Dave Earley - The 21 Most Effective Prayers of the Bible

Dave Earley

2005 by David Earley

ISBN 978-1-60742-007-1

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

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DEDICATION

This book is dedicated in loving memory of
Bob S. Earley.
The last few years of his life
Dads prayers grew in frequency, fervency, and impact.
He loved praying the prayers of the Bible, and especially,
God bless me that I might bless others. And God did.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

No man is an island and no successful book is a solo effort. Many thanks to the team of people who made this project a reality:

CONTENTS

Dont you just love it when a plan comes together? Isnt it awesome when you try something and it actually works?
I have little ability when it comes to fixing thingsand, unfortunately, all five of the people in my household are gifted at breaking things. Being the dad, I am the first one called upon, though Im not sure why. My efforts often end in failure, or I make things worse than they were. But on rare and glorious occasions, the thing-a-ma-jig gets fixed. Thats when the band plays, theres dancing in the streets, and all is right with the world.
Through the years one of the true joys in my prayer life has come from praying the actual prayers of the Bible, especially those that worked. I reason that if God answered the petitions of Hannah, David, and Jacob, He might do the same for meand He has!
Recently I accepted the challenge to narrow the hundreds of prayers in the Bible to twenty-one short, simple petitions that God answered positively. These twenty-one high-impact prayers span thousands of years, come from all classes of people, and were offered for a variety of reasons. Each was particular and direct, expressed with great earnestness, and offered with sincere expectation. They were offered as requests, not demands. They flow in conformity with the life of the requester and were presented with genuine reverence and humility. And they were all wonderfully answered!
They are petitions God enjoyed enough to have recorded as Scripture. They changed the lives of those who prayed themand they are requests that we can make today. I have found that praying the answered prayers of the Bible gives me confidence that what I am asking is at least close to the will of God.

Learning them is fun.
Remembering them is easy.
Praying them is simple.
Seeing God answer them is exciting.

Praying these petitions will become an adventure that can change your life. However, before you do, let me remind you of some important truths about prayer. I agree with Bob Russells warning that prayer is not dictation. Prayer is not telling God what to do and then expecting His immediate, positive response. Prayer is cooperating with God so that He can release His power.
Someone said that God answers prayers, Yes, No, Wait, and You gotta be kidding. Someone else said that if our request is wrong, God says, No; if our timing is wrong, God says, Slow; if we are wrong, God says, Grow; and if our request is right, our timing is right, and we are right, God says, Go! However God answers, we know that He is a wise heavenly Father who knows what is best for us, and what is best for others.
When my youngest son, Luke, was three, he began asking me for a pocketknife. Repeatedly, he received the same answer: Wait until you are old enough so you wont hurt yourself or your brothers. Yet, he kept asking. When he was five and a half, his mother, taken with a genuine Swiss Army knife in a store window, purchased the knife. The end of the story is that Luke ended up needing three stitches in his leg. (That is one of the few times I said to my wife, I told you so.)
Even if you do pray the most effective prayers in the Bible, like my son, you may not always get the answer you want when you want it. Gods No or Wait is another way of saying, I love you and I only give what is best for you. Keep in mind God is not our servantbut we are His. He answers according to His plans and purposes, and not ours. Our heavenly Father knows best.
I think you will find that He delights in saying, Yes. God loves to hear and answer prayers. More often than not, He is the God of Yes.

This book features three aids to enhance your prayer life:
1. A Prayer to Remember and to Pray. Each chapter highlights a short, simple, significant prayer. Most are only four or five words in length. Try to memorize each one so you will always have it available when you need it.
2. A Chapter to Read. There are twenty-two chapters in this book. Make a goal to read one chapter every day for the next three weeks (plus one day). If that is unrealistic, try for one every other day.
3. Scriptures to Study. Each prayer is taken from the life of a Bible character. I suggest that you open your Bible to the passage discussed and mark it. These are some of the most fascinating and often overlooked stories in the Bible. You will want to go back to them later.

1. A Time to Pray. Try to determine a set time each day when you will read a chapter and pray. It could be first thing in the morning or the last thing at night, or over your lunch hour. The right time is the time that works for you.