Text: Matt. 6:5-15

1. Situation A: A rich man saves you, what would your response be?
2. Situation B: How would you address a Head of State?
3. Situation C: What if I could promise you everything you NEED?

1. Potential of Prayer
1. Verses
1. Ps. 81:10 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
2. Jer. 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
3. Mt. 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
4. 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.
2. Examples
1. Elijah caused it not to rain for 3½ years
2. Widow’s cruse of oil did not run out
3. Elijah called down fire from heaven
4. Moses parted the Red Sea
2. Practice of Prayer: Learn TO Pray
1. Realize that God wants to Answer Your Prayers
2. Realize that God’s Characteristics are Wrapped Up in Answered Prayer (Jm. 1:17)
1. immutability
2. goodness
3. wisdom
4. personality
3. Make Time to Pray
1. We find time to do what we want to do
2. We find time to pray when our child is sick, or during a financial need
3. R. A. Torrey: "How little time the average Christian spends in prayer! We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little…The power of God is lacking in our lives and in our work. We have not because we ask not."
4. Sin of Prayerlessness
1. declaration of self-sufficiency
2. waste of a blood-bought privilege
3. sin against God
4. open invitation to Satan
3. Pattern of Prayer: Learn HOW to Pray
1. Model Prayer
1. Jesus and John both taught their disciples to pray
2. Implies that prayer can be learned
3. "Lord’s Prayer" or "The Model Prayer" is grade school
2. Importunity

• Mueller: "I live in the sprit of prayer. I pray as I walk; and when I lie down, and when I rise. And the answers are always coming. Tens of thousands of times have my prayers been answered. When once I am persuaded a thing is right, I go on praying for it until it comes…There is the unchanging promise of Jehovah and n that I rest. The great fault of the children of God is that they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God’s glory, they should pray until they get it."

3. "In Jesus’ Name"
4. Ask "in faith"
5. Specific, definite
6. Fasting and prayer
7. Jesus’ Example
1. Luke 5:15 often left work in order to pray.
1. We are a busy generation, but not a praying generation
2. We are a busy church, filled with activities, but not a praying church
2. Luke 6:12-15
8. Sincere

• Bunyan: "When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words, than thy words without heart."

9. Private
10. Continual

4. Petitions of Prayer: What to Pray For

1. Daily Bread
2. Sickness
3. Laborers
4. Leaders
5. Lost
6. Wisdom
7. Revival
8. Battle the enemy

5. Problems in Prayer: Hindrances to Prayer
1. Giving Up
2. Sin
3. Unbelief
4. Wrong marital relationship
5. Unforgiveness
6. Unprofitable Questions
1. "If God is omniscient, doesn’t He already know what I’m going to ask? So, why ask?"
2. "If God is Sovereign, He’s going to do what He wants anyway. Right?"