ToolsVerse page’>Hebrews 5:7
In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.
ToolsVerse page’>Luke 3:21
Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened,
ToolsVerse page’>Matthew 14:23
After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.
ToolsVerse page’>Mark 6:46
After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.
ToolsVerse page’>Luke 6:12
It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.
ToolsVerse page’>Mark 1:35
In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.
ToolsVerse page’>Luke 5:16
But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.
ToolsVerse page’>Luke 9:18
And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the people say that I am?”
ToolsVerse page’>Matthew 26:36
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
ToolsVerse page’>Matthew 26:39
And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
ToolsVerse page’>Matthew 26:42
He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.”
ToolsVerse page’>Matthew 26:44
And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.
ToolsVerse page’>Mark 14:32
They came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.”
ToolsVerse page’>Mark 14:35
And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by.
ToolsVerse page’>Mark 14:39
Again He went away and prayed, saying the same words.
ToolsVerse page’>Luke 11:1
It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”
ToolsVerse page’>Matthew 14:19
Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds,
ToolsVerse page’>Matthew 19:13
Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them.
ToolsVerse page’>Matthew 26:53
“Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?
ToolsVerse page’>John 17:1-25
“I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, read more.
even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. “Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;
ToolsVerse page’>Luke 22:32
but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
ToolsVerse page’>Isaiah 53:12
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.
ToolsVerse page’>Hebrews 7:25
Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
ToolsVerse page’>John 16:26
“In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf;
ToolsVerse page’>John 14:16
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
ToolsVerse page’>John 11:22
“Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
ToolsVerse page’>Romans 8:34
who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
bible.knowing-jesus.com
“In that day you will say: ‘Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted’” – (Isaiah 12:4).
Dear intercessors,
Praying in the name of Jesus is powerful because when we pray in His name, we pray with His authority. God promises to answer whatever we ask in His name according to His will. This is why we must know the will of God in order to pray with the authority of Jesus. This truth is wonderful because we have the assurance that He hears our prayers. Through prayer in His name we shall make known among the nations what He has done. Have you taken advantage of this glorious promise in your own life circumstances? John 16:23-24 says:
“In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”A few years ago my husband, Norm, had an opportunity to test this promise at a movie theater with his nephews. Lord of the Rings was an exciting movie, but right in the middle of it, a teenage boy stopped breathing. Those in the theater could hear the agonizing cry of a father pleading for his son to start breathing. He cried out with all his heart, “David, breathe! David, breathe!” But David just lay there without moving, without breathing.
The movie stopped abruptly, and people in the theater began to fear and panic. The atmosphere was extremely tense. Not knowing exactly what to do, Norm walked right over to where the boy was lying motionless. He then stooped down, and with an act of faith, he laid his hands on David and quietly said, “In the name of Jesus, breathe.” Suddenly David came to life and began to breathe! God had answered believing prayer.
There is power in the name of Jesus when we link our faith with heaven. On a more humorous note, the news reporter, Paul Harvey, told the story of a three-year-old boy at the grocery store with his mother. She sternly told him before entering the store,“No chocolate chip cookies, so don’t even ask!” In the store she put him in the little child’s seat in the cart, and they wheeled down the aisles. He was quiet until he got to the cookie aisle. He saw those delicious chocolate chip cookies, stood up and said, “Mom, can I have the chocolate chip cookies?” With a strong voice she said to him,“I told you not to even ask. No!”
He sat down. They went down the aisles but later had to come back to the cookie aisle again. He asked for them again. She told him,“Sit down and be quiet. I said no.” Finally arriving at the checkout lane, the little boy knew it was his last chance. He had to do something quick. So he stood up in his seat and shouted as loud as he could,“In the name of Jesus, may I have some chocolate chip cookies?”
Everyone around him began to laugh and applaud that little boy. And because of the generosity of the other shoppers, the little boy and his mother left the grocery store with twenty-three boxes of chocolate chip cookies! He was very happy. God loves to answer persistent prayers that are prayed in the name of Jesus. This may be a funny story but let’s not forget the message. There is an authority attached to using the name of Jesus.
What does it mean to have the authority of Jesus? Isn’t this something that can revolutionize our faith and give us great boldness and confidence in our prayers? Too often we pray very weak prayers because our eyes are on the impossibilities. In reality the God of the universe, the victorious Savior of man, is standing with us in strength and power. His name is a strong tower and a fortress that all the forces of darkness cannot withstand nor overcome. He can do anything!
“The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” (Proverbs 18:10). Let this verse stimulate your faith to believe in the greatness and power of the name of Jesus in your own prayer life. You will touch heaven and change earth with your prayers when you pray in the name of Jesus.
What It Means to Pray in Jesus’ Name“The name of Jesus is the gateway through which true prayers must enter heaven. His name is the ‘pass key’ that opens heaven’s account.” Eddie and Alice Smith
- We pray with Jesus’ authority – We acknowledge His divinity and Calvary’s victory when we pray with His authority. We draw from His heavenly bank account when we pray in His name.
“You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” – (John 14:14).
- We pray in His place and for His glory – We pray in accordance with all that He is, and according to His Word and character.
“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father” – (John 14:13).
- We live out our lives and bring forth our requests in His name – He will answer prayer when we live for Him and pray in His name.
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” – (Colossians 3:17).
- We pray in the power of His name – We pray with faith because we pray in the power of His name. We know and experience in increasing measure the reality of answered prayers prayed in His name.
“By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong” – (Acts 3:16).
- We get His assistance by using His name – Jesus comes to our aid when we call upon His name. He brings salvation and delivers. He sets free through the use of His name.
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” – (Romans 10:13).
- We remind ourselves of what His name represents.We claim God’s promises in Scripture and understand the authority inherent in His name.
“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens” – (Psalm 8:1).
- We pray in relationship with Jesus – Our relationship with Jesus grows in strength as we experience His love and faithfulness in prayer. We pray on the basis of our relationship with Him when we pray in His name.
“Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness” – (Psalm 115:1).
Several years ago I spent ten long days at the hospital while my father had open-heart surgery. Four days after heart surgery, he began to bleed internally and had to quickly go in for another operation. In the waiting room I prayed in the name of Jesus that the bleeding would stop, and it did. The operation was successful, and my father just had his 91st birthday!
Does God answer prayers in the name of Jesus? Yes. God had saved my father’s life. The name of Jesus is all-powerful. Let me assure you that the power of the name of Jesus meant much to us at that critical time.
Let us never forget that the name of Jesus is the key that opens heaven’s account. It brings forth His mighty power in our daily lives. As we pray in the coming weeks, let’s remember what it means to pray in His name and realize the authority we have in prayer. We are touching heaven with our prayers.
“And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well” – (Mark 16:17-18).
Together in the Harvest,
Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
International House of Prayer (IHOPKC Staff)
www.intercessorsarise.org
www.crosswalk.com
Table of contents
Prayer
January, February, March 2001
Want to learn more about Prayer? Use these Bible Studies for personal devotion, group Bible studies, or teaching a church class. Below are links to the lessons in this 13-part series.
Lesson 1: The Model Pray-er and the Model Prayer: Christ (Luke 11, Matthew 6)
I just finished reading the book “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire” by Jim Cymbala (Zondervan, 1997). It is a terrific book about prayer. The thesis of the book is that if you want a church to grow you need to cultivate the prayer life of the members. My timing for reading the Cymbala book was perfect because this quarter we begin a study on prayer. I need to improve my prayer life. If you need to improve your prayer life, let’s jump into our new study!
Lesson 2: Prayers of Despair: Job (Job 1, 6, 9, 13, 38, 40)
A first grader in my wife’s class was discouraged because his little life was not going well. He confided in my wife, “I don’t know why this is happening to me, I pay my tithe!” Does this little guy express your feelings sometimes? Something bad is happening in your life and you cannot understand why God is allowing it to happen? Do you pray and it seems that God is not answering or not giving the answer you deserve? One of the most encouraging stories in the Bible is the story of Job. Let’s jump in and see what we can learn about his prayers in times of great discouragement!
Lesson 3: A Prayer of Supplication: Moses (Psalm 90)
Moses did so much for the Israelites. Do you think he taught them to pray? I’ll bet he did. Our study this week is a unique opportunity to study a prayer that is attributed by most scholars to Moses. The NIV, along with many translations, begins Psalms 90 with the script: “A prayer of Moses the man of God.” Let’s dive into our study of this important prayer of Moses!
Lesson 4: Prayers of Triumph: Hannah and Mary (1 Samuel 1 & 2)
So far this quarter we have explored the prayers of Jesus, Moses and Job. Are there any women in the Bible whose experience can teach us about prayer? This week the title of our lesson turns our attention to two of the most blessed mothers in the Bible. Because of the amount of material involved, we are only going to be able to cover Hannah in this study. Let’s jump in and see what can we learn from this saint!
Lesson 5: Prayers of Penitence: David (2 Samuel 11 & 12, Psalms 51)
Do you fear that your prayers are not heard by God because of some past sin? Does sin cause you to think you cannot approach a Holy God? This week we look not only at the prayer of King David after he committed some of the worst sins, we gain an insight into avoiding those kinds of sins. Let’s jump into our study!
Lesson 6: A Prayer for God’s Dwelling: Solomon (2 Chronicles 6)
Is the God who created the universe interested in us? Is He willing to personally interact with us in our worship? This week we study the prayer King Solomon offered at the dedication of the temple. It is a prayer that teaches us more about the relationship we could have with God. Let’s jump into our study!
Lesson 7: Prayers for Reformation: Elijah (1 Kings 16-18)
At work do you sometimes feel you are the only one, or just one of a few, who serve God? Do you feel that God has placed a burden on you to reveal His greatness? Our study this week is about how God partnered with Elijah to reveal God’s power and greatness. This partnership involved prayer. Let’s jump in!
Lesson 8: Prayers of Desperation: Hezekiah (Isaiah 36-38)
A preacher told the story about a man who wanted to be sure he ended it all. Carrying a rope and a gun the man crawled out on a branch over a deep river. He tied one end of the rope around the branch and the other around his neck. At the instant he jumped off the branch, he planned to shoot himself in the head. He figured that if the bullet didn’t work, the rope would. If the rope broke, he would drown. Sort of a triple back-up system.
Our study this week is about the prayers of Hezekiah. Hezekiah did not want to kill himself – he desperately wanted to live. But he could sympathize with the man on the branch. We will discover that Hezekiah faced a triple threat. Not only was he faced with losing his life work as king, he was in danger of getting himself and a lot of other people killed by enemy soldiers. Then he found out that if the soldiers didn’t get him, he would die of a terrible disease. Let’s jump into our study!
Lesson 9: The Prayer of Intercession: Daniel (Daniel 9)
This week we turn our attention to a prayer of Daniel – a hero of the Old Testament. If your life was severely disrupted when you were a child, you can sympathize with Daniel. His young life turned lousy when he was taken into captivity by the Babylonians and dragged away from his homeland. Although he was a captive, through his faithfulness to God, he rose to become the highest-level government official. Daniel had such a great reputation that he remained in power even when his captors were defeated and the government changed.
Lesson 10: Prayer: Listening to Jesus (John 14)
Is prayer just a one-way communication? We talk and then we talk some more? If you say, “No,” prayer is both speaking to God and listening for His answer, then you will want to jump into this lesson with us. Last week, we discussed how Daniel prayed to God to be able to go home. This week our study is John 14 where we find Jesus answering the “how to go home” prayers of His disciples before they even feel the need. These words are part of God’s message to His disciples in all ages when we face confusing and trying situations.
Lesson 11: The High Priestly Prayer: Jesus (John 17)
Do you wish you had someone to watch over you? Someone who really cared about your problems and your future? Do you show this kind of care and love for others? This week we see God’s unselfish compassion for us as we continue our study of Jesus’ last hours on earth. Last week we studied Jesus’ words of comfort to His disciples before He was taken from them. This week we look at His prayer for His disciples. Let’s dive in!
Lesson 12: Prayers for the Church: Paul (Ephesians 1)
How is your local church? Does it need help? Do you feel the problems are too big for you to handle? This week our study is the first chapter of Ephesians. Paul, while under house arrest in Rome, writes a letter of encouragement to the church in Ephesus. Although the letter is not a prayer, it reveals the nature of Paul’s prayers for this church and the type of prayer and attitude we can have towards our local congregation. Let’s jump into our study!
Lesson 13: Prayers of Praise: Revelation (Revelation 4 & 5)
Do you remember what we discovered about the beginning of all the famous prayers we have studied so far this quarter? They started out with praise to God! In our last study of this quarter, we look more closely at this idea of praise in prayer. Let’s dive in!
www.gobible.org
One of the consequences to the traditional doctrine of inspiration (and inerrancy, but we’ll get to that later), is that it has reduced the Bible to a cookbook where every ingredient has to be exactly measured or the cake turns out wrong. If every word and individual letter is exactly as God wanted it to be, then there must be a reason for such exactness, and therefore, to truly study the Bible, we must drill down to get at the meaning of every individual letter and word.
In other words, the doctrine of inspiration has created numerous scholarly arguments about spelling and grammar in the biblical text.
Personally, I love this sort of stuff, and have engaged in some of it myself in this very series. But I sometimes wonder what Jesus would say about it. On the one hand, He does talk about the importance of individual words (Matt 4:4), and even individual letters (Matt 5:18).
But in John 5:39, Jesus condemns the Bible study habits of the Jewish religion leaders. Or maybe we can say that He condemns the reason they go to Scripture. He says,
You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life…
Jewish Bible Study
How is it that the Jewish religious leaders searched the Scriptures? Their goal in studying Scripture was to learn how to live life properly. From their study, they developed guidelines for living called “Halacha” (lit., “How to walk”). These guidelines were spun out of Scripture and established by Scripture.
To develop Halacha, a famous Jewish Rabbi named Hillel wrote Seven Rules of interpretation to guide the Jew in studying Scripture. These Seven Rules were much in use at the time of Jesus, and formed “a system of schematic, syllogistic, and scholastic wrestling of the text in which justifiable concerns are immediately choked by a tendentious over-minuteness which cannot do justice to the living realities of the statements” (TDNT I:755).
In other words, the Jewish religious leaders focused so much on the system of studying Scripture, and how the individual words and letters of Scripture impacted their arguments for a particular viewpoint, that they ended up missing the entire point of Scripture.
It wasn’t a case of missing the forest for the trees; they missed the forest for the individual leaves on the trees. If you have ever read some of the Talmud, you know what I mean.
Why did they do this? Because they had such a high view of Scripture. They thought of the Law as more than inspired, that it was actually dictated by God to Moses. As such, God wanted every word, every letter, every stroke of the pen just as it was. Therefore, living the proper life as the people of God depended entirely on properly obeying Scripture, and properly obeying Scripture depended entirely on properly understanding Scripture.
And Jesus says to them, “What are you doing? You’ve missed the entire point!”
Christian Bible Study
Many Christian circles today we have the same problem. We don’t have “Halacha” but we do have “Doctrinal Statements” and “Guidelines for Christian Behavior.” We don’t have “Hillel’s Seven Rules” but we do have “Hermeneutics.”
I sometimes wonder as I get involved in some of the heated debates and arguments about single letters of Scripture, if Jesus is listening to it all, shaking His head, and saying, “What are you doing? You’ve missed the entire point!” This is missing the forest for the leaves.
What is the entire point? It’s Jesus, of course. He says in John 5:39 that the Scriptures testify of Him. But even here, I don’t think this means that we go to Scripture and argue about what it means so that we can learn more about Jesus. This is getting closer to the truth, but it still misses the forest for the trees.
The point of studying Scripture, and the reason for the existence of Scripture in the place, is not so that we can argue about who has the best beliefs, but so that we can begin to live and look like Jesus in the world. I am not sure that arguing about individual letters of individual words (as fun as this is) will help us look like Jesus.
What do you think?
redeeminggod.com
