Purposeful Prayer : A Pattern for Praying Matthew 6 : 9-13

We are already seeing and receiving testimonies in the course of the 40 days of prayer, all glory be to God. On day 4 when we prayed for friends and family currently experiencing difficult times and we found out on day 7 that our Father was actually working behind the scenes in a friends life.

The church is matching on and we are not relenting as we cultivate the habit of purposeful prayer.
Last week we started the journey of 40 days prayer with a sermon series where we examined “The Power of Praise in Prayer”.
The Holy Spirit taught us of the we need to praise the Father for who he is, what he has done, what he can do and will do.
We said praise in prayer the answer to faith.
Praise acts as a magnet in prayer.
The Holy Spirit taught us that when all strategy fails switch to the praise strategy.

This week we continue by examining a pattern for praying.

It is a widely known saying that when the purpose of a thing is not known it is subject to abuse.
Matthew 6:7-8
7 When you pray, there is no need to repeat empty phrases, praying like those who don’t know God,[a] for they expect God to hear them because of their many words. 8 There is no need to imitate them, since your Father already knows what you need before you ask him.

Prayer is born out of the depth of our Father who requires fellowship.
How do we know this? If we re-examine Matthew 6:8 it shows our Father knows what we need before we ask, so why then pray? It is because prayer is God’s idea and gives us the opportunity to fellowship with the God of the universe.

Prayer should be the first point of call because it is how the object interacts with its manufacturer.
Any object that separates from interaction will be outdated - every object requires interaction with the manufacturers database in order to be regularly upgraded to meet current standards.


John 15: 5-7
“5 “I am the sprouting vine and you’re my branches.[e] As you live in union with me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you—but when you live separated from me you are powerless.
6 If a person is separated from me, he is discarded; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire to be burned.
7 But if you live in life-union with me and if my words[f] live powerfully[g] within you—then you can ask whatever you desire and it will be done. “

Searching through scriptures, the only request for training by the disciples to Jesus Christ was not how to read, perform miracles, preach a powerful message, public speaking, or do any amazing thing but to simply pray.


Luke 11:1
“One day, as Jesus was in prayer, one of his disciples came over to him as he finished and said, “Would you teach us a model prayer that we can pray, just like John did for his disciples?”


Let us Sing a song - Prayer is the key, prayer is the master key.


What Prayer is Not
Prayer is not
1. A magic wand that produces harvest without a seed.
2. A first aid kit that fixes our problems when we make a mess of things
3. A manipulating process to get from our Father.

What Prayer is
1. Adoration - Luke 11
2. Alignment - Luke 11
3. Agreement - Ephesians 1:18
4. Ask time - Matthew 7:7, Psalm 145:19

You may be so non-influential, you may be disregarded by friends and family, cannot seem to get anything right. You may even be so down trodden like Jabez .... what ever you are, where ever you are in the pecking order of life and status, this one thing I know is that your prayer moves God to act in the affairs of this world and your prayer can make God change the course of the world and even any man’s heart because we know that the heart of the king is in the hands of God. Proverbs 21:1

No man can distort, dismiss, diffuse, disturb, the potency of prayer, God hears all prayers and moves in the affairs of men when one man prays.

James 5:17-18The Message (MSG)
16-18 Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.
Prayer is not limited by space or time - small consistent bout of praying session is as effective as long session of prayers. Inasmuch as the heart posture right and connection is available. Psalms 55:17

Hebrews 4:16
16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
1 John 5:14-15 The Passion Translation (TPT)
14 Since we have this confidence, we can also have great boldness before him, for if we present any request agreeable to his will, he will hear us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we also know that we have obtained the requests we ask of him.
Let us approach this week of prayer with confidence, when we pray with a purpose driven   heart it changes us from within, it changes situations and how we handle them and it changes people.

Let us pray together.
Pray for strength to pray consistently in week 2. Remember to include fasting
Invite the Holy Spirit to help us pray in him and to remind us of God’s words relevant to our lives.
Ask God for revelation for his words this week and that many more will be touched by the Holy Spirit in this week beyond the four walls of our church.