Sunday School Lesson Outlines

Rules For Prayer

We have been raised on or memorized the famous passage of Scripture:

Luke 11:2-4 “And He said to them, 'When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted tous. And lead us not into temptation.'" NASB

Most of us call this The Lord’s prayer. This is the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples when they asked him to teach them how to pray. But there are also rules for praying.

Mark 11:20-26 "And as they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. And being reminded, Peter said to Him, 'Rabbi, behold, the fig tree which You cursed was withered.' And Jesus answered saying to them, 'Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "Be taken up and cast into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.'" NASB

Believe

Luke 11:22 “And Jesus answered saying tothem, 'Have faith in God.'" NASB

• If you ask for something in prayer, don’t let it be just a flippant prayer - “oh and by the way help me out on this.” Not like having “the chair will hold you up when you sit down” type of prayer. Remember how Jesus prayed in the garden? All night - pleading – sweating drops of blood – an indepth conversation with the Father – His Father. Our Father.

Ask

Luke 11:23 “Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "be taken up and cast into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going tohoappen, it shall be granted him." NASB

• God has a plan layed out for your life. If you are following Him closely, you will ask for things that will accomplish it, and have the same mind-set with God. I know this is perfection, and we will never achieve that. It is only an example and a goal to reach for. Sometimes we don’t receive because we don’t ask. How many of prayed for the spouse God has chosen for your ten year old child before you even knew who that was going to be?

Wide Open

Luke 11:25 “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father also who is in heaven may fortgive you your transgressions." NASB

• This is one reason the Bible teaches about laying prostate before God. If you have ever done this you will notice you are in a wide open stretch, and you can actually feel your heart beat. This will remind you to get your heart right – ask for forgiveness – confess sins {both seen and unseen} then God will forgive you. You can start talking to the father with a pure heart.

Psalms 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me." NASB

• We should always be asking God to fix us and not the other person. Let us do the right thing and God can handle the rest, I promise.

A lot of times our prayers are answered either no, yes or wait. Sometimes God doesn’t give us what we want because it not in His will or he has something better for us. Children may ask to go to a friend’s house and be mad that you said no, but they become really excited that the “no” answer meant that you were taking them to an amusement park instead. God is good – all the time! God gives good things. Sometimes we hinder our prayers with unconfessed sin or unforgiveness. Sometimes it’s just because we live in a fallen world. It won’t be perfect till He returns for us and takes us to the New Jerusalem.

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