Study on Prayer – A Prelude to Revival
Study on Prayer – A Prelude to Revival
(Focus on ‘Asking’ Prayer)
1) We want to learn how to pray
Disciples to Jesus, Lk 11:1 “Teach us to pray.” -- Evidently there is a learning process to pray
Matt 6: 9 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen(which means - So be it!)
What are the ‘ingredients’ of “The Lord’s Prayer”?
Vs 9 Opens with our posture of being His children -- Expresses our honor of who He is
Vs 10 Prophesy heaven’s reality and intentions here on earth -- Aligning ours hearts with heaven
Vs 11 We ask for His provision
We’re dependant upon God
Vs 12 We ask for His mercy – in the same manner as we give mercy
We’re not perfect
Vs 13 We ask for His protection
We’re not sufficient in ourselves
Concludes with a prophetic declaration that our God is supreme!
This is only a model – does not mean that we must recite this exact prayer like a mantra
The principles are the important issue
Notice that there is very little posturing / preaching
Just enough to get started, for instance: we are His children
The primary ingredients are: Asking and Prophesying
We must be dependant enough to ASK specific requests
We must be secure enough to PROPHESY the heart and will of God
2) Let’s focus on asking prayer - (we’ll focus on prophesying prayer later)
James 4:2, “You have not because you ask not”
Matt 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you,…”
3) A look at the difference between “commentary” and “preaching” prayer versus asking prayer
We may feel safer if we make commentary vs. if we make petition
Commentary may feel like it puts us in the ‘driver’s seat’ – or like we’re ‘in-charge’
‘Preaching’ robs us of being transparent before God and others
Heb 4:13, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
Asking requires us to be vulnerable and transparent and admit need
Asking may require us to go deeper in our hearts than we’re comfortable to go
Asking takes us out of the driver’s seat and into the dependant position
4) What are some reasons why we may feel uncomfortable to ask?
Maybe we feel that God’s is too busy to listen to us
Maybe we don’t feel that we’ll get our request - so we don’t want to be disappointed
Maybe our faith is so low we don’t have courage to ask
Maybe our insecurity and view of ourselves makes us feel that God wouldn’t want to consider our request
Maybe our heart passions and our head thoughts are in conflict - so we have a ‘logjam’ on the inside
Maybe our limited vocabulary makes us insecure and afraid to pray in front of others
Maybe we’re afraid of what people will think of my serious longings from God
Maybe there’s been so much discord in our group that we’re afraid that we may only add to the fray
Maybe we haven’t lived in the “heart region” for so long, we’re not sure what our hearts feel
Maybe our hearts are so dry and shut down that we don’t have any deep feelings or longings
An unspoken desire is easier to change if I want to change it
If my desire is unspoken and only half hearted I can ‘delete it’ if I seem to be losing the battle
None of these are good enough to continue keeping us from praying!
The fact is: Everyone wants to live passionately – and pray more effectively
Study on Prayer – A Prelude to Revival (cont)
5) How do we develop our ability to put our requests before God - and our effectiveness in prayer?
James 4:3, “You have not because you ask amiss” – we don’t ask correctly
Heaven is waiting for specific requests - from those who will contend for the promises
Matt 11:12, “For since the days of John, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence
and the violent take it by force”
Making specific requests, helps our hearts to get ‘in touch’ with our passions and longings
Making specific requests, helps others ‘help us’ – with prayer, encouragement and support
Speaking out loud helps put our lesser loves and passions ‘on notice’
It puts our ‘oppressors’ (things that war against us) ‘on notice’ that we’re serious about change
Heaven will strongly support whole-hearted people
II Chron 16:9, “The eyes of the Lord look to and fro across the earth to show Himself strong
to the one who’s heart is completely His.”
6) Can we get beyond overly-familiar religious phrases that have largely lost their impact and meaning?
Familiar phrases tend to get boring and thus reduce our passion
Familiar phrases sound just like the next guy’s prayers
Familiar phrases tend to make ‘spiritual business’ shallow and ineffective
Shallowness leads to disconnectedness, less initiation and un-involvement
Passionless praying actually offends the heart
We can feel the lack of passion and it bothers us
Passionless praying ends up shutting us down – so we don’t pray at all
Our enemy would like to ‘dumb us down’ to mousy and passionless prayers
Our enemy wants to ‘rob the teeth’ out of the effectiveness of our prayers – and our lives
The church’s religion has been so ‘by rote’ that we’ve not had many good models of real passion
Hearts have become passionless, predictable and shallow
God is giving us an invitation to change our lives, family, church and culture
Would you like to be an agent for change?
7) We must learn how to express what our heart feels
We want to ask from our heart versus our head
Prov 4:23, “For from your heart flow all the issues of life”
So we must learn to verbalize the sentiments and desires of our hearts
How can we expand our vocabulary and prayer skills?
How many phrases can use to tell God that you need Him?
Compare it to building muscle in the gym
Comfort and complacency are not our friends
We become a ‘couch potato’ if we give in to them:
We become lethargic, apathetic and develop a mindset of inactivity
We usually have poorer attitudes
We usually have less courage and vision for living life, we become ineffective
We’re less mobile or eager to initiate and we develop a mindset of “let someone else do it”
Pressing against our comfort is our path to growth
It will require some discomfort and ‘exposure’ of our heart
It will require some ‘just-for-principle-sake’ initiation of prayer
All of us love to see measureable personal growth!
8) Which comes first?
1) Our asking for an encounter with God…
2) Or God’s encounter with us which awakens our hearts to ask…
It is both -- We must hold these two truths in balanced tension
John 6:44, “No one comes to the Father unless the Father draws him.”
Psalm 3:4, “I cried to the LORD with my voice, and He heard me…”
Once upon a time, some smelly fishermen, despised tax collectors and otherwise marginalized and common guys were intrigued with how Jesus prayed. Their relationship with Jesus grew and their skill to pray and prophesy grew, until their effectiveness began a world wide movement – which created a large door of example and grace for each of us to walk into. Much of the world now, wants desperately to see the real Jesus, but they’re waiting for us to enter the heavenlies in prayer, so that our hearts and lives are empowered. Our heritage is now waiting to be apprehended. Creation is groaning in eager waiting for us to walk into our full destinies, and even heaven’s great cloud of witnesses is cheering us on. Let’s go for it!!!
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