What is Prayer? (Final Week)
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What is Prayer?
What is Prayer?
1) A Privilege
1) A Privilege
We have the privilege to speak to the creator of the universe
He isn’t a distant, transcendent being that we can’t relate with or doesn’t relate with us
The God who has always been in existence, created everything that has ever been, sustains everything that has ever been or will be, allows his creatures to talk to him – wherever and whenever.
The God who has always been in existence, created everything
that has ever been, sustains everything that has ever been or will be, allows his
creatures to talk to him – wherever and whenever.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
What do we learn from these verses?
God’s glory and majesty are unlike anything else and beyond our finite grasp. Simply put, these verses tell us that God is really big, and we are really small.
glory and majesty are unlike anything else and beyond our finite grasp. Simply
Prayer should humble us and remind us that God is infinite, Creator, powerful, yet he allows lowly, sinful creature to speak to him. Even though we pray anywhere and often, let us remind ourselves that prayer is a privilege beyond comparison.
put, these verses tell us that God is really big, and we are really small.
2) A Good Gift
2) A Good Gift
• Prayer should humble us and remind us that God is infinite, Creator, powerful, yet
he allows lowly, sinful creature to speak to him. Even though we pray anywhere
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
and often, let us remind ourselves that prayer is a privilege beyond comparison.
What do we learn from these verses?
God is the giver of everything that is good in our lives.
Prayer is a good gift from a good God who is worthy of our prayers and our praise.
3) A Discipline
3) A Discipline
Rom
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
What do we learn from these verses?
Following the Lord (being a Christian) is a constant battle with our flesh.
It is a battle to overcome sin
It is a battle to know and live out God’s Word
It is a battle to pray
There are going to be times when we don’t feel like praying, times when we don’t pray, and times when it “feels” like our prayers aren’t doing anything.
Times we don’t feel like praying are the times we need to pray the most. What does that mean?
to be times when we don’t feel like praying, times when we don’t pray, and times
when it “feels” like our prayers aren’t doing anything.
Tools for Your Prayer Life
Tools for Your Prayer Life
1) The Bible
1) The Bible
Our prayer are shaped and informed by God’s Word
Thy will be done!
2) Other Books
2) Other Books
Find books on prayer
The Hour that Changes the World
The Valley of Vision
Prayer by Tim Keller
3) The Prayer of Others
3) The Prayer of Others
Listening to other people pray is an important way to learn to pray.
Repeat phrases if you know what they mean
Listen to the heart of the one praying, not just their words.