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Spiritual Discipline: Prayer (voice and posture) 

This week and next week, we will be speaking about the spiritual discipline of PRAYER. 

Preaching on prayer is like taking drivers ed class… without getting into the car to go and drive. 

At some point you need to go and drive the car. 

Prayer is not an idea, but something in which you can participate in. 

Spiritual Transformation is both practical and habitual and regular as well as supernatural and miraculous. 

READ: 

Matthew 6:5-15 

Matthew 7:7-11 

James 1:5-8

Introduction:

God uses three main channels of grace to work in our lives:

1. His Body (the church)

2. His Voice (the Word)

3. His Ear (prayer)

And prayer—our connection to God’s ear—reminds us that we have a voice. Prayer is our voice to God, and when we pray, He listens. 

Think about that for a moment: we can actually talk to God, and He hears us! 

Prayer is using your God-given voice to speak in relationship to a listening God.

Psalm 17:6 says: “I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words.”

1 Peter 3:12 reminds us: “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Prayer is a conversation we didn’t start but one we are invited into. God speaks, we listen, and we respond. As David Mathis puts it: “We speak to the God who has spoken.”

Consider the magnitude of that. The God who spoke the universe into existence has revealed Himself to the world through His Word, and in His grace, He enables His creation to respond. To speak back to Him through prayer! God speaks; His ear listens. And in prayer, we join the divine conversation.

Voice of Prayer 

In English, we’re familiar with three perspectives: first person, second person, and third person. But language also has different voices—ways verbs express action:

• Active voice: The subject acts. (e.g., “I give advice.”)

• Passive voice: The subject is acted upon. (e.g., “I am given advice.”)

In ancient Greek, the language of the New Testament, there’s a third voice called middle voice. 

Middle voice - I take advice

Tyler Stanton explains it like this:

“In the active voice, I (the subject) am the actor. I initiate the action. ‘I give advice.’ In the passive voice, I (the subject) am being acted upon. I receive the action. ‘I am given advice.’ In ancient Greek, the language of the NT, there’s a third way of speaking—the middle voice. ‘I take advice.’ The middle voice means, ‘I am an active participant, but the action did not begin with me. I am joining the action of another.’”

Eugene Peterson describes prayer as operating in the middle voice:

“Prayer and spirituality feature participation, the complex participation of God and the human, his will and our wills. We do not abandon ourselves to the stream of grace and drown in the ocean of love, losing identity. We do not pull strings that activate God’s operations in our lives, subjugating God to our assertive identity. We neither manipulate God (active voice) nor are manipulated by God (passive voice). We are involved in the action and participate in its results but do not control or define it (middle voice). Prayer takes place in the middle voice.”

Stanton adds: “The middle voice means I am an active participant, but the action began with another. When we pray, we both participate in God’s action and benefit from God’s action. We join God. All our interaction with God in prayer happens here—in the middle voice, the voice of participation.”

Active voice assumes it’s all up to us, like trying to demand control through our prayers.

Passive voice assumes it’s all up to God, leading us to question if prayer even matters.

But middle voice is where we actively join God in His work, participating in the transformation of the world and being transformed ourselves in the process.

The Conversation Illustration

Prayer can be likened to a meaningful conversation between two close friends:

1.Active Voice (Demanding): This is like dominating the conversation, talking non-stop without listening or caring about what the other person has to say. You’re dictating the terms of the relationship, not engaging in a mutual exchange.

2.Passive Voice (Apathetic): This is like sitting silently in the conversation, offering no input or engagement, expecting the other person to carry all the weight of the interaction. There’s no relationship building or connection.

3.Middle Voice (Participation): In the middle voice, prayer is a balanced conversation where you speak and listen, express your heart while being open to what God has to say. It’s personal and intentional, with both parties engaged. You bring your needs and emotions to God while trusting His wisdom, timing, and guidance.

Prayer Changes You: 

This is just it… through the conduit of our voice in prayer and God’s ear listening to our prayer, we are seeking to get to God… but in praying, we find God gets in us. 

Prayer isn’t just about changing God’s mind; it’s also about changing our hearts. 

In prayer, I often ask God to:

• Change my heart.

• Change my desires.

• Expose my misguided or disordered wants.

Your kingdom come, your will be done… 

Let my will be your will. 

Here I am, send me. 

And many times, God has answered my prayers not by changing my circumstances but by changing me. Yet, God still in his sovereignty chooses to respond miraculously and even at times unexpectedly to our prayers. 

Ephesians 3:20-21:

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

God can and will exceed the highest expectations of your honest prayers. 

Posture of Prayer: Triple Threat

The triple threat of basketball: Pass, Shoot, Dribble 

The Triple Threat of Prayer: Adore (pass), Ask (shoot), Abide (dribble)   

Pray the Triple A: Adore, Ask, Abide 

Adore (pass)

O come, let us adore him. 

Jesus - Matthew 6:9-10 - Our Father in heaven, HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME!  

Mary - Luke 1:46-49 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior… 

Hannah - 1 Samuel 2:1-2 And Hannah prayed and said,“My heart exults(rejoices) in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.2 “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

David - 1 Chronicles 29:10-13; (14-20) 

Adoration in Prayer 

 Praise! Worship! Adoration! Honor! 

Often includes Thanksgiving. 

This starts the prayer with humbling ourselves and honoring God. 

It’s ascribing glory to God alone, who is worthy. 

Don’t know how to start your prayer?? 

Think about God. 

Praise Him for who is… 

Learn about God so you can learn to adore him. 

HE MUST INCREASE. But I must decrease. John 3:30 

Ask (shoot)

To pray at it’s root is to ask. (to seek, to call upon, to make petition, to address a deity through request) 

Matt. 7:7-11 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks it will be opened. 

Ask and you will receive. 

This phrase has got to be one of the most powerfully simple and complicated phrases of all of Jesus’ sermon on the mount. 

Is this a blank check? 

Ask for a Lamborghini, and God will give it if you just ask in the right way, and if you keep asking… 

Look at the next phrase…

God wants to be found and desires to reward those who diligently seek him in faith. (hebrews 11:6)

Matthew 7:7 - Ask and it will be given to you; SEEK and you will find… 

Praying. Talking to God. Is not a wild goose chase. 

We are not playing hide and seek with God, where we wander around, never to find him, and only to be left frustrated in the end. 

Yet, as we find here, and in this entire series, Growing in Grace: Transformation through the Spiritual Disciplines, is that it takes effort to ask. Effort to seek. Effort to knock. 

Do you even ask? Do you even take your shot? 

James 4:2 You do not have because you do not ask. 

Some of you aren’t even praying and still frustrated why God isn’t answering your prayers?! 

Pick up the phone. 

James 4:3 - You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 

Your heart is selfishly seeking your own.

Oh, I need this promotion. I need this vacation. I need this situation. I need. I need. But do you??? 

You don’t want Gods kingdom come, you want your own kingdom…

Matthew 7:9-11 God is a good father who knows how to give good gifts to his children. 

Prayer is trusting in God’s wisdom and perfect character. He knows what we need more than we know what we need. 

Yet, we come to him, knowing he is good and we do not have to fear asking him. 

My children come and ask me all the time… 

They don’t fear my wrath because they are asking for a snack in the cabinet.

I’m not even gonna ask because I already know the answer. 

You don’t know Gods answer, if you never ask him.

Shoot your shot.  

“Shooting with Simplicity and Honesty”

Key Text: James 1:2-8

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God… But let him ask in faith, with no doubting.”

1. Simplicity in Prayer: Just Ask

The Command: If you lack wisdom, ask God.

God gives generously to those who ask (James 1:5).

The Means: Prayer is the act of asking—simple and direct.

Biblical Support:

Matthew 7: A good Father gives good gifts to His children.

Trust in His goodness; He knows what is best.

2. Honesty in Prayer: Ask in Faith, Without Doubting

What Does It Mean to “Not Doubt”?

Not about never struggling or having questions.

It’s about avoiding spiritual duplicity: praying one way while living another.

James’ Explanation (1:6-8):

A doubter is like a wave, driven and tossed by the wind.

A doubleminded person (literally, “double-souled”) is unstable—praying to God while living as if He doesn’t exist.

Honest Prayer Requires:

Faith in God’s ability and goodness.

Integrity between prayer and lifestyle:

Doers of the Word (James 1:22).

Praying for God’s blessing while living in contradiction to His will reveals disobedience, not faith.

Illustration of Faith vs. Doubt:

Abraham’s faith: Despite doubts (Genesis 17:17), he obeyed God by offering Isaac, believing in God’s promises (Hebrews 11:17-19).

Abraham’s actions spoke louder than his doubts—faith expressed through obedience.

3. Avoiding Double Mindedness

What Double Mindedness Looks Like:

Praying for wisdom or provision but living self-reliantly.

Asking God to bless your plans but ignoring His ways.

Treating God like a vending machine—asking for blessings while refusing to align with His will.

What Honest Prayer Looks Like:

Acknowledging doubt: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

Bringing your struggles to God rather than hiding them.

Living in trust and obedience, taking God at His Word.

4. Application: Shoot with Simplicity and Honesty

Simplicity: Ask God with childlike faith, trusting His goodness.

Honesty: Pray with integrity:

Mean what you say.

Align your life with your prayers.

Practical Encouragement:

Keep “shooting” your prayers to God.

Trust His wisdom and timing.

Live in faithful response to His Word, not in spiritual instability.

Abide (Dribble)

Key Idea: Abiding means staying connected to Jesus through prayer, no matter the outcome.

1. Abide by Staying Connected in Prayer

Scripture Basis:

John 15:4-11: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine…”

John 15:7, 16: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

Main Point:

Abide in relationship with Jesus.

Stay connected to the source of all grace and good gifts.

2. Abide by Staying Constant in Prayer

Scripture Commands:

Romans 12:12: “Be constant in prayer.”

Colossians 4:2: “Continue steadfastly in prayer.”

1 Thessalonians 5:17: “Pray without ceasing.”

Ephesians 6:18: “Praying at all times in the Spirit…”

Main Point:

Prayer is not occasional but a continual connection to Jesus.

Abiding means remaining with Him no matter what.

Our asking… is followed with abiding. 

3. Abiding is About the Relationship

Core of Abiding:

It’s about building a relationship with Jesus through prayer.

Prayer connects us to the vine—Jesus—and reminds us of our eternal relationship with Him.

Faithful Abiding:

“When I ask, I also abide and stay with Jesus, no matter His answer.”

Psalm 37:4: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Like Peter said to Jesus: “You have the words of eternal life. Where else would we go?”

Conclusion: Practice the Triple A’s of Prayer

Triple A’s: triple threat

1. Adore: pass

2. Ask: shoot.

3. Abide: don’t lose your dribble. 

Key Reminder:

Practicing the Triple A’s takes consistency and intentionality.

Build habits of prayer: not waiting until pressured, but praying faithfully every day.

Posture of Prayer: Triple Threat

Praying in the Middle Voice: Participating with God in His ongoing work in the world and in your heart.

Close with Prayer Practice

Invitation:

As I pray, quiet your heart and pray with me:

Adore Him: Praise God for His greatness and love.

Ask of Him: Bring your needs and desires before Him.

Abide in Him: Commit to remain faithful and connected, no matter the answer.

BREATHING IN GRACE

— Philip Doddridge (1709-1751, 18th century in Leicestershire, England) 

Ever-blessed fountain of natural and spiritual life! I thank you that I live, and that I may live a faith-filled life.

I bless you that you breathe into me your own living breath.

Though I was once dead in my sins, now I have become a living soul, in a sense that is unique to your own children.

But I do not just want to live. I want to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 3:18).

So I beg you to form my mind in the image of faith. Do not let me misunderstand grace, measuring my growth in grace by a natural yardstick.

Let me experience your love even more, with unreserved resignation to your wise and holy will, and a greater care for others.

Strengthen my soul as you help me grow in patience, in humility and zeal, and in a heavenly attitude. Give me a concern to be accepted by you (2 Corinthians 5:9).

Whether I live or die, let everything I do be for your glory.

You know I hunger and thirst after righteousness. Make me whatever you want me to be.

Draw your image on my soul. By the gentle influences of your Spirit, trace every feature which your eye, O Heavenly Father, may enjoy, and which you may see as your own image.

I know I am not yet where I should be. I am far from being already perfect. But after the great example of the apostle, I forget what lies behind, and strain forward to what lies ahead (Philippians 3:13).

Feed my soul by your word and by your Spirit. Then I will be born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible— even by your word, which lives and abides forever (1 Peter 1:23). As a newborn babe, I desire the sincere milk of the word, that by it I may grow (1 Peter 2:2).

And may my progress be obvious to all (1 Timothy 4:15) until I finally reach maturity, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

And after having enjoyed the pleasure of those that flourish in your courts below, I will come to live in the paradise above!

I ask and hope this through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ-to whom be glory, both now and forever. Amen