Matt. 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
Matt. 7:7-8 "Ask..."
Handout: Prevailing Prayer Booklet
Handout in other formats:
Matt. 6:9 "In this manner pray...."
Handout:
1 John 5:14,15 "...if we ask anything according to His will...."
Handout:
Ps. 66:18 "If I regard iniquity...."
Reasons Our Prayers are Not Answered
John 17:21 "...that they all may be one...."
Rom. 12:18 "...as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men."
F. B. Meyer: Where is Abel Your Brother
Eph. 5:20 "...giving thanks always for all things to God...."
Php 4:6 "...in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving...."
Handout: Purpose of Trials
Luke 11:8 "...because of his persistence...."
This was shared at the Wednesday evening prayer meeting following the formal end of the week of prayer on Sabbath morning.
Handout: Persist
Asking...
"Prayer and faith are the arms by which the soul hangs upon the neck of infinite love, and grasps the hand of infinite power."—Letter 301, 1904, p. 4
"None can believe how powerful prayer is, and what it is able to effect, but those who have learned it by experience. It is a great matter when in extreme need to take hold on prayer. I know whenever I have prayed earnestly that I have been amply heard, and have obtained more than I prayed for. God indeed sometimes delayed, but at last He came."—Martin Luther
"An appeal to Heaven by the humblest saint is more to be dreaded by Satan than the decrees of cabinets or the mandates of kings."—Prayer, p. 89.3
"The prayer of faith is the great strength of the Christian, and will assuredly prevail against Satan. This is why he insinuates that we have no need of prayer. The name of Jesus, our Advocate, he detests; and when we earnestly come to Him for help, Satan’s host is alarmed. It serves his purpose well if we neglect the exercise of prayer, for then his lying wonders are more readily received."—Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 296
"This way of living brings the Lord remarkably near, He is, as it were, morning by morning inspecting our stores, that accordingly He may send help. Greater and more manifest nearness of the Lord’s presence I have never had, than when after breakfast there were no means for dinner, and then the Lord provided the dinner for more than one hundred persons; or when, after dinner, there were no means for the tea, and yet the Lord provided the tea; and all this without one single human being having been informed about our need."—George Müller, Narratives
"The church may be composed of those who are poor and uneducated; but if they have learned of Christ the science of prayer, the church will have power to move the arm of Omnipotence. The true people of God will have an influence that will tell upon hearts. It is not the wealth or the educated ability which the members of the church may possess that constitutes their efficiency. The members of the church may have been so situated that they may have had every spiritual advantage, they may have been so situated that they have had opportunity to know the truth, to know Jesus Christ their Lord; but notwithstanding their advantages, if they are not humble, praying men and women, there will not be with them the hiding of the power of God."—Signs of the Times, September 11, 1893 Par. 4
"...not praying is a clear proof that a man is not yet a true Christian. He cannot really feel his sins. He cannot love God. He cannot feel himself a debtor to Christ. He cannot long after holiness. He cannot desire heaven. He has yet to be born again. He has yet to be made a new creature. He may boast confidently of election, grace, faith, hope, and knowledge, and deceive ignorant people. But you may rest assured it is all vain talk if he does not pray…. And I say, furthermore, that of all the evidences of the real work of the Spirit, a habit of hearty private prayer is one of the most satisfactory that can be named. A man may preach from false motives. A man may write books and make fine speeches and seem diligent in good works, and yet be a Judas Iscariot. But a man seldom goes into his closet, and pours out his soul before God in secret, unless he is in earnest. The Lord himself has set his stamp on prayer as the best proof of a true conversion. When he sent Ananias to Saul in Damascus, he gave him no other evidence of his change of heart than this, "Behold, he prayeth" (Acts 9: 11).”—J. C. Ryle
"The condition of the church may be very accurately gauged by its prayer meetings. So is the prayer meeting a grace-ometer, and from it we may judge of the amount of divine working among a people. If God be near a church, it must pray. And if He be not there, one of die first tokens of His absence will be a slothfulness in prayer!"—Charles Spurgeon
Prayer and doing God's will...
They that are abiding in Jesus have the assurance that God will hear them, because they love to do his will. They offer no formal, wordy prayer, but come to God in earnest, humble confidence, as a child to a tender father, and pour out the story of their grief and fears and sins, and in the name of Jesus present their wants; they depart from his presence rejoicing in the assurance of pardoning love and sustaining grace."—Review and Herald, September 11, 1883 par. 16
Regarding hinderances...
"Many think they have not time to pray, or that it would be useless to pray if they had time. They indulge themselves in the gratification of unholy desires. They cherish unchristlike traits of character, and the least crossing of their will arouses their combativeness and upsets their temper. While they are thus unemptied of self, and unwilling to renounce their evil way, they cannot expect to receive answers to their prayers; for evil tempers and corrupt indulgences will make prayer of none effect."—Bible Echo, February 15, 1893
"Prayer is the best response to hatred."—Spurgeon
Regarding Praise...
“To praise God in fulness and sincerity of heart is as much a duty as is prayer. We are to show to the world and to all the heavenly intelligences that we appreciate the wonderful love of God …, and that we are expecting larger and yet larger blessings from His infinite fulness. . . . After a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit, our joy in the Lord and our efficiency in His service would be greatly increased by recounting His goodness and His wonderful works in behalf of His children. These exercises drive back the power of Satan. They expel the spirit of murmuring and complaint, and the tempter loses ground. ... No more effective means can be employed for winning souls to Christ."—Christ's Object Lessons, pp. 299, 300
"Nothing tends more to promote health of body and of soul than does a spirit of gratitude and praise. It is a positive duty to resist melancholy, discontented thoughts and feelings—as much a duty as it is to pray."—Ministry of Healing, 251
"We do not pray any too much, but we are too sparing of giving thanks. If the loving-kindness of God called forth from our hearts more thanksgiving and praise, we should have far more power in prayer. We should abound more and more in the love of God, and have more bestowed to praise him for. You who complain that God does not hear your prayers, change the present order, and mingle praise with your petitions. When you consider his goodness and mercies, you will find that he will consider your wants."—Bible Echo, January 1, 1888 Par. 9