Prayer or Conversations with God

By Fred C. Sullivan

All revivals were preceded by much prayer. We need a revival in this country, and we need more people to pray. We tell people that they need a close relationship with God, but we dont tell them how to develop this relationship. Find out how to get your prayers higher than the ceiling and how to hear from God himself. God spoke to people in the Bible, and He still wants to speak to his people today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490866840

Fred C. Sullivan

The author was born in Louisiana in 1938. He received his BBA from Loyola in New Orleans; his Masters and Doctorate in Biblical Studies from Louisiana Baptist University. He received CPE, training from Baylor Hospital in Dallas and was a volunteer chaplain. He and his wife, Joan live in Dallas, Texas.

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Copyright © 2015 Dr. Fred C. Sullivan.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-6683-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-6685-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-6684-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015900728

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/30/2015

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 Prayer: What It Is and What It Is Not

Chapter 2 Does God Speak to People Today?

Chapter 3 The Holy Spirit: God’s Presence in Our Lives

Chapter 4 You Can Know God’s Voice

Chapter 5 Preparation for, Parts, Times, and Types of Prayer

Chapter 6 Prayer and Faith

Chapter 7 Spiritual Warfare: Prayer and Satan

Chapter 8 Prayer and Healing

Chapter 9 Relationship, Relationship: It’s All about Relationship

Conclusion Practice Makes Perfect

Bibliography

About the Author

Introduction

This is going to be a golden opportunity for the rest of your life. You are about to begin a journey to a better way of life and a better, happier, and more peaceful future. If you have never heard God speak to you, or recognized that the voice in your mind is God’s, and if you have never had a conversation with God, then it’s about time you did.

In order for this walk with God to take place, you need to have an open mind. Remove all doubts from your mind while you read this. For a few moments, just set aside your doubts and believe that what the Bible tells us is true. Walk with me down a road to a whole new world. All you have to lose is some fear, confusion, sleep, and maybe even some worries. You might even improve your health. For the sake of argument, let’s assume that the Bible really is the Word of God, that it was dictated to men by God, and the history it reveals is true. The more the archeologists dig the more they find the facts in the Bible to be true.

Chapter 1

Prayer: What It Is and What It Is Not

Prayer is a two-way conversation between a human being and God. It is a conversation between the one who created the universe and you or me—not what I would call two equal people. When we pray, we usually monopolize the conversation. We say what is on our minds, ask for what we want, sometimes remember to say thank-you for what we have received, get our problems off our chest, and then say amen and hang up. We disconnect from God before He can say a word.

We live in an I want it, and I want it right now world. We are no longer happy with fast-food restaurants, such as Burger King, McDonald’s, or Wendy’s. We want our food at the drive-up window, and we want it ready, hot, and fresh when we get to the window. If you want a relationship with God—and that is what prayer is all about—do not be so fast. God is as old-fashioned as you can get. His life span is from always was to always will be. You are not going to get God to talk to you on your terms.

If you really want to hear from God, you must relinquish control; a control-freak attitude will not get you a reply from God. Just who do you think you are trying to control God and fit Him into your timetable? That is like a mouse chasing an elephant—it ain’t happening! You need to keep in mind that whatever you try to inform God about, He already knows. And He knows more about it than you do.

God still wants you to come to Him and tell Him what is on your heart. We then need to humbly sit and wait, however, for Him to decide to respond. You may want Him to tell you if you should marry your boyfriend, if you should change jobs, if you should buy that new car, etc. But God may want to talk to you about your attitude problem or some sin in your life that you need to confess.

Why are you praying in the first place? Why do you want to hear the voice of God? If you are only interested in your agenda, forget it. You are still in control, and He may never answer you for that reason. The reason for us to pray is to have a relationship with God. Your relationship with family and friends improves with conversation. Why would the same not apply to God?

God already knows about your questions, wants, and needs. There is a difference between wants and needs, so why pray for them? It is good to do so, but do not let that be your prime reason for praying. Do not be selfish either. Pray for others. I find it is always better for me if I pray for others and let God take care of me. He is God! I figure I can trust Him to do right by me. If I let Him take control of my life and take my hands off the steering wheel, I am better off. Not only that, maybe the people I pray for might be better off also. Prayer is the way we let God show us how to rearrange and properly set our priorities. Prayer helps us to see God as He is. In her book Listening for God, Marilyn Hontz has this to say:

As I became more interested in prayer, I had to contend with some puzzling questions. God doesn’t need anything from me since he is all-powerful, so why does it matter whether I pray? Why tell God my needs when he already knows them? I have learned that the only way to gain insight into these questions is to pray. It was as I prayed that my questions gave way to this bottom-line answer: We pray because God wants to be in relationship with us! He simply desires for us to communicate with him and allow him to communicate with us. Scripture says that Jesus lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). He chooses to pray. Prayer is our way of choosing to show God that we too have this relationship.¹

We need to be more concerned about what is on God’s heart rather than our hearts. That is going to be tough for some people to swallow. It is true humility and humbleness. This is what the Bible says we are to be about. When Jesus prayed, He did not tell the Father His plan or pattern and then ask God to bless it. Rather, Jesus went to the Father and asked Him for direction. God the Father to whom we pray is never absent. He is never disinterested. He never puts us on hold. We never get a busy signal. He is always there, twenty-four/seven, waiting for us.

Prayer is not just reading our wish list. God is not jolly old St. Nick. Prayer is not reciting a magical formula that will open the vault of heaven, where blessings are stored. God is the infinite Creator. We are finite and created from dust. Prayer is not a conversation between two equals. There is an immeasurable gap between us and God, and we need to be respectful of that. To hear from God, we need to come to Him on His terms, not ours. We need to put ourselves on the back burner when we pray. Prayer is about building a better relationship with God, not about the voice. We have to come to God with the proper motive and not try to fake it. It will not work! He created us. He knows how we tick. He knows more about us than we ever will. He knew us before we were born.

Did you ever pray and try to change God’s mind? Prayer is a time for God to change us, not us to change God. God changes us not in what we pray but in what God has to say to us. The young prophet Isaiah saw God seated on His throne in all His glory and was never the same after that (Isa. 6). Moses spoke to God face-to-face, and Moses’ face glowed (Exod. 34:30). Saul of Tarsus was pretty high up on the Pharisees’ list of who’s who until he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. God changed these men; they did not change God.

We need to recognize when God answers our prayers, since answered prayer is one of the ways God speaks to us. No matter what the answer is, when you realize that God has answered a prayer, sit back, take a deep breath, and realize what has happened. You spoke to God, He listened, and He answered you. You need to say, Thank You, God!

The following is a sample of what God has had to say to us in His Holy Word about answering prayer:

• Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not (Jer. 33:3).

• And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive (Matt. 21:22).

• And I say unto you, ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (Luke 11:9).

• If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you (John 15:7).

• He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things (Rom. 8:32).²

These are wonderful promises from God to those who pray.

As our relationships with God deepen, our prayers will become more in line with God’s heart. When we are walking alongside God, our thoughts and prayers will be closer to His heart and will more likely receive a positive response. There will be times when God’s answer is no rather than yes. When that happens, should we continue to pray for God to change His answer? Not necessarily. Our view of the future is from ground level. God’s view is greater. He can see farther down the road. What we may be praying for may have adverse effects later. We could be praying for God’s good. He may say no for now so we can enjoy His best later. His no answer is for our best interest because He loves us.

As Jesus’ death approached, He went to the garden and prayed three times concerning what lay in the future. God told Him His death was necessary, as this was to be God’s way to save humanity and bring about our salvation. We know our faith in God has reached a mature level when we can accept His answer, whatever it is.

God’s answer to you may be yes, but not yet. After God promised Abraham a son, Abraham had to wait for twenty-five years for this promise to be fulfilled. Samuel anointed David as king of Israel, but David spent years in exile before it came to pass. I prayed for a wife starting in my late teens and early twenties. It was not until I was sixty-five that God brought the perfect wife to me. I think it took God forty-five years to remove my rough edges and mold me into an acceptable husband. When we pray and receive a not yet answer, God has reasons for waiting.

What if there is no answer at all? It may be that there is some sin in your life that needs to be taken care of. Psalm 66:18 says, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.³ If we have sin in our hearts, then we cannot expect to hear from God. We can ask the Holy Spirit to convict us or advise us of this unconfessed sin. We can confess it, repent, and get it out of our systems.

God speaks progressively. If we have not done what He told us to do last time, we cannot expect to hear from Him until we do it. This is one way God has of testing our faith. He wants to know if we have enough faith in Him to take the first step without question. Just how much faith and trust do we really have in God? God’s step-by-step method will show both Him and us how much faith we do have. God told Abraham to get up and leave Ur. It was not until he did so that God spoke to him again.

Another factor to be considered is our doubt. Look again at Matthew 21:22 and note the word believing. To doubt God’s ability is to limit God. We must have faith—faith that God is and faith in what He has said in His written Word.

How then should we pray? First, remember that God will meet with us only on His terms, not ours. In the Old Testament, the priests had to go