Our topic for this Episode is-The Prayer of a NC Believer
We ended our last teaching on the note that most of us acknowledge that God is all
powerful and can do whatever He says, but that the missing link is that most Christians
do not believe or have the understanding that God has done what He says He has
done. I believe this gap is the root of most of the challenges we face in our Christian
lives. This gap is the reason why we make so much effort and pray so many
unnecessary prayers for things that God says He has already done for us. It is the
reason why instead of resting in Him and enjoying our relationship with God, we are
working so hard to impress God in order to convince Him to provide the things we need.
So in this Episode we shall consider how a new covenant believer should pray. Who is
a new covenant Believer- He is a person who has received the salvation and
forgiveness of sins offered by God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
He is a person who has been admitted into the family of God because according to
John 1:12, he received Christ and believes in His name. I believe that most of my
listeners are New Covenant Believers. But if by any chance you are not, do please send
me a message so I can lead you to become part of the family of God.
To understand how we should pray as new Covenant believers, we need to lay an
important foundation that I know is a source of confusion to many Christians. We need
to understand the difference between the prayers said while the OC was in operation
under the OT and praying under the NC where we belong.
Many people would argue that God is the same yesterday today and forever and
therefore nothing has changed. It is true that God cannot change. However, the Bible
clearly shows us that God’s relationship with His children set out in the rules and
regulations of the  Laws of Moses which is the OC is drastically different from Gods
relationship with His children under the NC instituted by JC.
In Exodus 19: 4-5, when Moses went up Mount Sinai to appear before God, God gave
him a message for His people:
You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings
and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and
keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people
Exodus 28: 1
If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give
you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.
and verse 15 declares-
However if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all His
commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you

and overtake you, and the rest of that Chapter catalogues different curses for
disobeying the laws of the OC.
All through the Books of the Old Testament we see God meting out punishment
for every act of disobedience.
While the OC was in operation however, God spoke through His prophets about
the future when the basis of His relationship with His children would change.
Prophet Jeremiah prophesying about the New Covenant said:
"The time is coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the
covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,"
declares the Lord”. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after
that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their
hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will a man
teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they
will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the Lord. "For I
will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more". Jeremiah
31:31-34
Notice that while the terms of the OC declared: If you obey; if you keep my
commandments; if you do this; if you do that, the prophesy of Prophet Jeremiah
which the writer of the Book of Hebrews refers to in Hebrews 8:8 declares: I will; I
will: I will………
God placed the burden of the fulfillment of the NC on Himself. The fulfillment of
the New Covenant depended solely on God. Man did not have to do anything for
the Covenant to be effective.
The time in the future when God said He would make a new Covenant with the
house of Israel referred to the coming of Christ to institute the NC. “Let me put it
another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we
could be made right with God through faith. 25 And now that the way of faith has
come, we no longer need the law as our guardian”. Galatians 3:24:25.
At the fulfillment of time, Jesus established the NC by pouring His life blood as
the ultimate sacrifice.
But while the Law lasted and before the coming of Jesus Christ, the Israelites
were like children waiting for adulthood to possess their inheritance. While they
waited, they were subjected to the law which was like a guardian to supervise
them.
Recall from our teaching on the spirit, soul and body that God only communes
with us through our regenerated spirit. He has no contact with our soul and body.

While the OC lasted, no one could be born again because the blood of Jesus
was not yet available. The people were spiritually dead. They could not
commune with God spiritually. The Holy Spirit did not dwell in them to teach them
or help them to pray. They could not approach the presence of God. They could
only pray from a distance. The OC was written on stones but the NC according
to Prophet Jeremiah is written on our hearts.