Spiritual Disciplines Prayer

Pentecost Sunday

Good morning today we are not only finishing our series on spiritual disicplines but we are also celebrating pentecost sunday. For those who dont know Pentecost is 50 days from Easter and is the day that the Holy Spirit came into the world as our guide and help. We as an AG church believe strongly in the Power of the Holy Spirit in our lives but also know that the Experience is not the main goal. We know that the main goal is that the Spirit empowers us to live and walk like Christ. Sharing the gospel to those around us. We also have to be living a disciplined life. We cant be walking one way and doing another. We also should be cautious as Pastor Joey spoke of last week spiritual disciplines will not save you but they open us up to more of God. Today I want to really dive into prayer and what it means to pray and the spiritual discipline of prayer with an emphasis on the Holy Spirt. So lets begin by looking at some basics of the spiritual discipline of prayer.

Prayer is first and foremost talking to God.

Prayer is not something that I do; prayer is something that I am.

Warren W. Wiersbe

The habit of prayer is good, but the spirit of prayer is better.

Charles Spurgeon

No man can do a great and enduring work for God who is not a man of prayer, and no man can be a man of prayer who does not give much time to praying.

Edward McKendree Bounds (American Methodist Episcopal Minister)

Prayer is the thermometer of Divine Grace. A Call To Prayer And Testimony, Volume 37, Sermon #2189 - Isaiah 62:6, 7

Charles Spurgeon

Prayer is our way of communicating with our maker. It is a simple conversation that we are having. Like any conversation prayer must be a two way street. We must learn to speak and listen. Some people view prayer as a one way God listen and then go but thats not at all the concept we get of prayer. Its about learning to listen to what He says. Prayer is i blieve one of the most important aspects of a christians life. We must be connected to the vine. John 15 tells us that.

English Standard Version Chapter 15

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Abiding in Jesus is the only way we stay fruitful in our lives. We step outside of Him and we find ourselves in a world of hurt and world where we struggle to catch our breath. Imagine swimming in a pool and alll the sudden you are taken under you cant catch your breath and you are fighting like mad to get a breath in your lungs. Thats what it is like when we are walking outside of God. The people who have never heard Jesus or who have never had Jesus in thier lives are unaware of what true breath is like and thereofre they think this is the normal way of life. Prayer keeps us connected to God. Matthew 6 Jesus teaches his disciples to prayer

English Standard Version Chapter 6

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

10  Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

11  Give us this day our daily bread,

12  and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13  And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

This is the proto type of prayer Jesus is teaching his dsciples to pray.

Our Father who art In heaven. This is the beginning of our prayer proto type. This is the key to any prayer we pray is the honor of God. Psalms tells us like this

English Standard Version Psalm 100

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise!

Give thanks to him; bless his name!

We can see the power of the Holy Spirit through all of this prayer. According to John 16

English Standard Version Chapter 16

13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

He leads us into all truth. When we are praying through this powerful proto type. Then we will sense Him as we walk through each thing.

Hallowed be your name

Your kingdom come

Your will be done

Give us today our daily bread

forgive us our debts

as we forgive our debtors

lead us not into temptation

deliver us from the evil one.

When we pray through each of these we find the Power of the HS in them and in our lives. You see we can be in tune with what God is doing.

Prayer is key to a life full of the Spirit. You cant expect a life full of the Spirit if you are not giving yourselves to prayer. Prayer changes teh way we live our lives prayer changes the place we put our trust and prayer changes the heart of man towards the heart of God.

Jesus gave us his prototype of prayer but he also told his disciples to wait in jerusalem up for the promise of the Father. That promise is the Holy Spirit. That promise is the comforter. who came on teh day of pentecost and filled the disciples for thier ministry journey and today that Same spirit is available for us. not for feel goods but to push us towards God and His call on our lives.

The Holy Spirit (or Spirit of God) transforms and empowers God’s people.

Craig Keener

The Holy Spirit is not a luxury meant to make deluxe Christians, as an illuminated frontispiece and a leather binding make a deluxe book. The Spirit is an imperative necessity. Only the Eternal Spirit can do eternal deeds.12

A. W. Tozer

The Holy Spirit does not obliterate a man’s personality; he lifts it to its highest use.

Oswald Chambers (Lecturer and Missionary)

For the Holy Spirit did come on the day of Pentecost, and has never left his church.

John Robert Walmsley Stott (English Preacher)

Proper understanding of the Scriptures comes only through the Holy Spirit.

Martin Luther (Founder of the German Reformation)