Spiritual Disciplines - Prayer
May 16, 2021
I would have to say one of the more difficult things for Christians to do is pray! If you’ve been doing it for years, then you might not think much about it. But if I were to take a survey of everyone in the room and at home, and ask, if you want to come up and publically pray, most would say ‘nope, that’s your job pastor.’
We don’t like to pray in public, and many of us struggle with praying privately. Yet, prayer is nothing more and nothing less than communicating with God on a regular basis.
Last week we started looking at prayer as a spiritual discipline. Remember, these are disciplines or habits we develop with helps us to draw closer and be connected to God. The main scripture for me comes from Jesus’ words in John 15, when He tells us - - -
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. - John 15:4-5
What Jesus is telling us is so important. So many of us try to do life on our own, and include God when we’re in trouble, yet, Jesus reminds us we can do nothing without being connected to the vine.
Jesus is our source of life. We are the branches. He is the vine / the root. If we’re disconnected from the vine, we gain no nurturing and are really powerless and everything we do ends up being on our own power, not through the power of Jesus.
So, we’re talking about prayer and I’m going to be super practical this week and next week. I’m going to give you lots of ways to pray and this isn’t the total list. There will be more next week The focus next week will be praying the scriptures.
OK, for now, let’s move into it - - -
In 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul tells us - -
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19
Those are some quick final thoughts from Paul. Rejoice always! We’ll talk about that in 2 weeks. What does that mean as a spiritual discipline. Give thanks no matter what - another tough thing to do . . . and then don’t quench or extinguish the Spirit of God. These aren’t always easy - are they?
But in the middle of all that is the command, and these are all commands . . . pray without ceasing. We all struggle with that one. It’s kind of hard to do something and at the same time to be praying.
We may think that sets us up for failure, because as the day moves on we realize how many times we’ve forgotten about God, let alone to pray about one thing after another. So, it can become easy to just give up on prayer.
But don’t do that!! Let me give you another way to look at it. The way Donald Whitney describes these words of Paul is very freeing --
If talking with and thinking of God can’t be in the forefront of your mind, it should always be peeking over and ready to take the place of what you are concentrating on. You might think of praying without ceasing as communicating with God on one line while also taking calls on another. Even while you are talking on the other line, you never lose your awareness of the need to return your attention to the Lord. So, praying without ceasing means you never stop conversing with God; you simply have frequent interruptions.
That is a great way to look at that verse. Just keep your phone lines open. Another way is to view prayer as having a conversation on a walkie-talkie with God. Even when we’re busy doing something, we still have the walkie-talkie on so that when God speaks to us, we’re ready to listen to Him.
Another way to look at it would be - - - to picture a phone conversation that even when you’re done, you don’t hang up the phone, but instead you leave it off the hook so that the conversation could begin again at any time.
There’s a handout in your bulletin and I want to move through the handout. But I’m going to start with the last item and move upwards. When it comes to prayer, some people are able to just jump in and away they go. For lots of people, we struggle with how and what.
Sometimes, we think to ourselves . . . I just gave God my laundry list of everything I need. Or we think of God as our cosmic genie.
I’ve always found the best way to pray is to just start talking to God. We don’t have to formally say - - Dear God or most gracious God. Just jump in and talk to God. Yes, you can address God and say Dear God, or simply Lord, whatever works best for you.
Even when you’re struggling on what to pray, start your prayer that way. Saying, Lord, I’m struggling, I don’t even know what to say to you. I’m so confused, or angry or sad or whatever it is . . . keep talking . . . and that’s prayer.
If your looking at daily prayer, here are some ideas or patterns for prayer -
Adoration Praise
Confession Repentance
Thanksgiving Ask
Supplication Yield
These are two pretty easy to remember acronyms. They are similar, yet have very profound differences. You will also note that many prayers in the Bible start with praising God and follow similar patterns. We see it in many of the psalms, in Nehemiah’s prayer in Nehemiah 1; as well as in Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9.
Whether you’re stuck or not, this is one effective way to lead yourself into prayer.
I equate ADORATION and PRAISE.
As David was planning the temple, listen to his prayer in 1 Chronicles 28 - - -
10 Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
11 Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.
12 Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.
13 Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.
David isn’t telling God anything He doesn’t already know, but it’s a great way to start a prayer. Nehemiah does it in chapter 1. It’s our recognizing God’s greatness and just how awesome God is. Se we tell God exactly what we’re thinking about God’s awesome nature.
Even in times of trouble, we can do that. I’ll show you that next week.
We can start our prayer by lifting up the name of God in praise and adoration. When you start praying, instead of rushing to what you want God to do for you, start by telling God why you believe He is so awesome. Tell him how you adore Him. Remember the word adore means, “to love deeply and intensely, to regard with a deep rapturous love.”
Try expressing that to God first, praise Him, worship Him, give Him the reverence due Him.
Then move on to confession or repentance. Again, these can be very similar. It’s what Nehemiah did next, as well. In the next verse Nehemiah said,
6 I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you.
After praising God, he then confessed and repented to God. He confessed the sins of the nation, his sins, as well as the sins of his family. He wanted to make his life right with God, so that when he did lay his needs and petitions at God’s door, his heart, soul, mind and body were right with God. We don’t like to admit our sins. Confession is not easy, which is why it is a Spiritual Discipline and one we will talk about another day.
Nehemiah admitted the people had acted wickedly and had been disobedient to God and in essence deserved their exile. He showed his humility in humbling himself and admitting his and the nations sinfulness before God.
Next in our progression is where the two acronyms diverge. The ACTS acronym next has us giving thanks to God. At this point we would have PRAISED God, confessed to God, now we THANK God for the blessings and life He has given us.
We should look at our lives and see what is good. How God has blessed us. This causes us to focus on what we do have, not on what we don’t have!
The third step of the PRAY acronym is the same as the final step of the ACTS acronym. We are called to ASK, or make our requests known to God in what is called SUPPLICATIONS. Supplication simply means to humbly ask, implore or even beg for something.
It’s at this stage where Nehemiah asked God for something. Listen to the rest of his prayer - -
8 Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples,
9 but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven,
from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’
10 They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.
11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants
who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”
Nehemiah even includes in his prayer a call for God to remember His words to Moses. Nehemiah wants a successful journey back to Jerusalem, to help rebuild the city which has been destroyed.
For you and I, it is at this stage where we do as Paul said in 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. - Philippians 4:6
We tell God what our needs are. We lay out our deep needs and longings to God.
I like the final stage of the PRAY acronym because it reminds me of the need to YIELD to God’s will. Scripture tells me, ‘if I ask in His name it will be done for me.’
But it means I need to know what God’s will is, and in order to know His will I must be so connected to Him, that it’s not guess work. It’s my conviction that God wants something for me and I can confidently make that request, believing this is God’s will, not my will. That’s what the YIELD means for me.
When I yield, it means I accept the plan and the call God has for me. It means I put aside all of my wants and say “Yes, Lord, not my will, but your will be done.”
It’s what Jesus did at Gethsemane when He said -
39 My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; NEVERTHELESS, NOT AS I WILL, BUT AS YOU WILL. - Matthew 26:39
OK . . . now I want you to take out that handout that was in your bulletin. I’m going to go over the handout literally line by line, so that you would have a better understanding of different ways you can pray. I’m going to move quickly.
Parts of Prayer
Talking (Most important aspect)
Praise (for who God is)
Thanksgiving (for what God has done)
Confession (of our sin)
Petition (requests for ourselves)
Intercession (praying for others)
Listening to God
Yielding to God’s will
Music Prayers
As you sing a hymn or a “praise song” take the words and make them into a prayer. An example would be songs like Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art.
Simple Prayers
We bring ourselves before God just as we are, warts and all.
We do not try to sort out the good from the bad.
We simply talk to God about our lives, the good and the bad.
Flash Prayers
When meeting people, ‘flash’ prayers at them. Ask God to give them joy, to experience God’s forgiveness, help them to feel tapped on the shoulder and told “I love you” by God.
When in any given situation, use a flash prayer. Just a quick, 10 second prayer. Nothing long, just a quick flash.
Meditation Prayers
Read Scripture and meditate upon what you have read. Consider what God is saying to you. Ask God about what you have read. Now personalize the passage as you consider its impact upon your life and use the passage as a means of prayer.
Breath prayers (using breathing techniques)
“Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Can be confused with Eastern or New Age meditation.
Breathe in “Abba,” breathe out “I belong to you.”
Breathe in “Jesus,” breathe out “restore my soul.”
These can be settling prayers. They are especially good when you are anxious / stressed and this tends to calm you and slow you down a bit.
Scripture Prayers
Read the Scripture and use it as a guide to pray.
I’m going to be really practical again next week and talk about this at length.
I’m especially going to use the Psalms to help guide us as well as other passages.
Praise Adoration
Repent Confession
Ask Thanksgiving
Yield Supplication
