The Four Kinds of Prayer

Is prayer worth it?

The 2 sides of the extreme:

Either God has already decided and done everything and there is not point to prayer (fatalism) OR God is nothing more than our lap dog and we control God and manifest our own destiny with our prayers.

Both of these are driving the car in one ditch or the other.

The truth lies in between these extremes.

One only leads to apathy and fatalism

And the other reduces prayer to the equivalent of going to the bank and withdrawing whatever suits us.

Prayer takes us out of the realm of what we want into the realm of what God wants.

Prayer is, above all, an expression of relationship with God where you see and hear the Heart of God.

Prayer is more about God changing my heart than me changing His mind.

And yet, He commands us to pray with impudence. Pray with grit. Pray with conviction.

We pray with open and malleable hearts - all while praying with conviction!

Lord, your Word is true and I remind you of Your Word — All while recognizing that your timeline and your answer may look different than my answer.

We choose to trust Him regardless of our what natural eyes may or may not see.

So today I want to give you 4 kinds of prayer. This is not a definitive list — but this is a helpful list and something that you can hold onto as you pray.

Because who knows — praying is important?! HELLO??!!

And sadly this is a Spiritual discipline that is on the decline

Younger Christians are not fostering this practice

Our nation in general — is not praying

According to Pew Research — Only 34% of Baby Boomer Christians claim to pray consistently

Only 28% of GenX Christians

Only 12% of older millennial Christians

and only 10% of Younger millennial Christians

There is no excuse for a lack of prayer

There is no move of God that is not preceded by a move of prayer

By the people of God - PRAYING

C’mon if you need breakthrough in your family

job

finances

marriage

PRAY! The answer is found in prayer!

50% of marriages end in divorce.

If you go to church weekly, the stat is cut in half.

26% of couples that go to church weekly end in divorce.

If you regularly pray with your spouse, that stat drops to 0.007%!

Prayer is insanely practical

The prayer of a rushed soccer mom in her busy schedule is just as valid as the prayer of a monk in a monastery who has dedicated his whole life to prayer.

The prayer of a frustrated dad trying to figure out how to lead his kids and family

The quick prayer of you at your job

You in your car

Your prayer life may look different season to season

the important thing is that you have a prayer life

So today I want to give you 4 kinds of prayer and just encourage you and hopefully empower you in your prayer life

Adoration: prayers of praise and worship

Psalm 18:1 (ESV)

1 I love you, O Lord, my strength. 46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation—

Psalm 22:22 (ESV)

22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

A life that recognizes God is a life that will be in awe of God.

We stand in awe of who God is.

Can I tell you there is a great comfort knowing that God is God and we are not.

There is a great weight that is lifted off your shoulders when you realize - I am not God.

I don’t have to have all the answer. I don’t have to know everything

Proverbs 16:1–4 (ESV)

1 The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. 2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit.

3 Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. 4 The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.

Proverbs 16:9 (NLT)

9 We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.

This is that tension we were talking about — You should be prepared and make plans and do what you can do — But at the end of the day - the final product is in God’s hands!

So we stand in awe of God.

Sometimes there’s been this idea that we follow God because He makes our lives better.

If you love God — you’ll be blessed and get a big house and a beautiful wife and all these amazing things

AND WHILE A LOT OF THAT REALLY IS TRUE —— IT IS THE FRUIT NOT THE ROOT OF OUR ADORATION

We adore God not because He blesses us — but because He is God.

THERE IS NO OTHER REASON NEEDED TO GIVE GOD PRAYERS OF ADORATION

If God were to never bless you again — he is still deserving of your praise.

Job 1:21–22 (NKJV)

21 And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” 22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.

Job 13:15 (NLT)

15 God might kill me, but I have no other hope.

Though He slay me - I have no other hope but Him

We need prayers of Adoration and to remind ourselves of how great and awesome our God is!

Confession: prayers of repentance

Psalm 51:1–6 (ESV)

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

This is the Psalm David wrote after he was caught and found out by the Prophet Nathan after sleeping with a married woman, and then killing her husband.

Look at verse 4 — Against you and you only have I sinned.

Jesus gives this same idea in Luke 14:26

Luke 14:26 ESV

26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Jesus is not commanding us to hate — what He is saying is that our love for God must be so great that in comparison to ANYTHING ELSE it’s hate.

Our love for God dwarfs every other love

The same is true in confession in our prayers.

The heart that I am most concerned in offending — Is God’s!

I may offend people — I may sin against others — but the opinion that matters most to me is God’s

my confession belongs to God because I don’t want anything to stand in the way between my heart and God’s heart

This is why David was called a man after God’s own heart

the apple of Gods eye

1 Samuel 13:14 NIV

14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”

Psalm 17:8 (ESV)

8 Keep me as the apple of your eye;

And back to Ps 51 — He says

Psalm 51:6 (ESV)

6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

God I don’t want anything hidden or unconfessed to you.

But every part of my inward self is Yours to deal with

Thanksgiving: prayers of thanks

Derek Prince says this, “If I only have 10 minutes to pray I’m gonna spend 8 of them thanking Jesus for the cross.”

Psalm 30:1–3 (ESV)

1 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. 2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. 3 O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

Sometimes prayers of thanksgiving are more to remind yourself of what God has done!

Sometimes we just need a good reminder of who God HAS BEEN to us in our lives

Psalm 75:1 (ESV)

1 We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.

Supplication: prayers of intercession for God’s help

2 Kings 19:19 ESV

19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”

Matthew 26:39 ESV

39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Ephesians 3:17–19 ESV

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

That we may have the strength to know who God is and who we are in Christ!

Philippians 4:6–7 ESV

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

If you notice — This spells an acronym

A.C.T.S.

Altar:

Come pray one of these.

Encouragement to pray more