PRAYING CORRECTLY

2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,rightly dividing the word of truth
The word of God is to be rightly divided, otherwise we end up mixing everything and living a confused Christian life. The Cross stands tall in the middle of human history as the dividing line.
Many things that were done before the cross are not applicable after the cross.
Most of the things we found ourselves doing were wrong and its time they be confronted with the truth of the Gospel of Christ. A lie in office for decades will never become the truth.
So many things changed after the cross. These includes; Giving, Praying, way of relating with God, forgiveness, obedience, among others.
PRAYER
The mentality many of us had of prayer presented God as a strange supreme being up there and humans as weaklings and desperate being that had to plead and bombard the gate of heaven to convince God for them to hear them and answer them.
With this, came the idea of PUSH, Pray until something happens
With it also came the issue of prayer warriors and the wrong idea of taking by force .
In the Old testament, God was known as Jehovah, there was no intimate/close relationship with him.
This was as a result of the fall of man..
God instructed Moses in the OT to set up a temple. He gave him specific details on how to make it.
The tabernacle had three major parts and the innermost one was called the Holy of Holies, this is where the presence of God dwelt and no one could enter this place except the High priest once every year.
This presence of God was separated from men by a very huge curtain.
No one could have fellowship with God at a personal level. They always needed a go-between.
In Matt 27:51 we see this curtain being cut twain… 50 And Jesus shouted again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.
51 And suddenly the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split
Glory to God.. Immediately Jesus gave up the ghost, the curtain was torn into two, that which separated man from God fell apart and an access to God was made through Christ. A personal intimate fellowship with God was made possible now.
Prayer is this intimate fellowship with God. It is more than just making requests to God.
1Thess 5:17 says, Pray without ceasing. If prayer is what many people think, then no one can pray without ceasing.
In the old testament, the high priest could only enter once in the most holy place. In the new testament we have unceasing fellowship with Daddy. 24/7. Hallelujah!
Eph 2:18 For through him(Christ) we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Access to the father has nothing to do with us, it is all about Christ and what he did.
Real prayer focuses on what Christ accomplished for us not what we have done for him.
Prayer is focusing on Christ and His accomplished work.
Whatever we call prayer, minus Christ is just noise.
There are some prayers in the old testament that are irrelevant today..
A good example is the story of Hezekiah, after Prophet Isaiah told him about His death, scripture records that
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD,
3 And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. Isaiah 38
Hezekiah told God about his good works. Today, that’s not the way. We know none of our works can stand before him. Its Christ’s works that have been proved
My point in this is, Prayer does not necessarily mean speaking to God, its more than that. Its fellowshipping with God which means acknowledging the truths in Christ.
Philemon 6 That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
Effectiveness of the christian faith and everything about it is experienced by acknowledging Christ.
This is what Jesus meant when he gave us his name. Majority of the people thinks that praying in the name of Jesus means that after every statement in prayer we include the phrase “in the name of Jesus”
Its more than that. He meant that, we can’t fellowship with God in our own name. We were raised in His name and therefore we live and fellowship with Daddy in his name. We stand in his shoes. It is His works that the father acknowledges.
Real prayer is agreeing with what Christ has accomplished, reading from the same page with God.
For instance, to the sick, prayer is not asking God to heal them but agreeing with God that by the stripes of Jesus they WERE healed.
Prayer is not telling God to do things but to agree, believe and rest in what he has already done.
Look at Paul praying for the Church in Ephesus
Eph 1:16
Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: note
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
He is not asking that God will do things for them, He is praying that their eyes will be opened to see what they already have in Christ…
Another OT prayer, that people pray is this of David, in
Ps 51 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. note
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
Again this is a wrong prayer because it does not read from the same page with God. God reads from the page of the cross. He already has made us clean and new.
2Cor 5:17
Hallelujah.
It is funny to tell God to do what He has already done.. Actually it is like a slap on the face of Christ.
Everything in the Bible has some truth in it depending on its time of operation but not everything is THE TRUTH.
Another point is that in this new covenant, we pray from the sitting/resting position. By this I don’t mean physical sitting but Spiritual.
This can be well captured when we understand priesthood. When the tabernacle was being constructed, no furniture was allowed in. Both the High Priest and priests were not to sit down at any given point.
Jesus being our High priest sat down and we being priests sat together with Him.
Heb 10:12 But this man , after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sittogether in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus
We pray from the place of DONE not DO. We have been ushered into His rest.
Neither prayers nor our faith moves God. God does not need to move. He moved once for all times and ultimately declared IT IS FINISHED
Whatever prayer we make, we know that God provided all the answers in Christ.
Prayer is not telling God to do, it is believing that He has DONE.
Its not Pulling Heavens Down, its agreeing and believing that we have been raised to the Heavenlies. Its not Praying until something Happens, its to agree and believe that something great happened.
All the Promises of God have become Yes and Amen in Christ . Hallelujah!