The Pattern of Prayer

The Place of Prayer

Prayer is all about meeting with the Living God! It is worship, fellowship, and petition.

Pray privately (this is not a prohibition against public prayer in worship, but an admonition to a real private prayer life).

Pray conversationally

NOT babbling (repeating empty words and phrases), or the use of incantations like the heathen.

Prayer is NOT trying to convince God of our will.

Prayer is NOT working to get God to hear you.

Pray confidently. The Lord knows our need, even better than we do. He is our Father and cares for us!

Praise for the Father

God is your Father - He is the perfect Father! Better than any earthly father. Come to Him as a child.

God is Holy! Prayer is the means by which we enter into fellowship with the Holy God!

When we begin with praise to God we align ourselves, our thoughts, and our motives with the great purpose of all Creation.

You were created to praise the Lord!

Psalm 139:13–14 ESV

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

When you praise the Lord in personal prayer you are fulfilling your purpose on earth! Psalm 150:6 “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”

R - Request

Our daily bread is an acknowledgment of dependence upon the Lord for our daily needs.

“We are beggars, that is true” - Luther

If he has promised to meet our daily needs, we can trust him to provide for us!

Philippians 4:6–7 ESV

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

A - Admit and Forgive

“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive.”

Prayer forces us to face the reality of our need of forgiveness from God, which in turn, leads us to forgive.

If we have experienced God’s mercy, how can we withold it from others. Matt. 18 - the unforgiving servant faced the “tormentors” (not merely jailers). Unforgiveness on our part only leads to personal torment.

Guilt and bitterness have profound affects upon our body, soul, and spirit.

Psalm 32:1–4 ESV

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

In the presence of the Lord we find freedom from that which torments us as we find his forgiveness and receive His grace to forgive others.

God’s presence is powerfully displayed in His work of forgiveness! David after his sin of pride - 1 Chronicles 21:26 “And David built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering.”

Y - Yield

Yield to the Lord’s leading.

The request is to not be led into times of testing, but in every test of life to be delivered from the evil one.

If we are going to be led, we must follow Christ.

The Product of Prayer (14)

The doxology is taken from David’s final prayer.

1 Chronicles 29:11 ESV

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

Prayer first reminds us of God’s greater purposes in our lives. His kingdom, power, and glory.

Prayer changes us, as it aligns us with His will.

Jesus said, “Nevertheless, not my will, but your be done” to the Father.

Have you found the comfort, the freedom, that comes through personal communion with the Lord in prayer?