The Power of Praying

Summary:

The New-Testament says we ask God the Father for everything "in the name of Jesus". He waits for our requests; He does not grant anything! He gives only when we ask - We ask for the Holy Spirit and we ask for the Bread of life of forgiveness as in the Lord's Prayer. We ask for more knowledge about God, for His wisdom, and we ask for miracles. We ask, then and only then, He gives.

But careful here! We must ask the proper way as Jesus commanded!! not the hodgepodge unbiblical ways of churches today! which God can't hear!! And therefore, suffering, not peace, on earth!!

God can only hear and answer our prayers when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. We become filled with the Holy Spirit only when we pray the Lord's Prayer daily with the proper meaning of the words! See The Lord's Prayer is Severely Misunderstood.

CONTENT

How do we know that praying to God is powerful and effective?
What Did Jesus Mean By: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened" Mathew 7:7?
Why is the Lord's Prayer in Plural?
Can We Pray for Others?

1. How do we know that praying to God is powerful and effective?

There are many references in the Bible that talk about how our prayer is needed for God to change things for us. Here are a few examples:

1 Peter 3:12

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

John 14:13-14 Jesus:

And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

If we've been genuinely keeping Jesus' commands and praying the Lord's Prayer daily, then God would forgive our sins and we effectively become righteous. Then we can ask God the Father for anything in Jesus' name, and He will do it!!

Matthew 7:7-8 Jesus:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

‭‭James‬ ‭5‬:‭16‬-‭17

“... pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.”

Who is the "righteous" person today? It is the one who's sins are forgiven. It is the one who genuinely knows God and knows how to get their sins forgiven! And no it is not the Protestants, nor the Catholics and their Eucharist. It is the person who knows THIS.

And here is another example from the Old Testament about the power of prayer:

Job 42:7-9

After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has. So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.” So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord had told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s request.…

Look close at this Bible reference. God is waiting on Job to pray for his friends so "He does not deal with their folly." Does this mean God would not have forgiven His friends if Job did not pray? This reference says He would not have!!

Is it because God could not forgive them? Or He did not want to forgive them? Answer: He could not forgive them voluntarily, due to His Holy nature!! But He could forgive them when asked properly, usually when accompanied by a sacrificial redemption method - Old covenant Moses law sacrifices (the seven bulls sacrificed in the reference above) / New covenant Jesus Christ's sacrifice as the Bread of life in the Lord's Prayer.

So does God change His mind when we pray? YES!! God said so in the references above!! He does not change His mind related to His big-picture plans, but He does change His mind related to our individual lives, according to the Bible references above.

Our whole life on earth is about our choices in relation to God. If we accept, love, and pray to Him the proper biblical way, He answers us. If we reject Him or pray to Mary or the Protestants' version of by faith alone type prayers, He leaves us. Then we're not blessed in this world. And after-death we'd have nothing left but darkness and torment. When Adam & Eve ate from the tree, God could no longer accept them. He had to show them how to present a substitutionary sacrifice to Him so He could forgive them and not have to kill them. Today's equivalent of that, is the Lord's Prayer that we should pray daily for forgiveness and receiving the Holy Spirit.

1.1 God Does Respond to Persistent Prayers

Not the "babbling-on repetitive-many-words" type prayers, but the meaningful ones in-line with God's ways. Here are a couple of examples from the Bible:

Deuteronomy‬ ‭9‬:‭25‬-‭26‬

“So I lay prostrate before the Lord for these forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had said he would destroy you. And I prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.”

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Moses stayed on his knees for 40 days! There's your perfect example of someone genuinely & whole-heartedly committed to God! Then God relented, and accepted Moses's prayers!

Luke 11:5-9

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity (or to preserve his good name) he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

2. What Did Jesus Mean By: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened"? Mathew 7:7

I have come to believe that this "asking" is not about earthly needs. Jesus said, seek God then all your earthly needs will automatically be given:

Matthew 6:33

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

So what else do we ask for when all our earthly needs are met?

We ask for this:

1. Wisdom and knowledge of God!!

2. Miracles (see, True Christians can Perform Miracles)

Every time I struggled with a scripture-question, and prayed about it, God gave me the answer! The answer usually comes to my mind within a day or so! This is what "ask and it will be given" means for those who are truly "seeking God and His righteousness" and are filled with the Holy Spirit! Also consistent with this from Jesus:

Matthew 25:29

"For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance".

It is all about the knowledge of God and maturing in His wisdom!! Then everything else in our life automatically falls into place; no struggle!

3. Why is the Lord's Prayer in Plural?

To encourage us to pray it together in a group. Keeping in mind that this is not a hard requirement - If we can't find others to pray it with, it is also accepted when we individually pray it.

Jesus said:

Matthew 18:20

"For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."

This verse is consistent with the way Jesus worded His prayer. He wants us to be together when seeking God and His kingdom. And when we are together, He wants us to pray His prayer together.

The message is, the Lord's Prayer is more powerful when prayed in a group.

So, we should always pray the Lord's Prayer when we gather to study the Bible as described in: How to Be True Christians.

4. Can We Pray for Others?

Yes, but only for this type people:

When we know they are true Christians - keeping Jesus' commands:

1 John‬ ‭5:16-17‬

If anyone sees a fellow believer committing a sin that doesn’t lead to death, he should pray, and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that.

"When we see a fellow true Christian" in trouble, we can pray for them. But if they commit the sin of blaspheming against the Spirit, the "unforgivable sin", "the sin that leads to death", then we should not pray for them. If we do, it would be like praying to God to save the devil!!

Or when they are well-intentioned to want to be right with God, but are lost due to one reason or another, example, due to their church's misleading teachings:

In the Job 42:7-9 reference further above, it was fairly obvious that Job's friends were well-intentioned, but misspoke about God. So God told Job to pray for them along with a sacrifice, so He could forgive them. The equivalent to that "sacrifice" part for us today, is the "Bread" in the Lord's Prayer.

It may not always be clear, but we should use our best judgement. Sometimes we pray for them anyway. But when nothing happens, then we know. Accepting the fact that the other person may even be a member of our family! Praying for someone who is solidly set on rejecting God, or solidly set on following their church unbiblical teachings, is like praying for the devil because they're disconnected from God! God can't reach them to help them! But we can try first to give this person an explanation of true Christianity or refer them to this website. Then leave the rest to God. No endless debates and arguing. If we notice that later they started to show signs of following the right path to become true Christians, then we can pray for them. See Debate with Churchgoers & Unbelievers?

Related Subjects:

Are we True Christian

The Lord's Prayer is Insanely Misunderstood