REAL CHRISTIANITY
1 John 5:14-17
INTELLIGENT PRAYING
REAL CHRISTIANITY (1 John) #18 of 18 Lessons
We laugh at some of the unintelligent
things people do.
But there are times when a lack of
intelligence is wasteful, hurtful or downright dangerous.
Believe it or not, one of the times that
a lack of intelligence can hurt us is when we pray. If we don’t know what to pray for and how
when we pray, we will be wasting our own time and God’s time. God’s work and God’s will are accomplished in
response to our prayers. God has
ordained that Christians should pray and that He will accomplish His purposes
in answer to our prayers.
1 John 5:14-15 - And this is the confidence that we have in
him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: [15] And
if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the
petitions that we desired of him.
Notice that we can come confidently or
boldly to God.
We don’t need to be wimpy in the way we
ask our requests.
Notice that our confidence is in Him, I
believe it is referring to God the Son here, the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed Jesus promised that He would answer
our prayers. John 14:13-14
When we ask something in Jesus’ name, we
have to believe that it is, as it says in 1 John 5:14, according to his will.
If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
When God hears us, it is with the intent
of answering our request. He will answer it.
That’s great. But it gets even better!
And
if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions
that we desired of him.
When we pray according to God’s will, we
know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. It’s already accomplished before we see the
answer!
This promise behooves us to pray two
ways, obediently and intelligently.
We must first pray obediently, doing
what God tells us to do, confessing sin, and serving Him.
1 John 3:22
We must also pray intelligently according to his will.
Every one of our requests must be
yielded to God’s will instead of being our own selfish
ambition.
Jesus taught us to pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done.
Although I am to yield myself in prayer
to God’s will being done, I must realize that in many, many, cases, I already
know what God’s will is, so I can ask for it confidently in the name of the
Lord Jesus.
I would like to share with you six areas
in which you can pray and mostly know what the will of God is before you ask.
When you pray intelligently, you should
pray for:
SELF
If you know Jesus as your Savior, you’re
a saved sinner, but you’re still a sinner!
You have a new nature and a new want to serve God, but you still have a
tendency to sin and to have spiritual difficulties.
So how do you pray for yourself?
Praying for yourself is easy when you
remember that you can’t do anything without God’s help!
You can’t think right without God’s
help.
You can’t live righteously without God’s
help.
You can’t speak or teach about God
without God’s help.
You can’t witness without God’s help.
You can’t successfully raise a family
without God’s help.
You can’t assist others without God’s
help.
You can’t resist temptation and Satan
without God’s help.
John 15:5 - I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that
abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me
ye can do nothing.
God has provided you with a wonderful
gift that you can ask for at anytime.
Whenever you need it, you can ask for it. It is the same gift that helped save you. That gift in his grace!
You were saved by grace, his unmerited
enabling favor! Ephesians 2:8-9
You can obey any command by His grace.
You can forgive by His grace.
You can witness by His grace.
You can endure hardship by His grace.
You can flee temptation by His grace.
You can live righteously by His grace.
You can witness by His grace.
2 Corinthians 12:9 - And he said unto me, My
grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most
gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of
Christ may rest upon me.
Hebrews 12:28 - Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which
cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and godly fear:
Whatever it is that you know that God
wants you to do, you should consistently ask God for
the grace to accomplish it.
If you read Scripture and are convicted
that you’re doing something wrong or need to do something right, ask Him for
the grace to do it.
Another thing that you should ask for
continually is the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Ask God to control you through His Spirit. It is His will that you be filled with the
Spirit, ask Him! Ephesians 5:18,
Luke 11:13
We fail so miserably in our Christian
lives because we fail to pray for ourselves in total helplessness to a God who
will enable us if we only ask!
SOVEREIGNS
1 Timothy 2:1-2 - I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; [2] For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may
lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
Romans 13:1 - Let every soul be
subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers
that be are ordained of God.
Prayers need to be made for all, but
governmental leaders especially need our prayers. We should pray for them, starting with the
heads of state like presidents, prime ministers, and kings, and praying for all
in authority over us. They have great
responsibilities and need our prayers.
The goal of our prayers is that we might
lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty. When we are able to live in peace with others
it is easier to spread the Gospel in peace.
SOULS
We are to pray for all men according to
verse 1.
The great majority of those men are
unsaved people who need to hear the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In 1
Timothy 2:3-4 Paul tells us God’s opinion of prayer
for all men, especially rulers.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 - For this is good and acceptable in the sight
of God our Saviour; [4] Who will have all men to be
saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
·
I believe that this means we should be praying for
those we know who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
·
I believe that this means we should pray in general
for those in our neighborhood, city, state and country who don’t know Christ as
Savior
·
I believe this means that we should pray asking God to
send missionaries to all areas of the world, especially those we know to be in
need.
Luke 10:2 - Therefore said he unto them,
The harvest truly is great,
but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he
would send forth labourers into his harvest.
·
I believe this means that we should be praying for our
missionaries that their outreach will be effective.
God is burdened for the souls of men and
women.
As His children, we should have the same
burden.
That burden is first reflected in
prayer, then giving to missions, and then going ourselves.
We should pray for:
SELF
SOVEREIGNS
SOULS
SAINTS
One of the great responsibilities we
have as Christians is to pray for each other.
Ephesians 6:18 - Praying always with all prayer and
supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and
supplication for all saints;
Most of the time all we know to pray for
is those who are sick. This, of course,
is an important prayer and Biblical.
However, there is more to prayer and the
Bible shows us several ways we should pray for our brothers and sisters in
Christ. One way to do this is to pray a “blessing” upon fellow believers.
Numbers 6:24-26 - The Lord bless
thee, and keep thee: [25] The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be
gracious unto thee: [26] The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give
thee peace.
Another way to pray for the saints is to
pray the way Paul prayed for them in Ephesians 1:17-21, Ephesians 3:16-21,
Philippians 1:-11, and Colossians 1:9-14.
There is another way to pray for the
saints found right here in 1 John.
1 John 5:16 - If any man see his brother sin a sin which
is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin
not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for
it.
This is a very controversial verse, and
there are many opinions out there as to what it means. This is how I understand
it.
Notice that the one who is sinning is a
“brother”.
We are talking about a fellow born-again
Christian here.
So, the sin unto death can not be
Spiritual death in hell, but physical death.
The “sin unto death” is evidently not a
specific sin that causes physical death, but can be any sin. The sin unto death seems to be an ongoing sin
habit or a great sin that causes shame to the cause of Christ. If the person refuses to repent, he or she
could be removed and taken to Heaven “prematurely”.
Ananias and Sapphira are examples of
this in Acts 5.
Another example are
those found in 1 Corinthians 11:29-31.
John’s main concern however,
is not for those who have gone to extremes in their rebellion against God.
John is talking about praying for those
Christians we know and we see sin in their lives. It might be as simple as a lack of church
attendance, or a bad attitude towards someone.
It might be that they are being a poor testimony in some way.
All Christians will have times when sin
is in our lives, simply because we are human.
1 John 1:8 - If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
John is saying that we should pray for
these people. We should ask God to speak
to them, to work in their lives to bring them to repentance. Their sins don’t
seem to be extreme, and God will give them “life”, as we pray.
We should pray for that brother or
sister because we love them and want them to have abundant life that comes from
getting right with God.
There are going to be times when God
will use you as the answer to the prayer. Galatians 6:1-2
SITUATIONS
When there is a situation that concerns
us, we can pray for it, believing God will work.
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. [7] And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
SUPPLIES
Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day
out daily bread.”
I believe that “bread” covers all our
basic needs.
We have a legitimate need we should
pray, believing that God will supply it.
The one who is living for the Lord and
giving sacrificially himself can expect God’s provision.
Philippians 4:18-19
So let’s pray intelligently for:
SELF
SOVEREIGNS
SOULS
SAINTS
SITUATIONS
SUPPLIES