Well it's great to have you along and thanks for joining in our Russia Vlog.
My name is Jesse and I'm from Australia.
I'd just like to thank you for taking the time to watch this video, today we are going to look at PRAYER.
What is prayer? Does God hear our prayer? What do we pray for?
Before we start talking or praying to God we really need to get an understanding of who He is and what He has done for us. He is the creator of heaven and earth and He is the one who has made us.
The thing I find amazing is that God is interested in having a relationship with us.
In the bible it says "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:" -Psalms 66:18
That is king David talking there. It's just like any relationship we have with people; when we do things against them and sin against them, it breaks that fellowship. It's the same with God. When we pray to him and have sin in the way it makes it difficult to have that fellowship with God. We need to be careful and be aware of that in our lives when we come to pray to God and confess that sin because it says in the bible "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." -1 John 1:9
So we know that He loves us and He wants to hear from us. Sometimes I even wonder; why do we need to pray if God already knows what's going to happen?
When we read God's word (the Bible) that is him speaking to us, and when we pray that is us talking to the Lord - we actually talk to God!
It's because of what Jesus has done, He died on the cross for our sin. He made it possible for us to approach God. It's because what Jesus has done that we can enter the holiest of all. "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, -Hebrews 10:19"
It's because the atonement for our sin and what Jesus has done; it's because he died on the cross for us.
When we come to pray we need to make sure we have what we call short accounts, make sure we don't have sin in the way and also to make sure that we can have that fellowship with God to know we can talk to him about anything.
That's an amazing thing!
So when and how can we pray? We can pray everyday all the time. There are verses in the bible that talk about this... "Pray without ceasing. -1 Thessalonians 5:17"
"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. -Philippians 4:6"
So we can actually talk to him about anything, any troubles we have - even if you're having a hard day. Just like you would talk to your friends or family.. But talking to God is so much more precious and special because He knows what we are thinking. He knows the thoughts and intents of our heart. So whether we are having a good day or a bad day, we can talk to God about it and know that He will hear us.
I would like to encourage you to spend time in prayer. Talk to God and read His word as well and know that we can have that fellowship with God. First of all we need to make sure we have confession of our sin.
I would also encourage you to look in your workbooks as well - there is an hour of prayer and there are different verses you can look at. It's toward the back of your workbook. It talks about the prayer closet. There are many verses in the bible that talk about praying in secret and that our Heavenly Father will reward us openly.
"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." -Matthew 6:6
God wants to answer our prayers He wants to hear from us. I would encourage you to spend time in prayer with the Lord, and also read Matthew 6:9-13 (The Lords Prayer.)
It says we ought to pray according to Gods will that he would be glorified.
So when we ask God for things we shouldn't be selfish and think of ourselves, we should think about God and who He is and that He would get the glory.
Thanks for taking the time to watch this and I hope it's been an encouragement to you!
God Bless
