Albert M. McCaig

As part of the study of the mechanics of prayer, we learn how God speaks to us primarily through the always true Word of God, the Bible. We see that God also speaks through the Holy Spirit. Through that, we see the powerful role of the Holy Spirit, not only in our prayer lives, but throughout our lives as Christians. We also see how God speaks through pastors, teachers, writers, and even Christian lyrics in music.

God invented prayer as a means of His communicating with us and our communicating with Him. Our study will examine how, if we are not getting results from our prayers and if we are not hearing God, the communication breakdown is on our end, not God’s.

In our study of the masters of prayer, we see that Jesus gave us the model prayer. We learn why Jesus, the son of God prayed. The reason Jesus prayed was for the fellowship and the relationship He has with God the Father. We study the masters of prayer to find that they all prayed because of their fellowship with and relationship to, God. Their prayer was in their hearts, and not just in their heads. Learning the mechanics of prayer is the means by which we change our head knowledge of who God is into our heart knowledge of knowing the character of God.

Part 1, in episode 2, considered the first fundamental of prayer, being Faith. The second fundamental of prayer is love. Without love we are nothing. We will study three aspects of God’s love: God’s love for us, our love for God, and our love for others. We are called to love people and hope for the best and the highest for their lives. The first and highest priority is their salvation. We are enabled in doing that through prayer.

Forgiveness, the third fundamental, is essential to receiving affirmative answers to our prayers. We cover the basic understanding that we must ask God for forgiveness for our sins against Him. We find in this session that we must also ask for forgiveness for our sins we have committed against others. Finally, we see that we must forgive others of their trespasses and sins against us.

This study is based on the three fundamentals of prayer, being faith, love, and forgiveness. Many Christians do not have an understanding of why God created prayer and how we are to embrace this direct communication with almighty God. In order to have that direct communication, we must have a relationship with God in order to have fellowship with Him.

As a fundamental, prayer starts out with the basic understanding that it works through faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” Hebrews 11:16.

Part 1 provides an in-depth study of the first fundamental of prayer, being Faith.

Introduces the concept that prayer should be a passionate, two-way conversation with our Holy God. Praying with passion means having an intense, real relationship with God that is manifested through our own physical, emotional, and spiritual sense of that reality. It means a conversation with God in which we truly know in our hearts that He hears us. Our passion for fellowship with God is visible, even tangible, as we communicate with God in such a way that we move closer to God in all parts of our lives. Praying with passion is praying for real.

 Prayer unleashes the power of the Holy Spirit and enables God to work in the lives of His people. As James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”