Prayer
By Pastor Gaetano Sicilia

I want to consider some very important words by Jesus Christ on the subject of Prayer.

John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, And it shall be done for you.”

Notice immediately the tiny YET ALL important word “IF.” That small word makes the point that getting your prayers answered is conditional. So many people and Christians as well, have believed that prayer is only conditional on the basis that one actually does pray, that is, speaks to God. Once that is accomplished then the onus is on God is to respond either in the positive or the negative.

In fact, the bible teaches that the actual act of prayer, speaking to God, is NOT SUFFICIENT in and of itself to guarantee God’s will to be accomplished in your life. Naturally, without the actual act of speaking to God, you have no hope in getting any answer at all but that is simply the start.

The Apostle said that there are two conditions to be met. If you’ll meet these two conditions you can ask whatever you will. Notice it says whatever you will.

The first is: “if you abide in me.” So you must be in Him before you can abide in Him.

How is someone in Him? The way you get into Christ is by being BORN AGAIN. I want you to notice that this is a JESUS term not a modern paraphrase that some church or denomination invented or coined to start some kind of a movement. You recall that Jesus said to Nicodemus, “no one enters the kingdom of God without being born again.“

John 3:1 “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’ 3 Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ 4 Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?’ 5 Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again.'”

Now consider what the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthian church,
2 Cor 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

So you can see that being born again is being in Christ. Once you get into Christ, you need to stay in good fellowship with Him. The way you stay in good companionship is through the Word of God, feeding or mediating on God’s Word and praying and fellowshipping with the Father.

1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Now in John 15:7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

Have you noticed that so many of the promises of the Bible are conditional? Even when it comes to being born again there are conditions that have to be met. Faith and Repentance are just simply examples of them.

Now thank God His Word gives you the means whereby the conditions can be met. For instance, faith is one of the conditions that has to be met but HE gives you the means whereby faith can be produced. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Romans 10:17

So here, Jesus said, If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you.

Now how important it is that His Words abide in us?
For His Words to abide in us they will have to get into us. The way His Words get into us is not just by reading the scripture. That’s important, but by meditating upon the scripture until it becomes a part of our inward being.

Let’s consider this second condition, that is of abiding in His words.

NKJ Joshua 1:8 "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

Take note of what He said? “This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth.”

Scholars tell us that the Hebrew word translated meditate can also be translated mutter. So the Word will not depart out of your mouth, but you shall mutter therein. Mutter therein day and night. In other words just keep saying the Word of God over and over to yourself. It will take hold after a while, and once it does it will control your life. That’s how His Words abide in you!

You should not only know them mentally and be able to quote them but you need to mutter/meditate day and night. Once you do that, then “you will make your way prosperous.”

YOU shall make your way . . . did you notice . . . YOU shall make YOUR way prosperous.

It does not say GOD will prosper you. He has already instructed you how to make your way prosperous. “Then you shall make your way prosperous, then you shall have good success.” Another translation says, “you shall be able to deal wisely in the affairs of life.”

Now some people pray “Lord, prosper me” and expect God to prosper them. They just think He’s going to do it on His own. No, He has given you His Word and told you how to prosper, how to be successful in your life. If you’re not doing His Word how are you going to get your prayers answered?

God, in His mercy with new Christians, will help them along for a while but then there comes a time when God expects more from them. You’ll have good success in your prayer life “if you abide in HIM and HIS WORDS abide in you.” You will have good success in your prayer life. Because God’s word is abiding in you, you can ask what you will and it will be done.

Here is a key to a great prayer life:

Find scriptures that promise you the things you are praying for. Get those scriptures firmly fixed in your heart, not just in your mind. The way you get them fixed in your heart is by meditating, day and night, day and night, day and night, repeatedly.

Another area of prayer is praying “in the spirit”, which, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is a tongue or language unknown to you. At times, as God wills, the language may be known to others in order to minister to them even though you don’t understand it.

Ephesians 6:18 (Amp)
18 “Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people.)”

Notice the phrase “in the Spirit.” Paul is talking about one very important kind of prayer where you pray and intercede for the body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 14:2
“For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.”

Weymouth Translation says “he speaks divine secrets.” In other words, you are talking secrets with God. You are praying out things that you ordinarily would not know about nor would you know how to pray. This is how you pray God’s divine will in any given situation.

1 Corinthians 14:14 (Amp)
14 “For if I pray in an [unknown] tongue, my spirit [by the Holy Spirit within me] prays, but my mind is unproductive [it bears no fruit and helps nobody].”

Note it is your spirit (the real you) that prays, it is not your body. In other words the Holy Spirit gives your spirit the language and helps you to utter or speak it. This means you must release the words from your spirit by yielding to the Holy Spirit and using your lips and tongue to speak as he gives utterance.

What is the result then?
1 Corinthians 14:15a (Amp)
15 “Then what am I to do? I will pray with my spirit [by the Holy Spirit that is within me], but I will also pray [intelligently] with my mind and understanding.”

1 Corinthians 14:18,19 (Amp)
18 “I thank God that I speak in [strange] tongues (languages) more than any of you or all of you put together; 19 Nevertheless, in public worship, I would rather say five words with my understanding and intelligently in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a [strange] tongue (language).”

If Paul spoke few words in tongues at church, where did he do all His speaking in tongues? He must have done a tremendous amount of or praying in the spirit all throughout the day and night. I encourage you to pray in the spirit often. Prayer is just speaking to God. Just talk to God as if you were talking to somebody because you are talking to SOMEBODY! REMEMBER, YOU HAVE TO DO THE TALKING!