2 Chron 7:12-14, Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 
As a reminder, we are using material adapted from The Battle Plan for Prayer Bible Study Curriculum, developed by Stephen and Alex Kendrick. We are dealing with some of the keys to effective prayer as the Church of the Lord on this earth. 
Last time, we dealt with the truth that the primary, bedrock key is our relationship with Jesus Christ. It is only in Him and because of Him that we can have any standing before the throne of God. We also dealt with the truth that we must be coming before the Lord with persistence in our hearts and minds, seeking Him to do His will in full accordance with that which will bring a greater measure of glory to His name. We also dealt with the truth that we must come before Him in the full faith that He will do all that He has ordained to be done. It is our faith in Jesus Christ which will unlock the effectiveness of prayer from our hearts unto the heart of God.
We will but highlight a number of further keys which have been brought to our attentention already in the course of this study. Some we will deal with in greater depth. Others we will mention in review with the idea of reinforcement in our conscious awareness as is necessary in order to learn and to solidify that which needs to become engrained in our lives.
Proceeding then, the next key for our practical consideration is that we are to pray as in secret. We must not try to impress man with our prayers, seeking to show how spiritually minded we might be. We are to pray with regard only to the fact that we want the Father to be blessed in our coming unto Him in our love for Him. 
Our Lord Jesus highlighted this key for us in Matt 6:5+6, as He dealt with those who would show off the vocal excellencies of their contrived and public prayers. Matt 6:5+6, "And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. Our prayers are to be for the single audience of Our Lord and not as an expression of how greatly we can pray in the audience of men.
The next practical key to effective prayer unto the heart of God is that which we have highlighted often, that we are to pray according to His will. We are not to force our way and promote our ideas in prayer. This is detailed for us in 1 John 5:14. 1 John 5:14, And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 
Jesus’ entire life was centered in the truth of doing the will of the Father, as He proclaimed in John 5:30. John 5:30, "I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 
He is our continued example in the appropriate way to pray as recorded in Matt 6:10, in our great model of prayer.  Matt 6:10, 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 
Even Our Lord had to set aside His human ideas as illustrated in His tremendous internal struggle at the Garden of Gethsemane recorded for us in both the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In Matt 26:39, And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt." And again in verse 42, Matt 26:42, He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will be done." 
This setting aside of His human will is likewise dealt with in Luke 22:41+42. Luke 22:41+42, And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, "Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done." 
There is absolutely nothing wrong with our opening our hearts fully unto the Lord in our prayers, laying before Him how we see and understand what is going on in our lives and in the lives and hearts of those we bring before Him. We should know the freedom to give heartfelt expression to Our Heavenly Father of all that we are experiencing. However, when we get to the end of our thoughts and our human reasoning, our prayers must still and forever be centered on His will being the primary desire of our beings. 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. That was the earthly life that Christ Jesus lived and it is to be the focus of all our effective prayers as we live and sojourn on this earth. 
The Apostle Paul declares, in Rom 8:26+27, that it is the very working power of the Holy Spirit, Who teaches us how to pray after the heart of Christ, in complete line with the will of Our Heavenly Father. Rom 8:26+27, And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 
The next key to our practical and effective prayer life is that we pray in the name of Jesus. This simply follows the truth that it I our relationship with Jesus which determines the basis of any prayers being heard by the Father. 
Before we proceed one step farther, we must never consider Jesus’ name as some type of label of legitimacy on our prayers! We do not tack on that precious name in a feeble attempt to force God to answer our prayers in the way we want Him too!  
	The total reality of the key of praying in the name of Jesus is contained in that which He told His disciples in John 14:12-14. John 14:12-14, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. "And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. 
     	When we pray in the name of Jesus it is for the glory of the Father to be revealed. We do not try to attach His wondrous and marvelous and awesome name to just any old whim or fleeting fancy that we may have. Praying in the name of Jesus means that we are truly desirous after that which will bring more and more honor and glory to the Lord God Almighty. It is that we are praying with that same heart of service with which Christ manifested His glory. John 15:16, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you. 
	We must always remember and remind ourselves of what it means when we pray in the name of Jesus. When we do so, we are to be calling forth to our minds and hearts the truth of Christ’s righteousness, His sacrifice on the cross for our ability to so pray, His authority as the King of kings and Lord of lords, His being the perfect Lamb of God and the perfect Son of God. All of this and so much more is wrapped together in the name of Jesus. 
Again, it is as He told His disciples in John 16:24. John 16:24, "Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full. He desires that we come into the joy of what it means to pray in His name. It will be the bountiful fulfillment of the very heart of God being glorified by the working might of His Only Begotten Son. 
Accordingly, as we pray in His name, we are pouring forth the depth of our heart in an honest communication and conversation with Him. It means that we are opening our hearts to Him, calling upon Him to deal as He wills with the prayers that we submit unto Him. We are telling Him that we delight in Him and thus setting before Him the every desire of our beings in order for Him to find satisfaction in the course of His working in our lives.
This calls to mind the statement of the Psalmist, in Ps 37:4, which is so often abused because the full context is often ignored. Ps 37:4, Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. 
I have been told countless times that God has promised to give us the desires of our hearts, all the things that we want in our earthly state of being. Wealth, fame, love, power, homes, cars, respect, and familial satisfaction – all of which is centered in our earthly desires and wants. 
But the truth is that the whole emphasis of this promise is held in the glorious name of Jesus. It is when we Delight yourself in the Lord… when we seek to know Jesus in the great truth and reality of who He is and what His name manifests that we will find that God freely and abundantly supplies the fullest measure of that heart’s desire.
We will know, when we are praying in the name of Jesus, with our heart’s focused on the glory and the will of God, that which was stated and so forcefully emphasized by God through the Prophet Isaiah in Isa 65:24. Isa 65:24, "It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. 
    	The next key to know is that of unity. When we pray, we need to be in agreement with other believers. Once more, it was the Lord Jesus, Himself, who highlighted this in Matt 18:19+20. Matt 18:19+20, "Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst." 
	The union of the saints in prayer is like a harmonious symphony in the glorious composition of the Lord’s creation. There is joy and there is power and there is glory to God as the family of Christ offers prayers that are in full agreement to the will of the Father being evidenced in the lives of those so gathered together in the name of Jesus. Our oneness and our agreement to seek His will and His glory and His majesty brings supreme satisfaction to His heart.
	The next key is that of praying from a heart that is clean and in rightstanding with God. This is the course of seeking the Lord’s way and His will in both the corporate lives and the individual life of the believer. Brother James details this in James 5:13-16. James 5:13-16, Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 
    	The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. The righteous man is one who has a clean heart and has had those dealings with the Lord that have worked to the point of only wanting to do that which will please the Lord in every aspect and detail. This one is right with God and also right with the other believers in order to be on the correct standing in which to offer prayers for the benefit of others and for the manifest glory of God to be evidenced.
	Aligned with this is the next key to effective prayer, which is praying from an obedient life, as described in 1 John 3:21+22. 1 John 3:21+22, Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. 
	Our obedience is the indication that we truly delight in the Lord and desire to honor Him. It is as we obey that our lives will evidence the full measure of how much we love the Lord and honor Him in a most visible and concrete manner. As we do obey Him, He listens and He responds because we truly are His children and we want to show the whole world that He is worthy of all praise and adoration and honor and glory. That is the familial relationship which has always been His will and His plan and His purpose in Jesus Christ.
	The final key that we will consider is the fact that we need to abide in Christ and in His Word. It is not enough to make statements or promises. It is the reality that we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit and seeking to know the greater depths of God through the study of the Living Word sent forth from the Father. In this way, as stipulated in John 15:7+8, we are abiding in Christ and in His Word. John 15:7+8, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. "By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 
	Our abiding in Him means that we are close to the Lord. We consider Him in everything that we say and do and think. We are wrapped up in Him and in the study of His Word. We surrender all to Him and ask Him to conform us more and more to His image on this earth as detailed in our obedience to the truth of the holy scriptures. Our desires are made to be what He desires and lived for, the glory of the Father. 
	For this to develop in fullness and in reality, we need to study His Word and to ask the Holy Spirit, in prayerful earnestness, to make it very real to us, as so stated by Jesus in John 8:31+32. John 8:31+32, Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." We love Him and we want to live lives that are honoring to Him. That can only be as we lay down our lives for Him to live forth His life from us unto others. 
    	The revealed mystery of this life of prayer is that it is a life which seeks to so honor and to abide in Christ. Please open to Col 1:9-12, as we can read this together. Col 1:9-12, For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. We must study His Word so that our prayers will be filled with the greater knowledge and depth of Christ. In the living truth of His Word, we can then pray for each other with this heart that we all come into the fullness of Jesus Christ.
	This brings us back to the fact of the Lord being our desire together, as His family, as so proclaimed by the Psalmist in Ps 27:4. This is the one thing that we all need to seek from the Lord in our every prayer. Ps 27:4, One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to meditate in His temple. This is a life that is utterly focused on the familial relationship that has joined us to one another in Jesus Christ, thus bringing full glory and honor to Our Lord God Almighty. So be it!
	Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Amen. 

This morning’s benediction is Rev 1:8. "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Amen.