Prayer

What Is Prayer

Have you ever prayed a prayer, but you feel like God either didn’t hear it or ignored it? Maybe you’ve been praying for a long time, but nothing has changed. When we feel like our prayers aren’t answered it’s tough for us to keep praying. In this week’s message, Pastor Stephen talks about what prayer is, and why God doesn’t always “answer” our prayers. When we begin to understand the purpose of prayer and why God has given us this gift, it can not only change our circumstances, but also our hearts.

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MESSAGE NOTES

Matthew 7:7-8

 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

 

  • We read this and naturally think there no way that’s true. There are too many times where we’ve asked God for something and He didn’t give it to me.

 

  • That’s because we read this as if God was Genie from Aladdin. We don’t think of prayer as a relationship. We think of it as a wishlist.

 

  • We need to focus our hearts on God before we can ask God for anything. If we don’t tune our hearts first, our prayers will be out of tune.

 

  • If our hearts are selfish and hypocritical, then our prayers will be selfish and hypocritical. And God loves us too much to answer selfish prayers.

Have you ever prayed a prayer, but you feel like God either didn’t hear it or ignored it? Maybe you’ve been praying for a long time, but nothing has changed. When we feel like our prayers aren’t answered it’s tough for us to keep praying. In this week’s message, Pastor Stephen talks about what prayer is, and why God doesn’t always “answer” our prayers. When we begin to understand the purpose of prayer and why God has given us this gift, it can not only change our circumstances, but also our hearts.

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