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How To Pray

And all things,
Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer,
Believing, ye shall receive.
(Matthew 21: 22)

Whether you’re searching for God or a longtime believer, there’s a good chance you have questions about prayer

How do I talk to God?
Prayer is simply talking to God—and the most important thing I can say about this is that God wants you to talk to Him! He loves us and He has promised to hear us when we pray.

How can you learn to pray?
First, understand why prayer is possible.
Prayer is possible because Jesus Christ has removed the barrier between us and God—a barrier caused by our sins. You see, sin separates us from God, and because of that we have no right to come before Him. But by His death on the cross, Christ paid the penalty for our sins and removed the barrier. God then gives us the privilege of coming into His presence when we commit our lives to Christ.

The Bible says, “ Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need ” (Hebrews 4:16). If you have never done so, ask Christ to come into your life today.

Then understand that God now welcomes you into His presence and promises to hear you—and He cannot lie. The Bible says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14). Trust His promises and learn to bring every concern to Him in prayer.

Does God only hear us when we pray out loud or does He hear silent prayers also?
Don’t be embarrassed to ask questions when you don’t understand something about the Christian life; after all, God wants you to come to know Him more and more each day. Jesus’ disciples repeatedly asked for His help, and so should we. On one occasion they said, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1).

Yes, God hears our prayers on all occasions, whether we’re praying out loud or praying silently in our hearts and minds. After all, He knows all about us and knows what is going on inside us—both good and bad. The Bible says that God “judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). The Bible also says, “The Lord detests the thoughts of the wicked, but those of the pure are pleasing to him” (Proverbs 15:26).

God even hears our prayers when we can’t even put them into words—times, for example, when our hearts are too burdened or confused even to speak. The Bible says, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Romans 8:26).

One of God’s greatest gifts to us is the privilege of prayer—a privilege that is possible because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Thank God for the privilege of prayer and learn daily to “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5: 7).

Does God really answer prayers?
Prayer is one of our greatest privileges as God’s children, and even if God doesn’t seem to answer your prayers at first, don’t stop praying. God loves you, and no prayer goes unanswered.
Jesus once told a story about a poor widow who repeatedly asked a corrupt judge to do what was right. (You can read it in Luke 18:1-8.) Repeatedly the judge refused—not because her request was wrong, but because he just didn’t care.
But because of her persistence, he eventually gave in and granted her what she deserved. In a far greater way, Jesus said, God (who is righteous and does care for us) hears the prayers of His people, and we must never give up.

But let me add two things.
First, realize that sometimes God is actually answering our prayers when we don’t realize it—and the reason is because His answer may be “No” or “Wait.” Yes, we think we know what’s best for us—but God sees the whole picture, and sometimes He lovingly refuses to give us what we request, because He knows it isn’t according to His perfect plan.

Second, remember that we have the privilege of coming to God only because Jesus Christ died for our sins. Have you given your life to Him? If not, let your first prayer be one of confession and faith, asking Him to come into your life as your Lord and Savior.

To know more about How To Pray, watch the videos :


Pray with Maggie Khozam


Praying with Maggie Khozam

Confession

If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(1 John 1:9)

What Is Confession?

Confession, also called reconciliation or penance, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, The need for confession is frequently stressed in the Hebrew Bible. The mission of the Jewish prophets was to awaken in the people a sense of sinfulness and an acknowledgment of their guilt, both personal and collective. Before the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem (70 CE), the sin offerings on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) were prefaced by a collective expression of sinfulness (Leviticus 16:21), and, since the destruction of the Temple, the Day of Atonement has continued in Judaism as a day of prayer, fasting, and confession.

In the New Testament the public ministry of Jesus was prepared for by John the Baptist, who baptized the people; the baptism was accompanied by a public confession of sins (Matthew 3:6). The necessity of confession is discussed in many places in the New Testament (James 5:16; 1 John 1:9), although there is no direct evidence that confession had to be specific or detailed or that it had to be made to a priest.
Confession of sin is vital in the Christian life. It plays a powerful role in our coming to terms with ourselves and our sin, and in our attempts to reconcile ourselves with those we have wronged: ourselves, our neighbors and our God. But confession, it turns out, is far more than repentantly making our sin known to others.
When many people hear ‘confessing your sin’, they think it reserved for monks in a monastery or of paying penance to God by entering a church confessional.

But Scripture teaches us it is an important practice for the life of every Christian. The answers to these questions about confession in the Bible may surprise you:

What does the Bible say about confession?

What will happen if you don’t confess your sins? 

Psalm 32 offers us several powerful reasons to confess our sins and shows us the consequences of unconfessed sin. David felt weak and was miserable when he did not confess. Verses 3-4 says, “3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.”

 Why should you confess your sins? 

In addition to avoiding the negative effects of unconfessed sin, biblical confession is a way to experience more of God’s grace. Biblical confession should be a joy, in some ways, due to the rich benefits God gives us through it.
1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
This does not mean that God will forgive a sin only if it has been specifically confessed. When a Christian repents and believes the Gospel of Jesus Christ, all of their sins, past, present, and future are immediately forgiven!

Confessing is part of the sanctification process and aids Christians in dealing with sin and healing from it. James 5:16 says, “ Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

 Why confess your sin if God already knows your sin? 

Christians confess their sins to God to practice humility before him and to fess up to the bad things they have done. It takes a humble person to admit their mistakes! Humility is a vital part of confession and aids the restoration of Christians who have quenched the Spirit of God. Peter in 1 Peter 5:6 says, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”
SO, confession can be a list of sins that we bring before God and verbally tell him that we have sinned. But we cannot just stop here with a verbal listing of our sins. Just saying them out loud or silently in prayer to God doesn’t do anything with them except bring them to mind.

If we don’t deal with our sins we just end up feeling guilty. Likewise, when we confess to other Christian believers we cannot just confess and leave the sins as a list.

Confession is not just an acknowledgement of sin, it is also an agreement with what God has done with those sins. In confession, we can be reminded both by God and our Christian friends that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and his intervening on our behalf takes away our sins and makes them no more.

We boldly declare with our confession of sins that:
1-  God has forgiven us,
2- we don’t have to stay bound by that sin,
3- Christ has set us free from sin, and
4- we are declared righteous before Him.

Times of confession, then, turns into something we should seek and be grateful to have.

That’s how the Scripture defines confession. The Apostle John writes that we should acknowledge that we sin, we should confess our sins, and know that God has forgiven us in Christ (1 John 1:8-9).

This in turn helps us break the power of sin over us and reminds us that Jesus Christ is constantly going in-between us and God forgiving us from all our sins. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2).

To know more about the Confession, watch this video :


Confession with Maggie Khozam