Prayer is a VITAL part of our Christian life; it is our invitation to God asking Him to do something in our life. It is a time of fellowship with God where we spend time finding out what He wants for our life. It is also a time where we express praise, thanksgiving, worship, and appreciation for all the wonderful things God has done for us. Even as a Christian, if we don’t pray and invite God into those areas of our need, He won’t get involved. Even though we are His child, if we don’t spend time asking Him for His guidance, we will wander around in life without His knowledge, foreknowledge of the future, understanding, and wisdom. If we don’t take out time to express our appreciation for all the awesome things He has already done for us, He will stop helping us with our present and future.

In the world, with your body, and with Satan you were pushed, driven, lured, tempted, required, and made to do certain things, if you wanted to survive. Here is how your relationship with God works: Rev 3:20 (NIV) Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me. The world, your body, and Satan try to break the door down. If they can’t do that, they will bang on it, yell through it, try to tempt you into opening it, and try to make you think they can hurt you if you don’t open it. NOW, you are having to learn the gentle, loving, honoring, and gracious attitudes and treatment of God.

James 4:1 (NIV) What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You are used to having to fight for your rights; you are used to having to claw your way to the top; you are used to having to beat the competition; you are used to having to make sure you were heard; you were used to having to make sure you were respected, appreciated, and wanted; and, you were used to having to make sure you were good enough to be needed by those around you, BUT, NOT ANYMORE!

James 4:2a (NIV) You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. We all come into Christianity, God’s world, and our new life with our old training, experiences, and rules. We learned how to get our way; we learned how to win; we learned how to get ahead; we learned how to treat people; we learned how to get ourselves ready for life; and we learned how to have SELF-confidence, SELF-esteem, and SELF-centered attitudes.

James 4:2b (NIV) You do not have, because you do not ask God. Why don’t some Christians grow, mature, succeed, and win at life? The major reason most Christians live a frustrating, confusing, discouraging, and defeated life is because they don’t know how to pray. Jesus said in Matthew 7:11 (NIV): If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him! We have a lot to learn and a lot to UNLEARN.

Your next area of study is in the “Prayer Courses.” But, before you start that study, Jesus needs to help you take a look at all you will be studying in all the rest of the courses. The first major need you have is to learn how to talk to your heavenly Father. You don’t want to not have, because you do not ask God. In this series, Jesus will teach you how to pray about four major issues. He will be taking “The Lord’s Prayer” and teaching you how to use it to go on beyond being born again. He will teach you how to use it as a new christian. He will help you learn how to use this same prayer from Him to keep moving forward in your new life.

As you know, in “The Power Courses” through the course called: “How To Get The Power Life,” Jesus took you through “The Lord’s Prayer” located in Matthew 6:9-13 and helped you pray each part of it so you could be born again into your heavenly Father’s family. And, He helped you pray it so you could become a citizen of His eternal Kingdom. Then Jesus empowered you to obey Romans 10:8-10 and taught you how to confess that He is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. That gave you salvation and justification. Through salvation you were forgiven for all your past sins; through justification you were forgiven of all your present and future sins.

Jesus is NOW teaching you how to pray His Lord’s prayer for each day’s issues; and, He is teaching you how to use it to grow in each stage of your life. Jesus told us to pray His prayer that we call “The Lord’s Prayer;” it is a daily prayer that contains the basic aspects that address your needs for each day. However, if you start praying this prayer everyday, some unhelpful things can happen to this time of prayer. So, Jesus has and is helping you look at His prayer from four different perspectives. Jesus already took you through the first one for being born again. Now, He is ready to take you into three more.

There are four courses on “the Lord’s prayer,” one is found in “The Power Courses.” It is called: “How To Get The Power Life.” It is “The Lord’s Prayer” for becoming a Christian and getting Jesus’ POWER to live your new life. The next three courses on “The Lord’s Prayer” are found in your next series of studies. This next series is called: “The Prayer Courses.” Jesus will be taking you through these three courses called: “The Lord’s Prayer For New Christians,” “The Lord’s Prayer For Sinning Christians,” and “The Lord’s Prayer For Mature Christians.” He taught you His prayer on “How To Get The Power Life” from one perspective so you could become a child of God. Now He is teaching it from three different perspectives so you can grow and mature into an adult child of God.

In “The Prayer Courses,” there is one more course that isn’t based on “The Lord’s Prayer.” In the final course, “Talking With Your Heavenly Father,” Jesus will use the book of James to help you examine vital spiritual issues. Then He will use some prayers prayed by David to help you get God’s help. He will work on prayers you will need to pray AFTER you have prayed “The Lord’s Prayer” for that day. As He uses the Scriptures in the book of James, He will help you with specific issues you will face in life. These Scriptures will address spiritual issues that are hurting you and your relationships with others. Then He will help you pray a prayer from the Psalms of David to get healing from it.

Prayers you pray over your dinner, prayers you memorize and pray all the time, and praying “The Lord’s Prayer” can become a habit that is prayed without any real meaning or feeling. If it is just a ritual that you fulfill each day because you feel you are supposed to, then you will do it just to get it out of the way. Prayer is too vital for you to just do it as a ritual; it is all about a relationship with your heavenly Father. He is listening and responding to every word you speak. Ritual prayer is like a person talking to you while thinking about something else. They are distracted, uninterested in you, and just going through the motions. We don’t like talking with people like that.

Through this study, Jesus leads you into a process of praying “The Lord’s Prayer” on a daily basis. Jesus shows you HOW to do what He told you to do; AND, He helps you do it through the prayer He gave you to pray. He teaches you how to use this great prayer He developed Himself; and, He shows you how to apply it to the life and spiritual growth of a new or untrained Christian. This starts the new or untrained Christian’s day off with great power and blessings. It is a general, foundational prayer that is to precede all the other prayers you pray that day.

EVERY Christian, new or old, makes mistakes, commits misdeeds of their body, and does things that the Holy Spirit is trying to help them address. In this study, Jesus helps you pray this daily prayer while approaching it during those times when you have sinned, failed, fallen short, or made a spiritual or relational mistake. He will take you through this general, foundational prayer that MUST precede all the other prayers you pray that day. He uses it to take care of any blockages you have between you and your heavenly Father. Sometimes God isn’t responding to other prayers because He is waiting for you and Jesus to take care of this issue FIRST.

Jesus uses this study to serve two purposes; He uses it to help mature Christians pray this daily prayer so as to continue to grow. He also uses it to help those who are new or untrained Christians to grow into a mature, adult Christian. He does this to help us all keep praying “The Lord’s Prayer” every day for the rest of our lives.

In the previous studies, Jesus dealt with your relationship with God. In this study, Jesus helps you learn how to talk to your heavenly Father and Him talk to you. All of the things Jesus taught you through “The Lord’s Prayer” about your heavenly Father and the way He thinks and feels will help you move into this more specific study. As you move into “Talking With Your Heavenly Father,” Jesus will use those things you learn from the previous studies. This will help you be able to pray and get the results you need. If you know your heavenly Father and understand Him, you will talk with Him and listen to Him with great skill and effectiveness.

Prayer is the way for you to not only TALK TO your heavenly Father, it is also a way to LISTEN TO His answers and comments. Even though God doesn’t typically use words and sentences, He does use thoughts and feelings. If you could connect to the thoughts and feeling of another person, you wouldn’t need words. You would know what they were thinking and feeling by seeing what they see and feeling what they feel. This is a very powerful way of getting to know your heavenly Father. As Jesus teaches you how to recognize the GENTLE thoughts and feelings that He puts in your mind and heart, you will start getting His guidance for your life.