In the first of a two-parter, Kong Hee taught the congregation four steps to praying a prayer that God will hear.
CN PHOTOS: Michael Chan
God is a covenant-keeping God. But why do Christians not experience miracles in their lives? “It’s because we don’t pray or we don’t know how to pray,” Kong Hee said.
On the weekend of Oct 1 and 2, the senior pastor of City Harvest Church taught the congregation how to pray. He began by reminding the Church that God always keeps His word.
“We can ask God for anything,” he said. “But we must pray according to how He has laid it out in the Bible; only then will God be committed to answering us.”
1 John 5:14-15 says it very clearly: “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
Kong went on to teach the congregation how to pray in order for God to hear them.
Firstly, pray from your heart. 1 Samuel 16:7 says that God looks at the heart. God also says in Jeremiah 30:21-22, “’For who is this who pledged his heart to approach Me?’ says the Lord. ‘You shall be My people, And I will be your God.’”
“When our heart is fully engaged to the Lord, our lives will be filled with miracles. The people around us will know that there’s something different about us,” Kong said, encouraging the Church to engage their heart and seek Jesus fully.
Secondly, pray according to God’s Word.
“Whatever you are going through now, you need to discover what the Word says concerning it,” Kong said.
He used the legal system as an illustration. Every case in the legal system is judged based on a precedence; lawyers thus often quote preceding cases to make their case, Kong said.
“Imagine you are praying for a wife. God ask you, ‘Have I promised that I will give you a wife?’ You flip to the verse that says, ‘He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord.’ and you remind Him of His word. That is how you should present your case to God.”
Thirdly, pray in faith in Jesus’ name.
The name of Jesus is the access code to heaven, Kong said. He read from John 14:13-14 which says, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”
Verse 24 says, “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father who sent Me.” God has put everything in His Word so that His believers can ask for them, taught Kong.
“When you pray in Jesus’ name, use the name Jesus Christ,” Kong said. “Put Christ into the name, that is the tip of the warhead that brings redemptive power.”
Fourthly, pray boldly.
“Not timidly, or beggarly. Not with doubt or with fear,” Kong said. Hebrews 4:16 (AMP) says, “Therefore let us [with privilege] approach the throne of grace [that is, the throne of God’s gracious favor] with confidence and without fear, so that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find [His amazing] grace to help in time of need [an appropriate blessing, coming just at the right moment].”
With the grace and mercy given by God, the children of God can come boldly to the throne of God even when they are totally messed up, Kong taught. He gave an example with Isaiah 54:17, a familiar verse that believers confess with in their prayers.
“God didn’t say this to them because they were such good Christians. The people in Israel were in deep backsliding at that time and they had opened doors for the enemies to attack, shame and disgrace them,” Kong said. “Yet, God is still a faithful God. He still says, ‘No weapon formed against you in judgment and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me.’”
Kong ended the service announcing that 72 hours of fasting, prayer and praise staring on Oct 7 at 6am. He encouraged the members to go join in the corporate fast and attend the prayer meetings happening on Oct 7 to 10, believing that God will bring a breakthrough to CHC as well as in their personal lives.
