5. Prayer

What is prayer?

Prayer is communication with God, it usually involves praising Him, thanking Him, and making requests of God. Sometimes it might just be talking to God about something that is on your mind.

Why is prayer important? 

1. It is the only way for us to communicate with God about our challenges.  [Philippians 4:6]

2. God has promised to listen to our prayers.  [1 Peter 3:12]

3. He's promised that when we ask anything of him, he will do it in his name. [John 14:13-14]

4. Prayer is a spiritual weapon we can use to deal with any challenge we face. Whether it’s physical or spiritual or emotional or mental. When we ask God in prayer He is able to deal with it. [Hebrews 4:16]

5. God gives an ear to what our interests are and what we want to see the end result being. Listen to some P.U.S.H. testimonies the moments when people prayed until something happened. [1 John 5:15]

How do we pray? 

Talk to God about what's on your mind:

1. Things that you might want to thank Him for [1 Thessalonians 5:16 -18, Colossians 4:2 ]

2. Things that you may need [Hebrews 4:16]

3. Sins that you are struggling with and need help to overcome [Matthew 26:41]

4. Sins others are struggling with and need assistance [James 5:16,Matthew 5:44,1 Timothy 2:1-2,1 John 5: 16,Hebrews 7:25,Matthew 18:19-20]

5. Situations that you are facing and struggling to deal with [Romans 8:26]

How do we fight a spiritual battle using prayer

1. Pray without ceasing. [1 Thessalonians 5:16-17,Luke 18:1-8,Luke 11:5-13]

2. Pray in faith and belief for God’s answer. [Matthew 21:22,  Mark 11:24, Hebrews 11:6,James 5:15,Mark 9:23,Matthew 7:7-8]

3. Pray understanding God’s answers might not always be yes, but it could be maybe, wait, or it might even be no. [1 John 5:14-15 ,Romans 12:12 ]

4. Pray while knowing who your God is and what His will is overall. [Ephesians 6:18,John 15:7 ] 

5. Fast and Pray [ Psalm 35:13 ,Acts 14:23,Ezra 8:23,Matthew 6:17-18,Mark 9:29]

6. Pray and care about the result of the situation.

7. Pray while continuously strengthening your faith. (Check out ways to grow your faith)

8. Pray using scriptures within your prayer - claiming the promises God has given to His people. Saying, “God, you said this, and I believe this is what will happen BASED on what you have said.” You can look through our Forging armor for powerful verses with God’s promises when it comes to prayer.

9. If you see your prayer not being answered how you thought it would be, PRAY AND ASK GOD WHY?

10. Be Quick to self-reflect and learn from your situation: if you are not living how God wants you to live, if you are harboring unforgiveness, if you are not loving your wife (for husbands), if you are not believing God can do it.

Tips

1. Practice praying and also practice praying aloud, you don't have to always pray aloud, but verbal prayer can change the entire atmosphere.

2. Prayer can bring about incredible change. However, when we ask we don’t always get exactly what we ask about -- instead God may allow things to go in a different direction. What God chooses is the best possible outcome[Romans 8:28]. Being aware of this is a fundamental point for believers. [Daniel 3:16-18]

3. Believe that God is listening to you and he answers so listen and watch for an answer to your prayer.

4. God promised to answer all of your prayers [Matthew 7:7]

5. Prayers can be hindered due to: unforgiveness, sin, doubt and other things.  [Read about What Hinders Prayer]

6. Pray for specific things and make notes to see what God does. [Psalm 34:8,Psalm 103:2] i.e. don’t pray only for world peace or national change, rather pray for a specific situation you are intimately involved with.

7. Pray for small things, it builds faith to see God at work in the small things.

Take Home Tasks

1. Create a prayer list for yourself and others

   1. You can use this tool to help with your prayer list/journal

2. Create a prayer journal to journal how God works out the situation

3. Purposefully  to pray for small challenges you face. I.e. lost keys or catching a bus.

4. Set aside distinct time at least once a week to pray alone

5. Memorize scriptures about God’s faithfulness to answer prayer

   1. Here is a are list of powerful scriptures about how God says He’ll answer prayer

   2. Check through this forge lesson for scriptures that impact you and remind you of prayer and God’s promises.

MENTOR’S NOTES/EVALUATION

1. Does your mentee have a set time to pray?

2. Do they have a prayer list with prayer points?

3. Have they prayed for others this week?

4. Have they been updating their prayer journal

5. Has God answered any of their prayers?