Prayer: How to Talk to God                

Pastor Phil Derstine 8-24-25

If we Call, He will Answer

  • Psalm 145:18-19 “The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.   He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him: He also will hear their cry, and will save them.”
  • Jeremiah 33:3 “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
  • James 4:8 “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”  

The Protocol of His Presence – How to Come before the Lord (James 5:14-16)

I. Pray Submissively – James 5:14 “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”

  • II Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray…”
  • Isaiah 66:2 “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.”
  • James 4:6 “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”

II. Pray Scripturally – James 5:15 “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up;  and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

1.  God’s Word 

  • Psalm 107:20 “He sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”
  • Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

2.  Must believe

  • Mark 11:24 “What things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
  • Mark 9:23 “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”

3.  Confess it 

  • Romans 4:17 “… God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.”

4.  Name of Jesus 

  • John 14:14 “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”

5.  Blood of Jesus 

  • I Peter 2:24 “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.”

6.  Agreement 

  • Matthew 18:19 “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”
  • Matthew 16:19 “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed n heaven.”

7.  Laying on hands

  • Mark 16:18 “….They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

8.  Sacrifice (fasting)

  • Matthew 17:21 “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”

III. Pray Sincerely – James 5:16“Confess your faults one to another; and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.  The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

  • Effectual (Gr: energeo) – to put forth power, with Divine energy.
  • Romans 8:26 (NLT) “The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for.  But the Holy Spirit prays for us, with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.”
  • Luke 11:9 “Ask, and keep asking; seek, and keep seeking; knock, and keep knocking and it shall be opened.” 
  • Hebrews 11:6 “… He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”