Lifestyle Christianity

Living in Prayer

Matthew 6:5–15; 7:7–12

Our series on Lifestyle Christianity is all about the everyday life of the Christian.

Sandy last time spoke of having a passion for the Word, today I want to look at something equally vital in the Christian life – Prayer. Having a passion for prayer. Living life in prayer!

“No matter what I preach or what we claim to believe in our heads, the future will depend upon our times of prayer.”  ― Jim Cymbala, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire.

To live in prayer is for me a very different thing to saying your prayers!

Living in prayer has its own kind of life. It is instinctive and natural. The groaning of the heart. The thoughts of the mind; the cry of the child! - "Sometimes you can cry out to God in the course of everyday life" (Michelle).

Living in prayer makes us aware of our helplessness and dependent on God and His grace, every moment of every day!

Dallas Willard says: Don’t seek to develop a prayer life — seek a praying life. A “prayer life” is a segmented time for prayer. You’ll end feeling that you don’t spend more time in prayer. Eventually you’ll probably feel defeated and give up. A “praying life” is a life that is saturated with prayerfulness — you seek to do all that you do with the Lord.

Living prayer is the opposite of dead prayer.

Dead prayer is lifeless by definition. It is a going through the motions. It is joyless and dullness personified!

In many of our churches where regular prayer meetings take place, the prayer meeting is usually the meeting where the fewest people show up!

That's because we have a kind of praying that goes on that is isolated from our lives. Something that perhaps we think we ought to tack on to our lives, perhaps setting up a regular habit of daily prayer even but that is to misunderstand the Biblical injunction to “pray always with all kinds of prayer”!

Pray in the whenever and the wherever, in an unceasing way in every part of your life! That’s what it means to live in prayer!

In thinking about prayer I want to put aside immediately any notion that forms of prayer; times of prayers or even posture in prayer is vital to true praying.

A. How we pray - prayer Posture —none prescribed.

1. Jesus standing. (John 17:1)

2. Jesus kneeling. (Luke 22:41)

3. Jesus on His face on the ground. (Matthew 26:39)

B. when we pray - Time-not limited.

1. Set times: Daniel 6:10; Psalm 55:16, 17.

2. Special occasions - Choosing the twelve. (Luke 6:12, 13)

3. Early in the morning. (Mark 1:35)

4. All night. (Luke 6:12)

5. Times of trouble. (Psalm 81:7)

6. At meals. (Matthew 14:19; Acts 27:35)

“Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18).

C. where we pray- Place-not one special place!

1. Inner chamber.

2. Amid nature.

3. In church meeting.

4. All places. (1 Timothy 2:8)

A. LIVING IN PRAYER IS VITAL TO CHRISTIAN WELLBEING!

Andrew Murray says, “Our daily life has a tremendous influence on our prayers, just as our prayers influence our daily life. In fact, our life is a continuous prayer. We are continually praising or thanking God by our actions and by the manner in which we treat others….. With many Christians there is conflict between their everyday life and their prayer life, and the everyday life holds the upper hand. But…prayer can also exercise a strong influence over our everyday life.

If I yield myself completely to God in prayer, prayer can overcome a life in the flesh and the practice of sin. The entire life may be brought under the control of prayer. Prayer can change and renew the life, because prayer calls upon and receives the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit purifies and sanctifies us.

Because of their defective spiritual life, many people think they must make a supreme effort in order to pray more. They do not understand, of course, that only in proportion as the spiritual life is strengthened can the prayer life increase. Prayer and life are inseparably connected and the quality of each deeply related.

What do you think? Which has the stronger influence over you: five- or ten-minute prayers, or the whole day spent thinking on worldly desires? Do not be surprised if your prayers are not answered. The reason may easily be that your life and your prayers work against each other; your heart concentrates more on living than on praying.

Learn this great lesson: My prayer must rule my whole life. What I request from God in prayer is not decided in five or ten minutes. I must learn to say: ‘‘I have prayed with my whole heart.’’ What I desire from God must truly fill my heart the whole day; then the way is opened for a definite answer.

How sacred and powerful prayer is when it takes possession of the heart and life! It keeps one constantly in fellowship with God. Then we can literally say, I wait on you, Lord, all day long. Let us be careful to consider not only the length of time we spend with God in prayer but also the power prayer has to take possession of our whole life.”

Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath, The Christian’s native air, His watchword at the gates of death; He enters Heav’n with prayer.

(James Montgomery)

“Kingdom praying and its efficacy is entirely a matter of the innermost heart's being totally open and honest before God. It is a matter of what we are saying with our whole being, moving with resolute intent and clarity of mind into the flow of God's action.” ― Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God

Evidence throughout the Scriptures – Think of the great victories of Joshua wrought through prayer or the intervention of God because Daniel prayed and Nehemiah prayed. Think of how God shook the room of the disciples as they prayed in Acts considering the threats of the Jews!

Encouraged as a positive Christian practice. (Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:17). “To pray is to accept that we are, and always will be, wholly dependent on God for everything.” (Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God).

Emphasized as the means by which God pours out His blessings (Matthew 7:7–11) - “Prayer is the way that all the things we believe in and that Christ has won for us actually become our strength. Prayer is the way that truth is worked into your heart to create new instincts, reflexes, and dispositions.”  ― Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God. So the result of failure to pray means a lack of necessary blessings in life. (James 4:2) - “To fail to pray, then, is not to merely break some religious rule—it is a failure to treat God as God.” ― Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

B. LIVING IN PRAYER INVOLVES FELLOWSHIP WITH OUR TRIUNE GOD

Theologians have often wrestled with questions about what God was doing before he created the world and why did God create us if he did not need us! “God has always had within himself a perfect friendship. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are adoring one another, giving glorifying love to one another, and delighting in one another. We know of no joy higher than being loved and loving in return, but a triune God would know that love and joy in unimaginable, infinite dimensions. God is, therefore, infinitely, profoundly happy, filled with perfect joy—not some abstract tranquility but the fierce happiness of dynamic loving relationships. Knowing this God is not to get beyond emotions or thoughts but to be filled with glorious love and joy.

If God did not need to create other beings in order to know love and happiness, then why did he do so? Jonathan Edwards argues…that the only reason God would have had for creating us was not to get the cosmic love and joy of relationship (because he already had that) but to share it….it is completely consistent for a triune God—who is “other-oriented” in his very core, who seeks glory only to give it to others—to communicate happiness and delight in his own divine perfections and beauty to others.”  ― Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

John 1:18 tells us that Jesus reveals God to us and through Jesus we have access to the Father and engagement in the life of the Holy Spirit.

The NT reveals God as Personal (Hebrews 11:6). Prayer is directed to “Our Father.” (Luke 11:13). We can trust Him! - Romans 8' we don't know...we know! “If we can’t say “thy will be done” from the bottom of our hearts, we will never know any peace. We will feel compelled to try to control people and control our environment and make things the way we believe they ought to be.” ― Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

When discouraged in prayer we are reminded of the sacrificial work and mediating activity of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 10:19–22). Remember we go to Jesus who sits on a “throne of grace”! Grace is God giving us what we don't deserve and what happens when we go to that throne? We get “mercy”! Mercy is not getting what we do deserve! How amazing is Jesus our Great High Priest!

When we struggle to find words and are overwhelmed in prayer we are reminded of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:26) - “The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of prayer. He is called in Zechariah 12:10 ‘‘a spirit of grace and supplication.’’ Twice in Paul’s epistles there is a remarkable reference to Him in the matter of prayer: ‘‘For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’ ’’ (Romans 8:15, emphasis added). ‘‘Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father’ ’’ (Galatians 4:6)... The Holy Spirit is given for the express purpose of teaching us right from the very beginning of our Christian life to utter that word in childlike trust and surrender….. The Christian left to himself does not know how to pray or what he ought to pray for. But God has stooped to meet us in this helplessness of ours by giving us the Holy Spirit to pray for us. That operation of His Spirit is deeper than our thoughts or feelings, but is acknowledged and answered by God.

Our first work, therefore, ought to be to come into God’s presence not with our ignorant prayers, not with many words and thoughts, but in the confidence that the divine work of the Holy Spirit is being carried out within us. This confidence will encourage reverence and quietness and will also enable us, in dependence on the help that the Spirit gives, to lay our desires and deepest needs before God.

The supreme lesson for every prayer is first of all to commit to the leading of the Holy Spirit and in total dependence on Him to give Him first place. Through Him your prayer will have value you cannot imagine. Through Him also you will learn to express your desires in the name of Christ. (Murray, A. (2002). Living a prayerful life. Grand Rapids, MI: Bethany House).

C. LIVING IN PRAYER IS STIMULATED BY HOLDING ON TO THE PROMISES OF GOD.

There are many promises in the Bible to the universal Christian testimony of the effectiveness of prayer. When it comes to this matter of prayer and the promises of God

George Muller serves as a wonderful example: Not only did God give Muller over a million pounds in his lifetime to support his orphanages, but Müller also stated that he believed the Lord had given him more than thirty thousand souls in answer to prayer.

These were not only from among the orphans but also many others for whom he had prayed faithfully every day (in some cases for fifty years), in the firm faith that they would be saved.

When he was asked on what ground he so firmly believed this, his answer was: ‘‘There are five conditions that I always endeavor to fulfill. In observing these, I have the assurance of an answer to my prayer:

1. ‘‘I have not the least doubt because I am assured that it is the Lord’s will to save them, for He wills that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Also, we have the assurance ‘that if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us’ (1 John 5:14).

2. ‘‘I have never pleaded for their salvation in my own name, but in the blessed name of my precious Lord Jesus, and on His merits alone (John 14:14).

3. ‘‘I always firmly believed in the willingness of God to hear my prayers (Mark 11:24).

4. ‘‘I am not conscious of having yielded to any sin, for ‘if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me’ when I call (Psalm 66:18).

5. ‘‘I have persevered in believing prayer for more than fifty-two years for some, and shall continue till the answer comes: ‘Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him?’ ’’

We for our part can take these thoughts to heart and pray according to these principles to ensure a deeper and more effective prayer life!

D. LIVING IN PRAYER INVOLVES THE DAILY DISCIPLINE OF DETERMINED PRAYING.

Jesus was asked to teach His disciples how to pray and the Lord’s prayer encapsulates that teaching. Learning to pray is part of the process of discipleship.

Tim Keller describes how he created a personal discipline off praying: “First, I took several months to go through the Psalms, summarizing each one. That enabled me to begin praying through the Psalms regularly, getting through all of them several times a year. The second thing I did was always to put in a time of meditation as a transitional discipline between my Bible reading and my time of prayer. Third, I did all I could to pray morning and evening rather than only in the morning. Fourth, I began praying with greater expectation.” ― Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

One way of helping prayer is to think of the ACTS approach:

A. Adoration. (Psalm 95:6)

C. Confession. (Psalm 32:5)

T. Thanksgiving. (Philemon 4, 6)

S. Supplication. (1 John 5:14, 15)

“If we give priority to the outer life, our inner life will be dark and scary. We will not know what to do with solitude. We will be deeply uncomfortable with self-examination, and we will have an increasingly short attention span for any kind of reflection. Even more seriously, our lives will lack integrity. Outwardly, we will need to project confidence, spiritual and emotional health and wholeness, while inwardly we may be filled with self-doubts, anxieties, self-pity, and old grudges.” ― Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

Conclusion

To continue and grow in the Christian life, we must continue steadfastly in prayer.

O Thou by Whom we come to God, The Life, the Truth, the Way, The path of prayer Thyself hast trod: Lord, teach us how to pray.