Worship In Prayer Part 2
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Introduction
Introduction
Greetings...
When it comes to praying to our God we know we are to pray, as the Bible is clear and expects as much from us.
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;
6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;
The question isn’t whether we should pray the question is “How Do We Pray?”
Today we are going to examine this question with an acrostic.
Prayerful Actions
Prayerful Actions
Physical prayer positions.
Physical prayer positions.
We see “bowing down.”
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
11 The Lord will be awesome against them; for he will famish all the gods of the earth, and to him shall bow down, each in its place, all the lands of the nations.
We see “kneeling.”
41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed,
36 And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
We see “falling on the face.”
22 And they fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?”
39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
We see “standing”
22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven,
25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
We see “lifting of hands.”
2 Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.
8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;
All of this tells us two things.
All of this tells us two things.
First, there is no specific physical action we must perform while praying.
In other words we don’t have to stand every time we pray or kneel every time we pray.
Second, what we actually never see is someone praying with no physically reverent position.
What I mean by this is our physical posture should be considered, more often than not, when we pray.
Summery
Summery
All of this tells us two things...
First, there is no specific physical action we must perform while praying.
In other words we don’t have to stand every time we pray or kneel every time we pray.
Second, what we actually never see is someone praying with no physically reverent position.
What I mean by this is our physical posture should be considered, more often than not, when we pray.
Prayer is not something that is a haphazard wandering without thought when it comes to our physical reverence to God, rather it is something we must consider and develop in our prayer life.
Ready To Pray
Ready To Pray
Being ready to pray means...
Being ready to pray means...
Our heart is true going into our prayer.
1 Ki 8:61
61 Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Our lips are free from deceit going into our prayer.
1 Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!
We are confident that God will hear us and answer us before we go to Him in prayer.
7 In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me.
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
Jam
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
We are ready to submit to God’s will before we pray.
42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
We want to communicate with our God before we begin to pray.
1 Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy! 2 Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan,
6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.
Summery
Summery
All of this tells us...
Before we even say one word to God we must be prepared to do so.
This isn’t saying prayer can’t or shouldn’t be spontaneous, it is sometimes, but that our life is being lived in such a way that if necessary our spontaneous prayer won’t be hindered.
Ask
Ask
God knows what we need already.
God knows what we need already.
Listen, God already knows what we need, and what we are going to ask for.
Isaiah
10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Why ask God for anything?
Why ask God for anything?
First, because God tells us to.
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.
Mt 6:
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
Second, because this is how we draw closer to God, by asking and thus relying on God for our needs and wants.
Third, because
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Summery
Summery
James clearly tells us that the reason most don’t have is because they “haven’t asked.”
“…you do not have, because you do not ask.”
Yearn For Unity With God
Yearn For Unity With God
Yearning is defined as...
Yearning is defined as...
To feel a longing for craving for someone or something.
Ask yourself, when is the last time your soul longed or craved praying to God?
Do you feel like something is missing in your day if you go that day without really praying to God?
We are to yearn for our God.
We are to yearn for our God.
The palmist in states...
20 My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.
20 My soul is starved and hungry, ravenous!— insatiable for your nourishing commands.
The psalmist in stated...
1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.
Yearning for God means yearning to pray.
Yearning for God means yearning to pray.
This is why we find such passages as...
17 pray without ceasing,
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Eph
Summery
Summery
As Jesus told His disciples while on earth “that they ought always to pray and not lose heart” so too should be heed that advice from our Lord and Savior.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Unger’s Bible Dictionary says about prayer, “Prayer is the expression of man’s dependence upon God for all things.”
Martin Luther King Jr. summed up that idea when he said, “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”
Knowing “how to pray” affords us the opportunity to pray not only as we should biblically speaking, but it allows us to communicate in a more pure and full way with our God.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.