GOD IS JUST A PRAYER AWAY!

Matthew 6:6:
”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.”

Prayer is a Christian's privilege to be able to talk with God.  Always remember these four things:

I. GOD IS NEAR

A. God is in that place of prayer waiting for us.

1. ”But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret;..”

2. Jesus is saying that God is already there, in that secret place, the prayer room waiting to hear from us.

3. We can feel the presence of God when we pray, not from any supernatural divine signal, but from the assurance of Scripture.

B. The Word tells us that God is never far from us.

1. Acts 17:27-28 - “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might  feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us: For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring.”

2. Psalms 119:151- "Thou art near, O LORD; and all Thy commandments are truth.”

3. Psalms 145:18 - "The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth."

II. GOD HEARS

1. " thy Father which seeth in secret..."

2. There is far more depth to this statement than just physically seeing us as we pray. It implies that God is there to hear what we say, and that we can be assured that He hears our prayers.

B. God listens to the prays of His people.

1.      Hebrews 4:13 - "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

2.    1 John 5:14-15 – “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.”

C. He wants us to approach Him in prayer.

1. Hebrews 4:15 – “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.”

III. GOD CARES

A. God wants us to go to Him in prayer because he truly cares about  us.

1. That should be evident from Him sending Jesus to die for us.

a. Romans 5:8 – “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

2. John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

B. God's special care is for His children.

1. 1 Peter 5:7- " Casting all your care uponHim; for He careth for you.."

2. Matthew 6:30-32 – “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”

3. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 - "But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one."

IV. GOD GIVES

A. Jesus says that we need only go into the "prayer closet" and God will gladly give blessings.

1. Matthew 7:7-11 – “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?”

2. It's of importance to understand that the Greek language refers to "ask, seek, and knock" as imperatives. It literally
means, "keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking."

3. This teaches a great lesson in our faith in relation to God's desire to give us blessings. He wants us to demonstrates
our trust in His goodness and love by continuing to "ask, see, and knock." In turn He will show his faithfulness by answering our prays. This is in accordance with His will and with what God knows is best for us.

B. We can have the assurance that God wants to give us blessing and answer our prayers.

1. 1 John 5:14-15- "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. {15} And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."

2. He will always answer our prayers. It may not be the answer that we are looking for, but it will be an answer.

a. James 4:3 - "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."

b. One day a lady was giving her little nephew some lessons. He was generally a good, attentive child, but on this occasion he could not fix his mind on his work. Suddenly he said, "Auntie, may I kneel down and ask God to help me find my marble?" His aunt having given her consent, the little boy knelt by his chair, closed his eyes, and prayed silently. Then he rose and went on with his lessons contentedly. Next day, almost afraid of asking the question, lest the child had not found his toy, and so might lose his simple faith, the lady said to him, "Well, dear, have you found your marble?" No, auntie" was the reply, "but God has made me not want to."