Acts
"For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD...him declare I unto you.

24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

28 For in Him we live, and move, and have our being...For we are also His offspring."  Acts 17: 23, 24, 28


Psalms
"Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still, Selah.

5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD." Psalms 4:1, 4, 5



Psalms
"Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation.

2 Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.

3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." Psalms 5:1-3


Principles of Prevailing Prayer (Part 4 of 4)


"I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him,
because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity
he will rise and give him as many as he needeth."  Luke 11:8
                                                                                       
Weekly Devotional
The principles we looked at in the first lesson are:
  • First get an audience with God.
  • Pray without ceasing.

The principles we looked at in the second lesson are:
  • Understand there is power in united prayer.
  • You must be obedient to the Word of God.

The principles we looked at in the third lesson are:
  • You must call upon him in truth.
  • Ask according to His will.

This forth and last lesson continues with:
  • Importune the Lord. This is a principle that Jesus taught through various teachings and parables. "And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint. 2Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:1-8.

Luke 11:5-8 and Matthew 15:21-28 are other stories that Jesus presented to teach perseverance in prayer. These parables reveal that you are not to give up asking after only one or two prayers. Sometimes it takes years of asking before we obtain the blessings we seek. Some will tell you that perhaps it is not the Lord's will. But if you are asking according to His will then this sentiment is just a lack of faith. You should keep asking for that thing until God makes it very clear that it is not His will.
  When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane He petitioned His Father three times for the same thing in Matt. 26:-42. "And He left them (disciples), and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words." Matt. 26:42. Christ is encouraging you to pray with faith and fervency, and to persevere therein.

  • Abide in Christ and Have His Word Abide in You. The Bible says in John 15:7, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." Abiding in Christ as a branch connected to the vine means to have that which flows in and through Him to flow in and through you. It requires you to renounce any independent life of your own, to give up trying to think your thoughts, or form your own resolutions, or cultivate your feelings. Abiding in Christ is to constantly look to Christ, to think His thoughs, to form His purposes in you, to feel His emotions and affections in you. Then your prayers will be the outworking of His perfect will. They will in essence be Christ praying in and through you to fulfill His purpose. They will always be prayers in harmony with His will.    

To abide in Him and obtain answers to your prayers, you must have His word abiding in you, and continue in you. You must study His words, devour them, meditate upon them and let them sink deep into your thoughts and your heart, keep them in your memory, obey them constantly in your life, and let them shape and mold your daily life and your every act.

The word of God is the instrument by which the Holy Spirit works. It is the sword of the Spirit in more than one sense. The one who would know the work of the Holy Spirit in any direction must feed upon the Word. The one who would pray in the Spirit must meditate much upon the Word, that the Holy Spirit may have something through which He can work. The Holy Spirit works His prayers in us through the Word, and neglect of the Word makes praying in the Holy Spirit an impossibility. If we would feel the fire of our prayers with the fuel of God's word, all our difficulties in prayer would disappear.

  • Give Thanks to God for Blessings Received. The Bible says in Philippians 4:6, 7 "Be careful for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7And the peace of God, which passesth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Some come to God with the most specific petitions, but when they return thanks to Him, their thanksgiving is indefinite and general. One reason why so many of our prayers lack power may be because we have neglected to return thanks to God for blessings already received. If someone were to constantly come to you for help but never came back to say thank you, you would soon tire of assisting one so ungrateful. The Lord takes notice of our ingratitude and perhaps wants to answer our prayers to bring us to a sense of our ingratitude, and to teach us to be thankful.

In Luke 17:11-19 when Jesus passed through Samaria and Galilee ten lepers met Him and asked that He have mercy on them. He told them to go show themselves to the priest and as they went they were cleansed. And verse 15-18 says, "And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger."

How often He must look down in sadness at our forgetfulness of His repeated blessings, and frequent answers to our prayers. How often do we ask for protection in the morning for our day or when traveling, yet fail at the end of the day to thank Him, or when we safely arrive to our destination.

Returning thanks for blessings already received increases our faith and enables us to approach God with new boldness and assurance. We need to take the time and meditate upon the prayers already granted, and soon we will realize that there is nothing to hard for the Lord, this we will feel in the very depths of our soul.

We need to learn from the mighty men of prayer in the Scripture, and mighty men of prayer throughout the ages who were giving much thanksgiving and praise to God.

David was a great man of prayer, and throughout the Psalms he is always thanking and praising God for His blessings and goodness. David expressed that while we are in the land of the living we should give Him thanks. He says in Psalms 6:5, "For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?"

Acts 2:46-47 records how Paul and the Apostles continually gave God praise. "And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."

Jesus Himself gave thanks to the Father over the simplest of breaking bread. "And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them." Luke 24:30

Thanksgiving is one of the inevitable results of being filled with the Holy Spirit, and one who does not learn "In everything to give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (1 Thess. 5:18) cannot continue to pray in the Spirit. If we would learn to pray with power we would do well to let these two words sink deep into our hearts: WITH THANKSGIVING!