www'praytimer'org

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Chapter 1

• www.praytimer.org

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The Purpose of the PrayTimer Software and Bible
Study. A tool to help people who struggle to find
real time for real prayer. Helps maximize,
organize, and expand the believers prayer time.
Provides tools for individuals, prayer
coordinators, and church staff to manage, print,
and distribute personal, congregational, or small
group prayer requests. The Bible study sessions
help believers and unbelievers discover the
source of effective prayer.
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Chapter OneFollowing Christ in Biblical Prayer

• Satan hates prayer. He prefers that believers
• do anything except pray.
• Even people who believe in prayer and have seen
• its power wake up one morning to discover that
• their prayer life is powerless.
• Many desire to renew a personal passion for
• prayer. Believers know in their spirit that
• obedience to the living Lord means responding
• with a lifestyle that allows unceasing prayer
  (see
• 1 Thess. 517).
• Dont rely on processes and models to program
• prayer (see Zech. 46).

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Biblical Prayer

• Prayer is popular.
• People pray for 5 minutes or less a day.
• George Barna indicates that 83 of North
  Americans pray during a typical week, but only
  39 consider themselves born again Christians.
• 9 out of 10 adults believe they know all of the
  basic teachings of Christianity very well.
• Where does a person begin to renew a personal
  passion to pray unceasingly?

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Becoming a Follower of Jesus

• Prayer flows from our personal relationship with
  Jesus.
• Jesus said, Follow Me (Matt. 419).
• Believers should share a clear call for people to
  follow Jesus.
• The followers of Jesus Christ were first called
  Christians in the first century (see Acts 1126).
• The followers of Jesus should act like Him so
  there is no doubt that they are Christians.

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First, The Creator God Wants a Relationship with
His Creation

• Creator and creation
• People need a relationship with the Creator God.
• Peace only comes through Him.
• God is worthy of our absolute trust in His love
  and justice.
• A broken relationship with Jesus is the primary
  reason for prayerlessness or ineffective prayer.
• God seeking humankind
• Much of the Bible is God seeking humankind to
  restore His relationship with them.
• Romans 125 they exchanged truth of God for a
  lie.

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• Humans are not satisfied with religious rituals
  and self-centered accumulation of wealth.
• We must meet God on His terms.
• Our knowing about God is dependent on biblical,
  consistent prayer and Bible study.
• Confronting the lies of the culture
• Satan has blinded people from the truth.
• All of creation points to a Creator.
• God is taking the initiative to bring His
  creation to relationship with Him.
• God sent Jesus to show humankind how to know the
  Creator.
• Humankind must admit to themselves and to God
  that He is Creator.

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Second, Humankinds Problem is Disobeying God and
Not Knowing What God Wants

• Sin is to disobey God (see Rom. 323)
• Our problem is we want to instruct the Creator.
• There is no degree of acceptable sin. Sin
  undermines effective prayer.
• God is holy
• Any sin carries the consequence of being
  separated from God (see Rom. 623).
• The culture teaches people that they will not go
  to hell.
• Hell is horrible (see Luke 1619-31)
• People going to hell is not Gods choice but
  ours.
• Every Christian is commanded to warn people away
  from hell.

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• Being good is not enough
• Allowing Jesus to replace good activities with
  moral change (holiness) is the only way to
  heaven.
• The Bible is the primary way to learn what God
  wants for and from His creation.
• Humans must determine what authority they will
  follow.
• Confess and repent (see Acts 2620)
• People must admit to God that His way is better
  than their way.
• We must to admit (confess) that we have disobeyed
  Him.
• We should to know Gods requirements.
• Begin a life of obedience to the teachings of
  Jesus (see 1 Sam. 1522).

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Third, God Provided the Solution to our Problem
through Jesus

• Jesus is the only way to God
• God sent His only Son to pay for our disobedience
  (see John 316,1461 Pet. 318).
• The individuals response is to accept Gods
  solution through Jesus.
• Consequences of choosing our way are severe.
• Jesus death on the cross was so significant that
  it affected all of time and all of history.
• False religion
• False religion tries to convince humans that
  changing behavior and activities results in
  becoming a moral person (see Matt. 2315-19).

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• Becoming a Christian is more than just changing
  behavior or believing in God (see Jas. 219).
• Relationships change ritual prayer.
• A personal relationship with Christ replaces all
  religious pretense. It transforms prayer from a
  ritual into communication with our Lord.
• Confessing Jesus as Lord (see Rom. 109-10)
• We become just through Christ. People cannot
  earn their justification.
• Being sure about your salvation
• Satan will try to bring doubt and discouragement
  into the believers life.
• Christians cannot lose their salvation (see Rom.
  838-39 1 John 513).

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• Growing as a healthy Christian
• Every living thing needs nourishment to survive
  and grow (see Rom. 121).
• Christians grow as they choose to let Jesus be
  Lord of every part of their life.
• Seek to become a living and holy sacrifice to
  God.
• Worship includes becoming part of a local church
  (see Rom. 64).
• Baptism is a public symbol of what has happened
  on the inside of the new believer (see Acts
  241).
• Renewing our mind comes with Bible study, prayer,
  and worship.
• Healthy Christians automatically begin to tell
  others about Christ.
• Jesus said that He came to seek and to save that
  which was lost (Luke 1910).
• He who wins souls is wise (see Prov. 1130).

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Conclusion

• A vibrant prayer life flows from a relationship
  with the Creator God. His enemy, Satan, seeks to
  confuse and distort the biblical facts about
  prayer. God has taken the initiative to
  communicate with His creation through prayer.