The Basics of Prayer

I believe that God has great things in store for us here as we follow His leading in the Ballwin area. Our vision at Life Church is to reach out to people across the St Louis metro area and tell them about God’s great plan and purpose for their lives. Somebody reached out to each of us at one time, that’s why we’re here. Jesus said, “Freely you have received, freely give.” Now we must obey Jesus’ command and reach out to others and bring them into the family of God here at Life Church.

That’s a huge task, isn’t it. Some would say it’s impossible and they’d be right. What God has asked us to do, to build a church to reach those far from God, can’t be done in our own power and strength. However, before you get discouraged, God has a source of power that can help us get the job done. That’s what our new message series is all about.

Today we begin a new message series, “Powerful Prayer.” I believe this is the most important message series that I will preach this year. My goal in this series is that each of us individually and the whole Life Church family can take a giant leap forward in powerful and effective prayer.

James 5:16b (NIV) The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Powerful and effective prayer is what God wants for you and our church. That kind of prayer stems from a deep relationship with God. Prayer is communication with God, not simply saying words. When you communicate with God the way that God instructs, amazing things happen. That’s what God wants for you, that’s what God wants for Life Church.

My message title today is “Foundational Prayer.” What is a foundation? A foundation is “a part of a building, usually below the ground, that transfers and distributes the weight of the building onto the ground.” You can’t see a foundation, it’s below the ground. However, the foundation is the most important part of the building. It supports the entire structure. How big the building can be built depends on the strength of the foundation.

In the same way, prayer is foundational to the life of the believer and to the growth of the church. You can’t tell by looking at another person how much they pray. However, when the storms of life come, when the ground of life starts shaking, then the people with a prayer foundation in their lives will stand firm. People with a weak foundation of prayer in their lives don’t fare so well.

Why don’t we pray more? Why is the foundation of prayer in many believer’s life weak? Many believers don’t seem to see many answers to their prayers and so they get discouraged and give up. Their faith is weak, so their prayer life is weak. But if your prayer life is weak, your faith will be weak. Each is important for the other. In order to build our faith so that we can lay a foundation of prayer in our lives, we need to understand what prayer is all about.

I must believe that someone is listening when I pray and not just anyone. The one who hears when I pray early in the morning is the God who created the universe.

Psalms 4:3 (NIV) Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD will hear when I call to him.

Not only do the godly have a relationship with the Lord, they believe that the Lord hears when they call to Him. God promises to hear when we call out to Him. Not only does God hear when we pray, but He draws near to people who pray.

Deuteronomy 4:7 (NIV) What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?

Only the people of God have the Lord draw near when they pray to Him. I want God near to me all the time. I want God near to this church, all the time. So, we’re going to learn a lot more about prayer in this series and put what we learn into practice. So what is God’s heart for us in prayer, what does He want us to do?

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