Learning the power of prayer - Audio

Jesus taught principle before He taught power. In the sermon on the mount, he begins that message with what we call the beatitudes. They are check points for us to align our life with. The beatitudes are principles that we must understand before we can understand the power of God. We live in a world that wants power, but is not interested in principles. Jesus taught that we cannot know is power until we embrace His principles. This prayer that the world knows as the Lord's Prayer, is Jesus teaching us how to pray. More than just things to say, this prayer is a model of a pattern of thinking that will lead to the most effective prayer. These four verses touch on all aspects of human life. It encompasses the past, present and the future. It offers answers for every area of need in our lives. When we pray, we gain things that we cannot receive anywhere else. They cannot be learned in a class or from a book. They can only be received when we humble ourselves before God. Many people look at prayer as an obligation. Bro. Hughes suggest that we look at prayer as a gift. We cannot afford to NOT pray. There are too many benefits to prayer to ignore them. If we could ever see what it wrapped up in prayer, we would pray all the time. We can never rise above the level of our prayer. All the issues that are contained in life are dealt with in prayer, and it is through prayer that God equips us to handle these issues. Without prayer, we will attempt to deal with the issues of life from a strictly human perspective. This causes many of the frustrations of life simply because we do not practice prayer.
So why is prayer so vital. What did Jesus teach us in the Lord's prayer? What was He trying to get us to understand? Prayer teaches us about relationships. When we go to prayer, we are not alone. He is with us. Prayer teaches us that we have responsibility too. This prayer teaches us that He has thought about all the areas of need in our life; Our needs, our failures, and our frustrations. Everything about our life has already been provided for. When we pray, we have the confidence that no matter what we circumstance or situation, God has it under control. Secondly, this prayer reveals to us how much God cares for us. He says "our daily bread" God will provide for our needs. We can trust God with our physical, emotional and financial needs. Bread can also be interpreted to mean the daily needs of life. God's provision is more than just the daily bread. He provides for all needs. Thirdly, this prayer reminds us that we must live our life one day at a time. He said "daily bread." This implies that we meets our needs for today and that He will provide tomorrow. This concept also implies that we should trust the unknowns of tomorrow to Him. If He can take care of today's daily bread, we can trust Him for tomorrow's bread too. If we will learn to pray in this way, we will learn to be satisfied with the provision that God makes in our life. There are a lot of frustrated people because they are not satisfied with the answer God has already given them. Until we learn to be satisfied with what He has given us, He will not give us anything else. When God give us something it is enough, we need to learn to modify our expectations. When we learn how to pray, it will lend balance to our life. It helps us remember the source of everything. There are no self made men. No matter what the accomplishment, man had to start with something. No crop has ever been grown that did not start with a seed. When we pray, we are reminded of the source of all of our blessing and provision.