Well, let's take a look at Luke 11, and look, why am I preaching on prayer?
Hey, Jesus taught on prayer.
He taught his disciples to pray.
You know, they never asked them, can Jesus teach us how to cast out devils, Jesus?
You know, Jesus can teach us how to heal blind people?
You know, it's like, hey, Jesus teaches, the only thing you see them saying, Lord, teach
us to pray, as John taught his disciples, that means they were very impressed by how
Jesus prayed.
They were super impressed.
They were like, hey, I want some of that.
And sometimes I wonder, like, how could they not know how to pray?
Have they not read Psalms?
Psalms is like a gigantic prayer book, have you ever noticed that?
Break their teeth, oh Lord, send them straight to hell.
There's a lot of prayers.
So I'm wondering, like, man, did they not read the book of Psalms?
But I guess they felt like, hey, we want to know one thing, hey, are we doing this right?
Are we praying correctly?
You know, teach us these things, let's take a look.
And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of
the disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
And he said unto them, when you pray, say, our Father which art 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 everyone that is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil.
And that's just it, you know, quickly, that's how you pray.
If you're trying to remember that, you know, who's ever heard of the high five prayer?
Who's ever heard of that?
Well, you use the fingers to remember kind of, you know, certain parts.
Like for example, the thumb, right?
It starts with a T. You know, this is something you can Google on the internet.
So just to kind of remember, all right, you know, I want to pray and have like a complete
prayer.
You know, well, obviously based on what Jesus did, you should have a time where you're thanking
God.
So the thumb is to remind you to thank God, and the little pointer finger is time to remind
you to praise God.
And then the middle finger, the index finger, is a time to start to say, God, I'm sorry.
You know, I, index, I'm sorry, forgive me, you know, be merciful unto me.
The ring finger, that's a time to start requesting things for God.
God, you know, help me with this, help me with that.
You know, and then the pinky finger, that's a time to ask God for protection.
You never heard that before?
Well, now you know.
Remember, thumb, thank God, pointer, praise God, index finger, I'm sorry God, ring finger,
God, I need this, and the pinky finger, protection, God, hey, protect me, lead me not into temptation,
but deliver me from evil.
Got it?
Let's move on.
All right, more scripture on prayer.
And so while you have your Bible, and I'll go ahead and go to James 5, go to James 5,
James chapter number 5.
I'm going to read from 1 Timothy 2, 1, says, Exhort therefore that, first of all, supplications,
prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and for all
that are in authority.
That's our pastor, that could be our governor, that could be our mayor, that we may lead
a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come into the knowledge
of the truth.
For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave
himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time, whereunto I am ordained a preacher
and an apostle, I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not a teacher of the densities and
faith and verity.
I would therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.
And we'll get to that in a second, hinders us to prayer, we'll get to that in a second,
but this is what I'm talking about, good Christians, here's a benefit, straight to God, any time,
any place, anywhere, backslidden Christians, stop, you need to confess some sin, get right
with the Lord so he can hear you, and it's not just confessing, here's the secret, it's
confessing and forsaking, God I'm sorry, please forgive me, while you continue in sin, not
happening, you want to start prospering again, confess and forsake, those are the ones that
prosper, so how bad do you want God's prosperity, how bad do you want God's power, well we need
to have some forsaking, you know, and unless he repents, Jesus told them, Luke 3, you should
likewise perish, not talking about salvation, talking about physical death, you continue
in sin, you want to continue to live wicked, guess what I'm going to have to do, I'm going
to have to come down and punish you, and that's the facts of life, God will give you a long
time, you know, he'll be long suffering towards you, not willing to perish, but at some point
he's going to have to bring the hammer down if you refuse to repent, saying sorry is not
what impresses God, turning, turning from that sin is where he comes in and says okay,
you're forgiven now, you're forgiven now, what if I do it again, keep confessing and
saying sorry, keep doing it, and so what do we see here, A, pray for the leaders, 2 Thessalonians
chapter 3, finally brethren, pray for us, once again he's like A, in Hebrews, pray for
us, the apostle Paul, talked to the church in Thessalonia, A, pray for us brethren, that
the word of Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you, doesn't
get any simpler than this, 1 Thessalonians 5, 25, brethren, pray for us, that's it, that's
the verse, 1, 2, 3, 4, 4 words, brethren, pray for us, so why am I saying A, pray for
each other, let's just keep praying for each other, it shouldn't just be all about you
when you pray, it should be about A, I know such and such is struggling Lord, help him
out, you'll be knocking out two birds with one stone and I'll get into that in a second,
you're right there in James 5, more evidence that it's not just about praying for yourself,
yeah you already saw what Jesus says, A, this is how you pray, you know, lead us not to
temptation, give us our daily bread, deliver us from evil, you know, quickly pray for yourself
and then start helping other people, James 5, 13 says this, is any among you afflicted,
let them pray, is any married, let them give psalms, is any sick among you, let them call
for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the
name of the Lord and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise them
up and if you have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him, confess your faults one to
another and pray one for another, pray when people are sick, that's what we pray for people
that are sick, we're like Lord, heal such and such so he can continue to serve you,
the effectual, fervent prayer of a what? Once again, what's the great benefit of being
a good Christian? Prayer is going to get answered, prayer is going to get answered, you want
to be somebody who's like man, God's not answering my prayers, well what's going on, you know,
you're basically saying that you're in sin, that's just how I see it, I would just be
like hey I'm just waiting patiently on the Lord, you know, it's like hey God never answers
my prayer, aw man he just confessed to me something that you probably not have noticed.