How to pray!

Session

Prayer

Introduction:

If you look into your booklets, you will notice that its prayer training 2 following the first session that was handled by Ndameni. This session is based on the assumption that you understand what prayer is and why it is important and now you are asking yourself how to. But as a way of emphasis on why we pray, its because human beings are dependent beings, Christ tells us that apart from him we can do nothing(John 15:5). To be prayerless is to assume self sufficiency and thats a fool's game. J.C Ryle says "To be prayerless is to be without God, without Christ, without grace, without hope, and without heaven. It is to be in the road to hell" simply what he is saying is that, you are not a Christian if you don't pray.

When you look at the men of faith in the bible or the church history, one thing is common amongst them and that is that they were weak men just like we all are but the difference is that they knew they were weak and so they sought the face of the one who is greater than they and thats the almighty. When you look at the example of David, you see a courageous and a strong David in 1 samuel but the psalms gives us a glimpse of a weak and a dependant David psalm 58:3-4 "when am afraid, I put my trust in you"

It is this that made them strong men of faith. Like Paul says 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Just thought I should say that before we go ahead.

As I read in preparation for this session these are the common questions I found about how to pray

Is it best to pray standing up, sitting down, kneeling, or bowing down? Should our hands be open, closed, or lifted up to God? Do our eyes need to be closed when we pray? Should we pray in the morning when we get up or at night before we go to bed? Are there certain words we need to say in our prayers? How do we begin our prayers? What is the proper way to close a prayer?

Based on these questions, I’ve structured this session into 2 parts:

1. How to pray – the content of our prayers (ACTS)

2. How to pray – posture, attitude, frequency and consistency

and we will see what we can do in the interest of time and with that being said lets start with the first one.

It is very common for people to express a concern saying they don't know how to pray or what to say in prayer ? There's been tools developed by Christians from prayers in the bible including the lords prayer to help guide Christians in the way they ought to pray. The most popular is A.C.T.S.

We will be using the Lord's prayer text as a reference text for it only makes sense for our Lord is also teaching the desciples how to pray

ADORATION

What is to adore ?

Worship, respect, praise

We should start our prayer in a spirit of adoration for who God is. Praise from a human understanding, sounds like sweet talking but when it comes to God, even our best words fall short of capturing His greatness.

Examples: Psalms 145:1-6, Psalm 150:1-6, Psalm 8:1-3

There is something about how the psalmists focused so much on praising God. It shows the amazement and wonder they had for Him—something we should also learn and practice in our own prayers. It encouraged that when pray, we should pray using psalms

Lets read Mathew 6:9-13

What part is Adoration in this prayer ?

CONFESSION

What is Confession ?

The word confess means "to aggree with". It is a form of acknowledgement of our sins before God. when we confess our sins we agree with God that we are sinners and that we have sinned against him.

Example: Psalm 51:1-8 written by David after he was confronted by Nathan for sleeping with Bathsheba and getting Uriah killed.

Verse 4 I have done evil in your sight so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment

What he is basically saying is that " I have no claim even when you punish me according to the full measure of the law, I ask that you don't, I plead that you wont but even when you do it, I have no ground to complain"

True confession doesn’t make excuses. It acknowledges the full weight of sin. It prays and asks for mercy but it does not feel entitled to get it. It involves godly sorrow for having offended God and a genuine turning away from sin.

This is true Confession friends. This true Confession yields repentance and we read about the promise?

Verse 14 - 17 a broken and contrite heart O God you will not despise

He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from our iniquities if we come to God with a contrite heart. Though our sins are like a crimson stain, they shall be as white as snow to borrow the picture from Isaiah 1:18

When you look at the Lord's prayer Jesus says "forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us" one might think that this sounds like one is asking forgiveness on basis of the forgiveness he has rendered to others, my question would be "would you want God to forgive you like you forgive others ? I know what you thinking if you are honest, no I need more grace!! For you and I barely forgive"

THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving is simply giving thanks to God for that which he has done, he is doing and that which he will do

Philippians 4:6 with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Paul sought to cultivate a spirit of gratitude in the church of Philipi as they brought their requests to God. James tells us that every good gift comes from God and therefore It is ingratitude to take the goodness of God, the love of God, the grace of God for granted.

SUPPLICATION

here is where we make our requests or petitions. We pray for things like mercy, wisdom we pray for other people through the son for Christ is the both our high priest and intercessor

There is a misconception to think that Hallowed be your name is Adoration. Its not holy is your name rather let your name be declared holy among the people, this is a petition and he goes on to say; your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The first petition is regards to the expansion of God's kingdom, do you pray like that.

Verse 11 shows us another petition regarding our daily need, he is basically showing us that we must go to God for our needs. Its moment by moment dependence to God's providence. We need to be aware that we get by, by his mercy, by his grace and by his provision and not to think we are self made people able to meet our needs

The second part or question has to do with posture and so what should be the appropriate posture as we pray ?

Mention the closing of eyes example

There is no verse in the bible that commands us to pray in a certain position (we see those who fall on the ground etc ) or posture and therefore posture has to do with preference and personal conviction but like R.C says "the question should be, what should be our attitude be when we pray ?" Our physical posture is linked to our attitude (there is nothing sacred about praying while kneeling or raising hands) but it is a demonstrative sign of obeisance- one kneels before a king RC Sproul

Jesus warns us against saying prayers or praying with so much but empty words Mathew 6:5-8. Empty words (prayers) are an insult to an all knowing God. Our attitude should be like Hannah, Jacob and many other, we need to wrestle with God, persistent like Hannah as we pour out our souls to him. They ought to be fervent and not casual like we see in the bible. They were persistent because the concerns they brought before God came out of the depth of their hearts.

How to pray with regards to the time, pace and constitency

1. There is no specified periods that you must pray and am not gonna tell you that you must set aside these specific hours for prayer. I can't also tell you how many times you should pray, I can't say that you should pray 3 times like Daniel (Daniel 6) but its clear that you must set aside time to pray.

Lets learn a few things from our Saviour Mark 1:35 5 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. 1. He is intentional in choosing the time to pray, he is also intentional in looking for a desolate place for him to pray. Look with me in Math 6 5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. YOU TOO OUGT TO HAVE A PRAYER CLOSET May I suggest morning setting aside time in the morning like we read from an example of our Lord in TP is the best place to grow this discipline, time alone with should not be just an LP thing

Conclusion "Young people, you must pray for your passions are strong and your wisdom is little" - CH Spurgeon

Friends, I urge you to pray, Prayer is the pulse of practical christianity like JC Ryle says. My prayer is that you have been exhorted to be prayerful and that you may use these tools given to you amen

Tell me what a person's prayers are, and I will soon tell you the state of their soul.