The Posture of Prayer

Week 1 – September 23rd, 2024 - A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF PRAYER

The Biblical Definition And Purpose Of Prayer – Understand the foundational theological principals of prayer.

Does Prayer Change Things or does Prayer change you?

The Nature Of God And Its Implication For Prayer.

The Role Of Prayer In The Believer’s Relationship With God.

Week 2 – October 2nd, 2024 THE LORD'S PRAYER: A MODEL FOR CHRISTIAN PRAYER

Exposition of Matthew 6:9-13 & Luke 11:2-4

Theological Implication of each petition.

Application of each petition

Week 3 - October 9th, 2024 - THE ROLE OF SCRIPTURE IN PRAYER: PRAYING IN THE BIBLE

The Role of scripture in shaping and enriching prayer.

Memorization and meditation on scripture for prayer

Examples of prayers in scriptures

Week 4 - October 16th, 2024 - THE PRACTICE OF PRAYER IN DAILY LIFE

Common obstacles and distraction in prayer

Resources for enhancing personal prayer.

Record Keeping – A Log of God’s Past Faithfulness

Week 5 - October 23rd, 2024 - PRAYER AND SANCTIFICATION & CONFESSION

SANCTIFCATION

CONFESSION OF SIN

Week 6 - October 30th, 2024 - PRAYING FOR THE LOST - [Intercessory Prayer]

How should we pray/ what should we pray? [Ephesian 2:1-3]

Week 7 - November 6th, 2024 - PRAYER AND FASTING

The lost discipline

Week 8 - November 13th, 2024 - HISTORICAL AND BIBLICAL MODELS OF PRAYER

Jesus High Priestly Prayer

Paul’s Prayers

David’s Prayers

Week 9 - November 20th, 2024 - PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY - [Discipleship and Prayer.]

Biblical Foundation for Corporate Prayer

Difference forms of Communal Prayer

Benefits and Challenges or praying together.

A Biblical Theology of Prayer

Matthew 6:6 & Ephesians 6:18-20

Matthew 6:6 LSB

“But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Ephesians 6:18–20 LSB

praying at all times with all prayer and petition in the Spirit, and to this end, being on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, as well as on my behalf, that words may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel— for which I am an ambassador in chains—so that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

THE BELIEVER’S BENEFITS

This class is for believers. If you have not been born again, this class will be useless.

The Scriptures are Christian Scriptures.

We approach them as children saved by Grace through Faith in Jesus Christ.

Rescued by the beautiful Gospel message, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

Apart from being made right with God, no human effort will allow you to access God in Prayer.

God doesn’t hear the prayer of unbelievers [hear with the intention to answer. God hears all things.]

John 14:6 & Proverbs 15:8 & John 9:30–33 & Psalm 66:17–19 & Isaiah 59:1–2 & Proverbs 28:9 & James 1:6–7 & Luke 18:11

Just for the sake of clarity, the gospel message is simple.

A Holy God created you and me.

He formed and fashioned us in His image, and we rebelled against Him.

We broke His law and transgressed against Him in such a way that the bible says you and I are His enemies and are completely unable to fix or restore the relationship that WE broke.

It’s our most significant problem, and we are helpless to remediate it.

You and I are guilty before this Righteous God and worthy of the full penalty and punishment our sin deserves.

Death, alienation from God, and eternal conscience torment in hell.

But this Holy, Righteous God sent His son, born of a virgin.

He lived a perfect life. Every day of His life, He lived pleasing to His Father.

And He died a sinner’s death as a substitute for the sinner, and three days later, He rose bodily from the grave.

And trust in that message, the Person and Work of Jesus.

Faith in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone is the only way that you will be made right with God.

Once you place your faith in Him, you are credited with His righteous life, your sins are washed away, and God declares you righteous.

You have communion with that Holy God; He declares you to be His child and gifts you His Holy Spirit.

Then, and only then, are you able to open the Scripture and learn from them.

And if you have not trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, would you turn from your sin today and place your faith in Him?

BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF PRAYER

Easton’s Bible Dictionary (Prayer)

PRAYER—is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or formal. It is a “beseeching the Lord” (Ex. 32:11); “pouring out the soul before the Lord” (1 Sam. 1:15); “praying and crying to heaven” (2 Chr. 32:20); “seeking unto God and making supplication” (Job 8:5); “drawing near to God” (Ps. 73:28); “bowing the knees” (Eph. 3:14). Prayer presupposes a belief in the personality of God, his ability and willingness to hold intercourse with us, his personal control of all things and of all his creatures and all their actions.

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Prayer

A classic definition of Christian prayer is “an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies” (Westminster Shorter Catechism). Christian prayer is the end product of a long process of change and development in God’s relation to men, as a survey of the biblical data shows.

Lexham Theological Wordbook Prayer

Prayer is intentional communication with God and can be spoken or written. It is often petitionary in nature, though it may take many other forms, as well. Both the OT and the NT assume that God hears and responds to the prayers of his people.

Lexham Theological Wordbook Theological Overview

Prayer is regarded throughout Scripture as a fundamental means of religious expression. This is because praying to God assumes in faith that he is powerfully willing and also graciously able to hear and respond to the prayers of his people—and further, that he chooses to work in and through these prayers. Thus, prayer is seen all through Scripture as both a wonderful privilege and also a solemn responsibility for God’s people. It follows, then, that prayer is utterly dependent on the revealed relational character of the God of the Bible, demonstrated most fully in the person of Jesus Christ in the NT. Jesus models in his earthly ministry the appropriate way to pray (Matt 6:9–13), and he assumes a mediatorial role in prayer (i.e., he teaches that the proper way to pray is “in my name”; John 14:13–14). Supplicants can become confident that God will hear their prayers because of what Jesus teaches his followers (Mark 11:24).

Prayer is our life source with the creator. We must spend time communing with Him.

As Christians, we must understand that prayer is essential to daily spiritual warfare.

We should be engaged in prayer.

Matthew Henry – "You may assume to find a living man that does not breath, as a Christian man that does not pray."

William Law – "There is nothing that makes us love a man more than praying for him."

Conscience

A response to the prompting of the Holy Spirit based on the truth of God's Word.

The mind is informed of how and when to pray.

The prompting of the Spirit informs the conscience, and we should respond according to it and pray.

This is different from being misguided by guilt. There is a place for this when repentance is needed, but I am talking about when the Spirit is moving us to pray for the sake of spending time with the Lord.

Many things, such as comparisons with someone else, can misinform the conscience.

Just because someone prays a certain way for a certain amount doesn't mean it is for you.

Our conscience should prompt us to spend time with God in prayer.

Communion

Desire to spend time with the creator

We have Joy, privilege, and an obligation to spend time with Him.

Consistent

A pattern that we hope to achieve. [this does not mean perfection, but it is better than an excitement eventually dissipates]

Like disciplining a child, it is a good thing to be consistent.

If you are currently inconsistent, then start small. Start with 5 minutes a day.

Let your heart develop a consistent pattern so your conscience can be rightly informed that this is good for you and something you WANT.

Even at GBC, where we have a high view of God and a high view of scripture, we can struggle with prayer.

There is always room for improvement in your prayer life, but there is a time when you can come to be satisfied in your prayer life.

Find a time that works to establish consistency, and the amount of time spent in prayer will naturally grow.

You will want to have more time with the Lord.

You will always want to grow, but you can be satisfied in your prayer life.

Consecrated

Commitment to a decision to pray.

A decision with the whole of you to pray.

This comes with finding a place where you can pray and get away from everything else. This is the model that Jesus shows us.

Johnathan Edwards – “There is no way that Christians in a private capacity can do more to support and promote the work of God and advance the plans of God than by prayer”

Leonard Ravenhill – “For this sin hungry age we need a prayer hungry church. We need to explore again the exceeding great and precious promises of God. In that great day the fire of judgement is going to test the sort not the size of the work we have done. That which is born in prayer will survive the test. Prayer does business with God. Prayer creates hunger for souls’ hunger for souls creates prayer. Understanding so praise the praying soul gains understanding to the soul who prays in a self-owned weakness to him the Lord gives strength”

2 Corinthians 12:10

Maybe your prayer life is a reflection of how strong you are. You have enough strength to NOT needs God’s help.

John Bunyan – “Pray often for prayer is a shield for the soul, a sacrifice to God and a scrouge for Satan”

John Bunyan – “Prayer will make a man cease from sin or sin will make a man cease from prayer.”

John Calvin – “our prayers must not be self-centered it must arise not only because we feel our own need as a burden we must lay upon God, but also because we are so bound up in love for our fellow man, that we feel their needs as acutely as our own. To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical which we can express our love for them.

We are limited in how much we can help people.

We take these people before the throne of Grace and leave them there. That is the only way they will get the help they need.

BIBLICAL PURPOSE OF PRAYER

Prayer is primarily to communicate with God. It is communion with God to deepen your relationship with him and to a line yourself with his wheel. Prayers of vital aspect to the Christian life. It is a expression of dependence on God admission of your need for his guidance, your knee for his grace to bring about your own spiritual birth.

Prayer should be rooted in Scripture and meant to glorify God. Prayer is a means of acknowledging god sovereignty and cultivating a connection with him.

Prayer is an expression of sincere desire. It is NOT to inform God of matters that he would otherwise be ignorant of, and the validity of prayer is not affected by length or repetitiveness. Private prayer is to be discreet, secret (Mt 6:5–15).[1]

Prayer in Scripture

Intense Supplication

Exodus 9:28 Exodus 10:17 Job 33:26

Exodus 9:28 ““Entreat Yahweh, for God’s thunder and hail are too much; and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.””

Exodus 10:17 ““So now, please forgive my sin only this once and entreat Yahweh your God, that He would only cause this death to depart from me.””

Job 33:26 “Then he will entreat God, and He will accept him, And he will see His face with joyful shouts, And He may restore His righteousness to man.”

Intercede or entreat

84 times in OT

Seeking or to inquire from the Kings

Daniel 2:18 “so that they might seek compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.” Its It

It’s used of seeking the king out in Daniel .

Why would you seek from the king?

Because he has authority.

As we go to the King of kings, we realize He has ultimate authority

Bend and bow down and humbly submit

Ezra 6:10 “that they may bring sweet-smelling sacrifices near to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.”

Daniel 6:10 “Now when Daniel knew that the written document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.”

Humility, if necessary, when we pray.

Deep and intense pondering or meditate

Psalm 119:15,27,23,48,78,97,148

Psalm 119:15 “I will muse upon Your precepts And look upon Your ways.”

Psalm 119:23 “Even though princes sit and talk against me, Your slave muses on Your statutes.”

Psalm 119:27 “Make me understand the way of Your precepts, So I will muse on Your wondrous deeds.”

Psalm 119:48 “And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, Which I love; And I will muse on Your statutes.”

Psalm 119:78 “May the arrogant be ashamed, for they wrong me with lying; But I shall muse on Your precepts.”

Psalm 119:97 “Oh how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.”

Psalm 119:148 “My eyes eagerly greet the night watches, That I may muse on Your word.”

As we reflect on God, that give us right thought of God and those thought guard out understanding of who he is. It will then guard out prayer and the manner in which we pray.

Make a specific request

1 Samuel 12:13

1 Samuel 12:13 ““So now, behold, the king whom you have chosen, whom you have asked for, and behold, Yahweh has set a king over you.”

Israel was asking for a king

Be specific in your prayers. There will sometimes be general prayers, but ask God specifically for things so you can see Him answer specific request.

Sense of Awe and unworthiness on our behalf. An expression of a reverent heart and that reverent heart is requesting something.

Exodus 33:18 – Moses coming before God.

Numbers 12

Judges 13 – Samsom parent

Imploring or beseech

Exodus 33:19 “And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.””

Job 19:16 ““I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I have to implore him with my mouth.”

Psalm 51:3 “For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.”

Deuteronomy 3:23 ““I also pleaded with Yahweh at that time, saying,”

Outpouring of worshipful praise and adoration to God.

Often uses in the Psalm.

This is the word translated prayer most often in the Psalms.

Ephesians 6:18–20 LSB

praying at all times with all prayer and petition in the Spirit, and to this end, being on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, as well as on my behalf, that words may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel— for which I am an ambassador in chains—so that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

A Call to prayer

18 praying at all times with all prayer and petition in the Spirit,

A Perseverance of prayer

and to this end, being on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

A Purpose of Prayer

as well as on my behalf, that words may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel— 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains—so that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.