, we put up with soapsuds when we needed gasoline. A young man in love with a young woman asks, "Will you marry me?" She says, "Wait awhile. Maybe." If you meet that fellow the next day, would he say, "I am so happy! I got my answer." You know that's not so. Yet we think we got answers from God that are just as uncertain. Those kinds of answers won't make you happy or joyful. The Scriptures that we have read which deal with prayer don't hint that we should expect God to say "No or "Wait awhile," because He said that YOU SHALL RECEIVE what you ask for. An answer to prayer is the granting of the thing which a child asks His heavenly Father according to the direction of His Father that has been laid down in His Word. That's the starting place. If a Christian prays in a normal and scriptural manner and doesn't receive what he asks for, he needs to begin a thorough investigation. We can know for sure that God is not wrong and somebody is wrong, because there are only two on the telephone. We must discover by the Word of God and by the leading of the Holy Spirit WHY the prayer has not been accepted. Doing it this way makes prayer a simple and understandable business. God answers every prayer He hears! 1 John 5:15 states that if He hears us, we have the petitions we asked for. The big job is not getting God to answer. It's getting God to hear us. He doesn't hear every prayer, but He answers every prayer He hears. There's only one way that we can know if our child can add a column of figures, and that is when he gets the right answer. The only way to prove you know how to pray is receiving the answer. There's a lot of praying going on, but not enough answers coming back. A little boy got down by his bed one night to say his prayers, and his mother stood by, waiting. He said, "A B C D E F..." His mother stopped him and said, "Son, you are not praying. You're just saying your ABC's" He answered, "Don't you think anybody as smart as God knows how to put them together?" Certainly, He knows how to put them together. Prayer is the burden of the heart, uttered or unexpressed, and God knows what we need before we ever speak. What kind of prayer did Jesus make when He was ready to raise Lazarus? He said, "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me...but because of the people which stand by...Lazarus, come forth." Lazarus was probably over in paradise, sitting around a table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, talking over old times, and Gabriel said, "Lazarus, you must go back. Jesus is calling you." Because prayers are so indefinite, they don't call for concrete answers. Too many condition prayers with "If it be Thy will," and they kill the whole thing. Jesus prayed, "Not my will, but thine be done," His prayer was a prayer of submission. He wasn't praying in darkness. There is a difference between having a submissive attitude and adding on to our prayer, "Here is my desire, Lord, not my will but thine be done," and praying, "Lord, I don't know what Your will is, so just whatever it is, do it." Indefinite praying brings indenite answers. Many times that "If" is not a sign of submission on our prayers, but it's a sign of unbelief. The Bible says that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Suppose our pastor put "ifs" in his preaching: "If the Kingdom of God has come"; "If there's going to be a resurrection of the body"; "If the Church is the only one of her mother." We wouldn't put up with that for a minute. When there's no certainly, there's no ring of victory, and there's nothing that can be absolutely depended on. and "if" in our praying kills our praying just as "if" does in the preaching.

Faith Must Not Waver

James sets forth some positive truths, and his epistle is not written to the world. It's written to the Church---to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad (verse 1).

James wrote: "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord" (James 1:6-7).

This kind of faith is operating today: "I don't know what the will of God is. If it be God's will, pray that He will heal me." We pray, and no one knows whether it's the will of God, so when one day we feel a little better, we say, "I believe that God healed me." And if we're in pain the next day, we say, "I don't believe He did." We're tossed like the waves, and the Bible says to not expect to get anything, because we're not going to get it. If we're going to go to God with faith that's not tossed back and forth, we have to have some definite instructions. People aren't healed, many times, and don't receive what they ask for from God because their faith is not nailed down securely, and they allow circumstances to toss them.

If we are going to go to God and receive something, we must have some solid understanding and get it fixed and settled that it's God will for us to have it. If we feel "If it is God's will," that's all the devil needs to toss us, because if it doesn't happen, we will begin to feel, "It wasn't God's will. Brother So-and-So had what I have an he died; so I'll probably die, too."

There's one thing we need to learn, and learn it good: WE ARE INDIVIDUALS BEFORE GOD, and what happens to another person doesn't have one thing to do with our experience or with what we get from God. The Bible warns us not to measure ourselves by ourselves, but how many people get tossed in their faith because they take their eyes off the Word of God, the promises of God, and how God is dealing with them and get them fixed on circumstances and on what happened to others.

Reasons for Not Receiving

Again,NOTE FROM JERRY: The Following has some great thoughts to consider---perhaps all of them are great, however, I must confess there's a few that caused me a little concern. It may just be my lack of understanding, but I kinna felt that a couple of the illustrations might have been used a mite out of place or context. I think I know what the writer had in mind, but I was left feeling a little uneasy. I pondered not sharing this, but then, felt that each being honest, with the Lord's help, will be able to draw the proper conclusion. Having said that...May the Holy Spirit help us all! We consider some reasons why many don't receive things from God, although we have the solid foundation that every one who asketh receiveth.

"From when come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? [Don't forget, this is written to the Church.] Ye lust , and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not" (James 4:1-2).

James set forth reasons why we don't receive from God. The first reason we have not, he said, is because we ask not; and then he begins to show conditions that came in among the Church in the falling away of the morning time. They began to have fightings among themselves. They had strong desires for things, and they went after them, but they couldn't get them, and because they desired to have and had not, they were miserable and wretched. No one is as miserable as that one who desires to have something and can't get it. Put James' epistle in its right perspective. We will see that the letter fell right into the midst of a people that had fallen away, and when they fell away, what happened to them? James 4:2 says, "Ye desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not." I wonder if this doesn't fit some people's experiences today.

God has promised to supply all our needs. He told us to ask, and whatever we desired, He would give us. We pray to get things, and then we go out and try to fight to get them. I don't mean we fight with our fists, but we are right in the rat race like the rest of the world. We go after things the same way the world does, when God wants us to pray them in. Why: He is glorified in answering His children's prayers.

The charge is on the church that we are fighting and warring just like the world is. There's war right in the members: "Sister Cucumber has a new dress. Why don't you get me one?" And even thought the poor husband can't afford it, he's on his way to the dress shop.

There's something about praying and seeking God's face for what we get that brings satisfaction and contentment. Satisfaction and contentment are attributes that are lacking in too many Christians' lives. God has to be mighty fast if He helped a lot of people. They come around on Sunday morning saying, "The doctor has all the arrangements set up for me to be operated on in the morning. Would you pray for me that God will heal me today?"

The enemy of our souls is robbing us. Our joy isn't full. God's glory isn't being shown forth. You know what it will do for the Church when somebody prays something down from Heaven! They aren't going to keep still about it. There's something about it that when God does something for us, we're going to tell everybody, and that's exactly what He wants.

God promised to take care of us. He's our heavenly Father, and He has ordained to supply all our needs. He told us to first seek the Kingdom of God and all His righteousness and He would add all the other things.

He is glorified in supplying our needs, but many are trying to take care of things themselves. How do we think someone would feel if one of their little girls went over to the neighbors and said, "Daddy really loves me; but I need a new dress, and I wonder if I could get you and your husband to get me a new dress?" That would break the daddy's heart! How do we think God feels? He has written His Word, and He has sent a preacher to preach to you at least two times a week what He wants to do for you, how much He loves you, and what price He paid to take care of you.

We Sometimes Ask Amiss

"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts [your own desires]" (James 4:3) Here are people who ask God, but they don't receive because they ask amiss---pray selfishly.

I've actually worked with women who wondered why they have to pray so long for their husbands to be saved. This is how they've been praying: "Lord, save my husband so it will be easier for me and the children," or "Save my husband so that he will take me to church."

Jesus closed the model prayer by letting us know that every bit of praying we do must be for one reason: the glory of God (Matthew 6:13). How easily we can pray selfishly! There's a vast difference between praying, "Lord, save my boss so he will get off my back," and praying, "Lord save my boss, He is lost and on his way to hell."

We will find that God won't answer prayer when the heart is not right. Read the rest of James, Chapter 4. Verse 4 says, "...whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." Notice verses 7 and 8: "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your heats, ye double minded." He is talking to the same people that have been praying and asking amiss.

God won't answer prayer when the person's heart is not right, the motive of the prayer is not right, the asking is a manner of form, the heart is not in the worship, and he is asking entirely for himself and his good, not God's glory and the furtherance of God's Kingdom. When one prays selfishly, he asks God to be his servant and gratify his desire, and, worse, he wants God to join him in the service of his lusts.

We pray amiss when our ends and aims are not right. The end is the main motive in every action and the purest offspring of the soul. We must not pray with a selfish aim, but with a serious and actual design for God's glory. We can so easily pray amiss when we are merely guided by our own desires and thoughts.

If God did answer many of our prayers, we would have to pray again to change what He had done for us, for what He did for us would not be right. I illustrate:

A herdsman one day lost a calf. It was a good one and worth a lot of money. He got down and prayed before God and said, "If you will show me the thief who stole that calf, I will sacrifice a kid to you." When he opened his eyes, there was a big lion standing in front of him, with blood running out of both jaws. He got down and prayed again and said, "Lord, if you take the thief away, I will give you a calf." He didn't want to see the thief as bad as he thought he did. That's just an illustration, but I'm sure you get the point.

How to Pray

Isaiah 55:6-8 reads: "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord."

He's telling the sinner that if he's going to be saved, he must forsake his ways and his thoughts. If he doesn't, God won't have mercy, and God won't save him.

The Word of God is God's thoughts; therefore, the only way we can truly know how God thinks about something is to look into the Word. Men say, "I don't think," or "I think". Yet it tells us right in the Book what God thinks. Division comes about because men tell what they think. We have to forsake our thoughts, because God said His thoughts are as high above men's thoughts as the heavens are above the earth.

Ephesians 3:20 reads, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all the we ask or think..." We're trying to get God to move according to what we ask and think, but He wants us to switch over to His thoughts. Let's start asking according to His thoughts, and He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above not that which we CAN ask or think, but above that which we DO ask or think. We're not asking enough or thinking big enough, and we never will in our thinking. We must forsake our thoughts and take God's thoughts.

How can we pray according to the will of God? First, by learning God's thoughts. The more we know about the Word, the more we know how to pray according to the will of God. The New Testament is God's will. The Hebrew said that as long as the testator liveth, his will is of no effect. We may have a will, but we're still alive, and we might change our mind; but as soon as we die, our will is valid. Jesus said in John 6:38, "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." God's will is the new covenant, and Jesus died and signed it with His own precious blood.

You and I are heirs. All we have to do is show our birth certificate. It is God's WILL for us to be healed.

When we need something that the Word of God doesn't tell us one hundred percent about, then we need to lean on the Spirit. We have an abiding Comforter who know all things, and Jesus said that when He comes into our heart, He will teach us all things. He will even teach us how to pray, and when He teaches us how to pray, He will teach us how to pray according to the will of God.

In every one of the seven letters Christ had written to the seven local congregations of the Church (Revelation, Chapters 2 and 3), He told them what the Word said to do, and then He closed every letter with, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith..." The Spirit speaks beyond the Word, but in harmony with it. The Word and the Spirit are the two witnesses, and they are here to witness to us. We can know God's will, and we can know it clearly.

If we don't know God's will about what we're prayer about, we're tossed, and when we're tossed, we're not going to receive anything. Let's get rid of all those "ifs, ands, buts, and fors and get to praying according to God's Word. Pray in the Spirit. Let's make sure our praying is right, and God will hear us. Furthermore, when God hears us, we can know that we have the petition for which we ask. We may not have it yet, but we can know that we have it.

We must be willing to have our faith test, and we may have to do some importuning. Elijah sent his servant out seven times when he prayed for rain, but he didn't send him out seven times to build up his faith. He sent him out seven time to PROVE his faith. It was settled. Elijah had prayed through, and he knew it was going to rain. Faith sees things that are not seen. The servant checked six times and couldn't see a thing, but Elijah knew the rain was coming. The servant came back the seventh time and said, "There is cloud out there about the size of a man's hand." Soon, "the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain."

Faith can be tested, even when we know in our heart that it is going to be as God said. The trouble is not in getting thanswer. The trouble is getting the asking straight. If we ask right, we are going to get the answer.

Jesus, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you: For EVERY ONE that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8).

[The End]