Last week we continued our study on discipleship by looking at the importance of bible study in our lives. We talked about different ways in which we can get to know our bibles better through hearing the word taught, personal study, scripture memorization, and meditating upon the word of God. We also looked at the benefits to bible study in our walks as disciples. Tonight’s message kind of goes hand and hand with last week’s message. Studying your bible requires discipline and time and tonight’s principle of prayer is no different. A disciple should have a daily quiet time and should be developing in his prayer life.
Now quiet time can mean a lot of things, such as studying your bible, but for tonight I want to focus on quiet time as a chance to communicate with God. Most people would tell you that in any kind of relationship, communication is the most important step to having a healthy and open relationship. When you communicate with someone, you are not doing all the talking and likewise they shouldn’t be doing all the listening. Communication requires equal parts talking and listening. Prayer is no different. Prayer is our means of communication with our heavenly father. And just as communicating with your family, friends, or spouse is one of the most important aspects of that relationship, so it is in our relationship with God. And because it is so important, it is imperative that we do it on a regular basis, not just when we have spare time or when it’s convenient, but at all times. Our challenge as disciples tonight comes from Ephesians 6:18, “Pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” And also 1st Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” As disciples we must pray on all occasions and we must do so without ceasing!
Jesus provides us with numerous examples of how important prayer and quiet time with God is. One great example of how important Jesus felt his time with God was is in the 1st chapter of Mark. Starting in verse 21, you see that Jesus is in Capernaum teaching in the synagogue. He also healed the demon possessed man in the synagogue. As soon as he was done there he went to the home of Simon and Andrew and while he was there he healed Simon’s mother-in-law from her illness. The word spread quickly about what he was doing that day and by that evening, most of the town had gathered at Simon and Andrew’s house with the sick and demon possessed and Jesus took the time to heal everyone. Jesus’ actions in verse 35 reveal to us how much importance we should put on prayer. Mark 1:35, “Very early the next morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
As far as we can tell from the text in Mark, Jesus had a very busy day the day before, teaching, healing, and visiting with others. Most of us after a day like that would want to stay in bed and sleep in the next morning. But instead, Jesus did something that most of us have probably never done, he got up while it was still dark. And what did he do? He went to a solitary place and prayed. Jesus had been busy well after sunset the night before and he still took the time to get up before sunrise so he could have his quiet time alone with God. How many of you show the same dedication to God in your quiet times?
It is through prayer and your quiet times with God that you will be spiritually nourished and replenished. God will bless you with the tools you need to serve him and give you the energy and strength to follow him and do his will. As disciples for Christ we are called to minister to those around us and lead non-believers into a relationship with Jesus. If we have neglected our own spiritual nourishment by failing to pray, how can we expect to minister to others?
We must pray so that we are able to minister to others, but we should pray because we are in a fierce and constant battle. We are going to be constantly opposed by Satan and the sin that this earthly world has to offer us. Ephesians 6:12 tells us that “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” We are in a battle and we need the help of God. The enemy is ready to defeat us so we cannot neglect prayer and go into battle unarmed.
This spiritual nourishment and protection that we can receive through prayer does not come without a cost. God has made himself accessible to us any time of day or night, yet so few believers take advantage of this opportunity that God has given us. One of the reasons for this is that prayer is costly, because it takes time and effort to converse with God through prayer. If you look at the life of any great theologian, you will notice that each one spent a great deal of time on their knees in prayer, some for several hours every day. That requires time!
Everything in our world today fights against prayer. Our busy lives interfere with times of prayer. Society tells us that if we aren’t always on the go that we aren’t successful. Our body resists it, our minds resist it; and Satan resists it. But we must pray because it is our necessary lifeline to God.
Now there is no specific formula for how we should pray. One of the things that makes prayer so great is that there is no right or wrong way to pray. However in order for us not to become stagnant in our prayer life and in order for us to be as spiritually nourished as possible, there are some guidelines I’d like to share with you about how to pray. Some of you have probably heard of different prayer plans to follow, but I find this one to be the most well rounded. This plan utilizes five words to guide your prayer life.
The first is confession. 1st John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” You should confess all known sin in your life when you start in prayer so that you can open the channel of communication with you and God. If you try to hide your sin from God or simply ignore it, you put up a roadblock in your communication with God. As you confess your sins to God, ask God to look into your heart and reveal sins to you that you may not be aware of. David gives us a great example in Psalms 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” As God searches your heart and reveals things that are displeasing to him, take that time to confess and ask for forgiveness.
After confession comes praise. 1st Chronicles 29:10-13, “David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, ‘Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O 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, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. 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. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.”
After you have been cleansed of your sin, it is a good time to give praise to God. Praise expresses our love and adoration for our heavenly father. As you praise God, focus your thoughts on his greatness, power, majesty, grace, mercy, and unending love for you. Use a scripture such as the one above to focus your praise on God.
After praise comes Thanksgiving. 1st Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Every day of our life we have something for which we can be thankful for. We can thank God for our health, our safety, our friends, family, church, joyful times in our life, and of course for our salvation. If you read Romans chapter 1, Paul speaks of the sinfulness of mankind and he includes thanklessness as one of those. Romans 1:21, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Don’t allow yourself to fall into this same trap of thanklessness. God has blessed us abundantly, but he desires us to humble ourselves before him and give him thanks and glory for those blessings.
After thanksgiving comes intercession. 1st Timothy 2:1-4, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” This means that we are responsible to pray for others. How many of you have enthusiastically promised to pray for someone and then forgotten to do so? I have done it several times and there’s no excuse for it. We should pray regularly for our pastors, our government leaders, our missionaries, our friends, and our family. We should especially pray for those who are in need with physical or emotional problems. We should pray for others in the same way that we pray for ourselves. God will meet the needs of others if we pray for them, just as he meets our own needs. One good way to make sure we don’t have forget to pray for others is to keep a prayer journal. Last week we talked about keeping a journal for personal bible study and for taking notes during sermons, you can use this same journal for your prayer life. Keep track of those people that you are praying for as well as those prayers for yourself. Go back and record how God has answered those prayers. You will notice that they aren’t always answered how we want, but you will be able to clearly see how God has been working through those prayers. Keeping a prayer journal is a wonderful way to keep our prayers focused and to see how God is working in our lives.
The final point to our plan of prayer is petition. Mark 11:24, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” We need to pray for ourselves and our personal needs. Whatever these may be, we can bring them to God and expect him to answer. We should pray for specific things for which we can expect specific answers. A faithful prayer is one you expect God to hear and to answer, it is also a prayer that is unselfish and seeking God’s will and not your own. A prayer of petition is not meant for our own selfish needs, but to help us meet the needs that God desires and to do his will. In Mark 14:36, Jesus provides a perfect example of the unselfish prayers we should offer. “Abba, Father, he said, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” This is one of Jesus’ final prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane in which he asked God to spare him from having to die on the cross, yet he asked for it to be the will of the father and not his own. Ask God to provide for you, ask God to bless you, ask God for guidance in school and your career, ask God to protect your future mate and to reveal him or her to you if that is your desire, ask God for protection and for good health and for save travel and anything that you need.
Through all of these things reveal to God your requests and let them be made known to him, but do so with a humble heart truly seeking his will. In all things pray without ceasing.
God desperately desires to commune with us on a daily basis, but he can’t do so if we don’t talk to him or if we don’t pause to listen to him. As you strive to model your prayer life after that of a faithful disciple for God, be ready for God to answer you. Be ready to submit unto God’s will and unto the direction that he leads you. I hope it is becoming evident to you as we continue our study on discipleship, that being a disciple is a commitment. All of these characteristics that we have studied require a commitment and they require one another for us to be effective disciples. You cannot go from here and have a healthy prayer life if you aren’t striving to live a pure life. You won’t be able to follow God’s answers to your prayers if you aren’t submitting to him. And it will be hard to hear his instructions and follow them if you aren’t digging into your bible, God’s instruction manual for us, on a daily basis!
What I desire most of all today is not that you feel guilty about your lack of a prayer life, or your study life, or your overall commitment to God. I want you to feel hungry for a greater prayer life and I want you to long for a committed walk with God so that we can be his disciples giving him glory in everything that we do. I don’t want to "beat you up", I want to "spur you on." I want you to come to see prayer and discipleship not as a duty but as a privilege. I want you to pray not just because of our battle with the Devil, or just because of the pain of those around you. I want you to pray because of the sweetness that comes from spending time with the Father and from the glory that will be all God’s if we do everything he desires from us.
Go from here being warriors in prayer. Stay focused on the commitment you have made to be God’s disciple and be ready for him to use you for great things! We will soon be moving into a closer study on evangelism and what its role is in our lives as disciples. Continue to pray that God will use you to lead others to Christ and that he will use you to follow his commandment to make disciples. In all that you do pray on all occasions and pray without ceasing!
