Two Keys Toward
A
More
Effective
1. Recognize the Purposes of
Prayer
•Prayer’s primary purpose is to grow
a relationship with God.
•Prayer is simply the communication
tool for talking to and listening to
God speak.
1. Recognize the Purposes of
Prayer
•There is a difference between
knowing about someone and truly
knowing someone.
1. Recognize the Purposes of
Prayer
• Prayer is the avenue for us to know God
personally. We need to encourage our
people to develop their prayer lives so
they will “know” God. Just gaining
knowledge won’t do that. Prayer does.
1. Recognize the Purposes of
Prayer
•Prayer releases God’s will on earth.
•God in His sovereign plan decreed
that certain aspects of His will
would only be released with prayer.
Prayer Releases God’s Will
“God does nothing on earth save in
answer to believing prayer.”
– John Wesley
Prayer Releases God’s Will
“The prayers of God’s saints are the capital
stock in heaven by which Christ carries on His
great work upon earth. The great thros and
mighty convulsions on earth are the results of
these prayers. Each is changed, revolutionized;
angels move on more powerful, more rapid wing,
and God’s policy is shaped as the prayers are
more numerous, more efficient.”
– E.M. Bounds
Prayer Releases God’s Will
“In the spiritual world, prayer is a
potency that shakes the foundations
of the kingdoms of darkness, that
moves the hearts of men and that
works out the will of God.”
– A.B. Simpson
Prayer Releases God’s Will
“Words fail to explain how necessary prayer is.
. . . The providence of God does not exclude
the exercise of human faith. . . . While the
keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps,
yet He [seems] inactive as if forgetting us,
when He sees us idle and mute.”
–John Calvin
Scriptural Support
“Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed
earnestly that it would not rain, and it
did not rain on the land for three and a
half years. Again he prayed, and the
heavens gave rain, and the earth
produced its crops”
--James 5:17-18
“After a long time, in the third year, the word of
the LORD came to Elijah: ‘Go and present yourself
to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.’ . . . But
Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to
the ground and put his face between his knees.”
--1 Kings 18:1, 42
“In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel,
understood from the Scriptures, according to the
word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet,
that the desolation of Jerusalem would last
seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and
pleaded with him in prayer and petition, with
fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.”
--Daniel 9:2-3
“I looked for a man among them who
would build up the wall and stand before
me in the gap on behalf of the land so I
would not have to destroy it, but I found
none.”
--Ezekiel 22:30
Questions to Ponder
• What darkness is not being penetrated because
of my lack of prayer?
• What blessing is not falling on my family
because of my lack of prayer?
• What miracle is not occurring in my church
because of my lack of prayer?
2. Recognize Your Personality
•People will pray more effectively as
they find tools, methods that fit
within their personalities
2. Recognize Your Personality
•Spiritual gifts affect how we pray.
•Do corporate prayer differently with
this knowledge.
2. Recognize Your Personality
• You need to experiment--find what style works
for you; what technique helps you to pray more
and stay focused.
• 1 Thess. 5:17 challenges us to “pray without
ceasing.” That verse doesn’t support the need
to pray for 30 minutes early in the morning.
2. Recognize Your Personality
• Are you an organized person?
--praying with lists
--praying at the same time of day, in the same
place might work best for you.
• Are you an active person or an exerciser?
--praying while you walk or exercise might work
--stroll about the room instead of sitting as you
pray
2. Recognize Your Personality
• Are you a thinker, whose mind often races?
--try praying at a time when you are “captive”
(in the car while driving to or from work, in your
office as a break from thinking all morning)
Are You Fulfilling Your Prayer
Purpose?
• God has given you a personality and spiritual
gifts.
• God has aspects of His will He wants to release
as you pray.
• God wants to change you--to conform you more
to the image of His Son. He can do it more fully,
if you have a prayer relationship with Him.
•Pray!
Take It Further
1.Share with three or four others
what about this talk resonated with
you. Was there something you
heard that made a light bulb go on
in you?
2.Share what personality you have