Prayer-STH

Prayer habit

Announcements:

5th- Independence Day Celebration at the James’s

12th- Pastoral Vote, Everyone is welcome. Luncheon after service and then the business meeting after.

Recap of what we’ve been talking about.

Spiritual transformational habits- Intentionally building habits into our daily life that will draw us closer to God.

Talk through the importance of these habits in our lives regardless of how long we’ve been walking with God.

Bible reading or study, devotions a habit we need to build into our daily lives.

Prayer is what we’re talking about today. We need to build this transformational habit into our lives.

We are talking to people who are in all different stages of their walk with Christ. Mature to infant.

Romans 12:2 is our theme verse

We’re not conforming to the pattern but transforming by the renewing of our mind!

So lets start at the beginning.

What is prayer? A conversation with God.

Is prayer important? All of us would say yes!

RC Sproul- Christian Theologian says this about prayer- “Prayer is to the Christian what breath is to life, yet no duty of the Christian is so neglected.”

Prayer is breath for the Christian!

He’s saying in some way that without prayer we as christians, our spiritual walk with Christ will suffocate to death!

So its important but why is it important?

Prayer is important because:

It brings our hearts into alignment with God’s heart- Gal.5 Walk after the Spirit and when we do we will bear the fruit of the Spirit. Prayer brings us into alignment with the Spirit!

It’s a command. Matt. 26:41, Col.4:2

We already said this but its how we talk to God. Jer.29:12

We gain strength through prayer. Ps. 22:19

We fight spiritual warfare through prayer. Scripture talking about the armour of God.

We stand in the gap for other through prayer. Eph. 6:18

We surrender our burdens, things we shouldnt be carrying through prayer. Matt. 11:28

Prayer is how we fight temptation. Matt. 26:42

Transition to the quotes from the book Lead with Prayer.

So we need to establish a rule of life for each of the habits. to intentionally build them into our life!

Andrew Newberg, a agnostic neuroscientist, has authored several books and is lauded as being one of the 30 most influential neuroscientists alive. He did extensive research, scientific research on the effects of prayer on the human brain. This is what he concluded.

“Biologically, regular extended prayer over an 8-week period can change the brain to such an extent that it can be measured on a brain scan!”

Prayer fortifies or builds (or Renews)new neural pathways in areas of the brain associated with social interaction, compassion, and sensitivity to others.

Regular Prayer also decreases anxiety, stress, and depression in scientifically measurable ways, positively changing our neurochemistry! Renewing our minds through transformational habits! Its like God knows what He’s talking about!

Consistent extended prayer also works against anger and rigidity in the brain by reducing stress hormones.

Neuroscientist explain that the brain is like other muscles in our bodies that we can sculpt and strengthen. And its happening on a continuous basis wether we realize it or not.

They say if you want to get good at something, like crossword puzzles then you practice crossword puzzles and you can get better at them but that doesn’t make you good at other things. Prayer however has the same effect that weight lifting has on our bodies in that as our muscles grow it helps us be better at other sports and activities. Prayer has that effect on our brain! it helps us in other areas!

However, just like lifting weights once or twice does nothing for you but its the consistency, the building of the habit of working out that makes the difference in your body its the same with prayer. Praying here and there doesn’t really do much for your brain but a consistent habit or training of prayer brings significant and measurable changes in our brains and nervous system!

Soul training or building spiritual habits in to our lives has profound impact on our life!

Cross-training or muscle confusion is beneficial to the body, to the muscles. The same is true for our souls, Paul says as much in Eph. 6:18 all kinds of prayers. We can have a routine but we can also mix it up. There’s all different ways to pray and to keep our prayer life from becoming boring and mundane.

We must be intentional about building these things into our life.

How do we do that? Make a plan, try it out, change it if it needs changing, have patience. Start with a small goal and then expand it when you consistently meet that goal.

Whats God asking of you? He just wants to talk with you. Let’s be intentional about building it into our life!

Prayer is breath for us as Christians, without it we will die!