True Praying in the Holy Spirit

True Praying in the Holy Spirit
The Seven Laws of Prayer

Wayne J. Edwards, Pastor

   Many Christians have never received an answer to a specific prayer, and because of that, they have ceased to pray as they ought.

• However, the reason they have never seen an answer to their specific prayers is because they did not pray as they should, i.e., the conditions of praying in the Holy Spirit were not met before they began to pray.
• Just as there are basic laws of nature which must be followed in the process of sowing and reaping, so there are basic laws which must be followed if we are to have an effective prayer life.
• The Basic Laws of Nature regarding sowing and reaping:
  • A farmer decides to raise a crop.
  • The farmer must do what he can do, and then trust God to do what He alone can do.
  • The farmer provides the soil and the seed, but God provides the moisture and the warmth.
  • The soil must be tilled and the seed planted at the proper time, but only God can make that seed reproduce.
• The Seven Laws of an effective prayer life.
• The First Law-ASKING
  • In James 4:2, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus told the Christians of the 1st Century, “You do not have because you do not ask.”
  • The reason many Christians live as spiritual paupers is because they do not pray, or they do not ask when they pray.
  • God does not give unless we ask.
  • If we possess little of God and His Kingdom, it is almost certainly because we have asked little.
  • In Psalm 2:8, God the Father said to His own Son: ‘Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.’
  • If the royal and divine Son of God cannot be exempted from the rule of asking that he may have, you and I cannot expect the rule to be relaxed in our favor. Why should it be?”

• The Second Law – ASKING IN THE WILL OF GOD
  • Psalm 84:11- “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
  • Proverbs 29:18 – “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
  • 2 Peter 3:9 – “The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
  • 1 John 5:14 – “If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us, and if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.”
  • James 1:5 – “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally, and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
  • Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
  • Since God is dealing with this world in His grace and mercy, God’s perfect will is not being done on earth. However, that does not mean that God doesn’t have the power to bring His will to pass on any given issue if it is according to His will.

F.B. Myers’ rules for discovering God’s perfect will:

• • Remove all preconceptions, so that you have no will of your own.
  • Wait on God in the study of His Holy Word.
  • Let the glory of Jesus be your supreme consideration.
  • Do not ask your relatives and friends for their advice.
  • Wait on the Lord! Do not dare to act unless you are sure that you are in the line of His purpose.
  • Mark the trend of His providence, for it will certainly corroborate His inner voice.
  • When you have made up your mind in faith and prayer, take that step of faith and never look back.

• The Third Law: ASKING IN THE NAME OF CHRIST:
  • John 14:14 – “If ye ask anything in my name, I will do it.”
  • To pray in Christ’s name is more than a ritual or a formality.
  • Since Jesus makes intercession for us, we are, in effect, communicating our request to our High Priest, who has the authority to take those requests to the throne of God’s grace.
  • Hebrews 4:15-16 – “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

• The Fourth Law – ASKING IN FAITH
  • James 1:5-8 – “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”
  • 1 John 5:15 – “And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.”
  • When we know what we ask for is according to His will, faith does not wait until the thing asked for is received but rather it believes that the request has been granted, that the prayer is answered, even though it may be a long time before the thing is actually received.
  • Anything short of this, where the will of God can be known, is not praying in faith and it will bring no results.
  • If we ask God for something we know to be His will it is our privilege immediately to claim it.
  • Mark 11:24, Jesus said, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

• The Fifth Law-ASKING BY A RIGHTEOUS MAN
• • James 5:15, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
  • This text concludes that the righteousness of the one praying is a condition to answered prayer, which, in this case, does not refer to the imputed righteousness which is given to us when we put our faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation, but rather the righteousness of the one who is praying.
  • There is no sinless Christian; even if we say we have no sin, as the Apostle John says, we deceive ourselves.
  • However, 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
  • After adoration, i.e., acknowledging God for who He is, the next step in our prayer should be confession, acknowledging our sins before a Holy God, for we are but sinners saved by God’s grace.
  • When we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, the sin of unbelief is no longer to be dealt with. However, the sins of rebellion and disobedience must be dealt with on a daily basis.
  • Remember, a genuine confession of faith includes restitution, and at least an attempt of reconciliation with those who are affected by our sins of rebellion and disobedience.

• The Sixth Law – -ASKING FOR DEFINITE THINGS
  • Luke 11:11-12, Jesus said: “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he asked for a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?”
  • God delights in supplying our specific needs and giving us precisely what we ask, if it is in His will for us to receive it.
  • When we really know what we need, and we know it is according to God’s will for our lives, we show our lack of faith if we do not ask for those definite things.
  • However, there may be times, as Paul said in Romans 8:26-27, “When we know not what to pray for as we ought,” and we ask the Holy Spirit to guide our prayers according to will of God for our lives.

• The seventh Law-ASKING BY ONE WHO IS GRATEFUL
  • Praise and thanksgiving are fundamental to true praying.
  • The Word says, “In everything give thanks.”
  • If we keep our vision clear, there is no hour so dark nor struggle so hard but that there is occasion for thanksgiving.
  • After adoration and confession comes thanksgiving. For what?
    • That we are saved and we know it – that our sins are forgiven, and we have peace with God.
    • That we are born again, i.e., we are God’s children, heirs of all the riches in heaven.
    • That we are on the road to heaven, the eternal heavenly city, where sin and suffering are no more, where we will reign with Christ forever and ever.
    • That we are to be sinless and absolutely perfect, for He has promised to present us faultless before the throne of His Glory with exceeding joy.
    • That we are to be glorified, with new bodies like unto the glorified body of our risen Lord, attuned both to earth and heaven. All heaven and the universe will be the field for our glorified activity.
    • That our needs are being supplied in the interim, and that God is working all things together for our good and His glory right now.
    • That He has made us His own ambassadors! We are to win souls. The issue is their salvation for all eternity. A single soul is worth more than a world and He is trusting us to deal with world values right here and now.