What The Bible Says About Prayer – A Complete Biblical Guide
The Bible emphasizes prayer as vital communication with God. Highlighting it’s importance in cultivating a personal relationship and fellowship with God. It teaches that prayer should be earnest and heartfelt, whether in gratitude, supplication, or worship.
Jesus instructed His followers to pray with sincerity, using the Lord’s Prayer as a model (Matthew 6:9-13). The Scriptures also encourage believers to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17). And to trust in God’s will, knowing that He hears and responds to your prayers. Prayer is portrayed as a source of strength, guidance, and comfort, affirming that it is both a privilege and a powerful means of experiencing God’s presence and intervention in your life.
This 4 part series of articles is about prayer. It will help you to see what the Bible says about prayer. Many people think about prayer as a religious discipline. Or something that a good Christian needs to do. Or a way to get what you want or need from God. This series of articles will help you to understand what God intended prayer to be. It is more about our relationship and fellowship with God than it is about religion. Or about getting things from God.
What The Bible Says About Prayer
Why Do Many Christians Not Spend Much Time In Prayer ?
Why do you think many Christians do not pray and spend quality time with God daily ? And why do so many Christians not follow Jesus’ example of spending much time in prayer ? Some are too busy, and some have the wrong priorities. And some are living for self and not for God. For others the cares of the world have crowded in and robbed them of the joy of having intimate fellowship with God.
Some have a lack of discipline that would lead them to have a regular time of prayer and fellowship with God. Others lack faith. And some are living in disobedience, and are far from God. For some the reason is that they don’t know how to pray and have fellowship with God. And many have a wrong understanding of who God is.
Many people do not understand and realize that God is love relationship oriented. His heart’s desire is to have close and intimate fellowship with His beloved children. Many do not understand that being a Christian is all about having a growing love relationship with the One who loves them completely and unconditionally. They do not understand that it is not about being religious. It is all about having a relationship and fellowship with God.
What The Bible Says About Prayer
Prayer Is Vital To Having Intimate Fellowship With God
We need to understand what God’s main call for your life is. 1 Corinthians 1:9 tells us “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” This verse uses the Greek word “koinania” for fellowship. In many verses that use the word koinania in the Bible it is referring to the close fellowship and unity between members of the church. In this verse koinania is talking about God’s call for us to have fellowship with Him through His Son Jesus.
The best definition of “koinania” fellowship with God is: “the fullest possible fellowship with God, and unity with God, and also a partnership with God in His kingdom work and mission.”
What The Bible Says About Prayer
“Koinania” Fellowship With God
The type of koinania fellowship that God desired for us to have with Him has 3 parts. The first part is to have the closest possible fellowship between God our Father and His beloved children. This type of close fellowship with God does not happen quickly. It is developed over a long period of time. And it takes consistent effort in having a daily time of prayer and Bible study.
The 2nd part of “koinania” fellowship with God is to have complete unity with Him. Complete unity with God is to have the same heart as God. Our hearts naturally are not anything like God’s. God’s heart is pure and holy, and full of selfless “agape” love. Ours are unholy and impure, filled with unholy and selfish desires and interested. Having the same hearts as God is to be “a person after God’s heart”, as David was described. It means full surrender of your self to God. And full surrender of your desires, your will, your dreams…
The 3rd part of “koinania” fellowship with God is to have a partnership with God in His kingdom work and mission. Once you are well on your way to having close fellowship with God and unity with Him, then God will invite you to join Him in what He is doing in the world. He will invite you to have a partnership with Him in which He will actually do His kingdom work through you. This is truly a great privilege and honor.
Always remember that the greatest desire in God’s heart is for you to have a
growing and intimate love relationship and daily fellowship with Him
In Part 2 of What The Bible Says About Prayer we will dive further into God’s word to understand what God has designed prayer to be.
What The Bible Says About Prayer – Part 2
Prayer Is Intimate Communication With Our Heavenly Father
What is the first thing that you think of when you hear the word “prayer” ? Do you think of asking for things ? Praying for someone else ? Or something else ? What does the Bible say about prayer ?
Trust in Him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart to Him.” – Psalm 62:8
God wants your communication with Him to be honest, open, and transparent. And He wants to hear about whatever is in your heart. He cares greatly for you, and cares if you are struggling. God wants you to talk to Him about your struggles. He wants you to share with Him your struggles, or your anxiety, or your worries. God wants you to share with Him honestly your anger, or your feelings of disappointment. And He wants you to share with Him whatever is in your heart. And He wants to share with you what is on His heart.
“Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” -Psalm 55:22
“casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:7
Communication Is The Act of Making One’s Self Known Or Understood
Communication is the act of making one’s self known or understood by others. It Is the expression of one’s thoughts, ideas, and self.
What is the first thing you think of when you hear the words “eternal life” ? Do you think in terms of time & eternity ? Do you think of heaven ? Or something else ?
God defines eternal life as having an intimate relationship & fellowship with Him, where you are getting to know Him more and more, and thus trusting & obeying & following Him. Intimate communication with God is vital to getting to know God better, and hearing His voice is critical to knowing Him and His plans and agenda and dreams for you and your life.
“Now this is eternal life. That they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” – John 17:3
“…that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I AM He.” – Isaiah 43:10
“Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.” – Exodus 33:11
“I cry aloud with my voice to the Lord. I make supplication with my voice to the Lord. I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path. In the way where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.” – Psalm 142:1-3
What The Bible Says About Prayer
To Know God Personally Means Much More Than To Know About God
To Know God – the Biblical words for “know God” mean much more than our English word. For most Christians today to know God means to know about God. But God wants so much more for His children than to just know about Him. God wants you to know Him by seeing and experiencing Him in and around your life. When you see and experience God’s faithfulness in your life for example, you then know that God is faithful. This is a much better and more intimate and real knowledge of God than just knowing about Him.
To Know God Requires Good Communication. Good Communication Requires 2 People… God Communicates With You, And You Communicate With God
A close and intimate relationship needs to be a 2-way relationship. Intimate communication needs to be 2-way also, or it is not good communication. Hearing God’s voice is by far the most important part of our prayer and fellowship time with Him. If you are not hearing God’s voice, you are missing out on getting to know Him more, you will miss His plans for you, and you will miss out on the full & abundant life that He wants you to have, which is only found in Him.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” – John 10:27
“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” – Jeremiah 33:3
“He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” – John 8:47
What The Bible Says About Prayer – Part 3
Intimacy With God Comes As You Desire & Seek To Know Him
It would be good for you to read and study “Are You Seeking God ?“. Prayer is about having a hunger for God, and seeking God with all of your heart.
The Greek words for Pray or Prayer mean: to want, to desire, to long for, to ask or beg; great poverty or lack or need; a seeking or asking of God ; to pray earnestly or fervently
The Hebrew & Greek words for Seek mean: to seek the face of God, to desire, to examine or explore, to seek earnestly, to diligently search for, to crave, to investigate, to pursue
“I will give them a heart to know me.” — Jeremiah 24:7
God needs to touch all of our hearts so that He is our First Love, our Treasure, and our Passion. And so that we will seek to know Him more and more. And know His heart, and His desires, and His will.
Prayer & Time With God Is Vital to Growing Closer to God
“I do not ask on behalf of these alone , but for those also who believe in Me through their word ; that they may all be one. Even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You , that they also may be in Us ,so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” – John 17:20-21
Spending quality time with God developing your fellowship with Him will change you. As you spend time daily in fellowship with God and prayer, and reading God’s word and obeying, God will change you. He will change your heart. He will change the way you see things and people.
“So he (Moses) was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. – Exodus 34:28-30
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” – Romans 8:28-29
“Prayer is designed more to adjust you to God, than to adjust God to you & your desires.” – Oswald Chambers
“The time a Christian gives to prayer & fellowship with God is not meant for his/her carnal or natural life, but to nourish the life of Jesus in him/her.” – Oswald Chambers
What The Bible Says About Prayer
Close Fellowship With God And Prayer Is The Key to Unlock God’s Power
It is not the act of prayer itself that is the key to unlocking God’s power. Many people and churches perform the act of prayer, but yet they are dead. And they never the see the great acts and power of God. When you have a close and right fellowship with God, and unity with God, you will then have a powerful prayer life. Then you will see God’s great power for changing others and the world around you. Focus and concentrate on your fellowship with God first.
“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” – James 5:16b
“Anyone who takes the time to enter into an intimate love relationship with God can see God do extraordinary things through his or her life.” – Experiencing God
“The closer you get to God, the greater the impact you will have on others’ lives. – Top Gun Training
“To be little with God is to be little for God.” – E.M. Bounds
What The Bible Says About Prayer – Part 4
Prayer Is A Great Privilege For A Sinner To Come Into The Presence Of Almighty & Holy God
We need to always be mindful that we are sinners saved by the grace of God. We do not deserve the privilege of entering into God’s presence and praying to Him. Through God’s Son Jesus Christ we have the freedom and privilege and right to enter into God’s presence.
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6
“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” – Psalm 16:11
“Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” – James 4:8
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” – Hebrews 10:19-22
Prayer Is A Ministry That We All Are To Participate In – Prayer Is Doing God’s Work
“As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.” – 1 Samuel 12:23
God’s Word shows us that we are to pray for others. The Bible also tells us that our prayers touch God’s heart, and He will respond and work in others’ lives when we call upon Him and intercede for others.
“First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.” – 1 Timothy 2:1-2
“For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” – Philippians 1:19
What The Bible Says About Prayer
Prayer Is God’s Way For His Children To Humble Themselves And Ask Him For Things They Need
God wants us to humble ourselves and acknowledge our need for Him. And God wants us to go to Him and rely on Him for the things we need, and even for the things we desire. He wants to be intimately involved in our daily lives. And God wants us to pray and ask Him for the things we need, or share our problems and difficulties with Him. So that we can experience His perfect faithfulness and His goodness in our lives. And to experience His mercy and grace personally. To experience God personally in your life is far better than to just read about God in the Bible.
“Taste and see that God is good.” – Psalm 34:8
” Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.” – 1 Peter 5:6
What The Bible Says About Prayer
Spending Time With God In Prayer Is Where Spiritual Battles Are Fought And Won
God’s victories and blessings are won in your prayer time with God. You will not be the blessed and strong and fruitful and victorious person that God wants you to be if you do not invest quality time in your relationship with God.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and put on the breastplate of righteousness 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.” – Ephesians 6:10-18
We Need The Lord In Order To Be Spiritually Victorious
“But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.”
Proverbs 21:30-31 – “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.”
Psalm 33:10-11 – “The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.”
What The Bible Says About Prayer
Spiritual Warfare And The Keys To Spiritual Victories
2 Chronicles 20 tells of the great victory that God’s people experienced over their great enemy. Various nations combined their massive armies and came to defeat and destroy Israel. King Jehoshaphat and the entire nation of Israel fearfully humbled themselves before God, and cried out to Him for help. The enemy was far too great for them, much like how our spiritual enemy is too great for us. God’s response was for them not to be afraid, and that He would fight the battle for them and destroy their enemy. That is exactly how we need to approach spiritual warfare against our enemy, and doing God’s kingdom work & mission.
2 Chronicles 20:6, 12 – “LORD, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you… Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
2 Chronicles 20:15-16 – “This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”
“The one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from prayer. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, he mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.” – Jonathan Edwards
PRAYER IS POWER !
Pursuing Intimacy With God
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Other Links
Religion vs Relationship With God
Why Should You Pray & Spend Time With God ?
Is Jesus Your First Love ? Part 2
Prayer Is Passion To Seek & Know God
God’s Purpose & Mission For You And Your Church
Spiritual Gifts: All Christians Have Gifts
Jesus Wants To Heal You & Set You Free
Salvation & The Gospel Of Jesus Christ
The Kind of Christian & Church God Wants
Kevin Bart has been a follower of Jesus for over 40 years. Kevin has taught Bible study classes, small groups, and discipleship classes for many years. He developed Pursuing Intimacy With God Bible studies website and book after many years of seeking God and studying His word. Kevin and his wife Nancy have 3 sons and 2 precious grandchildren.
Kevin is a former business owner, and current international missions ministry leader with more than four decades of combined business and ministry experience. After building and running a successful business for 23 years, with God’s guidance and blessings, he sold his company to dedicate himself to full-time global missions.
For over 20 years, Kevin and his wife Nancy have led a self funded international missions ministry. Utilizing learned business and financial management skills, as well as knowledge and experience in travel points and miles, to date they have had more than 5o mission trips to 36 countries in the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
After many years of studying the Bible and the Book of Revelation, and writing many Bible studies and articles, Kevin finally finished Unraveling The Mysteries of the Book Of Revelation. Hopefully it will be a blessing to many people.
