PRAYER NOURISHES THE NEW LIFE
Dan. 1:15
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. THE MECHANIC
a. Linda meets up with her friend Jill as she is picking her car up from the mechanic. "Everything ok with your car now?" Linda asked.
b. "Yes, thank goodness," Jill replied. "I was worried that my mechanic might try to rip me off, so I was relieved when he told me all I needed was blinker fluid."
2. THE DOCTOR
a. Doctor: "You'll live to be 60." Patient: "But I am 60." Doctor: "See! What did I tell you?"
b. The doctor gave me six months to live. I couldn't pay his bill, so the doctor gave me another six months.
c. The Doctor called Mrs. Cohen, "Mrs. Cohen, your check came back." Mrs. Cohen answered, "So did my arthritis!"
B. A THOUGHT ABOUT PRAYER
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, Aug. 28 entry:
“Prayer is not a normal part of the life of the natural man. We hear it said that a person’s life will suffer if he doesn’t pray, but I question that. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer. When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life. Prayer is the way that the life of God in us is nourished….We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.”
C. THESIS
1. Tonight we’re going to take a detailed look of different aspects of prayers, and word studies about prayer. Lastly we’ll range around Oswald Chamber’s comment, looking at the Scriptural connections to it.
2. The title of this message is “Prayer Nourishes the New Life.”
I. WHAT IS PRAYER?
A. DIFFERENT FORMS OF PRAYER
1. Bowing Ps. 95:6
2. Kneeling Ps. 95:6; Dan. 6:10.
3. Standing Ps. 135:1-3
4. Laying prostrate, Lk. 17:16
5. Laying down in bed, Ps. 63:6
6. Silently, Ps. 46:10; Hab. 2:20;
7. Speaking Ps. 71:8; 98:1;
8. Shouting Ps. 89:15; 98:6; Ezra 3:11;
9. Lifting up Hands Ps. 63:3-5; 141:2; 1 Tim. 2:8;
10. Walking & Leaping 2 Sam. 6:16; Acts 3:7-8.
B. HUMOR: FOUR TYPES OF PRAYER
1. Mark Gellman, a rabbi who often appears on the Today Show and writes periodically for Newsweek says there are four kinds of prayer: Gimme, Thanks, Oops, and Wow! Thanks is obvious. Oops means confessing our sins. Wow is when we overflow in praise for who God is, not just for what he’s done for us lately.
2. We do have a human tendency to distort that first element of prayer. We can turn asking into “Gimmie.” James says, “You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:2-3).
C. DEFINITION
1. Prayer is defined as “the act or practice of praying to God; a supplication, expression, earnest request or wish addressed to God.”
2. But I want to add that prayer (should) form a connection between us and God, through which flows the life of God into our spiritual beings.
3. Jesus talked about this in the analogy of the Vine & Branches, John 15:4-6. The sap of life must flow from the trunk of a tree into its branches, or they’ll die. So with us.
4. “And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from glory to glory…” 2 Cor. 3:18, AMP.
5. This is a description of the overall effect of daily prayer, behold God and letting God’s Word change us into the same image through the Spirit.
II. ROOT MEANINGS OF O.T. WORDS FOR PRAYER
I found 14 different O.T. words that were translated “pray, prayer” in the KJV. Some of these words had very interesting root meanings, that reflect back on prayer.
1. Ge. 20:7 “palal,” Abram was told to pray for Abimelech. This word involved the sense of “judging” as part of the prayer.
2. 2 Chron. 6:32 “chanah.” Solomon’s prayer that God would hear the prayer of the scattered Israelites if they turned back to Him. It means “to bend or to stoop.”
3. Ezra 6:10 “tsela,” Chaldean, from “tsame”--“to thirst.”
4. Job 21:15 “paga” means to “impinge” or to ‘drive something in,’ like a wedge. Thus to Intercede is to drive in the wedge of the supernatural.
5. Job 33:26 “athar.” Elihu tells of the restoration of a righteous man. His prayer is to God like one who “burns incense.”
6. Ps. 55:17 “siyach,” “to ponder or converse with.” Prayer is a conversation, not a one-sided monologue. It’s also translated as “commune, meditate, muse.”
7. Ps. 122:6 “shael,” “to inquire or demand.” It is translated as “consult and enquire.” This points to our seeking wisdom, direction from God.
8. Isa. 26:16 “lachash,” to “whisper, private prayer.” God hears our whispered prayer, as he did Hannah’s.
9. Zech. 7:2 “chalah,” which means “to be rubbed.” NIV says “mourn & fast” in place of ‘pray.’ Dan. 9:13 (NIV) translates it as “sought the favor” of God.
III. 3 TRAITS OF PRAYER
A. NOTHING IS MORE TRANSFIGURING THAN PRAYER
1. Other Gospels say, Jesus in the Jordan when Spirit descended like a Dove. Luke says…It was while He was praying that the Spirit descended.
2. The Gospels say, Jesus chose 12 apostles. Luke says it was after He spent a night in prayer that He chose them.
3. Other Gospels say that Jesus died on a cross. Luke says that while he was dying, Jesus was praying for his enemies.
4. The other Gospels say Jesus went up on a mountain and He was transfigured. Luke says it was while He was praying that He was transfigured.
5. Prayer doesn't always change God but it always does change us!
6. Paul was praying when he was caught up to third heaven, and saw unspeakable things. His life was changed.
7. The Apostle John was praying on Patmos when he heard a great voice say “Come up here” and he received the Book of Revelation.
B. NOTHING’S AS REFRESHING AS PRAYER
1. "Don't have your concert and tune your instruments afterward. Begin the day with prayer."
2. We begin each day by taking a bath or shower, don’t we? Likewise, we should also get prepared spiritually.
3. HUMOR.
a. There was a girl who asked her mom if she could start taking a bath each day before school, instead of at night.
b. Her Mom asked her, "Why?" “Because each day at school, for two months, the teacher has asked, ‘Would everyone whose taken a bath today, please raise your hand.”
c. "For 2 months I haven’t been able to raise my hand that I’ve taken a bath!”
C. NOTHING’S AS NOURISHING AS PRAYER
1. Daniel 1:15 says, “At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the youths who had been eating the food supplied by the king!
2. It was NOT due to the vegetables/pulse, but to the nourishment from God in prayer! “Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matt. 4:4.
3. Paul said, Col. 2:7, Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous…” (TLB)
4. Col. 2:19, “for we are joined together by his strong sinews, and we grow only as we get our nourishment and strength from God” (TLB)
5. MY DEFINITION – REAL PRAYER IS THAT WHICH ESTABLISHES A CONNECTION BETWEEN YOU AND GOD; IT BRINGS YOU INTO GOD’S PRESENCE AND INTO FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD.
6. If it’s just requests, asking, etc., and it doesn’t bring you into the presence of God, then it’s just superficial. It’s a form without substance. We must realize that true prayer is NOURISHING!
CONCLUSION
A. CLOSING THOUGHTS
1. Real prayer isn’t easy, but it’s worth the effort.
2. In one of Bill Keene’s “The Family Circus” cartoon strips, the father was at the kitchen table helping Billy with his homework. Mom and the rest of the family were busy cleaning up after supper. Dad asks Billy a question from one of his science papers, “What is the greatest power source in all the world?”
The next panel shows little thought bubbles over everyone’s head. They all think about how they would answer the question. The sister is picturing a Niagara Falls. A brother thinks of a speeding race car and a speeding locomotive. Dad imagines a nuclear explosion.
Mom however pictures something else. The greatest power on earth that she can imagine is her children kneeling beside their beds saying their prayers. It is!
B. THE CALL
1. Call for Salvation.
2. Prayer for special needs.
