The Origin of Prayer
Notes
Transcript
Review: Patterns of Prayer (Humility, Confession, Repentance)
TS: I want to conclude this series on prayer with an examination of The Lord’s Prayer, but before we can get to the significance and audacity of His prayer, we must first delve into the origin of prayer…
Man was designed to have a unique relationship with God… (elaborate on image, breath,& authority)
God would come and walk with man in the breezy part of the day.
He gave the first instructions to them directly from His own mouth. (No mediator - it was conversation)
After the fall in Genesis 3, there is in the proclamation of punishment to the serpent a promise from God:
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
Elaborate on mankind’s perspective on this promise.
God even speaks with Cain and Abel, but something happens between Cain’s mark and the end of Genesis 4… Somewhere along the way the voice of God became more scarce until Gen. 4:25-26:
25 Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, “God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
26 To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.
Though it is almost simple enough to gloss over, this is the most significant event since mankind’s expulsion from the garden…
From conversation to calling out..
From intimacy to distance…
From right here to out there…
Mankind finds itself in a long-distance relationship with God…
Long distance is difficult enough with Zoom or Facetime, but man is relegated to a position where they can no longer look on His face and live.
They are in the place where they remember what it was like to be friends of God, but it is becoming a distant memory…
This is exemplified with the contrast of Moses’ relationship with God on the mountain and its stark contrast with the way people interacted with God in that day…
That’s why there’s such surprise when the bible says Moses talked with God like one talks to a friend… This is reminiscent of the Garden, yet God is still far away from the rest of mankind…
Have you ever felt like God was far away?
26 To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.
Call Upon the Name of the Lord…
Phrase used many times throughout scripture…
8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
Genesis 26:25 (NASB95)
25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord,
24 “Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, He is God.” And all the people said, “That is a good idea.”
17 To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And call upon the name of the Lord.
32 “And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Will be delivered;
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
There will be those who escape,
As the Lord has said,
Even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.
The common thread in the use of this phrase is the connection back to Genesis 4:26 and 3:15…
When the bible uses this phrase it is a look toward the promise of God in Genesis 3:15.
To “call upon the name of the Lord” is literally to ask God to fulfill His promise..
So this passage could read: “To Seth, to him also a son was born and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to pray to God to fulfill His promise.”
This is the origin of prayer… A request to God that he would fulfill His promise…
The promise of deliverance, the promise of of a seed.. The promise of a savior who would make a way to once again to commune with God..
Even when God seemed far off, even when the medium switched from conversation to crying out, even when hope was delayed… There was still a promise..
Even if it doesn’t feel like it… Even on the darkest days… There is still the promise…
Calling on the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Prayer Calling on the Name of Yahweh
To call on the name of Yahweh is to cry to God to come through on his promises
Calling on the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Prayer Calling on the Name of Yahweh
It is a prayer for salvation, or an expression of the fact that one is relying on God for salvation. To put it anachronistically, ‘calling on the name of Yahweh’ in the Old Testament denotes ‘gospel-shaped prayer’.
Calling on the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Prayer This Is the Primary Biblical Trajectory of Prayer
It is rarely noted that the primary biblical trajectory of prayer is not praise, or lament, or intercession, or meditation on the word of Yahweh. Prayer begins in the Bible as a cry for God to do what he has promised—to deal with the reality of sin by delivering on his covenant promises.
From the very beginning, prayer and the Gospel are intertwined…
Prayer is established as calling on God to come through on His promises.
Prayer is asking God to do what we cannot for ourselves…
Prayer is admitting you need Him…
God is not offended that you ask Him to fulfill His promises…
It was in this kind of prayer environment when the fire fell in Acts 2…
It was in this kind of prayer that the room was shaken in Acts 4…
It was this kind of prayer that opened the cell of Peter…
It was this kind of prayer that brought an earthquake that freed Paul and Silas in the midnight hour…
When we pray today, it is asking God to be who He is… Fulfill His promises…
He has promised healing…
He has promised deliverance…
He has promised…
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.
He has promised…
29 He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.
13 “For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’
10 “For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,
But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you,
And My covenant of peace will not be shaken,”
Says the Lord who has compassion on you.
8 “The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
31 Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.
11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”
3 For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper
And from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.
5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
6 Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
7 A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you.
8 You will only look on with your eyes
And see the recompense of the wicked.
9 For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
10 No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent.
11 For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.
12 They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread upon the lion and cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.
14 “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
15 “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 “With a long life I will satisfy him
And let him see My salvation.”
What has God promised you?
If it doesn’t look like the promise, keep praying…
If it doesn’t look like the promise, He is still working…
If it doesn’t look like the promise, God isn’t done yet…
Keep calling on His name! He’s a promise keeper!
Encourage the people to lift their voice in prayer now that God would fulfill His promise today, in this hour… to save souls, heal bodies, mend relationships, that we would see many born again…
