Few people pray the Bible way because few people know how to do that. To pray the Bible way means to pray through the blood and through the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You pray like Jesus prayed; and you pray for the will of God to be done like He did saying, Not my will, but thine, be done (Luke 22:42).

Jesus taught the simplicity of prayer and how to reach Heaven. The Sermon on the Mount includes “The Lord’s Prayer”; and in it, Jesus said, After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name (Matthew 6:9). When you can say “Our Father” from your heart, that means you know without a doubt that you have been born again. You are His child, and He is your Father.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). When you pray like Jesus prayed, you want the perfect will of God to be done here on Earth just as much as it is done in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors (Matthew 6:11,12). Jesus taught that when you are made a son or a daughter of God through His blood, you can have all the privileges He has; and your needs will be supplied. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16,17).

Jesus ended that prayer with, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen (Matthew 6:13). You should always give praise to the Lord in prayer, and that is the best cure when you are sick. Praise Him for the promise of healing He has made to you and for the miracle you know is coming.

You Must Forgive

Jesus went on in the Sermon on the Mount to say, If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matthew 6:14,15). If you make a mistake, you want the Lord to forgive you; so you must be willing to forgive others. The Lord doesn’t want us to carry grudges. If you do, they will hinder your prayers and your walk with the Lord; and they will rob you of many blessings. That is why the Lord said, Vengeance is mine; I will repay (Romans 12:19). You must turn your enemies over to Him.

Judging others can hinder your prayers. That is why Jesus said, Judge not, that ye be not judged (Matthew 7:1). Some people will falsely claim that other children of God aren’t saved. The Bible says, Ye shall know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:16). If the fruits of the Spirit are being manifested in a person’s life, then you have no right to say anything about them.

There will be those who will say you are not right with God and tell all kinds of lies about you; but the Psalmist said, Thou [God] preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies (Psalm 23:5). You may want the Lord to move all your enemies to a different country, but that is not God’s way. He will spread a table before you that is loaded down with everything you need while your enemies are looking on and eating briars.

Daily Prayer Is Essential

When you pray the right way, it is powerful; and that kind of prayer is essential in every child of God’s life. Without it, you won’t stay saved for very long. When you let up on your prayer life, you stop Heaven’s stream of divine strength and power from coming down to you; and you won’t have the fellowship with the Lord that you should. Then there may be times when the Lord will allow trying situations or even calamities to come your way to drive you back into the prayer chamber.

If you claim to love the Lord, why is it such a burden to talk to Him? Jesus didn’t find talking to His Father to be a burden at all, and there were times when He talked to His Father all night long. How many nights have you spent talking to the Father?

Jesus said, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (Matthew 7:7). When you ask, seek and knock in the same spirit of humility Jesus had and in the divine love and faith He brought, you will reach Heaven; but you have to ask according to the divine will of God. Many Christians only pray according to what they want, and that won’t work. The Lord told the disciples, If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will [in accordance with God’s will], and it shall be done unto you (John 15:7).

I also want to point out that Jesus said you are to ask, not beg. Begging can delay your answer from Heaven; and sometimes, it delays it so long that you never get it. It doesn’t take the Lord a long time to help you; but sometimes, it takes a long time for Him to get you into a place where He can move for you.

Prayer Brings God Nigh

When you are saved, you are connected with Heaven by the divine blood. If you don’t pray through that blood, you will pray through your own human faith and love; but they are not strong enough to help your prayers reach the throne of grace. Prayers without the divine blood won’t go beyond the sound of your voice, but you can reach Jesus anytime through the divine blood.

God doesn’t want us to come to Him only when we have a great need. We must love spending time with Him and want to be drawn nigh to Him. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13). You can’t just recite or read a cold prayer to the Lord; you must talk to Him from your heart.

Many people go into their prayer closet and think of God as being far off somewhere, and that is why prayer is not exciting to them. They don’t enjoy talking to God because they don’t really believe anyone is listening, but the Bible tells us that both Jesus and the Holy Spirit hear and make intercession for God’s children. It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us (Romans 8:34). Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:26,27).

Jesus and the Holy Spirit guide you in what to ask for and into all truth. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of truth; and Jesus said, Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth (John 16:13).

Never Neglect Prayer

After Adam and Eve failed, people were walking afar off from God; but through Christ’s divine blood, we can once again walk hand-in-hand with the Lord and talk to Him as one person talks to another. You must know that fellowship is real, and you must know God is listening.

When Jesus lived on Earth, He knew His Father always heard Him. That is why He said before the people who were standing at Lazarus’ tomb, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always (John 11:41,42).

When you fail to spend time in prayer, it puts you in grave danger; and Peter is a good example of that. At one time, Peter had been so close to Jesus; but he and the other disciples could not stay awake with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane the night the soldiers came to arrest Him. Then later when Jesus was being tried, Peter denied Him three times. How sad. If Peter had stayed awake to pray, that never would have happened. Let that be a lesson to you that when the Lord wants to talk to you, it is time to stay awake and talk to Him.

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus

The Lord loves you with His whole heart; so when you are prayed up, you never have to be afraid of Him or what He asks you to do. One night, the disciples were out on the water when a wicked storm arose; and they were so afraid. Then suddenly, Jesus came toward them walking on the water saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus (Matthew 14:27-29). That is amazing!

Unfortunately, Peter didn’t keep his eyes on Jesus, and he began looking at the huge waves around him. And beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt (Matthew 14:30,31)? Peter called out knowing that Jesus was right there with him, and Jesus immediately reached out for him. You can get answers to your prayers just that quickly too when you reach out to Jesus with the assurance of knowing He is with you every time you pray.

You must notice also that Jesus accused Peter of having “little faith.” Yes, Peter did have some faith, but he was only using a very little bit of it. That is why Peter did walk on the water, but he didn’t continue to walk. If you sink when you are walking with God, then there is a weakness in your relationship with the Lord somewhere; and your prayers will be hindered.

There is much facing God’s children in this final hour, so you have to be prayed up and stay awake in the Lord because you never know what a day may bring. Never go to sleep at night without knowing there is nothing between you and your Savior no matter how tired you are.

God Answers Bible Prayers

The Lord is ready to answer your prayers, and He wants to answer them. Jesus said, If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it (John 14:14). So why do you have a powerless prayer life when it should be full of the greatness of God? The Bible says, The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry (Psalm 34:15). You can find all the power you need through Bible prayer.

I have more confidence in my prayers than I do in anyone else’s prayers because I know in whom I believe as Paul did. He said, For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day (II Timothy 1:12). I know I’m living pure, clean and holy before God. You too must know in whom you believe and that the Lord is right there to help you. He knows exactly what you need. Jesus said, Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him (Matthew 6:8).

All the answers you need can be found in the Word of God, but it takes Bible prayer and divine faith to claim God’s promises and have them operate for you. But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6). Do your prayers please the Lord? If so, you will receive. Jesus said, All things are possible to him that believeth (Mark 9:23).

If you are not saved, you need Jesus today. Your prayers will mean nothing without Him because your sins are greatly hindering your prayers. The Bible says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9). Say the sinner’s prayer located on page 6 of this magazine, and let Jesus come into your heart.