First begin with a clean heart before the Lord. “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”(Psalm 51:10-12). Any unconfessed sins will hinder your connection with the Lord. “ But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2). You don’t need to confess your sins to man, but to the Lord. If you have done something wrong against someone then you need to try and go to that person and make things right and ask for forgiveness. If they don’t hear you or forgive you, at least you have done your part, because if they don’t forgive then God won’t forgive them either. “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”(Matthew 5: 23,24).“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” (Psalm 32:5). “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.” (James 5:16). “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13). There is a time to confess your faults to others, especially when you need prayer for something. Fervent prayer means to be sincere and even desperate. There is a time when you really need to get desperate with the Lord. Remember the most important, and valuable thing you have is your relationship with Jesus, and you need to guard it at all times, and at all costs. We need to work on our relationship with the Lord. We can’t earn salvation by our works, but we can work on our relationship with Jesus. The devils main job is to destroy your relationship with the Lord. Sometimes it’s good to just say a general prayer asking God for his forgiveness for all our sins, even the ones we are not aware of, but God is. “ mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head:” (Psalm 40:12b).

Say this prayer to be saved: Jesus, I want to know you, and to live forever in Heaven, I know I have made mistakes and done bad things- and I am sorry. I believe that you were crucified on the cross and died for all my sins, and rose from the dead. Please forgive me of all my sins. I know I don’t deserve it, but I accept your love and I accept you as my Saviour. Please come into my heart and life and fill me with your Holy Spirit and give me peace. Amen.

 ^“that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;  and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,” (Philippians 2:10 & 11a). Some people pray straight to God the Father. I think it is presumptuous to pray straight  to God. “Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”  (John 10:7-9). “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6). We should pray to Jesus because in so doing we are praying to God and the Holy Spirit also at the same time. In fact God won’t hear or answer prayers any other way, except going through his Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ. The Bible says, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” (James 2:19). You can begin your prayer “Dear Jesus”, and end your prayer by saying in “Your Precious Name Jesus”. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”(Acts 4:12). “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Hebrew 13:8).Jesus told his disciples to pray to The Father in His Name, because if he told them to pray to him it would have been a “hard saying” and they couldn’t have handled it. They didn’t even believe in him fully yet, when he said this to them in Matthew 6:9 and John 15:16. They didn’t know totally who he was yet. Only after he was crucified and died and rose from the dead did they fully believe that he was the Only Begotten Son of God, and one with God. “I and my Father are One.” (John 10:30). There are a lot of people named Jesus, especially in Mexico. So you can say Jesus Christ. God knows your heart and he knows which Jesus you are praying too, but you should  say, “Dear Jesus Christ” when you pray. Jesus made it clear how important names are in John 3:16 when he said, he was “The Only Begotten Son of God” There is only one “Only Begotten Son of God”. The rest of us are adopted sons and daughters of God when we receive Jesus Christ as our Saviour.  “But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his Name.” (John 1:12). “ For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”. (1Timothy 2:5). Jesus is not only our Lord and Saviour, and King of Kings, but also our High Priest. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) In the Old Testament the High Priest would enter into the Holy of Holies in the Temple where the Ark of The Covent was and the Shekinah Glory of God abode there, and if the Lord was angry at the people because of their sins he would strike the High Priest dead and the other lower Priests would pull his body out which had a rope tied to it, because they were afraid to go into the presence of God. Can you imagine some Jew just walking in to the Holy of Holies and flipping back the immense curtain which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple, and saying, Listen GOD, I want to talk to you about something. This is exactly what people are doing when they think that they can just pray straight to our Heavenly Father and not pray to Jesus our High Priest. You have to go through Jesus when you pray and praying to him is praying to God. ” he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; ” (John 14:9b). So if you want God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, (The Trinity) to hear and answer your prayers, then pray to Jesus Christ. I don’t know about you, but it makes me feel a whole lot closer to God, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, by praying without ceasing, and trying to listen and talk to Jesus, than going around thinking that I can go directly to God, and then saying  “In Jesus Name” after praying. I have heard many preachers Self righteously start their prayers with “Heavenly Father, or Father God”, and say their whole prayer to God, and sometimes at the end of their prayer they will say, “In Jesus Name”. Who are we to go straight to God and pray to him? It would be better to start our prayers with “Dear Lord  Jesus Christ”, and end our prayers with “In Your Precious Name Jesus”. God, and Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit want us to get this right. It’s about time we did, don’t you think? “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). “I and my Father are one.” (John 10:30). Jesus did not say that he and the Father are one and the same. Jesus was saying that he is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit in Unity of Spirit, in heart and thought. But he is the Only way to the Father. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6). Look, this is the way it is. Who do you think you are? You don’t just go around Self righteously spouting off your prayers to God especially if you want to have them answered. You have got to go through Jesus because that is the way God wants it. This is his terms and conditions.  Sure Jesus told his Disciples to pray saying “Our Father which art in Heaven”, this is because they didn’t fully believe on him yet, and if he told them that they should just pray to him to reach the Father, they would not have been able to handle it. Like when Jesus said in John Chapter 6:54 “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” Many of Jesus’s followers left him and said, “this is an hard saying ,who can bear it.” If this is to much of a hard saying for you, and you can not bear it then go ahead and say your prayer to God, but you better say in The Name of Jesus Christ when you finish going straight to God the Father, and I hope he will have mercy on you and hear your prayer because you didn’t know any better, and this was to much of a hard saying for you to bear. Jesus told his disciples “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” ( John 16:12). Can you?

Say this prayer to be saved: Jesus, I want to know you, and to live forever in Heaven, I know I have made mistakes and done bad things- and I am sorry. I believe that you were crucified on the cross and died for all my sins, and rose from the dead. Please forgive me of all my sins. I know I don’t deserve it, but I accept your love and I accept you as my Saviour. Please come into my heart and life and fill me with your Holy Spirit and give me peace. In Jesus Christ Precious Name. Amen.

There is a beautiful true story in the Bible about a poor woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years, one day she heard about Jesus and all the miracles he was doing. She heard how he was healing all the people who were sick and came unto him, even the people who had the dreaded disease of leprosy, and the blind, and the deaf, and even raising the dead. She heard that he was coming to her town. She just had to meet him. She managed to bring herself down to the main road where he was sure to pass by. There was already a great crowd of people waiting when she got there. Suddenly someone said, ” here he comes”. By this time the crowd was so big that she was worried that she wouldn’t even be able to get near him. The disciples were all around him making away through the crowd so Jesus could get by. Suddenly he walked near her. She still couldn’t get close to him. She said within herself. If I could just reach out and touch the hem of his garment I would be healed. She was on the ground at this time . She reached out by someones feet, (probably one of the disciples), and touched the hem of his garment. Jesus immediately stopped and said to his disciples” Who touched me”? The disciples said, the whole crowd is thronging you, and you asked who touched you? He reached down to the woman and said, “daughter be of good comfort, thy faith hath made the whole” and the woman was healed.“And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: for she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.”( Luke 8:40-48, and  Matthew 9:20-22). Oh, won’t you reach out by faith and touch the hem of his garment? He is passing by and wants to make you whole.

Say this prayer if you want to be saved: Jesus, I want to know you, and to live forever in Heaven, I know I have made mistakes and done bad things- and I am sorry. Please forgive me. I know I don’t deserve it, but I accept your love and I accept you as my Saviour. I believe you died on the cross for my sins ,and rose from the dead. Please come into my heart and life and fill me with your Holy Spirit and give me peace. Amen.

1.) First begin with a clean heart before the Lord. “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”(Psalm 51:10-12). Any unconfessed sins will hinder your connection with the Lord. “ But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2). You don’t need to confess your sins to man, but to the Lord. If you have done something wrong against someone then you need to try and go to that person and make things right and ask for forgiveness. If they don’t hear you or forgive you, at least you have done your part, because if they don’t forgive then God won’t forgive them either.  “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”(Matthew 5: 23,24).“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” (Psalm 32:5). “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.” (James 5:16). “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13). There is a time to confess your faults to others, especially when you need prayer for something. Fervent prayer means to be sincere and even desperate. There is a time when you really need to get desperate with the Lord.Remember the most important, and valuable thing you have is your relationship with Jesus, and you need to guard it at all times, and at all costs. We need to work on our relationship with the Lord. We can’t earn salvation by our works, but we can work on our relationship with Jesus. The devils main job is to destroy your relationship with the Lord. Sometimes it’s good to just say a general prayer asking God for his forgiveness for all our sins, even the ones we are not aware of, but God is. “ mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head:” (Psalm 40:12b).

2.) Praise and thank the Lord for all his goodness, and mercies, and blessings. “ I WILL bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”( Psalm 34:1). Instead of just jumping into prayer asking God to do this and that. We need to show some respect and honor to the King of Kings. You wouldn’t just go wondering up in front of a King and demand him to do things. How much more respect should we show to our Almighty Lord and Savior. It is good to praise the Lord, it’s like priming a pump to get the water flowing. We need to get Gods Spirit flowing. We need to be humble before the Lord. “ He hath shown thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8). “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.” (Proverbs 22:4).

3.) Pray for others before praying for yourself. Pray for the Missionaries who are Gods front line soldiers on the battlefield against the devil. Pray for lost souls. “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them. Because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”  (Matthew 9:36-38). Pray for those who are in prison for the Gospels sake. “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them;” (Hebrews 13:3a). There are many people and situations to pray for before praying for ourselves. The Lord will lead you, just ask him.

4.) Next pray for yourself and your needs. “Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” ( Matthew 7:7). “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” ( Philippians 4:19). “Delight thyself also in the Lord ; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” (Psalm 37:4). “Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” (James 4;3). God always answers prayer. He says yes, no, or wait. Waiting on the Lord is one of the hardest lessons we all have to, and need to, learn.

5.) We need to have faith when we ask the Lord for something. “ But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is , and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6). Take a stand of FAITH on God’s promises in his word. You have got to quote the terms of the contract (The BIBLE) to the contract maker (God ) ! “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32;27). “Thus saith the Lord, the Holy one of Israel, (JESUS) and his Maker (GOD). Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.” (Isaiah 45:11). “ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5,6). The Lord wants you to grow spiritually in faith in him, and not lean on your own understanding or someone else’s faith. But have your own faith in him and his Word. Here are some good verses that you can claim and even quote them to Jesus when you pray. “As thou hast believed , so be it done unto thee.”(Matthew 8:13). “Jesus saith unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” (Mark 9:23). “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”(Luke 1:37). “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”(James 1:1-6). Don’t doubt and be double minded with your prayers if you want God to answer them. “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”(Mark 11:23), Don’t doubt in your heart. “Verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”(Matthew 17:20).

6.) The purpose of this class is to help give you some basic lessons about prayer. For those who already know all of this information, I hope this will be an inspiring review. I know it is for me. The Lord knows that you can’t always go exactly by these seven guidelines. Sometimes time and circumstances just wont allow you to follow all of these important points, but when you do make time for the Lord to pray, its good to remember this class and follow it as best as you can. Remember to “Pray without ceasing.” (IThessalonians 5;17). Prayer is something you can always be doing no matter what else you are doing. Also don’t forget to listen to the Lord. “Be still and know that I am God.”( Psalm 46;10a). The Lord often speaks in a still small voice You’ve spoken your peace, let God speak his. “And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire; a still small voice.” ( I Kings 19:12). “ And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”. ( Isaiah 30:21). It helps to get quiet and listen to hear the still small voice of God.

7.) Finally don’t forget to pray in the name of Jesus. There is wonder working power in his name.“Whatsoever ye shall ask of the father in my name, he may give it you.”( John 15;16 b). “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do,that the father may be glorified in the son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.” ( John 14;13,14 ). “ Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” ( John 14:6 ).

Say this prayer to be saved: Jesus, I want to know you, and to live forever in Heaven, I know I have made mistakes and done bad things- and I am sorry. Please forgive me. I know I don’t deserve it, but I accept your love and I accept you as my Saviour.I  believed you died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead. Please come into my heart and life and fill me with your Holy Spirit and give me peace. Amen.

 ^{THE LORD’S PRAYER}

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

6 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. ² Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. ³ But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: ⁴ that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

⁵ And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. ⁶ But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. ⁷ But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. ⁸ Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

⁹ After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. ¹⁰ Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. ¹⁴ For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: ¹⁵ but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

¹⁶ Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. ¹⁷ But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; ¹⁸ that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

¹⁹ Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: ²¹ for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ²² The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. ²³ But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

²⁴ No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.²⁵ Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? ²⁶ Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? ²⁷ Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? ²⁸ And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: ²⁹ and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? ³¹ Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ³² (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. ³³ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. ³⁴ Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.