Beloved, I am happy to share with you today on remarkable prayers and its characteristics. As you may have noted, not all prayers could be granted. Let’s stress on remarkable ones since they help on how to talk to the Almighty God in the way that he hears us. In fact, when in accordance to his will, prayers are granted.
We did mention at the beginning of this teaching that our prayers remain that you receive blessings so that your change completely, only if you obey to his commandments by putting them in practice.
Charateristics of prayers:
A – Shortness, which is strongly commended:
Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 1 Put your feet down with care when you go to the house of God, for it is better to give ear than to make the burned offerings of the foolish, whose knowledge is only of doing evil. 2 Be not unwise with your mouth, and let not your heart be quick to say anything before God, because God is in heaven and you are on the earth–so let not the number of your words be great 3 As a dream comes from much business, so the voice of a foolish man comes with words in great number.
Matthew 6:7 And in your prayer do not make use of the same words again and again, as the Gentiles do: for they have the idea that God will give attention to them because of the number of their words.
B – Particulars supplications:
- Genesis 18:32
And he said, O let not the Lord be angry and I will say only one word more: by chance there may be ten there. And he said, I will have mercy because of the ten.
- Genesis 32:10
I am less than nothing in comparison with all your mercies and your faith to me your servant; for with only my stick in my hand I went across Jordan, and now I have become two armies.
- Numbers 14:13-18
13 And Moses said to the Lord, Then it will come to the ears of the Egyptians; for by your power you took this people out from among them; 14 And they will give the news to the people of this land: they have had word that you, Lord, are present with this people, letting yourself be seen face to face, and that your cloud is resting over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you put to death all this people as one man, then the nations who have had word of your glory will say, 16 Because the Lord was not able to take this people into the land which he made an oath to give them, he sent destruction on them in the wasteland. 17 So now, may my prayer come before you, and let the power of the Lord be great, as you said: 18 The Lord is slow to wrath and great in mercy, overlooking wrongdoing and evil, and will not let wrongdoers go free; sending punishment on children for the sins of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation.
- 2 Kings 20:3
O Lord, keep in mind how I have been true to you with all my heart, and have done what is good in your eyes. And Hezekiah gave way to bitter weeping.
- Psalms 71:18
Now when I am old and grey-headed, O God, give me not up; till I have made clear your strength to this generation, and your power to all those to come.
- Jeremiah 14:20
We are conscious, O Lord, of our sin and of the wrongdoing of our fathers: we have done evil against you.
- Daniel 9:18
O my God, let your ear be turned and give hearing; let your eyes be open and see how we have been made waste and the town which is named by your name: for we are not offering our prayers before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercies.
C – Example of remarkable prayers
- Abraham
Genesis 18:23 And Abraham came near, and said, Will you let destruction come on the upright with the sinners?
- Jacob, at Peniel
Genesis 32:25-29 25 But when the man saw that he was not able to overcome Jacob, he gave him a blow in the hollow part of his leg, so that his leg was damaged. 26 And he said to him, Let me go now, for the dawn is near. But Jacob said, I will not let you go till you have given me your blessing. 27 Then he said, What is your name? And he said, Jacob. 28 And he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome. 29 Then Jacob said, What is your name? And he said, What is my name to you? Then he gave him a blessing.
- David, when he was refused the privilege of building the temple
2 Samuel 7:18-24 18 Then David the king went in and took his seat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have been my guide till now? 19 And this was only a small thing to you, O Lord God; but your words have even been about the far-off future of your servant’s family, O Lord God! 20 What more may David say to you? for you have knowledge of your servant, O Lord God. 21 Because of your word and from your heart, you have done all this great work, and let your servant see it. 22 Truly you are great, O Lord God: there is no one like you and no other God but you, as is clear from everything which has come to our ears. 23 And what other nation in the earth, like your people Israel, did a god go out to take for himself, to be his people, and to make a name for himself, and to do great and strange things for them, driving out a nation and its gods from before his people? 24 But you took and made strong for yourself your people Israel, to be your people for ever; and you, Lord, became their God.
- Solomon, at Gibeon
1 Kings: 3-6 And Solomon said, Great was your mercy to David my father, as his life before you was true and upright and his heart was true to you; and you have kept for him this greatest mercy, a son to take his place this day.
- Solomon, during the dedicating
1 Kings 8:22-26 22 Then Solomon took his place before the altar of the Lord, all the men of Israel being present, and stretching out his hands to heaven, 23 Said, O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on the earth; keeping faith and mercy unchanging for your servants, while they go in your ways with all their hearts. 24 And you have kept the word which you gave to your servant David, my father; with your mouth you said it and with your hand you have made it come true this day. 25 So now, O Lord, the God of Israel, let your word to your servant David, my father, come true, when you said, You will never be without a man to take his place on the seat of the kingdom of Israel before me, if only your children give attention to their ways, walking before me as you have done. 26 So now, O God of Israel, it is my prayer that you will make your word come true which you said to your servant David, my father.
- Hezekiah, during Sennacherib’s invasion
2 Kings 19: 15-19 15 And Hezekiah made his prayer to the Lord, saying, O Lord, the God of Israel, seated between the winged ones, you only are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 16 Let your ear be turned to us, O Lord, and let your eyes be open, O Lord, and see; take note of all the words of Sennacherib who has sent men to say evil against the living God. 17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have made waste the nations and their lands, 18 And have given their gods to the fire; for they were no gods, but wood and stone, the work of men’s hands; so they have given them to destruction. 19 But now, O Lord our God, give us salvation from his hands, so that it may be clear to all the kingdoms of the earth that you and only you, O Lord, are God.
1 Chronicles 17: 16-27 16 Then David the king went in and took his seat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have been my guide till now? 17 And this was only a small thing to you, O God; but your words have even been about the far-off future of your servant’s family, looking on me as on one of high position, O Lord God. 18 What more may David say to you? for you have knowledge of your servant. 19 O Lord, because of your servant, and from your heart, you have done all these great things and let them be seen. 20 O Lord, there is no one like you, and no other God but you, as is clear from everything which has come to our ears. 21 And what other nation in the earth, like your people Israel, did a god go out to take for himself, to be his people, making his name great and to be feared, driving out the nations from before your people whom you made free and took out of Egypt? 22 For your people Israel you made yours for ever; and you, Lord, became their God. 23 And now, Lord, let your words about your servant and about his family be made certain for ever, and do as you have said. 24 So let your words be made certain and your name be made great, when men say, The Lord of armies is the God of Israel; and when the family of David your servant is made strong before you. 25 For you, O my God, have let your servant see that you will make him head of a line of kings; and so it has come into your servant’s heart to make his prayer to you. 26 And now, O Lord, you are God, and you have said you will give this good thing to your servant: 27 And now you have been pleased to give your blessing to the family of your servant, so that it may go on for ever before you; you, O Lord, have given your blessing, and a blessing will be on it for ever.
- Ezra, for the sins of the people
Ezra 9:6-15 6 I said, O my God, shame keeps me from lifting up my face to you, my God: for our sins are increased higher than our heads and our evil-doing has come up to heaven. 7 From the days of our fathers till this day we have been great sinners; and for our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been given up into the hands of the kings of the lands, to the sword and to prison and to loss of goods and to shame of face, as it is this day. 8 And now for a little time grace has come to us from the Lord our God, to let a small band of us get free and to give us a nail in his holy place, so that our God may give light to our eyes and a measure of new life in our prison chains. 9 For we are servants; but our God has not been turned away from us in our prison, but has had mercy on us before the eyes of the kings of Persia, to give us new strength to put up again the house of our God and to make fair its waste places, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem. 10 And now, O our God, what are we to say after this? for we have not kept your laws, 11 Which you gave to your servants the prophets, saying, The land into which you are going, to take it for a heritage, is an unclean land, because of the evil lives of the peoples of the land and their disgusting ways, which have made the land unclean from end to end. 12 So now do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or do anything for their peace or well-being for ever; so that you may be strong, living on the good of the land, and handing it on to your children for a heritage for ever. 13 And after everything which has come on us because of our evil-doing and our great sin, and seeing that the punishment which you, O God, have given us, is less than the measure of our sins, and that you have kept from death those of us who are here; 14 Are we again to go against your orders, taking wives from among the people who do these disgusting things? would you not be angry with us till our destruction was complete, till there was not one who got away safe? 15 O Lord God of Israel, righteousness is yours; we are only a small band which has been kept from death, as at this day: see, we are before you in our sin; for no one may keep his place before you because of this.
- Daniel, for the Jew prisoners
Daniel 9:4-27 4 And I made prayer to the Lord my God, putting our sins before him, and said, O Lord, the great God, greatly to be feared, keeping your agreement and mercy with those who have love for you and do your orders; 5 We are sinners, acting wrongly and doing evil; we have gone against you, turning away from your orders and from your laws: 6 We have not given ear to your servants the prophets, who said words in your name to our kings and our rulers and our fathers and all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness is yours, but shame is on us, even to this day; and on the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, and on all Israel, those who are near and those who are far off, in all the countries where you have sent them because of the sin which they have done against you. 8 O Lord, shame is on us, on our kings and our rulers and our fathers, because of our sin against you. 9 With the Lord our God are mercies and forgiveness, for we have gone against him; 10 And have not given ear to the voice of the Lord our God to go in the way of his laws which he put before us by the mouth of his servants the prophets. 11 And all Israel have been sinners against your law, turning away so as not to give ear to your voice: and the curse has been let loose on us, and the oath recorded in the law of Moses, the servant of God, for we have done evil against him. 12 And he has given effect to his words which he said against us and against those who were our judges, by sending a great evil on us: for under all heaven there has not been done what has been done to Jerusalem. 13 As it was recorded in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us: but we have made no prayer for grace from the Lord our God that we might be turned from our evil doings and come to true wisdom. 14 So the Lord has been watching over this evil and has made it come onus: for the Lord our God is upright in all his acts which he has done, and we have not given ear to his voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who took your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and made a great name for yourself even to this day; we are sinners, we have done evil. 16 O Lord, because of your righteousness, let your wrath and your passion be turned away from your town Jerusalem, your holy mountain: because, through our sins and the evil-doing of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a cause of shame to all who are round about us. 17 And now, give ear, O our God, to the prayer of your servant and to his request for grace, and let your face be shining on your holy place which is made waste, because of your servants, O Lord. 18 O my God, let your ear be turned and give hearing; let your eyes be open and see how we have been made waste and the town which is named by your name: for we are not offering our prayers before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercies. 19 O Lord, give ear; O Lord, have forgiveness; O Lord, take note and do; let there be no more waiting; for the honour of your name, O my God, because your town and your people are named by your name. 20 And while I was still saying these words in prayer, and putting my sins and the sins of my people Israel before the Lord, and requesting grace from the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; 21 Even while I was still in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at first when my weariness was great, put his hand on me about the time of the evening offering. 22 And teaching me and talking to me he said, O Daniel, I have come now to give you wisdom. 23 At the first word of your prayer a word went out, and I have come to give you knowledge; for you are a man dearly loved: so give thought to the word and let the vision be clear to you. 24 Seventy weeks have been fixed for your people and your holy town, to let wrongdoing be complete and sin come to its full limit, and for the clearing away of evil-doing and the coming in of eternal righteousness: so that the vision and the word of the prophet may be stamped as true, and to put the holy oil on a most holy place. 25 Have then the certain knowledge that from the going out of the word for the building again of Jerusalem till the coming of a prince, on whom the holy oil has been put, will be seven weeks: in sixty-two weeks its building will be complete, with square and earth work. 26 And at the end of the times, even after the sixty-two weeks, one on whom the holy oil has been put will be cut off and have no …; and the town and the holy place will be made waste together with a prince; and the end will come with an overflowing of waters, and even to the end there will be war; the making waste which has been fixed. 27 And a strong order will be sent out against the great number for one week; and so for half of the week the offering and the meal offering will come to an end; and in its place will be an unclean thing causing fear; till the destruction which has been fixed is let loose on him who has made waste.
- Habakkuk’s prayer
Habakkuk 3:1-19 1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, put to Shigionoth. 2O Lord, word of you has come to my ears; I have seen your work, O Lord; years come near make it clear; in wrath keep mercy in mind. 3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.( Selah). The heavens were covered with his glory, and the earth was full of his praise. 4 He was shining like the light; he had rays coming out from his hand: there his power was kept secret. 5 Before him went disease, and flames went out at his feet. 6 From his high place he sent shaking on the earth; he saw and nations were suddenly moved: and the eternal mountains were broken, the unchanging hills were bent down; his ways are eternal. 7 The curtains of Cushan were troubled, and the tents of Midian were shaking. 8 Was your wrath burning against the rivers? were you angry with the sea, that you went on your horses, on your war-carriages of salvation? 9 Your bow was quite uncovered. Selah. By you the earth was cut through with rivers. 10The mountains saw you and were moved with fear; the clouds were streaming with water: the voice of the deep was sounding; the sun did not come up, and the moon kept still in her place. 11 At the light of your arrows they went away, at the shining of your polished spear. 12 You went stepping through the land in wrath, crushing the nations in your passion. 13 You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of the one on whom your holy oil was put; wounding the head of the family of the evil-doer, uncovering the base even to the neck. Selah. 14 You have put your spears through his head, his horsemen were sent in flight like dry stems; they had joy in driving away the poor, in making a meal of them secretly. 15 The feet of your horses were on the sea, on the mass of great waters. 16 Hearing it, my inner parts were moved, and my lips were shaking at the sound; my bones became feeble, and my steps were uncertain under me: I gave sounds of grief in the day of trouble, when his forces came up against the people in bands. 17 For though the fig-tree has no flowers, and there is no fruit on the vine, and work on the olive comes to nothing, and the fields give no food; and the flock is cut off from its resting place, and there is no herd in the cattle-house: 18 Still, I will be glad in the Lord, my joy will be in the God of my salvation. 19 The Lord God is my strength, and he makes my feet like roes’ feet, guiding me on my high places.
- The Our Father
Matthew 6:9-13 9 Let this then be your prayer: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 10 Let your kingdom come. Let your pleasure be done, as in heaven, so on earth. 11 Give us this day bread for our needs. 12 And make us free of our debts, as we have made those free who are in debt to us. 13 And let us not be put to the test, but keep us safe from the Evil One.
- Intercession prayer of Jesus
John 17:1-26 1 Jesus said these things; then, lifting his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the time has now come; give glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you: 2 Even as you gave him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all those whom you have given to him. And this is eternal life: to have knowledge of you, the only true God, and of him whom you have sent, even Jesus Christ. 4 I have given you glory on the earth, having done all the work which you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, let me have glory with you, even that glory which I had with you before the world was. 6 I have given knowledge of your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world: yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your words. 7 Now it is clear to them that whatever you have given to me comes from you: 8 Because I have given them the words which you gave to me; and they have taken them to heart,and have certain knowledge that I came from you, and they have faith that you sent me. 9 My prayer is for them: my prayer is not for the world, but for those whom you have given to me, because they are yours 10 (All mine are yours, and yours are mine) and I have glory in them. 11 And now I will be no longer in the world, but they are in the world and I come to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name which you have given to me, so that they may be one even as we are one. 12 While I was with them I kept them safe in your name which you have given to me: I took care of them and not one of them has come to destruction, but only the son of destruction, so that the Writings might come true. 13 And now I come to you; and these things I say in the world so that they may have my joy complete in them. 14 I have given your word to them; and they are hated by the world, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you will take them out of the world, but that you will keep them from the Evil One. 16 They are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 17 Make them holy by the true word: your word is the true word. 18 Even as you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19And for them I make myself holy, so that they may be made truly holy. 20 My prayer is not for them only, but for all who will have faith in me through their word; 21 May they all be one! Even as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, so let them be in us, so that all men may come to have faith that you sent me. 22 And the glory which you have given to me I have given to them, so that they may be one even as we are one; 23 I in them, and you in me, so that they may be made completely one, and so that it may become clear to all men that you have sent me and that they are loved by you as I am loved by you. 24 Father, it is my desire that these whom you have given to me may be by my side where I am, so that they may see my glory which you have given to me, because you had love for me before the world came into being. 25 Father of righteousness, I have knowledge of you, though the world has not; and to these it is clear that you sent me; 26 And I have given to them knowledge of your name, and will give it, so that the love which you have for me may be in them and I in them.
- Paul, for the Ephesians
Ephesians 3: 14-21 14 For this cause I go down on my knees before the Father, 15 From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 That in the wealth of his glory he would make you strong with power through his Spirit in your hearts; 17 So that Christ may have his place in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and based in love, 18 May have strength to see with all the saints how wide and long and high and deep it is, 9 And to have knowledge of the love of Christ which is outside all knowledge, so that you may be made complete as God himself is complete. 20 Now to him who is able to do in full measure more than all our desires or thoughts, through the power which is working in us, 21 To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations for ever and ever. So be it.
Our prayers strengthen you all to get maximum profits from the above remarkable payers.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite anyone who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me as follows :
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I acknowledge that I have sinned against you and ask forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as my Lord and personal Savior. I acknowledge that you died on the cross of Calvary and that you rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me each day to eternal life you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal to me and strengthen my heart and my faith so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me in your divine family so that I too can contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
To you all adoration, power, and glory, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be glad to revert on queries that you may have, before sharing next week on examples of intercession prayers, cries to God, as well as on positions when you pray.
May the Almighty God bless you in abundance.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.