 Good morning everyone. How are you doing today? It's very cold. Are you feeling sleepy? Yeah try not to sleep okay because it's still morning so focus. I don't know how the weather is for all the others online but yeah your attention is required so please try to focus okay so let's pray and we will begin. Would anyone like to pray? You can use the mic and pray somebody in class. You can volunteer so I'm not going to say who should pray. Dear Lord I thank you for today's class. I pray that we will all be focused and we'll gain some information. I pray for Pastor Nancy as she teaches us the word give her good guidance and wisdom to deliver the word to us and in Jesus name I pray Amen. Amen Thank you. Thank you for that. Alright so let's move ahead in what we were learning. We were learning about the different kinds of prayers and we talked about, I'll just enlist it for you, prayer of asking and receiving, prayer of supplication, prayer of intercession, prayer of thanksgiving, prayer of consecration, agreement, praying in the spirit or praying in tongues, prayer of repentance, confession, prayer of unburdening and today we will start with the prayer of faith for healing. So when we talk about healing one requirement is for the prayer to be a prayer of faith. Every prayer should be a prayer of faith not just healing but every prayer must be a prayer of faith. However we find that Apostle James specifically states that when we are praying for the healing of someone the prayer that should be prayed should have faith in it. So the passage is given here in our notes James chapter 5 verses 14 through 16 and verse 15 I'll just read verse 15 it says and the prayer of what? Prayer of faith, okay. Prayer of faith will save the sick. So there is an assurance that God has given us when we pray with faith especially for healing. So when we pray for someone who is unwell we know that yes we are praying but faith do we have faith in our hearts that God is a healer and that he can heal the person who has whatever condition. So that is a very important thing carrying faith when we pray particularly for healing. So praying with faith is what will bring recovery to the sick. Now there is another incident given here with the help of Acts chapter 28 it's a time when Paul is on a particular island. He is there and he stays there for a bit and he finds a man who is not well. So in verse 8 of Acts 28 it says and it happened that the father of a Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went into him and prayed and he laid his hands on him and healed him. So what kind of prayer did Paul pray? Obviously it was a prayer of faith and that is why there is healing that happens in the life of this person. So this is something to remember but we will talk maybe more about this in other courses. There is one course only about healing and deliverance. How to minister healing and deliverance. So we will study that course in greater depth. So this is something which is sufficient for now to understand that when we pray for healing we should have faith in our hearts. Now let's move on. The next kind of prayer here is prayer of waiting. So in this prayer we simply wait upon the Lord. What is waiting upon the Lord? Is God late? Is he getting late? Yeah he's never late. He's an on-time God. Time is something that he has designed so you know time doesn't limit him. But what is this wait for the Lord? Wait on the Lord. Wait that's right. With faith. Okay yeah so with faith you're trusting God and you're in his presence and waiting in his presence. But my question is why wait? God is testing us. Okay fine go ahead yeah. Patience. Okay God is expecting patience from us. Okay go ahead I'm not saying right or wrong so you can just share your thoughts. God's timing. Sunday says God's timing. Wait on the Lord. We saw that scripture from the Psalms. Wait I say on the Lord. So what is this waiting? Okay prayer. Okay fine. So all of you are thinking along that's wonderful. Lucy says for things to happen at the right time God's plan is perfect. Great. So yes of course we wait on the Lord for the fulfillment of his promises but the kind of waiting in prayer which we are talking about thankfully it's not because you know God is late it's not what happens when we go you know to take a train and you see oh it's delayed by one two hours and then you're waiting waiting waiting that's not the waiting. Waiting in prayer is something completely different waiting in prayer is when you're in the presence of God it's like you are with God and yes we are waiting for answers but it's not so much only for answers it's being with him. You understand just being in the presence of God that is a kind of a waiting where during supernatural you know sometimes worship happens so we are singing but then there are times when we are just there there's no music nobody's praying nobody's saying anything what are those moments those are the moments when you're really waiting God is there you are there you're waiting in the presence of God. It's important for us to have these moments in prayer because something happens to us when we are waiting with the Lord so there are all kinds of prayers different prayers in which we pray we ask we you know request we pray in the spirit so all kinds of prayers we've prayed but there is one kind where we are just with God maybe we are not saying anything but we are just there waiting in the presence of God you could be you could be just you know humming singing or even saying a couple of words that's okay that is still considered as you know waiting in God's presence but the point is we are in God's presence okay and the Bible promises us that when we wait upon the Lord they that wait upon the Lord or we are in God's presence what are the things that take place Isaiah chapter 40 verses 28 to 31 I would like to request somebody to read it it's in the notes but if you can even turn to it from the Bible let's see what happens when we wait upon the Lord yes have you not know have you not heard the everlasting God the Lord the creator of the ends of the earth neither faints nor is weary his understanding is unsearchable he gives power to the weak and to those who have no might he increases strength even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings like eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint okay thank you for that so this particular passage says that we may go into his presence weak but what does he do when we are in his presence he gives strength right he for those who have no might he increases strength and then it goes on to say that those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary so the key point is strength God is saying that when we are in his presence we our weakness will slowly fade away and we will receive a new strength renew their strength okay so this is very powerful so just being in God's presence is changing us it's transforming us from a place of weakness into a place of might or strength so there is something about the human spirit we will study in other courses regarding the spirit of man regarding the soul of man and regarding the body so every human being as per scripture 1st Thessalonians 523 it says that we are spirit soul and body we can only see the body and then we think that it's just the body that exists but you know there is other parts of who we are the spirit man the soul soulish part of us the soul is our mind our will and our emotions I won't get into this teaching it's just so that you are aware so what happens when we wait in the presence of the Lord God's presence affects every part of us so when we say healing sometimes we say we think only about our body and we think oh my body will be strengthened my weakness in the body will go away I'll be strong physically so when we are saying strength strength somewhere our understanding goes to that physical strength but you see there is an emotional man or an emotional person that all of us carry okay so when we say strength God imparts strength to our emotional man or or a soulish man and a soulish man has mind will emotions in our mind our thinking right God imparts strength the way we think the way we understand the way we analyze so our mind receives strength we also receive strength in our emotions maybe so there are all kinds of turmoil we're going through in our emotions maybe something has happened in our life we've had bad experiences we've had challenges growing up so our emotional person gets affected but we don't have to remain there God can give strength God can renew God can transform us into a stronger emotional person so there's a healing that takes place in our emotional man and I said will right what is will will is the capacity to make decisions sometimes our will can be very weak we don't make proper decisions we're scared to make decisions we postpone decisions all these things happen in the area of our will but when we are in the presence of God it affects our soulish man our will can be healed so we receive strength every part of who we are and of course our spirit man we can't see the spirit man but what happens to our spirit man you can imagine you can imagine yourself as maybe see the body we all know we can see the body we look into a mirror you can see yourself but there is another part of you inside you that you can't see which is your spirit man so if you imagine your spirit man as being very weak not being able to really grasp the things of God or fellowship with God just get a picture maybe you know when we say weak you can imagine a weak picture of a weak person but as you wait in the presence of the Lord your spirit man will become stronger and stronger and stronger you're developing your spiritual capacity right so the point is waiting upon the Lord is not wasting time sometimes we feel that hey it's got to be a little more exciting God what is this I'm just waiting I'm just praying I'm just in your presence what's happening God is doing something God is affecting he's affecting my body he's affecting my soul he's affecting my spirit maybe we can't tell now but you see things are being deposited into us that we will realize later hey what happened to me I am feeling stronger I I'm not this kind of a person I'm making better decisions I'm you know feeling strong emotionally what happened the strength of the Lord is being imparted to every part of who I am so that is the prayer of waiting so sometimes like the psalmist says he understood the value of waiting in God's presence he said just wait upon the Lord just be still be still and know that he's got just be there just be with God that in itself is a place where we are drawing strength from God is God strong yeah yeah he's so strong that is why you know Isaiah he writes um he never faints nor is weary right he does not have to sleep he does not have to take a rest he does not have to you know go for a retreat we need all those things because God is so strong he never gets tired okay and when we are with him we are waiting upon the Lord we are not wasting time but many things are happening one is God's strength is being imparted into our being every part of who we are and that is the importance of the prayer of waiting okay is that okay or anything more okay fine so let's move on we'll go to the next part which is the prayer of watching prayer of watching what does it mean when we say watching one connected word is watchman we know a watchman who waits at the entrance of a building to provide security so what is the function of a watchman he allows the right people to come in and he stops the wrong people from entering inside that's his duty so a watchman could stay before the building throughout the day or he could stay throughout the night but there is security which is being provided by the watchman so what is that one quality that a watchman needs to be a good watchman one quality if you have to select a watchman who will you select behavior okay behavior good behavior all that's fine but like one very important quality concentrate excellent alertness alertness is another word so somebody who can concentrate somebody who can focus somebody who can be alert why if they don't have uh alertness what will happen so dangerous anyone can come in they may not check the id card right they'll just say okay you look nice or use you talk nice or come inside gone you never know who that person is uh so alertness concentration focus is the most important thing for a watchman now look at Isaiah chapter 62 verses 6 and 7 um could somebody read it for us non-zing could you please read it Isaiah 62 verses 6 and 7 I have said watchmen on your walls oh Jerusalem they shall never hold your peace day or night you read you read you who make mentions of the Lord do not keep silent and give him to rest till he has to please and till he makes Jerusalem a place in the earth okay thank you so much so you notice here that as I was saying that God has set watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem so those days they had watchmen uh over cities and their responsibility was to stand and watch because the enemies could come uh and if a watchman notices from a far distance that something unusual is taking place he needs to immediately alert um the you know the whoever the king the warriors uh in the nation and then they would go out for war right uh in in in case it is required so uh the bible says that God has placed placed watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem to protect Jerusalem now one understanding that we get from here is that today you and I are the watchmen we are the watchmen that God works through um and especially in the area of prayer so what does that mean as a watchman I have to be alert in prayer so when I pray I can pray for the protection of whether it is my family or my city in this case it's the city so God has placed watchmen on the walls of a city so in the same way you and I when we pray for our city what happens exactly what happens in the case of a watchman the watchman stops some people the watchman allows some people so when we pray for our city what happens is we are stopping spiritual influences which are not good for our city but at the same time we are opening up the door for good spiritual influences or you can say God's work uh upon the city so the bible teaches us that we are the watchmen in prayer so imagine what did we say watchmen must be alert watchmen must have concentration focus the same thing is applicable to us so we need to pray we can pray for ourselves for protection against any kind of you know attack from the evil one or we can pray for protection for our families as I said earlier we can pray for protection for our church for our leadership for the city for the nation for the people and authority so God is calling the church and I say church it's all of us it's our responsibility to pray why because we are the watchmen now if we sleep what will happen if the watchman sleeps terrible terrible mistake so we need to be alert as the church of God and begin to pray always remember that our prayers will protect our prayers will um you know uh allow God's work to happen more powerfully and that is why we are being called as the watchmen over our city uh even at a time when Jesus was in the garden of Getseme he told his disciples it was a difficult time isn't it Jesus knew that he is going to go to the cross and at that time he told his disciples watch and pray meaning pray with alertness but what did the disciples do sleeping yeah I don't know what they were doing the previous day right uh yeah they just exhausted themselves and Jesus told them more than once he said why are you sleeping pray pray but here are these wonderful people happily gone off to sleep okay but Jesus told them you need to watch and pray meaning at a time like this I need your alertness you can't sleep okay or in other words um to be so sensitive and conscious spiritually so when we engage like this what happens whatever purposes God has for us those things will um begin to happen because somebody is there praying yeah we cannot be careless in these matters similarly when a Peter talks about the end times the end times before the return of the Lord Jesus again one point that he emphasizes to the church okay in first Peter chapter 4 and verse 7 um would anyone else be able to read this this one line first Peter 4 verse 7 but the end of all things but the end of all things is at hand so be serious and watchful in your prayer okay sure thank you so much but I think another person was also reading that scripture here that's all right so it says the end of all things is at hand so when things are culminating or they are closing off what does God expect he expects the church to be more prayerful okay so these are the times when we as a church need to be alert in prayer not like the disciples I hope like the disciples Jesus Jesus doesn't look at us and say uh watch and pray you couldn't even pray for one hour would you like Jesus to say that none of us would like that so be alert in prayer and as we do that you know God's protection God's work will happen in our lives so these are all the different categories of prayers today we covered the prayer of faith for healing prayer of waiting and prayer of watching so if there's anything that you would like to discuss regarding this we can and then we will move on to the next section here chapter five right so we have some understanding the most important thing is to use or to apply the different kinds of prayer and see the benefits of it now let's go to chapter five which talks about how to pray a believing prayer so a believing prayer is in the category of the prayer of asking and receiving so when we ask God what is one important ingredient or one important thing that we need in prayer you already gave me the answer I'm just asking you again faith faith yeah faith okay great so faith is what we need and that is why we're calling it how to pray a believing prayer which involves faith so how to pray this prayer there are some points we can consider the first one is to pray with a clear conscience a clear conscience let's read some okay let's just go to one John three versus 21 and 22 I'll ask Amman to read it Amman can you please read one John three 21 and 22 first John chapter three versus 21 and 22 it's towards the end of the New Testament okay are you there yet or sir can I read it it's okay sister we'll just wait for Amman to get it if that's okay with you please yeah thank you so much thank you I have not read written to you because you do not know the truth but because you know it and that no lie Amman could you check if the the number is correct I think you are in one John but the chapter may be different so just check that and then read please sorry ma'am that's okay we love if our hearts yeah perfect not condemn us we have confined confined toward God towards God yes confidence towards God yes move on what's the next was there and whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do those things that we are placing in his side okay great so thank you so it says that we will receive which is verse 22 whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his side which also shows us that we receive when we are in the right path or we are walking in righteousness we receive right but what does the previous verse say it says if our heart does not condemn us meaning very simple whenever we sit down to pray or whenever we stand up in prayer does our heart tell us anything that is not right you know we call it the the conviction of the Holy Spirit we call it you know our conscience our conscience feels guilty about something or you know we're just not feeling right maybe we said something wrong or maybe we did something wrong or maybe it could even be that we thought something wrong so what happens when when we are when you know we are we're not right with God when we come into God's presence God is holy and God is so holy that the heavenly hosts cry out holy holy holy because there is absolutely nothing evil or wrong or sinful in who God is so even if there's like we come in with something small but our conscience is pricking us what happens it affects our prayer okay so this is very important when I pray for something if there is something that is bothering me I need to repent and say God you know I you're reminding me of this okay I'm sorry I shouldn't have done that I shouldn't have said that I shouldn't have thought that please help me you know to make a change in this particular area so conscience is very important and especially when we are asking God for something because we are talking about a believing prayer now I may ask that God make me a very powerful preacher okay but what about my conscience because only I know why I am asking that prayer it sounds like a good prayer make me a very powerful preacher but maybe in my heart you know I'm thinking that everybody will like me I'll be so famous or I'm saying what else can can we say you know yeah my greatness will be known by all but what's happening here my conscience is not clear or my motive is not clear isn't it prayer is a good prayer prayer is correct but conscience is not clear so that has to be corrected that is when when my conscience is clear then God will hear us isn't it so my conscience should not condemn me so whenever we go to prayer or we go to pray if there's anything that is pricking our heart we need to deal with it right away and then continue in prayer because it's then that the prayer will get served okay so we usually call it like short accounts with God every day that is why Jesus when he taught us how to pray we'll go to that prayer in that prayer he the Lord's prayer it says forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us so every day we may have to pray that prayer because every day we remember I shouldn't have done that you know these things should not have happened so keep short accounts with God and correct ourselves each time and then we come back okay and now talking about conscience if our heart does not condemn us then we have what we ask for so our heart may even condemn us if we are praying wrong prayers like I shared earlier we may pray prayers such as God you know curse that person punish that person or put them down obviously my conscience is not right isn't it my heart will condemn me and say what kind of prayer is this why are you praying this prayer and even though I may use all the principles of prayer it won't work because my heart will condemn me hopefully I will be sensitive enough to recognize that within me okay so this is the first thing a clear conscience okay so when we are walking righteous and when our hearts are clear then God hears our prayer so let's look at first Peter chapter 3 verses 7 and 12 sister get through please go ahead sorry to have interrupted you earlier you can unmute and read please first Peter 3 7 and 12 like not sure if you know she's close to her system maybe someone else online can read it but the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men okay are you reading second Peter or is that first Peter sister I'm looking for first Peter 3 first Peter 3 oh I'm reading the second Peter first Peter 3 7 and 12 husband likewise husbands likewise well with them yes understanding giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel and as being as together of the grace of life that your prayers may not be hindered yes next one a verse 12 okay Lucy are you gonna read it I see you sister yeah please please go ahead for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to the prayers but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil okay great thank you so verse 12 there first Peter 3 verse 12 it says for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to the to their prayers but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil so God listens to our prayers how to get our prayers answered first of all he should listen to it when will he listen to it when we are walking righteous before the Lord but what does it say that he his face is against those who do evil so when we are walking in unrighteousness we may wonder hey how come I've done the course on prayer but God is not answering my prayer however we need to check whether you know we are is there anything that is affecting you know our relationship with God if there's anything that is wrong or unrighteous okay but praise God we learn as far as our identity in Christ is concerned that we are now the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus so every believer we are made righteous by the the sacrifice on the cross all right so that is one thing but of course there is also this additional thing of living the righteous life which is a part of our responsibility so when that happens our conscience again will be very clear and we can be confident that God will answer our prayers now another point over there is verse 7 which is in the context of a marriage where beta says husbands like if there is if husbands don't treat their wives well or 12 with understanding what can happen he's saying that even if this doesn't work out the prayers of the husbands will not be heard okay so God has revealed to us that in in every aspect of our lives we need to walk with the right conscience okay we need to walk in righteousness that's when our prayers become very effective and God is able to answer those prayers so just you know a simple understanding of having a clear conscience now we can move on to the next point here which says ask the father in Jesus name and we've looked at this earlier Jesus taught us before he went to the father he said till now you've not asked me anything but now you ask and you know I will do it for you but ask the father in the name of Jesus so whenever we pray a prayer and you want that prayer to be heard how should we pray it God give me God give me this God give me that amen short prayer God bless this food amen we can you know pray with some reverence first of all and then the next thing is in the name of Jesus because there is power there is authority in the name of Jesus okay there is so much we can learn about the name of Jesus but what happens in our Christian circles somewhere when we say in the name of Jesus it's just an indication that our prayer is going to close now somebody said in the name of Jesus prayer is going to get over praise the Lord you know so but it's beyond that in the name of Jesus means so much more in the name of Jesus is so powerful that your your prayer suddenly has become you know a prayer that God will hear because you have prayed it in the name of Jesus it carries authority it carries power okay when we pray in the name of Jesus so that's very important so when we pray a believing prayer pray it in the name of Jesus so usually we say we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus but this does not mean that we cannot talk to you know the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit but sometimes we do that we just say dear Jesus or Holy Spirit it's okay it's fine you can pray you can talk to God whichever way but then this is the manner in which God has taught us to pray a believing prayer to pray to the Father what do you want pray to the Father in the name of Jesus okay so that is the second point here the third one is pray according to God's revealed will this is crucial I've shared last time that when we pray our own desires without God's will then we can't expect those things to take place because it's not in the purpose of God for our lives we are only trying to push God or beg God let's say I'm asking God for something it is not in God's will it's it's very difficult to pray like that because somewhere I know God doesn't like this but still I keep saying God please make it happen please make it happen I'm begging him reason is I already know that's not something that God wants to do okay and we don't have any confidence when we pray prayers like this that God would even answer it okay so yeah anyway since most of the young people are sitting in front of me maybe I can share this example that you know particularly when it comes to finding a life partner what does the Bible say you must marry somebody who is in the Lord don't marry an unbeliever don't be unequally yoked to an unbeliever however what happens is you know believing young people they select somebody who is an unbeliever and then they start begging God they say God please please please you know I'll teach them about the Bible and you know I will pray for them I will fast and do everything because your desire is so much that this would work out but in the first place is it God's will that's the question if it is God's will then you pray with confidence but when it's not God's will we know it's the Bible clearly tells us please don't go down that path but we go down the path and then we are begging God but the important part is first of all that we figure out or we understand God what does your word say no what would be the right choice broadly in general what what is the instruction of God's word and then of course you know there are many other things that you know you need to look into in order to make such a big decision for your life but the point I'm making is God's will is something that I must first understand before I before I try to pray a believing prayer so whenever I pray in the will of God it's very much it's very easy because I already know that God wants this to happen then I don't have to struggle so much begging God pleading with God you know doing things like this so similarly many other things in God's word must be understood we need to know the revealed will of God so let's read two passages and then maybe we'll go for a break 1st John chapter 5 verses 14 and 15 so if anybody is there you can ask for the mic and read it yeah 1st John 5 now this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will we hear us and if we know that he hear us whatever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we have asked for him okay so can you go back again just read it again slowly now this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will we hear us okay so if we this is the confidence that we have that if we ask according to his will he hears us so the most the first thing that we want from God for our prayers to be answered is he should hear the prayer if it is in his will God will hear the prayer so that's what John is saying he say the confidence we have is that our prayer will get answered because God will hear it as it is in his will so whenever we pray a prayer which is in his will God hears it and when he has heard it we know that he will grant it because it's already in his will but what to do when we don't know the will of God is it possible to always know the will of God silence what is that I can't read your minds so is it possible to always know the will of God maximum voting for no okay no yeah no no okay I think that is the that no wins we're right now so with this suspense let's take a break okay you can have a good break let's come back in 10 minutes and then we'll answer this question all right okay thank you everyone God bless