Allow the Bible to remind us of what prayer is NOT. Learn 4 principles through an Old Testament story of God’s people learning to pray. Consider what true prayer should look like in our OWN life

Matthew 6:5 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.

Matthew 6:7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

Matthew 6:8 Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Luke 11:1 "Teach us to pray”

1 Thessalonians 5 … 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer

Ecclesiastes 5:2 God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

Learn 4 principles through an Old Testament story of God’s people learning to pray.

Exodus 2:23 The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

FIRST PRINCIPLE: Prayer begins by simply crying out.

“When God is waiting, he isn’t waiting to get himself ready, he is waiting to get us ready.”

Exodus 14:21-22 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

Joshua 3:3 When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it.

Joshua 3:4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.

SECOND PRINCIPLE: We have to seek to follow the Presence of God, because we have never been this way before.

Joshua 3:15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing.

THIRD PRINCIPLE: Most of the time, God moves as we obey.

2 Wrong Approaches: 1) Action without prayer 2) Prayer without action

Biblical Approach: Pray, Move, Pray, Participate

Joshua 3:17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

FOURTH PRINCIPLE: Don’t forget what God has done. Don’t miss what he is doing now.

Consider what true life of prayer and seeking God should look like in our OWN life.

James 4:2 You do not have because you do not ask God.

James 5:13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray.

Matthew 6:25 Do not worry about your life … Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Matthew 6:33-34 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Where do you need revival? … healing? … rescuing?

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence.