Scripture Readings:

1. Mark 11:23-24: “All things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.”

2. James 1:6-7: “But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord. 

3. Mathew 21:22: “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

4. Hebrews 4:26: “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Discussion Points:

-         The Bible tells us that we will receive when we believe, and that we will not receive when we don’t.  There is no gray area here.  To increase the effectiveness of our prayers we have to believe in the power of prayer.

-         Because God is all knowing and is aware of our doubts, it is important to prepare before praying.

§   The test: A good question to ask ourselves in order to see if we are mentally ready to pray is whether we really believe our prayer can be answered.

§   We should remove our doubts first and then pray.

-         Example: In Mark 11:20-25, Jesus provides an illustration of the power of prayer and specifically notes that a person can move mountains by believing in the power of prayer.  What are the mountains in our own lives?  These mountains can be dealt with by believing in the power of prayer.

Point of Lesson:  We must believe in the power of prayer.  God knows our doubts and sees when our prayers are based upon little faith.  It is important to remove our doubts before praying. The Bible states that we should expect nothing if our prayers are based on doubt.

Past Prayer That Worked:  In our 5^th lesson, we will cover a past prayer that illustrates this rule (as well as the next 3 rules). This past prayer is the prayer of the leper and is found in Matthew 8:2.  This week, review the prayer of the leper and see if you can find out how the leper complied with this forgotten rule.