Note: I only made it through point 3 in my 30 minutes slot. I will do part two next week, but will probably post it as a separate sermon. I intend to add more illustrations to what is here points IV to VII. So you might want to look it up.
The Many Hues of Personal Prayer
(topical)
1. What happened when a big red ship crashed into a medium blue ship? The crew was marooned!
2. Colors are amazing things. Painting a room a different color has a psychological effect — colors are potent. They also add zest and variety.
3. When I was very young, there were no color TVs. Everything, including most movies, were filmed in black and white. And, while you can still follow the plot, a good movie or TV show is so much better in color. That’s why, when they filmed the Wizard of Oz in 1939, they went through the great expense of filming it in Technicolor.
4. For many people, prayer is a black and white movie. Different variations on the same two colors. But prayer has many hues and colors.
5. One of the first things many of us learn about prayer is that prayer is simply talking to God. Yet how we talk to God should vary. 12 OT words and at least 6 NT words for prayer, but that does not include a larger number of other prayer words, like blessing, thanking, bowing, etc.
6. There is a difference between public prayer and private prayer. When we pray publicly, we want to include everyone (we vs. I), we need to be careful not to break confidences, we want to keep it short so others can join in, and we don’t want to put on a show. But in our personal prayers, we don’t have to be concerned about such things. Life’s experiences, our personality, and the intensity of our feelings should affect the way we pray privately.
Main Idea: Prayer is conversation with God. By examining and implementing the various hues of prayer, we can add variety, interest, and intensity to our prayer lives. Let’s look at some prayer terms, grouping them into families.
I. The ADORATION Family
John 4:23, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”
A. DEVOTION
1. The idea here is focus, priority.
2. A good doctor, for example, is devoted to his or her profession.
B. WORSHIP/Glorify/Honor
1. Allegiance, adorning His reputation (His Name = His reputation)
2. Hypocrisy does the opposite.
C. SANCTIFYING (reverencing) the Name of God
1. “Hallowed by Thy Name.”
2. We set God’s Name apart by not misusing it, by blessing it, by reserving it for its proper use.
II. The EXPRESSIVE Family
A. Chant or SING to God
B. Quiet SIGH
• Sometimes you are overwhelmed or don’t have the words, or the energy to come up with the words.
Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. “
C. POUR out (release)
Psalm 62:8, “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah”
• When you are afraid, severely disappointed or shocked
• When you are angry, bitter, filled with rage
D. COMPLAIN
Psalm 142:2, “I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him.”
• In Paul Olsen’s favorite movie, Fiddler on the Roof, Telly specializes in this.
E. UTTER or mutter (aloud or silently)
• Hannah in I Samuel 1…
F. CRY, beseech, plead, beg (Luke 5:12)
G. Fellowship/COMMUNE
I John 1:3b, “that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
III. The THANKSGIVING Family
Philippians 4:6, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
• If I spend 5 minutes thanking God, I have spent 5 minutes in prayer.
A. BLESSING His Name for what He has done for you
• Some devout Jews make it goal to recited 100 blessings a day!
• "Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth."
• "Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, Who creates varieties of spices." Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort…” 2 Corinthians 1:3
B. Thanking Him DIRECTLY
C. REVIEWING (rehearsing) His blessings and faithfulness
IV. The ASKING Family
A. Petition, ask, REQUEST, entreat, supplicate
Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
• This is where most of our prayers are found (sick, salvation, finances)
B. Seek FAVOR (ask God to be gracious toward)
Psalm 90:7, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands…”
C . CALL on His Name
V. The DIRECTION and Growth Family
A. Inquire or WAIT
B. MEDITATION on the Word (talking it over with Him)
Psalm 1:2, “… his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”
VI. The PURIFICATION Family
A. SEEK (draw near)
James 4:8, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”
B. RETURN (repent)
C. CONFESS and cleansing
• One hymn that speaks to me, “Search Me O God…”
D. SUBMIT
James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
VII. The MILITANT and Kingdom Family
• Actually a sub-category of the Asking Family, but more militant
A. Alert prayers AGAINST the enemy
John 17:15, “ I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”
Should you address Satan? Maybe, but not in prayer.
B. Blessing the presentation of the GOSPEL
Ephesians 6:19-20, “[praying]…for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
C. Battling the FLESH
The best way to battle to flesh is to feed the Spirit (unite my heart in Ps. 27).
D. Praying for believers to MATURE
E. Praying for God’s Kingdom to come to EARTH
