John Calvin attests that faith unaccompanied by prayer cannot be genuine (Institutes III 3.20). We penetrate to the treasures of the Gospel stored up for us by faith through prayer. We are sustained, strengthened, empowered, forgiven, healed, and protected by God through prayer. The great tragedy in life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer (F.B. Meyer). Prayer is an instrument of God's power, bringing together the creature and the creator; eternity and time.

We are called to create a house of prayer by the Lord

Mark 11:17 (ESV) And he was teaching them and saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers." (quoting Isaiah 56:7 (KJV) Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.)

If we desire Jesus to possess our hearts, we must spend time with Him. The main purpose of prayer is to know God and to bring our hearts to Him. In knowing Him we receive eternal life and the kingdom of God is within us. Prayer exercises our faith and creates IT, the divine being within us (Barth). The central focus of prayer is love for God, and in focusing on love for God, we yield our hearts to Him, and He captures them (Madam Guyon).

Proverbs 4:23 (ESV) Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Proverbs 23:26 (ESV) My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
John 17:3 (ESV) "...and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
Psalm 4:7 (ESV) You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
Psalm 10:17 (ESV) O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear.
Psalm 51:10 (ESV) Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Augustine: In persistent prayer it is not that we get what we want, as that we become the person we should be (or that God desires us to be). We are constructed; not God is instructed (by us)!
Prayer is not a means of removing the unknown and unpredictable elements of life, but a way of including the unknowable and unpredictable in the workings of God and His grace.

Prayer helps protect our hearts from deception

Deut. 11:16 (ESV) Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them;
Prayer renews our minds from the images that assail us each day. Prayer cleans the heart. Because God loves us and wants our attention, persistent prayer radically changes our lives (our hearts) (Nouwen).

Prayer is the foundation of discipleship. (Acts 2:42)

We desire to be doers of the word, not just hearers. Discipleship is dependent on prayer (Miraculous Mission). We are the only species on earth that can converse with God, and in that conversation we become the boundary between the physical and spiritual worlds. That happens in prayer. God governs the world in partnership with humans, giving power to us, not to rocks, trees, plants, or animals, although they are an integral part of creation. Humans have causality over matter (Blaise Pascal). Prayer is the main channel in which God continues the partnership (Julian of Norwich). Prayer is an act of subversion in which we quell the voice of reason and awaken our faith and call into question the world's systems and invite God to intervene in creation. Through prayer God offers His church a part in governing the world and "sets God loose." "Christian discipleship is not a question of our own doing; it is a matter of making room for God so that He can live in us" (J. Heinrich Arnold).

Jesus assumes we will pray.

Matthew 6:9 (ESV) Pray then like this:...

II. Defeaters of Prayer

Doubt, busyness, wrong relationships (holding others in unforgiveness), wrong actions (unrepentant, hidden sins) all block our prayers and defeat our prayers

I prayed for healing and it did not happen. What about these promises?

Psalm 9:10 (ESV) And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 37:4 (ESV) Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Mark 11:23-24 (ESV) Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. [24] Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

A mystery. Prayers are answered in faith not in empirical results.

Everything which surrounds us conflicts with the promises of God. He promises immortality, but we are encompassed with mortality and corruption. He pronounces that we are righteous in His sight, but we are engulfed in sin. He declares His favor and good will toward us, but we are threatened by the tokens of this world. What can we do? It is His will that we shut our eyes to what we are and have in order that nothing may impair or even check our faith in Him! (Calvin Institutes III 3.21). Essentially God's answer to Job was "be still and know that I am God."

Unanswered prayers in the Bible:

Jesus' prayer in Gethesamane -- take this cup from me, but not as I will, but as you will
Moses's desire to enter the Promised Land
David's prayer for healing for his son born in adultery to him and Bathsheba
Habbukuk and Jeremiah prayed for deliverance which did not happen
Paul's prayer for his thorn in the flesh to be removed -- God's grace was sufficient
Paul's prayers for unity in the churches -- not yet realized
(Double blind studies: benefits of prayer for healing and shorter hospital stays
Dr. Harold G. Koening The Healing Power of Faith
2 or 3 of 1,000 cancer patients experience spontaneous healing
67/7,000 documented healings over time at Lourdes.
Monica's prayers for her son, Augustine: "denied once in order to grant her what she prayed always" (concerning his travel to Rome; she prayed "no"; he went and found salvation)

Does God listen and hear me?

It is the nature of God's love to listen and "incline His ear" to us
Isaiah 65:24 (KJV) And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they e
1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers.

God is not indifferent to our prayers, but answers in ways we don't expect. God not only listens, He acts. He does not act in the same way whether we pray or not. Prayer influences God's actions; that is what the word answer means. God yields to men's petitions because He wills it (Barth).
God listens and responds: Abraham and Sodom; Moses and request for a spokesman; Jesus

Why do I have troubles?

"It rains on the just and the unjust"
In this world you will have troubles -- Christian and Non-Christian alike.
Troubles are God's chastisement, and they drive us to pray for strength, deliverance and endurance. Chastisement is for discipline and not punishment. Punishment is reserved for judgement. Troubles belong to the disciplinary part of God's moral government of the world (EM Bounds).
Trial, Trouble, Temptation -- divine discipline
Temptation: solicitation of the devil or our fleshly desires
Trouble: grievous events of life
Trial: testing to make us stronger
"Call on me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."
Job 14:1 Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.
Ps 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

God makes use of whatever happens
Disappointment  patience
Success  thanksgiving
Trouble  perseverance
Danger  courage
Reproach  long suffering
Praise  humility
Pleasure  temperance
Pain  endurance

The contrast of Psalm 91 and Psalm 73:
Ps 91 deliverance from adversity and a long life;
Ps 73 though flesh may fail, God is my strength

Psalm 91:1-16 (ESV) He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
[2] I will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
[3] For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
[4] He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
[5] You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
[6] nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
[7] A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
[8] You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
[9] Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place--the Most High, who is my refuge--
[10] no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
[11] For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
[12] On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
[13] You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
[14] "Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. [15] When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. [16] With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation."

Psalm 73:1-28 (ESV) Book Three A Psalm of Asaph.
Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
[2] But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.
[3] For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
[4] For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.
[5] They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
[6] Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.
[7] Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.
[8] They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.
[9] They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.
[10] Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.
[11] And they say, "How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?"
[12] Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.
[13] All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.
[14] For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.
[15] If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
[16] But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,
[17] until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.
[18] Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin.
[19] How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!
[20] Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
[21] When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart,
[22] I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.
[23] Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.
[24] You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.
[25] Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
[26] My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
[27] For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
[28] But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

III. What to pray for

The Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13)
Our heart's true desires
What we need -- be anxious for nothing
Laments -- injustice, war, poverty, ...
Peace -- personal and for the world
Confession for repentance from the fruits of the flesh
Request for the fruits of the spirit
God's presence and His peace
Thanksgiving and gratitude
Pray for faith, endurance, courage, protection, and wisdom
Pray for preparation
....

IV. Models of Prayer

The Holy Spirit "groans' for us

Discipline -- "If you want to pray better you must pray more" Mother Teresa
Routine is important; the discipline of prayer Nouwen
Spontaneity comes with discipline Nouwen
Prayers: Written versus Spoken (Prayer Book)
Cuckoo-notes (Milton)Vetted theology (Lewis)
Francis de Sales 1) preparation -- imagine Christ is here
2) Consideration -- propose a subject to ponder
3) Resolution -- involve feelings, will, intellect to make a change
4) Conclusion -- take something with you today
Madame Guyon meditate on "bites" of scripture and focus on God's love and the inward presence of the Holy Spirit quieting all internal voices; Meditative prayer and Meditative reading; Primary level of prayer, second level of prayer
Thomas e Kempis, Ignatius of Loyola, Brother Lawrence, Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila, Marin Luther, Bishop Lancelot Andrewes, Yonggi Cho, Henry Nouwen, Thomas Merton,...

ACTS Model

Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication

Lord's Prayer Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4

Our Father who art in heaven praise, we are adopted as children in Christ; Heb. 11:6
Hallowed be thy name worship, Psalm 48:10
Thy kingdom come, God's reign, 1 Cor. 15:28
On earth as it is in heaven submission Ps. 103:20
Give us this day our daily bread God's provision, Prov. 30:8
Forgive us our trespasses confession and repentance; Jer. 31:33; 33:8
As we forgive those who trespass against us divorce our minds of wrath, hatred and revenge
Lead us not into temptation protection from our desires, MT 26:41, 1 Cor. 10:13
Deliver us from evil protection from attacks of Satan, 1 Pet. 5:8-9
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory worship and praise,
Forever, Amen eternal

Matthew 6:5-18 (ESV)
"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.
For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.
Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
[6] But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
[7] "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. [8] Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
[9] Pray then like this:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
[10] Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
[11] Give us this day our daily bread,
[12] and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
[13] And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
[14] For if you forgive others their trespasses,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
[15] but if you do not forgive others their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

fasting

[16] "And when you fast,
do not look gloomy like the hypocrites,
for they disfigure their faces
that their fasting may be seen by others.
Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

[17] But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
[18] that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Luke 11:2-13 (ESV)
And he said to them, "When you pray, say:
"Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
[3] Give us each day our daily bread,
[4] and forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation."

Persistence

[5] And he said to them, "Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves, [6] for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; [7] and he will answer from within, 'Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything'? [8] I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.
[9] And I tell you,
ask, and it will be given to you;
seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you.
[10] For everyone who asks receives,
and the one who seeks finds,
and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
[11] What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; [12] or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
[13] If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

References and readings -- a short list

Yancey, Phillip Prayer
Lea, Larry, Could you not tarry one hour?
Yates, John, How a man prays for his family.
Foster, Richard, Prayer
Lawrence & Laubach, Practicing His Presence
Calvin, John, Institutes. Book III
De Sales, Francis, Introduction to the Devout Life
Bounds, EM, Essentials (of Prayer)
Stanley, Charles, Handle with Prayer.
Nowen, Henry, The Way of the Heart
Guyon, Madame, Prayer
Willard, Dallis, Spiritual Disciplines
Willard, Dallis, Listening to God
Casto, Kathy, How to pray for your loved ones.
Cho, Yonggi, Prayer
Sandford, Agnes, The Healing Gifts of the Spirit
McNutt, Francis, Healing

Many others -- the most important issue is to pray