In a free online short video and article you will help you understand what is prayer and how to pray. It will help you learn how to pray and see answers to your prayers.
You don’t have to be some kind of spiritual giant, or have some special calling to see answers to your prayers. James 5:16 in the Amplified version assures us that “the earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available – dynamic in its working.” God answered Elijah’s persistence in prayer for rain, and the Bible says he was just like us.
Jesus is the true teacher of all prayer as we discover in the following verses in the Bible
“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, `Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours! (Mark 11:22-24)
Let’s examine these verses together and as we do pray the prayer, ‘Help me Jesus. Teach me how to pray.’
1. Help me Jesus for you are the teacher of prayer
It is no mere man who is teaching these truths in Mark 11:22-24. Verse 22 says, “Jesus answered.” Then verse 23, “I tell you the truth.” And verse 24, “Therefore I tell you.” This passage is in the context where the apostle Peter said, “Rabbi (Teacher) the fig tree you cursed has withered.”
Jesus is the true teacher of all prayer. In Luke 11:1 we read how Jesus taught the well known Lord’s Prayer. Jesus said in John 16:13-14, “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” Jesus has promised to give us the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth, which includes truths concerning effective prayer. Expect to learn the best truths about prayer by sitting at the feet of Jesus in prayer.
2. Help me Jesus understand the foundation of prayer
We are looking at Mark 11:22-24. Verse 22 says. “Have faith in God.” Perhaps the most significant, though easily over looked statement in this passage is “Have faith in GOD”. Prayer is not power in itself. The power is in GOD.
The power of prayer is really the power of God released through prayer. Jesus did not say, “Have faith in faith” nor “Have faith in prayer”, but “Have faith in God“. Literal translation is; “Have the faith of God”.
The foundation of all true prayer is God Himself. This is why our concept of God, is more important than our concept of prayer. Many have the concept that God is down the end of the corridor with a big stick. They feel He is someone to be feared rather than ‘a friend’! I love the words of this song, “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer.”
How we view or know God determines how we pray. The foundation of prayer therefore, is knowing God intimately as explained in Daniel 11:32. It says, “The people that know their God shall be strong and do exploits”.
3. Teach me how to pray – The student of prayer
Mark 11:23 says, “If anyone says to this mountain”. Christians treat prayer as a unique spiritual gift reserved for only a select few. On the contrary, the anyone or everyone (of Mark 11:23) applies to everyone whose sins have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus. No true follower of Jesus can use the excuse that he does not qualify to pray. To become a student in prayer is a choice we make!
4. The mystery of prayer
The second part of Mark 11:23; “If anyone says to this mountain”. Mystery is defined as: – `Any assumed truth that cannot be comprehended by the human mind, but must be expected by faith’. Look again at verse 23, Jesus said, “If anyone says to this mountain, `Go throw yourself into the sea’”. Here we discover a kind of praying that is beyond our understanding. We are not told to ask God to cast that mountain into the sea. We are clearly instructed to command the situation to take care of itself. This is a real mystery of prayer.
God has delegated to us authority to speak to things, into and out of existence.
5. The focus of prayer
Mark 11:23 goes onto say, “What he says”. And in verse 24; “Whatever you ask”. In verse 23 Jesus refers to `what things’ the person praying says to happen. In verse 24 we read – “Whatever you ask“. Whether saying or asking, Jesus is referring to the specific things in which we are to pray. God is just as concerned with the little things as well as the big things.
The Word of God says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). What a difference it would make if we took everything to the Lord in prayer. Christ simply says in Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it shall be given”. The `it’ is very important in prayer. Our `it’, is for every specific thing.
6. The desire of prayer
Mark 11 verse 24, “Whatever you ask for in prayer”. The King James Version of verse 24 reads, “What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray”. The construction implies intensity.
The more we desire or crave a blessing the greater our intensity of prayer.
Prayer depends, not only on the words that cross our lips but the desire in our hearts. In Jeremiah 29:13 in the Amplified Bible we read God words, “You will seek Me, inquire for and require Me (as a vital necessity) and find Me; when you search for Me with all your heart”. If we really desired to see God revive us and people saved from a lost eternity, we would pray with such intensity that we would see these things actually happen!
7. The requirement of prayer
Mark 11:24 goes onto say, “Believe that you have received it, and it will be yours”. The Bible makes it plain in Mark 11:24 that we are to believe completely in order to receive the blessing from God, for which we have prayed. Thus the true requirement of prayer is FAITH. Without it, the Bible says it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Romans 4:17 says that God…“calls things that are not as though they were”. A more literal translation is, `He (God), calls those things that don’t exist as existing.’ If we are going to be heard of God we have to – ask in faith. If we are going to receive from God we have to – receive by faith
8. The promise of prayer
Jesus assures us in Mark 11:24, “And it will be yours”. Jesus said to His disciples, “Whatever you ask for in prayer believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” If you prayed today that God’s hand be upon your family, friend or church workers – personalize it – something happens today in the life of your family, friend or church workers. The answer is a certainty, whether or not you receive even the slightest indication of an answer to your prayer. God’s word says of your request, “it will be yours”.
In view of all that we have said about prayer thus far, we must mark one fact clearly – PRAYER WORKS!
Trust it helped teach you how to pray.
Related links to answer the cry of your heart, ‘Help me Jesus’:
https://breakfreetoday.org/about-prayer/